Potato Cross x 2

Everyone is talking about it. Or at least everyone that tracks homespun local interest reports that attract national and international media interest because they are about Jesus or Mary showing up in some unexpected place. So here we have one story that becomes a couple stories, which all end up being the same kind of story, the old Madonna of the Toast story.

According to The BIG One – WTAM 1100, Dennis Bort of Berea, Ohio, was peeling potatoes, on Christmas Day no less, when he found a cross in one of the spuds. Now it’s up for grabs on eBay. But guess what? It’s not the only potato cross available on eBay right now. On New Year’s Eve a woman in Iowa found one too, though this one is more rough hewn.

Who remembers this potato cross from my January 23, 2008, post? You don’t remember? It’s much better than this post, which is just more of the same when it comes to these stories. There is one bid on the Iowa potato, while the Ohio one has a minimum of $1,000. Guess what? That one won’t sell. But, if you check out the older story, you can also get a little dose of James Joyce and my secret ingredient for making the best potato salad.

The Many Hands of God

Here’s a new one: an attempt to sell a rockslide rendered Hand of God on eBay.



The term “Hand of God” can have very different meanings. Michelangelo’s version from the Sistine Chapel’s “Creation of Adam” is without a doubt the most famous.



But, if you know more about World Cup soccer than art history, Diego Maradona’s infamous “Hand of God goal” from the 1986 Argentina/England World Cup Quarter-Final match probably comes to mind. One of the sport’s most lauded athletes scored two goals on that day, one that he hit in with his hand but was never penalized for, the other a result of Maradona dribbling around 6 British players to score what has since been dubbed “Goal of the Century.” (Argentina won the game, and the World Cup that year.)



If you know about symbolism in antiquity and world religions, “Hand of God” signifies khamsa, or hamsa. The five-fingered figure is believed to have Phoenician origins though it is most commonly associated with Judaism and Islam. Not only do our hands have five fingers, but the Jewish Torah comprises the first five books of the Bible and Islam has its Five Pillars.



According to this CNN report, if you ask Paul Grayhek what the Hand of God looks like, he’ll show you the photograph above, and then try to sell it to you. The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, resident lost his job and during Lent had been praying. Then on March 8 within a stone’s throw of his home the rocks tumbled, leaving this form, which is about nine feet tall and four feet wide.

Excavating this mass would be expensive, but no worries, you aren’t getting anything material. Says the report: “The buyer will ‘basically be buying the rights, complete and exclusive rights’ to the rock, including literary and movie rights, according to Grayhek.”

He goes on to say: “People think I'm some holier-than-thou person trying to get rich. I'm not . . . The purpose is to spread the story of God and eBay is just a vehicle.”

Well, in this instance eBay is a bit of a jalopy because as of writing this post the item has been removed. Maybe God thought there were better ways to spread His story. Or maybe God’s agent got in touch with Grayhek and explained that literary and movie rights to all rocks and stones have already been sold . . .

A Colorful Stone

Sergio Romero of Pocatello, Idaho, took a trip to Las Vegas last year and traded an antique coin purse for the colorful stone pictured above. According to this KPVI story, back at home while polishing the new acquisition Romero discovered what he sees as the Virgin Mary in the asparagus-tip shaped blue of the stone. Said Romero: “I'm not a religious man. This has kind of turned me to looking into religion. As a matter of fact, I think I might even go to church this Sunday.”

I don’t see the shape, but the jade and blue are dazzling. That must have been some antique coin purse. Perhaps sometime soon Romero will be able to get the purse back, because no amount of newly discovered faith is going to keep him from selling this on eBay, which he plans to do within the next month.

The News in the News

From the inception of this project, my spins on these stories have always been linked to how the media treats them, and how those treatments get others to react. Here then is the story of Pamela Latrimore, as told by her on eBay, where she is in the process of selling this brain scan, where in the cerebral folds of her brain she has discovered the Virgin Mary.



Nothing shocking about that, right? Jesus and Mary have popped up in ultrasounds and MRIs plenty of times. It’s not even particularly surprising that it looks like this item will sell for more than $700. What’s interesting is how this event, for Latrimore, has spurred her campaign for awareness about Agent Orange dioxins that have long been polluting her hometown of Jacksonville, Arkansas. In her words from eBay: “Some do not see the image some do. I'm not here to dispute that. I see it and I think it is a blessing and a miracle. The miracle to me is people are now aware of this town.”

Yes, her explanation of all this is erratic in terms of spelling, grammar and capitalization, but this abstract from a November 4, 1991 issue of The Nation proves that Latrimore is not exaggerating the severity of illnesses and environmental issues that have plagued this town since the end of the Vietnam War. Apparently, the Vertac Chemical Corporation stored various toxins all over the town: “It is opined that no one knows for certain if a house or backyard isn't directly on top of a yet-to-be-identified toxic dump.” Yikes!

Latrimore says she is very ill and while she and others have long fought to save themselves, their town and other towns that suffer the same plight, dead ends are all they seem to hit. But now, this image of the Virgin Mary has garnered national media attention, including a potential appearance on CNN (according to Latrimore).

I’m just tuning in to this issue today. I can’t verify Latrimore’s claims, but searching around, they don’t strike me as outlandish. What does it say about the culture of media when real human suffering does not receive proper reporting until a purported image of the Virgin Mary in a brain scan becomes a part of the story? I’d say that the media, at least the mainstream media (CNN, I’m talking to you, too), has conditioned us to consider tabloid stories as hard news. That’s why banner headlines on AOL and Yahoo inform us about reality television dramas. If that’s your thing, fine, but that ain’t news.

More on this as it develops . . .

Update (12/18/08): The MRI sold for $730, going to an anonymous California bidder. With more than $100,000 in medical bills, this was clearly not about the money for Latrimore. According to this WFTS report, she is actually disappointed that the auction only received 21,977 views over the course of 10 days because she was hoping to raise even more awareness about the pollution that plagues her hometown of Jacksonville, Arkansas. It doesn’t seem like that CNN appearance ever happened – maybe it was too much news?

Sold – Jesus Doggie Door Goes for $1,185

The title says it all. No word about whether or not the winner of this auction is going to pay extra for Roger Bowman to accompany the framed object to its new home, but the sale does seem official. Scroll down to read more about this story.

Believe it or not, I do read about more than questionable iconic forms showing up in surprising places. I actually read books, ones without pictures even. Check out The Millions if you are interested in my favorite reads of 2008. Contributors to the annual A Year In Reading comprise a roster of today’s most interesting and acclaimed writers.

Jesus Doggie Door on eBay

For you long-time readers, this Jesus doggie door is nothing new. Back in January 2007, I blogged about Roger Bowman’s tale of disobedient dogs and how this scratch-formed Jesus face saved them from the pound. What is new, however, is this eBay auction – to the winner goes the doggie door, framed for posterity. Apparently, according to Bowman’s thorough eBay explanation, he has lost his job and needs a quick cash infusion to cover his mortgage.

Like the economy, plenty has changed about this story since it was first reported. One of the dogs is dead, and Bowman no longer believes that the image resembles the Shroud of Turin, though he maintains that it is Jesus, partly because of the iconic beard and long hair, but also because of other circumstances: “The compelling factor in judging this image is the convergence of both the image, which had never before been observed in any way prior to the day it was discovered in full form, and the fact it appeared on an item that was of extreme relevance to the most important issue facing my family at that time.”



As of writing this post, the current bid stands at $1,850. Needless to say, it has generated ample press, like here. It’s hard to imagine why such a personal object for Bowman would be worth much to anyone else, especially in this dire economic climate, but the display case alone is pretty nifty: “The backlight is created from ultra-thin fluorescent tubes that are housed in a pre-manufactured backlight device with a semi-opaque front. It is typically used to backlight transluscent [sic] store signs such as fast food menus.” If there’s one thing that says “classy” and “spiritual” to me, it’s fast-food menu lighting. Actually, the lighting is necessary if you want to see this semblance; it has been rigged to replicate how the sun lit the doggie door on the day when Bowman first noticed the image.

Should you want to kick in for airfare and provide notice one week in advance, Bowman and his dog Hercules will attend an “unveiling,” and presumably pose for some photographs.

And the Angels Sing

The election is over (YAAAAY!), and so now it is back to business as usual, or as usual as matters can be in these parts. This story is a pre-election story, but just about a week old. It came to me via a Google alert, and I was tickled by the fact that the writer cited this here blog to give the story a bit of context (though she should have mentioned the book, too).

Found near Johnny Mercer’s Pier in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, this shell immediately struck the stroller as resembling the Virgin Mary. According to the article, “like a good entrepreneur,” the person that found the shell, no doubt reeling from religious ecstasy, put it up for sale on eBay. Nothing surprising in that, but what is surprising is that the shell sold for $135 after 26 bids.

The shell’s ribbing does create the effect of a robe, and its belled shape echoes the iconic form of Mary, but I’m not quite sure why this item would sell while so many other more or less similar items do not sell, or sell for a couple of bucks. I guess some people really like shells.

But that’s the beauty of these stories, there is so much you can never know and wondering can be the real joy.

I wonder why a pier in North Carolina is named after Savannah, Georgia’s most famous son?

Joe the Plumber of the Toast

Geez, you leave the country for a week and lose all sense of what’s going on. What’s the deal with this Joe the Plumber guy? I’ve talked to some people, Googled around a bit and I think I have a handle on him and how he has been inflated into a political idea. Strikes me as little more than a media melee. This eBay auction for the piece of toast above seems to bolster my theory.

This is the world of infotainment, people.

Is Toast More Important Than Politics?

Judging by this, some people would clearly prefer to think about toast over politics. Remember how last post I commented about the media’s propensity to sensationalize Jesus images and the US election? Well, it’s not only the media that’s in on it – though doubtless they have inspired the public. Above, a piece of toast currently being auctioned on eBay. Yes, that’s supposed to be Sarah Palin’s face. The seller writes: “You get this piece of toast with the image of Sarah Palin. Miraculous? You be the judge. Not sponsored by any political party.” According to this Reuters article, Palin memorabilia is all the rage on eBay these days.

A fan of this here blog tipped me off about this absurdity via TheDailyDairy.com.

The current bid on this item is $12,000! How much do you think people would pay for an Obama toast?

UPDATE: It seems that rogue bidders were responsible for raising the price on this item. So, after weeding them out, the toast sold for $31.

Chronicle of a Demise

Greetings. It’s been quiet on the Madonna of the Toast front. It would be better for all of us if the media stuck with trying to sensationalize the latest Jesus image, as opposed to how it is attempting to sensationalize more pressing issues, issues that deserve serious and sober reporting and consideration: the election, economy, health care, war(s).

And then, as if some apocalyptic convergence of all the big, scary, impossible ideas that propel those issues – election, economy, health care, war(s) – writer extraordinaire David Foster Wallace hanged himself. You’ve probably heard. If you’ve never read him, you should, a short story or an article. Worthwhile memorials at The Millions and McSweeney’s.

So, I’ve been thinking about writing and writers, America, not that different from normal I suppose, but over the last few days tinged by melancholy. But is has yielded something, after returning to a seldom-read collection of Tennessee Williams stories. There are some true gems, but the story I felt drawn to the other day was “Chronicle of a Demise,” the title an ode to my mood. Guess what? It’s a short story that could have been reported here, a perfect accompaniment to these random, and questionable, eBay objects: Jesus (or an ogre) on a wood panel, Mary on a candle. (Where’s the wick?)



The story’s first person narrator belongs to an Order, which has a Saint who spends her days on a cot, up on the roof of an apartment building. Her charge: she tends to the Order’s articles of faith. They are cataloged in an old Valentine’s Day heart-shaped candy box. The items “were collected at random, in subway stations and under the seats of trains, in gutters and alleys of many different towns, even by theft.” After inspection by the Saint, a new item was either put in the candy box or a “Possible” box. As any regular reader knows, articles of faith can be subjective.

The demise in question is that of the Saint’s and her growing misgivings about the Order’s behavior. The “purple tinfoil” and the “wad of peppermint gum that Hannibal Weems had picked up on the steps of an escalator in Gimbel’s department store” revealed the truth to the Saint: “Matter is not what matters!”

With five simple words, the Saint's epiphany conjoins the two poles of belief – religious devotion and agnosticism – as they come around from opposite directions and become the same. The deeply religious can say it, and believe it, knowing that the divine is all that matters, that this physical, temporal world is but a corridor, a threshold, to something greater, something that is part of the Master Plan. But the overly-educated post-modern cynic can say it, committed to just how unnecessary the day-to-day can be, and view it as the proof of an ontological truth: the impossibility of ultimate or complete knowledge.

I bet it would have been fun to sit with DFW, discussing Tennessee Williams, Jesus stains and the media.

Freezer Burn is Better Than a Heart Attack

Well, the news has been quiet on the surprising iconography front – must be all the tomato salmonella scares (I’m just glad this isn’t happening at the peak of the tomato season). So, I’ve decided to take a stroll through the aisles of eBay. Look what I found:



That’s a fried clam and its owner believes it resembles Christ on the cross. The story goes like this: the battered bit was served up on a heap of other battered bits at a restaurant. The person usually just scarfs them down because they’re so small, but upon seeing this deep-fired shape, “stopped cold in [her/his] tracks.” That was over two years ago. Ever since, the morsel has been bestowing luck on its owner from the freezer. Like how she/he made a full and fast recovery after a quintuple bypass surgery (which was necessary because “all the major arteries were blocked to my heart”).

Some might say that is was all the fried food that caused the condition, but this person is clearly in the rosy “glass half-full” camp when it comes to life.

If you buy this thing – and there is no reserve price so you can get it for a song – it will be delivered in dry ice, which is always kind of fun. I bet that this fried clam will spend the rest of its days in its freezer, jealous of all the frozen pizzas and Hot Pockets that get to warm up.

Gnarled Jesus Profile

Ohio’s Ashtabula Star Beacon reports that Greg Wolfe and two others were chopping wood last week when this log got spit out of a “gasoline log splitter.” When Wolfe’s friend said it looked like Jesus, Wolfe ignored him, busy with the task at hand. The log was set aside, and once the men were done, they all agreed that it looked like Jesus. The pensive human lines of the wood are definitely noticeable, especially the nose, cheek bone and lips. One person suggested that Wolfe should view this log's creation as a sign that he doesn't spend his Sundays in the right place.

Now, Wolfe has the gnarled profile on exhibit at his store, Andover Appliance, in Andover, Ohio: “he’s trying to spark interest within the public to come and take a look at it.” Do I smell an eBay campaign in the making?

And speaking of eBay, after more than 13,000 visits in less than a week and 96 bids, the Jesus Spoon from last post sold for $760. How about that?

Jesus Spoon

In Hardin, Kentucky, JW Davis’s daughter pulled this spoon out of the dishwasher where she works and brought it home. She had noticed the face of Jesus, and her dad saw it, too. Now the spoon is on eBay. Ninety bids have escalated the price to over $600 (as of Saturday afternoon).

Davis has been very active on eBay, posting links to news stories about the spoon and directing potential bidders to sites that contain better photographs of the spoon (“It was very hard to photograph because the image almost appears in 3D.”). Davis has also sweetened the deal: the winner of this auction receives the spoon specially encased, along with photographs and media memorabilia like newspaper clippings.

According to this 9 News report, Davis said: “I'm just hoping that if I get rid of it, it's a blessing to somebody because of the image that's on it." Davis also expressed his hope that ultimately the spoon would be on display for public viewing.

With all of the iconic foodstuffs surfacing these days, I guess it only makes sense that famous flatware would follow.

No word about what Davis’s daughter’s boss has to say about her taking the spoon.

Jesus . . . and His Old Man?

Referencing the Virgin Mary Pretzel and Cheesus, this eBay auction offers a Jesus Tortilla. Heated up for breakfast a few weeks ago, the tortilla has been in the freezer since the owner noticed the face of Jesus. I see Chewbacca.



There's not much else to say about this tortilla other than it's out there in the world, for sale to the highest bidder. I knew we would start seeing more sacred snacks!

Am I the only one that sees the fedora wearing, bespectacled man with a goatee and moustache smiling down on Jesus? Do you think it’s God? Or a young Wookiee?

Virgin Mary Pretzel Update

“SAGA OF PRIZED PRETZEL TAKES SAD TWIST FOR SELLERS”: So reads the headline of this article from Eugene, Oregon’s The Herald-Guard. Remember the Virgin Mary Pretzel from a couple of weeks ago? Over the course of a few days, thanks to plenty of radio publicity, an eBay auction for this Rold Gold pretzel that to its seller resembled the Virgin Mary (in a joke, “Look at what people will buy” kind of way) had incited bids for as much as $2 million! Now, that was most likely a hoax, but the supposedly sacred snack did get several seemingly legitimate bids in the $5,000 range. Thing is, eBay shut down the auction: twice.

Michael Fleming, owner of the pretzel, is flummoxed. At first, eBay revoked the auction because the item was perishable, and thus a health risk. But then the pretzel reappeared, which commenced more bidding, as well as many spin-off pretzels.

From the article:

When bidding ended at 8:51 p.m. Thursday — dozens of offers ranging up to $5,100 were logged.

That’s when a computer-generated e-mail from eBay arrived, informing them that the site had once again invalidated their auction: This time, administrators had reason to believe an “unauthorized third party” had posted the auction, Fleming said.

The message also informed them, “Do not respond to this e-mail.”

Now the pretzel is in a safety deposit box, and Fleming blames eBay for denying a charity a financial windfall, for he and his radio-show cronies, in light of the high bidding, had agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds.

When you look at eBay’s policies regarding such sales, it doesn’t say that sellers cannot offer perishable items. It says this: “Sellers who list perishable items should clearly identify in the item description the steps that they will take to ensure that the goods are delivered to the buyer safely. For example, sellers of perishable goods should offer overnight delivery and ensure that the goods are properly packaged.” I don’t think Fleming and friends included any specific language about how the pretzel was being preserved, but I also find it hard to believe that anyone willing to spend real money on such an item would eat it. Nonetheless, I can understand why eBay has to be cautious about such sales.



I wonder if these policies came about as a direct result of Diana Duyser’s infamous Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese, which I describe in Madonna of the Toast as “a foodstuff transfiguration created from the alchemy of Land ‘O Lakes Cheese, Publix brand bread and no oil or butter.” Duyser’s auction was also once revoked by eBay, but only because people thought it was a hoax. When it became apparent that Duyser’s grilled cheese would indeed by sold and delivered to the highest bidder, the auction was reinstated, and the rest is history.

Michael Fleming might not make the history books, but he certainly got his 15 minutes of fame, and since the pretzel remains available, I bet he’ll give himself another go on the media merry-go-round. I just hope that his safety deposit box is climate controlled. If the pretzel is anything like Duyser's grilled cheese, it will resist mold for over a decade.

Salted Simulacra

This story is careening like the salted twists of a giant pretzel, like Johannes Kepler’s understanding of the universe. Earlier this week, Michael Fleming, of Eugene, Oregon, let a radio DJ post a 3-year-old pretzel found in a bag of Rold Gold on eBay, saying that he thought it resembled the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus. According to this article from The Oregonian, Fleming has this to say about his pretzel: “People seemed generally moved by these images . . . And they really seem to believe that the Virgin Mary is before them.” The pretzel got a big publicity boost from Tanner Hanney, host of KVAL radio’s “Donkey Show.” Hanney is eschewing the spiritual side of these phenomena: “We're kind of capitalizing on the stupidity of eBay and that people will buy anything.”

Calling eBay stupid seems stupid to me, but Hanney’s point about people’s willingness to buy pretty much anything is spot-on. The bidding on Fleming’s pretzel has reached $10,950. In terms of this story, however, the bigger point is people’s willingness to try selling pretty much anything on eBay, like this spate of Virgin Mary pretzels, all put on auction within the last couple of days.



The seller of this one makes no secret about needing some quick cash.



And then there’s this one (above), found four months ago, but just now offered up in light of all this hoopla.



I like this one: Mary kneeling in prayer.



And for good measure, especially if $1.75 is more in your price range.

This is not the first such pretzel auctioned on eBay. Back in 2005, the online casino Goldenpalace.com (the folks who bought Diana Duyser’s grilled cheese for $28,000) bought a Virgin Mary pretzel for $10,600 (below).



Some of these pretzels are being sold by people who claim that these shapes, by virtue of being noticed before they were chomped, are holy signs of a higher power. Others clearly went looking for some misshaped rolled dough and, voila! Either way, there are some interesting religious connections to pretzels. The origin of the pretzel is debated, but German bakery signage from the early 12th century is the earliest verifiable appearance of these tasty snacks. (As an aside, when I was in Frankfurt last October, I had an amazing ham and cheese sandwich, with great tangy mustard, on pretzel bread, something I had never had before. Loved it.)

One unsubstantiated reference credits an Italian monk who in 610 C.E. made pretzels to reward children for learning their prayers. The theory goes on to claim that the shape was intended to evoke the devotional pose of arms crossed against one’s chest.

There is also a connection between pretzels and Lent in that the snacks were eaten to make up for abstaining from other foods. In his book Astronomia nova, published in 1609, Johannes Kepler, assuming Earth as the center of the universe, equated the movement of orbiting planets “with the appearance of Lenten bread.” That’s a pretzel to you and me.

We’ll see how many of these pretzels sell, and for how much. Does anyone else think that these Virgin Mary pretzels look like something Pablo Picasso might have done had he been a baker? Makes me thirsty for a beer!

Same Shape, Different Associations

Furniture maker Craig O’Connor, from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, spotted what he views as a Jesus-shaped discoloring after procuring this slab of New Jersey pine tree from his buddy’s yard. According to this CBS 3 report, some are calling it the “divine pine.” O’Connor, a Catholic, had no doubt about the shape: “When I seen it, I was just in awe, I think it's Jesus, Jesus' head … it looks like he is ascending into heaven.”



Philadelphia Weekly blogger Daniel McQuade thought the image resembled “a ghoul, a character in a Tim Burton animated film and, most definitely, that one prisoner at Abu Ghraib.” McQuade’s comparison is meant to be ironic, but it drives home how deeply embedded (another Iraq-war cultural artifact) images can become, where a shape harkens to a religious prophet or a symbol for torture. While Biblical iconography has been with us much longer than the imagery and lexicon of the current war in Iraq, both have infiltrated our minds, making them recognizable, no matter how we feel about either.

In O’Connor’s case, he seems to feel pretty good about wanting to make a buck off his discovery. Apparently, the wood was placed on eBay for a moment and got a quick $500 bid, prompting O’Connor to shut down the auction, eager with hopes of being able to raise awareness about his stump, resulting in a sale of at least $100,000. You guessed it, O’Connor’s pricing is based on the fact that Diana Duyser’s Virgin Mary grilled cheese sold for $28,000 on eBay, as documented in Madonna of the Toast.

Maybe O’Connor should stick to his day job and make a table out of the wood . . .

A Natural Image

Out of Tampa, Florida, via Brazil, comes this 400-pound hunk of granite. Purchased two years ago by a Pinellas County granite distributor, the slab will soon be auctioned on eBay. According to this news story from Fox 13, the 7-by-7 foot piece of polished granite is worth about $4,000, but John Finkbiner (the guy who will sell the granite because the owner wants to remain anonymous) believes it could fetch a much larger sum because many people see the image of Jesus on the Cross embedded in the rock. Says the news report, the granite’s source “is near the town of Espirito Santo – translated, it means ‘holy spirit.’” So it has that going for it.

Like any good vendor of subjective memorabilia trying to cash in on an eBay sale, Finkbiner cites Diana Duyser’s $28,000 windfall (documented in Madonna of the Toast), “and that was just a sandwich.” But, Finkbiner is hedging his bets, reminding people that no matter what, “It is a very interesting natural image.”

It looks more like a Texas Longhorn to me, or a bolo tie, especially when compared to past examples of Christ on the Cross. This form is too much like a knot: all torso and no hips or legs.

What do you see?

A Thought About the Virgin of Guadalupe

When I first started kicking around the idea of writing Madonna of the Toast, about three years ago, one of the things that really got me jazzed was the fact that people see secular icons as well as religious ones. It really drove home for me the power of the image to influence people and their interpretations of the physical world that we all inhabit. With that said, and as regular visitors to this blog know, most of the iconography spotted on trees and foodstuffs is religious, and most of these sightings are of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The creation and dissemination of the visual representations of both of these figures over time canvases the world and while variations of how they looked exist, both icons can be recognized by shapes and shadings that echo the most common aspects of the images, like a flowing gown and facial hair.



Many people think these phenomena are new, resulting from our digital, screen-dependent culture, and this is just plain wrong. Our high-speed technological landscape certainly helps promote these sightings and spread the word about them, but such visual manifestations have surfaced for centuries. As I mention in the book, references to the Man in the Moon can be found in texts from Europe and Asia that date back at least 500 years.

December 12 marks the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is inspired by the story of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin’s walk up a hill called Tepeyac in 1531, not too far from Mexico City. The story states that the Virgin appeared before Juan Diego, telling him to build an abbey on the hill. Juan Diego relayed the message to a Spanish bishop who needed to observe a miracle to be convinced. In response to the bishop’s request, the Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers, although it was winter and nothing was in bloom. However, atop Tepeyac, Juan Diego found roses, which he gathered and presented to the bishop, after which the Virgin’s form appeared on the cloth of Juan Diego’s tilma (cloak). This story is believed to be an amalgamation of Catholic ideology and indigenous Mexican lure, particularly that of the goddess Tonantzin. Since the 16th century, the Virgin of Guadalupe has been used as a symbol of Mexican independence.

I couldn’t help consider the roots of this myth after reading this article in the Los Angeles Times about the appeal of the Virgin of Guadalupe to people with cultural and religious heritages that span the globe. According to the article, “An estimated 10,000 devotees turned out Sunday [December 2] for a procession in honor of the Virgin, among them ethnic Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Tongan and Vietnamese worshipers.” The story of this visual manifestation compels people from all walks of life in a way that seems more about sharing a personal touchstone, as opposed to dogma, allowing these people to celebrate diversity and individuality under the guise of a single iconic image.



It's true that people may look a little too hard for these images, or try too hard to convince others that a holy sign is embedded somewhere surprising (like in this eBay item claiming to display the images of Mary and Jesus wound into Mother Teresa's fingerprint). But by the very virtue of these stories and ideas existing, they are important and worth examining, because they reveal a great deal about the culture at large: our tendencies, weaknesses and desires. And in considering what so many others claim to see, it really boils down to this: What do you see?

For After the Food

The Holidaze hovers. Friday, Black Friday as they call it here in the US, serves as a consumer ritual replete with massive sales, hordes of bargain shoppers and excessive media coverage of those who shop until they drop. What better way to mark the occasion than with a quick look at what eBay has to offer to those looking to stay home but still get some shopping done? Best thing about this stuff is that you won’t find these items in any of the chain stores near you.



This 18-inch oak log was split and revealed, to the hatchet man, “The distinct image of the Blessed Mother with the Baby Jesus on her rght shoulder as she looks down at Him.” Spelling and grammatical consistency aside, the seller is forthright about the reason for the high starting price of $5,000: “[T]his will alleviate some of my debt load which will in turn answer my prayers.” I can certainly appreciate that.



And then there is this tongue-in-cheek Jesus banana, or is it Ron Jeremy? Insert lewd joke here.

And I guess if you are shopping online, Madonna of the Toast can be your one-stop shop for all matter of iconography.

Gobble, gobble everyone!