KATHRYN IN CHILE, POST #5


On Sunday, Mom and I took a ski gondola-type thing up to the top of one of the cerros (they´re big hills) in Santiago to where there´s a statue of the Virgin Mary in the immaculate conception. It was put up to celebrate the date the dogma of Mary´s immaculate conception was made official by the Catholic Church. There´s a little chapel near the statue, and I discovered when I entered that they were playing Taize music. Later that day, we went to a cathedral in downtown, where a cantor was also singing Taize music. It was a very special moment for me. It´s really cool to think about how Taize has gotten all over the world into all different kinds of worship contexts. It has been a recurring theme in my college experience. During my first winter term, I went to the Taize monastery. During my third winter term, I went to a Taize service in Atlanta, GA, and then this winter term I hear Taize music in Chile. And then of course there´s the services in Oberlin and Madison, and the service at the FTE conference in Chicago. Taize renews my hope for the possibility of successful ecumenism.

On another note, today we went to the museum of precolumbian Latin American art. I don´t think I ever realized just how many different cultures and societies there were in Latin America before the genocide of European conquest. I knew about the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, but there were dozens of others. Anyway, the museum had an exhibit up called 'Morir para gobernar: sexo y poder en la cultura Moche' or 'Dying in order to govern: sex and power in Moche culture.' It was about the Moche people of Peru´s rituals surrounding the death of a king. Sex, and especially non-procreative forms of sex like oral and anal intercourse were really important for ensuring that the king had a successful journey through the land of the dead, the land of the ancestors, and then back into the land of the living where he ruled in the form of his successor. All the ritual sex was heterosexual or masturbatory, because the association between penises, masculinity, domination, and life was very important. The exhibit largely consisted of exquisitely (and remarkably anatomically accurate) carved pots, water jugs, and figurines showing people engaging in oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation. Outside the exhibit was a sign that said 'Minors ought to be accompanied by their parents.' Boy, would that ever be an awkward parent-child conversation.

After lunch, we walked down a street that was occupied almost entirely by stores that sold knitting and crocheting tools and inexpensive yarns. We must have passed at least five or six yarn stores. I thought of you guys. I guess you'll have to visit Chile now.

I got asked for a third time today if I was Brazilian. Next time someone asks, I'm going to say yes.