![]() ![]() On Christmas Eve, the family’s Ninõ Dios takes his place in the traditional nativity scene, which usually involves a hillside setting complete with a stream, animals on the hill and manger at the top. A Niño Dios isn’t just for families or individuals to display there are many in Catholic churches around the world that are venerated and visited throughout the year. Many Mexican families own a Niño Dios (God child), often a family heirloom, whom plays a prominent part in religious celebrations throughout the year. To be fair, dressed Jesus figurines are not as much of a stretch as small furry animals making climate predictions. That’s the tenuous connection to Groundhog Day, when we in America try to figure if there will be more winter weather or spring will begin. Like many religious celebrations in the early days of Christianity, it was also handily camouflaged by a coinciding pagan celebration – in this case the halfway mark between the winter solstice on December 21 and the spring equinox on March 21. Someone had to do the math on this – as according to Jewish law, a woman was sequestered with a new baby for 40 days following the birth – to work out that December 25 + 40 days = February 2. Well, sort of.Īlso known as Candlemas or the Presentation of Christ at the Temple, the religious holiday is celebrated on February 2 according to the biblical record of the day that Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple. What I understood, in my poor Spanish after asking several people, was that it was a celebration of the day that Jesus first wore clothes – graduating as it were from swaddling clothes. Dressed up and sitting in a chair, no less. ![]() ![]() ![]() The first time I was here in February, two years ago, (thinking only of it as Groundhog Day, which it is in the U.S.), I wondered why everyone on the street was carrying a baby Jesus in their arms. Like many holidays in this fantastic country, it’s a wonderful and mind-boggling fusion of Catholicism, indigenous tradition and modern culture. At first glance they might have been cowboys or goat herders, but on further reflection they were probably just simple pilgrims on a holy journey.Īll were part of the February 2 celebration in Oaxaca of Día de la Candelaria, celebrated throughout the Hispanic Catholic world, it is a deeply sentimental tradition in Mexico. He was in good company, among a dozen or so other Niños Dioses (God Children), dressed in clothing from satin capes and regal crowns to simple robes and straw hats. This is how the Day of the Candelaria marks the end of the Christmas season.He was wearing a white doctor’s coat, had a stethoscope draped around his tiny ceramic neck, and was carrying a personalized black medical bag. In the second year, he can wear a colored dress and it is until the third year when he is dressed as King, as the Emperor of the Universe and they place a crown and a throne, indicating that he can already perform miracles. In the first year he is dressed in white, without throne or crown. To date, according to tradition, there are still many families who carry out the adoration of the Baby Jesus, which consists of dressing the Baby Jesus and going to present it to the church. with tamales for all the people who shared the Rosca.įebruary 2 is the date in which the Baby Jesus is taken from the Nativity Scene to be elegantly dressed. The tradition is that those who in the celebration of the Rosca de Reyes, cut the Rosca and got a baby figurine, become the “Godfathers of the Child”, and on February 2 must host a dinner. The tamales, the sauces and the ingredients with which they are made, as well as the atole and champurrado with which they are accompanied, represent a rich display of gastronomy and history. ![]()
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