Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Reason I love to travel #1

I get to take pictures of Teletubbies-lovin' child Christs. Not everyone can say that.


Señor Santo Niño and the smoker, originally uploaded by Kate Savage.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

WTH is that?

paperback reader said...

Well, that's creepy as hell. Do people look for that in a savior? Or, to you all, saviour?

Margo Lane said...

Whoa. That doll is creepy looking, but great photograph!

Beth said...

It's both unfair and FUN to post this photo without the context.

I took this photo at a festival in the Philippines called Ati-Atihan. Back in the ol' ruthless exploration and raping of lands days (as opposed to the new ones), the Spanish introduced Christ to the aboriginal people as a statue, in child form, because (as one theory goes), they'd like him better. Skip ahead a few hundred years and you've got an annual festival in his honour. EVERYONE (save for the Muslim minority in the southern islands) has a replica of THIS statue at home.

On this special day, they dress him up in the BEST (I have another one of Christ in his best Nike basketball shorts), and form "tribes" of however many people, to parade him through town. The locals also dress up (most aren't actually Ati people, they're just mocking them), and it's a sort of competition. There's also intense drumming and lots of Catholic prayers happening.

The Philippines, worth an outing.

If you're really curious, you can read more on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ati-Atihan_Festival

Beth said...

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

And he's called "Señor Santo Niño" which directly translates as, "Mister Saint Child".

Anonymous said...

Mr.Saint Child?? That's how I've been referring to myself for the longest time now.
Either way, cool picture. I always associated the teletubbies with satanism. I guess they're going for a contrast.

paperback reader said...

Don't even get Filipinos started on the Infant of Prague...

Beth said...

Anthony - Perhaps we can dress you up once a year and parade you around. Mind wrapping your arms arund this guy?

Pistols - I'm willing to learn from your mistakes. I'll heed your warning.