Hail Mary, full of grace,
my coins are with thee,
trusted art thou with my life's savings,
and blessed is this pile of leave under which it is hidden.
Holy Mary, high rolling mother of God, pray for big winnings now and until I get back from Vegas next week.
Is this an east coast thing? A NYC thing? An Italian thing? This midwestern Catholic had never seen statues paraded around until moving out east, and I've never ever seen money attached to any. I assume the money is a donation?
@lizdexia: I think it's generally a Catholic thing, but in the U.S. it's done predominately on the East Coast (I never saw it while living in Seattle, however it's done in Boston all the time).
The money is a donation to the church basically (or perhaps the specific order associated with the saint?)
@lizdexia: I'm going to go with East Coast Catholic thing. I'm not Catholic but I've never seen anything like this here on the border between the south and the midwest.
@lizdexia: It's a Neapolitan thing. And a New York thing. The significance is very specific to southern Italy, St. Paul and the Huns. "Gigli" is Italian for lilies which people carried for St. Paul in gratitude (see the Huns). The money is supposedly also about gratitude (again with St. Paul and the Huns) but ask my relatives and you will get an earful about corruption, the church, etc., blah. Shockingly, there are no women involved in the event.
/sarcasm.
@lizdexia: These are all really local ethnic traditions. In parts of the US where people originally from one part of Europe are concentrated, you see a lot more of this. Catholicism is a lot more regional than you think.
A few years ago I was in Spain while their were a lot of these events going on and at one point I asked about it. I was told the saint was Pilar, but I had no idea who that was. Apparently it is a Spanish tradition that the Virgin Mary dragged a pillar from the Holy Land to Spain to spread the gospel. And that gets a few parades.
As a child, I was always taken to the beach on the Feast of the Assumption because the waters were suppose to have healing properties on that day. Its apparently a tradition from the West of Ireland.
Hortense, did you write this post for me? It seems every time I come on Jez, I find myself defending my Catholic Atheist views, and it seems that the only other people that accept that juxtaposition are other Catholics...
Hortense, thanks so much for writing this! It's nice to get conversations like this out in the open, especially on lazy Sunday afternoons.
I wish I'd been around for more of the bulk of the conversation, but I was having dinner with my mom next to a girl who was flashing us (see story in open thread).
Hello, are you me? Could have written this and meant every word. Except we're French-Canadian Catholics. In New England, there are the French churches and the Irish churches (and in this town, also the Italian churches) and everyone knows which is which. That amuses me.
My mom and I were talking the other day about religion. She was kind of raised catholic and has struggled with religion her whole life. She wanted to learn about it and trust and believe in it. She has come to believe that religion is a form of brainwashing because people are telling you what to believe, especially children who don't really know any better. I haven't felt as close to my mom in a long time as I did when she told me this.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, that life is hard enough as it is and if people can find comfort in something that helps them get through it, then good for them. I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone.
I grew up Catholic but left it behind a long time ago. It was too hard to try to conform myself to an institution with values so diametrically opposed to my own, where analytical thought and women as a gender are not valued and freed to do their thing.
I recently came to the realization that I celebrate Christmas as little more than a cultural exercise. I like the music, the food and the pretty ornaments on the tree. But the religious meaning behind it is lost to me anymore. When I came to that epiphany, I was so sad, like part of my childhood was gone forever.
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
my coins are with thee,
trusted art thou with my life's savings,
and blessed is this pile of leave under which it is hidden.
Holy Mary, high rolling mother of God, pray for big winnings now and until I get back from Vegas next week.
Amen.
11/20/09
11/20/09
Holla.
11/20/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
If they're going to stuff dollars in things, wouldn't this be a better bet?
08/10/09
08/10/09
That's me in the black robe, I'm
Pimpin' my religion
08/10/09
08/10/09
The money is a donation to the church basically (or perhaps the specific order associated with the saint?)
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
/sarcasm.
08/10/09
08/10/09
A few years ago I was in Spain while their were a lot of these events going on and at one point I asked about it. I was told the saint was Pilar, but I had no idea who that was. Apparently it is a Spanish tradition that the Virgin Mary dragged a pillar from the Holy Land to Spain to spread the gospel. And that gets a few parades.
As a child, I was always taken to the beach on the Feast of the Assumption because the waters were suppose to have healing properties on that day. Its apparently a tradition from the West of Ireland.
08/10/09
08/10/09
08/10/09
05/18/09
05/17/09
I wish I'd been around for more of the bulk of the conversation, but I was having dinner with my mom next to a girl who was flashing us (see story in open thread).
Again, thanks!
05/17/09
05/17/09
I've said it before and I'll say it again, that life is hard enough as it is and if people can find comfort in something that helps them get through it, then good for them. I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone.
05/17/09
I recently came to the realization that I celebrate Christmas as little more than a cultural exercise. I like the music, the food and the pretty ornaments on the tree. But the religious meaning behind it is lost to me anymore. When I came to that epiphany, I was so sad, like part of my childhood was gone forever.
So long story short-too late!-I can relate.