Broadsides

by Mariah Cardenas

El Señor de Chalma

El Señor de Chalma, Broadside (n.d.), type metal engraving [39 x 27 cm]

El Señor de Chalma

Folk Catholicism and devotion are important themes in José Guadalupe Posada’s artwork. The image of El Señor de Chalma (The Lord of Chalma) depicted in Posada’s broadside would have been recognizable to the Mexican public at the turn of the 20th century. Located in present-day Mexico State, Chalma is the second most visited pilgrimage site after the preeminent Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Indeed, the apparition of the Virgin Mary in Mexico City (1531) and the apparition of Christ on the cross in Chalma (1539) were contemporaneous events in the early catechization process of New Spain.

The Lord of Chalma represents the lifeless, crucified Jesus Christ that appeared to Augustinian friars in a cave where indigenous people worshipped Oztotéotl, a pre-Hispanic deity whose image was in this cave (Noguez 1, Crumrine 102, Wood). According to tradition, the Augustinian friars visited the cave and found the idol smashed with a figure of Christ in its place (Noguez 1). Posada depicts the image of Christ that “replaced” the idol. This layering of Catholicism over indigenous religion is an example of the syncretism that was prevalent in the sixteenth-century New Spain, that is, colonial Mexico. This broadside is one of many that Posada made of local saints, many of whom had syncretic aspects. The Señor de Chalma broadside fits into this larger syncretic tradition, a pattern of Posada’s work, which would have connected with the multiplicity of roots of his audience.

We know that the figure on the cross is an image of Christ and not of one of the thieves crucified with Christ nor of any saints because of the “INRI” inscription above the cross, which, according to Christian tradition, was written above the head of Christ to identify him as “King of the Jews.” Additionally, the image portrays flowers in vases on either side of the Lord of Chalma. According to some accounts about the apparition of the Lord of Chalma, flowers were strewn about the cave where he appeared (1). In this way, the image is an inscription of Catholic tradition.

Works Cited

Crumrine, N. Ross, and E. Alan Morinis. Pilgrimage in Latin America. Greenwood Press, 1991.

Noguez, Xavier. “Chalma.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures, 2006. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/10.1093/acref/9780195108156.013.0102.

Poole, Stafford. "Guadalupe, Virgin of." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 2nd ed., vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, pp. 520-521. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3078902624/GVRL?u=iuclassb&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=2ff3304d. Accessed 5 Dec. 2022.

Wood, Stephanie. "Chalma." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, pp. 279-280. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3078901347/GVRL?u=iuclassb&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=62ec2c50. Accessed 5 Dec. 2022.

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