Every single time when you pass by a church, or any holy site, you give yourself a blessing. Doing so, it shows respect to the Saint of the church as well as providing you protection from the sacred site as you continue in your journey.
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Ruby is a young Mexican-American woman who truly connects to her Catholic roots and leads her way of life through that method. She is also a single mom who works at a Non-Profit feeding the homeless of Los Angeles.
“Because I’m Greek Orthodox, we have a service the night before Easter. What we do is, the priest turns off all the lights in the church and then we have candles. And we say ‘Christ has risen and truly he has risen’ in like eight different languages. ‘Khristos Anesti. Alithos Anesti. Christ has risen. Truly he has risen.’* and all these different forms of languages for about an hour and a half. It’s just a symbolized of I think inclusivity. We just wear our church clothes. Like my mom always says, ‘Dress as though you’re going to God’s house.’ Everyone is in more ‘happier’ colors since it’s Easter”
My informant is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. She is deeply connected to her church and still practices her religion faithfully. I thought it was interesting to hear how her family celebrates Easter because I personally am Presbyterian, which is a branch of Christianity. We only celebrate Palm Sunday and Good Friday prior to Easter. I have never heard of a celebration being held the night before Easter. This service is referred to as the Paschal Greeting in Greek Orthodox custom. I really liked the idea of chanting “Christ has risen and truly he has risen” in multiple languages as a representation of inclusivity. However, I will admit having to do that for an hour and half seems extremely tedious. My informant on the other hand seemed enthusiastic about the ritual, proving her patience and loyalty to God.
Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): Spanish
Age: 20
Residence: New York City, USA
Performance Date: April 13, 2017 (Skype)
Mike is a 20 year old man, born and raised in New York, who is a mobile phone salesman in New York City. He is a high school graduate whose family is of Puerto Rican Heritage.
Interviewer: Good Afternoon. You mentioned that you follow a tradition your Mom taught you. Could you explain please?
Informant: “Ya it is like I am Catholic you know you know and we really go by this Catholic thing like every time I do the cross. Every time I pass a Church, I do the cross. And I feel if I didn’t do the cross that I would feel different.”
Interviewer: You mentioned you would feel different, why?
Informant: “Like this was a thing, you know the do the cross, that I use to ah see my Mom do every time, you know, we were passing a Church. Like it ah didn’t matter if youse was on a bus or a car or like just walking down a street, um she would always cross herself. Then… then I was, you know older then a little kid, ah every time she crossed herself you know and if I was wit her, she would stare at me if I didn’t cross myself. So I guess, like um I would um feel different like I wuz disrespecting my Mother, you know. So like , I am a Momma’s boy, she is very close. And um I don’t want to, you know give her anything that wouldn’t be very respectful. Does that make sense to you?”
Interviewer: Yes it does. It is a very nice thing to do. Do you do the sign of the cross even when she is not with you?
Informant: “Of course, it’s like so deep in my bones and mind that it is like ya I am like a robot! When I see the church, like I have to stop and do my cross, you know. It is so beautiful cause I see my Mom smiling a lot every time ah um I do that.”
Thoughts about the piece:
Devoted Catholics worldwide have been making the “sign of the cross” since the 400s: http://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-is-the-origin-of-the-sign-of-the-cross/
Here is a demonstration of how to do this movement prayer properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpRzqXG1dhc
Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): None
Age: 35
Residence: New York City, USA
Performance Date: April 12, 2017 (telephonically)
Ethan is a 35 year old man, born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who is employed as food vendor at a local food market. He is a College Graduate iand majored in Business Administration. He is 4th generation American
Interviewer: Good Morning. You mentioned that as a child you remember a family ritual. Would you mind sharing it with me?
Informant: Of course, I would be happy to. So anytime anybody would move into a new house it was my grandmother on my Dad’s side, the Catholic side of the family, not the Jewish side, um there is a patron saint I believe St. Anthony which is the Saint of lost things or something like that. And she would give us a little doll; and we would bury it in our backyard and that way if we lost anything we would just pray to Saint Anthony then that object would be found. And I am not sure about the origins but I know that I buried that St. Anthony in my backyard
Interviewer: Did you ever find anything that you lost?
Informant: “I once misplaced my favorite batting glove and could not find it. And ah a few weeks later my grandmother was visiting and she took out of her purse the glove. She asked if it belonged to me. She told me that she took it by mistake when she was bundling her clothes.
Interviewer: Did you attribute this to St. Anthony?
Informant: Well I remember being so excited, I think I must have been 10 at the time or 9 cause I was in the 4th grade, when I received the glove from her and I said to her that I guess St. Anthony found it and um all I can remember having the greatest smile I ever saw from her
Interviewer: What does it mean to you?
Informant: Um not much other than it was a nice little touch that it is a nice little tradition that my grandmother passed down that I was happy to continue forward. While I doubt it worked, this tradition makes me think about my grandma.
Thoughts about the Piece:
Anyone who has lost something has “prayed” to find it but Catholics pray to a specific individual for help. For the text of the prayer see: http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=150 Other stories of St Anthony novena anecdotes can be read here: http://www.holysouls.com/stanthony.html
The informant went to Dun Huang China in the early 2000s for her dissertation work and upon entering various old caves that contained Buddhist arts, she had a very supernatural phenomenon happen to her.
Informant: The first time I went there, I stayed in Dun Huang for a month. Then, that was a seminar for several professors and mostly graduate students in art history. Dun Huang caves have over 15 centuries of caves, until the 13th century. Over 400 caves there. For the first few weeks, we went through a few hundred caves. The earliest cave we went and did a review of it. During the last week, we went back from the earliest week as a review. Went back to one of the earliest caves there. 4th or 5th century. (refer to the picture). Painted on top of the door. So, it meant that it was the first thing you see when you look up.
When we started reviewing, the morning we went to the earliest caves and went over the significance of it. After lunch time, I did not go to nap though. I followed 2 nuns instead to the souvenir shop instead, and those 2 nuns were studying at the University of Arizona in religious studies. I didn’t buy anything, but they were looking at paintings of buddhas/bodhisattvas. Then, after seeing that picture you saw, it kind of reminded me of 四大天王, like guardians of the sacred/heaven. I saw that I was really drawn to the painting, so I decided to buy it. Then, I went back to my room and took a nap. After the nap, we went back to those caves and went back to a certain cave. The teacher wanted to show me something rare. The vegetable pigment was not that stable, so the pigments change color faded over time.
Then, the rare thing they used was that the white was from lead/minerals. However, after the lead has been exposed to the air for too long, it becomes black. It takes a few centuries for it to change in color due to oxygenation. So, it looked all blackened out because of the white lead became black from all the oxygen.
But in one special cave, one area of the walls was peeled off, we could see the inner layer of the wall. So, we could see the original painting would look like without the color tarnished. Because in the cave it was dark, the darkness of the cave would make it even darker for the paintings. The cave was incredibly small, a few of us stood there and talked while some of us were still outside waiting to see. Suddenly, there was a something like a sandstorm, but because it rained very shortly last night, the humidity was higher. So, because of the rain made it more humid, the walls were old and gained moisture, something fell off from the ceiling. All the student left, but because I was talking to the professor, we were not wary of the painting falling. And because I realized what was going to fell on my head. One of the nuns that went to the souvenir shop pulled me out and tried to dust off the painting. But I said that it was a national treasure so I told them not to ruin the treasure that was all over me.
The painting that fell off? It was the painting that I bought. The other nun then walked up and told me to do more studying on Buddhism, had I done my research I would not be asking stupid questions. I guess it was something that Buddha was telling me, “Go do your research!”. Almost creepy for me.
After hearing her story, I personally thought it was a very supernatural experience. In her case, it felt like it was a wake-up call from above to take her studies seriously! Not only was that the case, but the sudden feeling to purchase that specific painting from the souvenir shop and leading to the pigment of the same painting to fall on her head was definitely not just a coincidence, but also a very significant symbolic sign.