Spirit of Chiapas The Expressive Art of the Roof Cross Tradition Paperback - 2004

From the publisher

With elements of catalogue, guidebook, and historical summary, this richly illustrated book offers a comprehensive source of information for art historians, folk art enthusiasts, museum curators, and the casual traveller to Chiapas. The Mexican state of Chiapas and its historical connections to Guatemala during the colonial period, offers travellers an experience different from most states in Mexico. Here they see Indians and Ladinos living side by side following centuries-old traditions, each with their own interpretation of Catholicism, and a symbolic language that distinguishes their culture and customs. This book documents a fast-disappearing tradition of iron crosses as house blessings as collected by the late Frans Blom, now located at Na Bolom, the Museum and Cultural Centre established in 1960 in San Cristobal de Las Casas. By extending her purview from this collection to the more than two hundred extant crosses of iron, wood, and cement that are still visible on roofs of San Cristobal, Guess presents a wealth of information that traces the tradition from its origins, identifies stylistic variations that occur among these roof crosses, and provides interpretations of the sy