No Harm in a Little Idol Worship

The important thing about the statue is not whether it has magical powers, but rather that it is adored and held in high esteem by hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of Hondurans. It represents one of the few things in Honduras today that can help bring people together and get them to put aside their differences, even if it's just temporary.

By Marco Cáceres
The story goes that a Honduran peasant laborer named Alejandro Colíndres and eight-year old Lorenzo Martínez found a little wooden statue of the Virgin Mary while they were walking home to the village of Suyapa one Saturday in 1747. The two were returning from clearing some corn fields on Piligüin mountain near Tegucigalpa. On the way, they stopped to sleep along the path for the night. While he was sleeping, Mr. Colindres was awakened by a jabbing pain in his side. Without looking, he took what he thought was a stick and threw it as far as he could. As he laid down, he felt the object beneath him again. So once again... he tossed it. He laid down again. Yet again he felt something poking him. This time, he simply placed it next to him. When Mr. Colindres awoke in the morning, he discovered that the piece of wood was actually the 2.6-inch statue of the Virgin. The man took the statue home, and his family kept it on an altar in their house for the next 20 years.

In 1768, the statue was credited with a miracle. It apparently cured José de Zelaya y Midence, the owner of the nearby Hacienda Trapiche, of kidney stones. Naturally, this led to the construction of a chapel in the statue's honor. The statue has been venerated as a religious icon ever since. But the veneration became more profound after 1925 when Pope Pius XI declared the statue the Patroness of Honduras under the title "Our Lady of Suyapa". February 3rd was selected as the statue's feast day. A large Basilica was built during the 1950s next to the chapel housing the statue. Every February 3rd, the statue is temporarily moved to the Basilica in order to accommodate the crowds of people who make the annual pilgrimage to worship the icon and what it represents.

I'll be honest, I'm not much on religious icons. But I figure if they help people get through the day and gives them hope, then who am I to rain on their parade. I once took a small statue of Saint Joseph and buried it upside down in my back yard because the organist at a Catholic Church told me that it was a sure fire way to help sell my house. My house eventually sold, but it took several months. In high school, I was losing a tennis match badly. For some reason, I got the notion of making the sign of the cross and kissing the crucifix around my neck before each serve. From that moment on, I did not lose another game. I won the match, which allowed my team to win its overall match and post a winning season. Miracles?

The important thing about the statue is not whether it has magical powers, but rather that it is adored and held in high esteem by hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of Hondurans. It represents one of the few things in Honduras today that can help bring people together and get them to put aside their differences, even if it's just temporary. Religious leaders in the country often ask for peace and reconciliation in the name of Our Lady of Suyapa, or "La Morenita" (Little Dark One), as the people have nicknamed it. That is surely what they are doing today.

While it may seem silly placing so much credence in a tiny piece of carved cedar, there's no real harm in it, and if it can unite Hondurans in silence, stillness, and prayer... well, that's no small achievement. (1/31/12)

Note: The author is the editor and cofounder of Honduras Weekly. He is also the cofounder of projecthonduras.com, an international network of volunteers involved in humanitarian development projects aimed at empowering the people of Honduras. He directs the annual Conference on Honduras in the town of Copán Ruinas in northwestern Honduras. He was born in Tegucigalpa.