Sacralizing the Landscape
San Ysidro Feast Day, May 15,
1840, Taos, Nuevo México—Two centuries before this feast day, Spanish soldiers,
settlers, and Catholic missionaries colonized large parts of these Indigenous
homelands. Mexico's war for independence finally ended Spain's rule in 1821.
But Catholicism endured in Hispano villages and coexisted with other practices
in Native pueblos.
Survival in these dry lands
of northern Mexico depended on irrigation acequias and communal cooperation. Catholics believed it also required prayer and
saintly intercession. Every May, they asked San Ysidro, the patron saint of
farmers, for rain. Bearing the saint aloft—in whose representation resided
God’s will—they showed him their fields and sought his blessing for bountiful
water and crops.
In this remote region, daily
care for the people’s well-being fell to local priests, such as Padre Antonio
José Martínez, and lay leaders, including the “Penitente” brothers of the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene). Under their ministrations and guidance,
a locally distinctive Catholicism developed, reflecting the needs and
aesthetics of the land and people.
Eight years after this feast
day, the US–Mexico War turned these lands into US territory.
“Procession of ‘Penitentes’,” Harper’s Weekly, 1889
Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, New-York Historical
Society
San Ysidro Labrador / St. Isidore the Farmer
San Ysidro is the patron
saint of farmers and agricultural laborers. In life, he was a pious 12th-century
Spanish farmhand. He was canonized in 1622 after miracles were attributed to
his intercession. These included the miracle of angels plowing the fields with
oxen while Ysidro was at prayer, and the miraculous fountain that sprang forth
after Ysidro struck the earth with his hoe to give his master a drink of water.
In Catholic belief, saints,
or santos, can help individuals
communicate with God. Visual representations of the saints are venerated as
holy objects and embodiments of faith. The New Mexicans who carried bultos (carvings) and retablos (paintings) of San Ysidro
through their fields were asking the saint to intercede with God to protect
them and help them realize their hopes.
This bulto of San Ysidro was created by José Benito Ortega, a prolific
New Mexican santero, or maker of
religious objects. In his rendering, the saint wears boots resembling the
moccasins worn by local Indigenous peoples.
José Benito Ortega (1858–1941)
Bulto of San Ysidro, late 19th century–early 20th
century
Wood, gesso, paint, cotton, glass beads
Museum of International Folk Art, bequest of Cady Wells, A9.1954.34 B
Unidentified maker
Retablo in Nicho of St. Isidore, 19th century
Metal (tin), glass, oil paint, paper
Museum of International Folk Art, gift of the Girard
Foundation Collection, A.1979.17.627V
San Ysidro
Feast Day Procession
The feast day starts the
previous night with prayers. At daybreak, the hymn to the dawn welcomes both
the sun and Christ, the son of God, to the world. Mass is held, and the
villagers begin their procession. A young person often leads the way, bearing a
cross followed by a line of people with San Ysidro and his porters bringing up
the rear.
San Ysidro Feast Day, Taos, Nuevo México. Commissioned for the exhibition, art by Laura Friedman and Elizabeth Steele
