Sunday, November 7, 2010

Massage Parlor Religion

Celebrated Day of the Dead on Tuesday with the lizard clan of the Chinantec tribe in the village of Palantla among the mountains of northeast Oaxaca. Here are two flower-framed home altars I saw. One offers fruit, beer, coca-cola and sugarcane booze that can make you see visions or go blind. The other displays roasted animals including crayfish, iguana, armadillo and tepezcuintle, which is a fox/dog kind of thing.

My  visit also included magic. After my companion complained of chronic back pain, a local healer rubbed a basil bouquet all over her, broke an egg into a glass, and pointed a bony finger at an inexplicable black line in this occultic protein shake. Our shaman interpreted the sign. It seems a jealous love rival had put a needle curse on my partner. Hell hath no fury like blah blah blah.

Those who want to find out how the curse removal therapy went should check out my upcoming book Fresh Wind & Strange Fire. Those who think I´m a fool for volunteering to finance this mystic treatment should try to remember the last time they got to watch a Mexican hottie being systematically rubbed over every part of her body for a hundred pesos. Enough said.

2 comments:

  1. xochitl garcia velazquez z-3November 11, 2010 at 7:31 PM

    in the past, the altars were very nice, preparavan the deceased to cross to the other life by putting food, fruit, water, among other things

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  2. This is a tradition that I find interesting because it offers food that are no longer present in body but in soul

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