The February 2 is Candlemas Day and it is not only a date to eat tamales, because there are those who keep the tradition of dressing your child gaveyes. Therefore, in excelsior We tell you what the clothing of this religious image represents.
Perhaps some of them remember their grandmothers or aunts going to the shops or stalls Child Dio dresses, in order to decorate your plaster images. This meant blessing and pride for the families, but the tradition changed; so these are the practices that must be done.
Dressing Children God does not have the same essence than before; was modified to the needs of society, as explained by the founder of the ‘Niños Uribe’ store, Saúl Uribewho is known as the ‘Tailor of the Child God’, by clients who visit Calle de Talavera in the Historic Center, every february 2.
“What is dressed is the image that each person or each family has, call it Children Jesus in sizes of two centimeters, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fifteen, multiples of five up to 45. Today smaller images are bought because the apartments are smaller. So they buy images from the 12th, from the 15th, from the 20th,” he explained.
How should the Children of God dress?
In Mexico, the 70 percent of the population is Catholicaccording to the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (INEGI), so the tRadiation to dress the Children of God Candlemas Day is something important to culture.
In this way, the same community of catholic believers has structured homework when dressing the picture of Jesus and take it to bless on February 2, in order to make a celebration worthy of a deity.
Given this, the ‘Tailor of the Child God’, Saúl Uribe, clarifies that there is three phases that a family must follow, when dressing their first Child God. These consist of changing the outfit, position and accessories of the image of Jesus, as the years go by.
“You have it for the first time, you dress it in white, they are going to bless it on two, from Candelaria and you put it to bed either on a little bed […] Supposedly, in the second year your child has already grown […] Now, you are going to dress him as the saint of your devotion. So, you put it upright and it’s called ‘base’ where it goes upright. By the third year, you say, ‘he’s grown up. Now, I put him on a throne,’ and that’s why we make the chair and they already sit him in his little chair, ”he recounted.
However, the detachment of the new generations to the orthodox practices of the Catolic religion has caused a mixture of symbolisms in the garments of the Child God; an adaptation of beliefs according to what ‘imports’ at present, for example, money, health or entertainment.
God Children’s Dresses That Should Not Be Worn
As mentioned above, on February 2, thousands of parishioners they dress the Child God as the saint of their devotionthus choosing between more than seven thousand canonized in the Catholic religion, of which 32 are from Mexico. The point is that the church does not share this idea.
Last year, the Archdiocese of Puebla stipulated that no dressing the image of Jesus in different outfits than a childWell, they consider it something inappropriate. This is also explained by historian from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)Ismael Espinoza Garcia.
“For the church, it is only dressing the Child God in white or as a child, because it is precisely that, representing the purity and childhood of Jesus that, curiously, very little is said about it in the Gospels,” he stressed.
Given the trend of dress the God Children as saints or with themes of professions, trades, sports or popular charactersthe founder of the ‘Niños Uribe’ store, Saúl Uribe, who considers himself a man of faith, often comes into conflict when he is ordered outfits What not to do.
“To ask, there are many rare ones. I re-enter spirituality. I don’t play with my faith, because they asked me to be a firefighter; I respect the footballer, which is sold in Tacuba, but which I do not manufacture. They ask me that the charro. I tell them, ‘I can do it, but I shouldn’t,’ he added.
Children’s Dresses God Near Extinction
In recent years there have been 16 million new Catholics, according to the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, but this does not mean that the traditions are maintained. Even experts believe that dress the Children God might be a ritual on the brink of extinction.
The UNAM historian, Ismael Espinoza García, stated that the skepticism to religions in the new generations influences the transformation of what should meaning to clothe Children God. It has even caused a crisis in the reproduction of cultural manifestations.
“The new generations, as such, already see a loss of Catholic traditions […] Holy Week is for vacations and the rosca, of course, is part of Mexican cuisine and traditions, but they do not see it with a religious meaning. Now we don’t. Well, maybe they have the belief or, flat out, they are atheists and the tradition is lost, ”he said.
Meanwhile, the expert dress the Children of God on February 2 or Candlemas DaySaúl Uribe, revealed that the garment manufacturing has declined in the last decades. Therefore, he believes that the tradition will soon come to an end.
“Everything is being lost, because of us, because your grandparents died or your parents are young and don’t have that culture. Yes, it is being lost and hopefully, as long as I live, it will not be lost, but one day it will disappear. Someday, in 20 or 30 years,” she pointed out.
Now, you know what the important points are and what you must do on february 2 on the festivity of Candlemas day. So while this cultural expression lives on, tell us how you will dress your Child God?
Are you going to dress the Child God for the first time? Check what you should do