Journeying Icons & Faith

I often wonder how the fluvial procession came to be a central element in the celebration of the devotion to our Lady of Peñafrancia. The fact of the river does not explain readily the use of the body of water. There must be a reason either lost in history or shrouded in faith.

The use of the Naga River (in some documents I came across to it being referred to as San Felipe River) is certainly one of the elements that make the observance of the devotion unique and interesting.

Were the friars and/or the colonizing forces aware of the mystical importance of the body of water? In my previous article in this column, I belabored already the point of the new faith conquering the old belief, where the victory of one idea happened at the expense of the old one.

As an anthropologist, I must admit to this baggage: the thought of the vicious form of a conquering religion, which at the same time carries with it the sublime transcendental power of one that affirms benevolence in the divinity. Refuse as we must, the colonial complexion of our conversion will always be a take-off point for a discussion of our selves and our identities.

Interestingly enough, there seems to appear a strand in the evolution and spread of Marian devotion of a faith - a strange and new faith - that attests to the formation of a new identity for those who were converted. This is a new development, theoretical at best, in the literature of colonization and conversion. The Catholic religion which came to us on the wave of the conquistador's battle ship is now read through updated researches as one that has not entirely created a slave community but also a nation that is able to face the manipulation of the colonizing force.

Anthropology, after being used to debunked religion, comes out in these researches as the discipline to explain the Mysterium tremendum et  fascinans, the fearful and fascinating mystery of religion.

In a paper, "Travelling Icons: The Virgin of Candelaria's Transatlantic Journeys" written by Eyda M. Merediz and appearing in the Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, the devotion t he Virgin is analyzed in terms of geography and movement.