We never plan our trip around it but several times our Santa Fe weekend has coincided with “Spanish Market”. It is one of two similar events that Santa Fe hosts each summer. The other is the “Indian Market”.
Spanish Market is a huge event in Santa Fe. The entire Plaza and historic downtown area is closed to automobiles and taken over by tents housing artists and artisans. Some is fine art. Some is folk art. Some is kitsch. There is definitely a common theme, however. Since the focus is on the area’s Spanish heritage and that heritage was, largely, imported by missionaries, the Plaza is awash in what I have decided to call “Catholica”. Dictionary.com tells me there is no such word but I think there should be.
If the term “Judaica” can be used to describe everything from mezuzahs & menorahs to the works of Chagall, we need a corresponding term to describe the wares on offer in the row upon row of tents occupied by people hawking crucifixes, shines, paintings of various saints and holy persons and as many variations the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) as the mind can conceive…no pun intended.
Spanish Market is a wonderful cultural event in the city and I enjoy seeing it, though I have never purchased anything. Part of the reason, I’m sure, is that, having been raised as an evangelical Protestant, I don’t feel the same connection to iconography as those raised in more orthodox communities of faith. Also, at the risk of seeming insensitive, how many variations of the RC (Roman Catholic) version of the cross can there really be? Once one gets the shape and proportions right, the rest is just ornamentation; right? Aren’t they all really the same, plus or minus the bedazzler?
Excluding holiday decorations, the collection of Catholica at Casa de Harper is limited. We have a crucifix; somewhere. We have a plastic miniature of Michelangelo’s Pietà. I believe that was a gift from friends who visited the Vatican. We also have a small plastic statue of St. Joseph. As a Southern Baptist, and a lapsed one, I don’t understand a lot about Saints but I think I get St. Joseph. (He was JC’s step-father; right?)
As I understand the custom, when one wants to sell a house, one buries a statue of St. Joseph in the yard. Once the home sells, one digs up the statue and displays it in a place of honor in the new home. That’s what we did when we sold our last house. Did it help? I don’t know. But I know, at some point, we will want to sell Casa de Harper. I’m O.K. with adding the intercession of a Saint to “location. location, location” as a marketing strategy.
Harper's Valley 
I really don’t like these bazaars too much kitsch all together. My sister in law dragged me to one in St-Petersburg this past winter and I was not impressed at all. Oh well I would prefer sit at the bar and drink Prosecco instead.
Some bazaars or more bizarre than others.
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Next time you entomb JC’s stepdad, bury a little scuba tank of O2 with him. Wouldn’t want the poor dear to suffocate, especially if the housing market is dragging at that time.
And What?! A nice southern ancestor-ed gentleman like yourself and No plastic Jesus on the dashboard of your car?
Shocking, I know
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nope, not into “catholica”. having grown up with that crap, and having the faith shoved down your throat, I tend to ignore all the “made in china” plastic gewgaws. I like thinking for myself.
Thinking for oneself? Who knows what that might lead to.
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Having been also raised as a Southern Baptist (now lapsed although my youngest brothers is a Bob Jones trained pastor now preaching in Greenville, SC), I was always intrigued by the Catholic Church. The small town I grew up in had a large send and third generation Italian Catholic population. I had both Protestant friends and Catholic friends. My Catholic friends were so much more interesting and fun. I especially like delivering newspapers to those Italian Catholic neighborhoods because I got to go into their houses. Yes, many of them had the clear plastic on their gold and white furniture and many religious statutes in lighted alcoves in their houses. By comparison, our house was so black and white. When I think of “catholica” I think of the movie “Song of Bernadette” which I saw at an impressional age of eight years old. I knew that I as a Protestant would never see a “vision” from God but I was very impressed that Jennifer Jones did.
I loved Song of B as a kid.
My high school girl friend was from a very Catholic family. They had a Holy Water niche in their house.
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I always looked forward to collecting my week’s newspaper delivery payment for delivering papers to the Italian houses because many of them would invite me in. Seeing the interior of their houses was like a technicolor movie to the black and white apartment that my family lived in. Most of the Italian-American families did their living in the basement, the upstairs was for show. We just LIVED in our apartment, no “show.”
I believe the correct Spanish term is “Catolica”. This is a 30 year old memory though. I do remember Communist is “Commonisimo” too.
Thanks for your comment.
I never studied Spanish in school, only German. I thought Catolica meant “Catholic” as an adjective. I was proposing a noun meaning ‘Catholic things’. Perhaps it means both in Spanish? That would be ideal.
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Despite it all I could not find a proper Virgin Mary 😦
As a boy our primary school had an annual garden fete to raise funds for the Church, and which always included what was termed a ‘repository stall’ (which would be much as you describe) selling kitschy little statuettes and sentimental pictures of the Sacred Heart, Virgin Mary, Nativity scenes etc, plus prayer books, rosaries, medals – and bottles of ‘Holy Water’ i.e. tap water which had been blessed by a priest, for sale at a premium price.
And speaking of ‘Song of Bernadette’, anything at all brought back from the Holy Shrine at Lourdes was mighty big ju-ju and could command virtually any price. An excellent buy if you were rich!
Btw: As the boys grew older, the term ‘REPOSITORY stall’ tended to be mischievously transformed into another, not dissimilar, sacriligeously disrespectful, word – a sin deserving of mention in the confessional. (“Say two ‘Our Fathers’ and ten ‘Hail Marys’!”)