Research Catalog

Answered prayers : miracles and milagros along the border / Eileen Oktavec.

Title: Answered prayers : miracles and milagros along the border / Eileen Oktavec.
Author: Oktavec, Eileen.
Publication: Tucson : University of Arizona Press, c1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	REL. Ok 7 a	Off-site

Details

Description

xxvi, 239 p. : ill.; 25 cm.

Summary

When Catholics in the Southwest ask God or a saint for help, many of them do not merely pray. They also promise or present a gift - a tiny metal object known as a milagro. A milagro, which means "miracle" in Spanish, depicts the object for which a miracle is sought, such as a crippled leg or a new house. Milagros are offered for everything people pray for, and so they can represent almost anything imaginable - arms, lungs, hearts, and eyes; men, women, and children; animals, cars, boats - even lost handbags and imprisoned men. In Answered Prayers, the Mexicans, Mexican Americans, Tohono O'odham, and Yaquis who practice this tradition share their stories of unwavering faith and divine intervention. Anthropologist and photographer Eileen Oktavec has spent more than two decades documenting this fascinating tradition in the Arizona-Mexico borderlands. Quoting extensive interviews, she explains the beliefs of the people who perform this ancient folk ritual and the many rules guiding this practice. She also describes the many places where milagros are offered - from the elaborate Mexican baroque Mission San Xavier near Tucson, Arizona, to tiny household shrines and hospitals on both sides of the border. Oktavec also explains how milagros are made, where they are bought, and how they are used in jewelry, sculpture, and art.

Series Statement

The Southwest Center series

Uniform Title

The Southwest Center series.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: milagros and the cult of St. Francis - Offerings and answered prayers -- Offering sites throughout the Sonoran region -- Buying a milagro -- Stamping, engraving, and casting milagros -- From heads to handcuffs: many kinds of milagros -- What becomes of milagros -- The new milagro art -- The future of milagros.

ISBN

0816515573
0816515816 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^95004403^

OCLC

32550144
SCSB-10453652

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library