NATIVITY
CRIBS IN PERU
When the Spaniards arrived in ancient Peru, they
came bearing arms in one hand and the Bible in
the other and while some, mounted on lively horses,
went brandishing the sword to conquer the land
of a frightened, surprised people, others preached
from the open gospels that there was only one
God and his son Jesus Christ had been born in
Bethlehem on a 25th of December.
So it was that mixed with the violence of conquest
there came to our land the feast and message of
Christmas, celebrated at first in the Spanish
way but, with the passing years, the cribs and
carols changed, taking on a different color: a
Spanish-Indian color.
Everything
changed, chants, prayers, rituals. In the Peruvian
cribs, the Bethlehem manger underwent a singular
transformation: it changed into an Apu or sacred
hill, bathed in lights and shiny snow, with a
cave reserved for the Christ Child.
And
just as Bethlehem changed, the child also changed
from being simply Jesus to become the Child God,
Tayta Dios, or Manuelito, because in the faith
of the poor it is common to treat God with great
familiarity and trust. Not only that, in his contact
with the Andes his skin darkened just as his curls
did and he became more lively and rosy from playing
so much in the sun.
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