Monday, November 27, 2000 Online Edition 48

La Virgen of Suyapa -- exploring a modern Honduran myth 

The cathedral-like Basilica of Suyapa commands the landscape for miles around.  (Photos by Eric Schwimmer.)

By BILLY WEISS

Special to Honduras This Week 

La Virgen de Suyapa is the patron saint of Honduras.  She is a tiny painted wooden statue, six and a half centimeters tall, yet in spite of her diminutive stature she has become one of the most important and powerful images in the Roman Catholic Church here.  Intrigued I set off to see her and to find out more about the myth that surrounds her.

The village of Suyapa is 7 km out of Tegucigalpa, and the huge basilica church that dominates the landscape among the hills above Tegucigalpa lets you know you have arrived.  Begun in the 1950s, the splendor and grandeur of this modern almost cathedral-like church are no doubt meant to symbolize the outer form of the inner power of this tiny Virgen.  Yet Suyapa herself is kept mostly in the much smaller and more popular enanita church of Suyapa that sits almost unnoticed behind its larger counterpart, from where she is occasionally taken up to the larger basilica for special events, such as the celebrations for her saint's day on Feb. 3rd.

One of the stunning stain glass windows in the Basilica.

I went to look inside the basilica first, and was glad that I had done so on account of the 12 quite spectacularly beautiful stained glass windows, each in a rich turquoise background, and each looking as fresh as if they had been made yesterday.  They really took my breath away.  What a great master craftsman at work there!

SOMETHING ABOUT HER

From there I made my way to the smaller church, a beautiful small white building.  La Virgen is encased in a glass case as the centerpiece of the altar of the church.  While not a "believer" myself, I do believe that some objects such as great works of art can have a real sense of power about them, and I do feel that I picked up this sense of something special from this image even though she was so small and faraway that it was hard to pick up any actual details.  She has a very distinctly purple face and is wearing a dress that makes her almost as wide as she is tall.  And yet, in ways impossible to describe, there was something about her...

Suyapa, in spite of her diminutive size, dominates the Enanita.

While I sat in my contemplations, the charged atmosphere among the 40 or so people sitting in the church at the time reminded me more of an evangelical prayer meeting than the sense of devotion more normally associated with the Catholic Church.  People were calling out to Suyapa, praying out loud and waving their arms in the air in a thoroughly spontaneous manner with not a priest in sight!

Unfortunately, there is no written material available in either of the churches that would give any indication to a tourist about what exactly is going on here, but having the fortune to speak some Spanish I only had to ask to discover the whole story from some very friendly and helpful people.  In the small church there was an office marked "Secretaria," and the woman in there immediately told me the history and the discovery of La Virgen, which is as follows.

HISTORY

In February 1747, Alejandro Colindres was returning home after working harvesting maize and accompanied by an 8-year-old boy.  For reasons that remain obscure they got caught out after dark, and had to make what shelter they could by the side of the road.  In the middle of the night Alejandro was woken by something digging into his side.  Half asleep he threw whatever it was down into the hillside below, only to be woken again to discover that the same object had mysteriously reappeared and was digging into his side again!  This time he put it into his sack, and it was only on returning home the next day that he discovered that this object was La Virgen.

She was then placed in a special place in the house of Alejandro's mother where she remained until about 1780, and it was during this time that her reputation built up as a miraculous image with healing powers, and many devoted followers.  It was at this point that the first, smaller church was built.

The secretary then suggested I speak to Mario Durony, who is editor of a Catholic weekly newspaper produced in Suyapa (canal 48 is next door) called Fides.  He again was very voluble, enthusiastic and helpful.  He took me down to the square outside the smaller church to show me the small village community that lives hidden away behind all the stalls selling food and religious items in about 20 very simple peasant homes in which the people have been clearly living for generations.  These people clearly live and breath the cult of La Virgen.

Mario then took me into the house of one of the oldest members of the community and a direct descendant of the original Alejandro, Señora Petrona Colindres.  Dressed in black and looking extremely elderly, her daughter said that at 95 her mother was too old to talk, but she herself was very happy to talk herself.

SOCCER WAR

What she told me was all about how La Virgen helped the Honduran soldiers in the Football War of 1969 when El Salvador briefly invaded Honduras.  "The Salvadoran troops were better armed and trained than our poor boys who were terrified, and yet needed to defend their own land.  But then La Virgen came to be with them, walking beside them and giving many of them water.  She said to them 'forward, for we are going to win.'  That they beat the Salvadorans was an astonishing miracle to us, which we absolutely attribute to La Virgen," she said.

Mario confirmed not only that there had been many sightings of  La Virgen in all of which she said and did pretty much the same things, but that these sightings and the miraculous "saving of the nation" has fuelled the immense popularity and status of La Virgen of Suyapa over the last 31 years, and her reputation is now intricately connected in the popular mind with this war.  "This," says Mario, "fits into the general sense that this cult has always been a grassroots affair working up from the people and from their visions and aspirations."

Finally, Mario told me about the week-long festival that celebrates the saint's day of Suyapa in early February where literally thousands of people descend on the place.  "Until about 7 years ago we were getting a lot of problems with people coming along and getting very drunk," said Mario, "but since '93 we have had an alcohol ban, and everything has gone much more smoothly since then.  Poor people come from as far away as Guatemala and from all over Central America to make their pilgrimage at this time which surely must be counted as the most important event in the Honduran calendar."

After thanking him, I spent a bit more time contemplating La Virgen and the splendid hillside views over Tegucigalpa, all in all very glad that I had got away from the dirty, noisy city for a few hours into the higher more tranquil realms of Suyapa.

Honduran dairy companies increase cheese offerings 

By WENDY GRIFFIN 

In a country as hot as Honduras, milk left unrefrigerated goes bad almost immediately.  As a result, cheese processing developed early in important cattle growing areas like Olancho and Choluteca.

As readers of nursery rhymes know, the first step is to make curds (cuajada) and whey (suero).  In modern processing, most people and companies use chemicals to make the milk fat curdle (cuajar) into curds, but in the past people made their own "cuajo" to do this.

Curds and whey is another name for cottage cheese.  To make Honduran "queso" or cheese, the whey is separated out.  More salt is added to the curds.  This mixture is put in a cheese press to take out more whey.  The whey is fed to the pigs and the hard salty cheese to people.  In the United States, this would be called farmer's cheese, except Hondurans add more salt than we do.

In markets and stores, homemade cheese is sold in plastic containers called a pana and covered with a cloth or a plastic sheet to keep out flies.  Cottage cheese or queso cabana made by the Pan American School at Zamorano is sold in plastic containers in supermarkets, like Tegucigalpa's Mas X Menos.  It has less whey than American cottage cheese.  It is dry enough to eat on crackers or on traditional corn rosquetes.  It is drier than ricotta cheese, but can be used to make lasagna. 

MANY VARIATIONS

If you do not want to buy Honduran "queso" from under a cloth, Honduran dairy companies are willing to accommodate your desires.  Sula calls this cheese queso blanco while Zamorano sells "Zamocriollo."  It is very crumbly and is the cheese Hondurans serve on enchiladas.  Wrapped in plastic, the smell is generally not noticeable in your refrigerator.

A variation of this cheese is smoked cheese or queso ahumado, which Sula, the dairy company based in San Pedro Sula, produces.  When there is less salt and more whey in the cheese, it is called queso crema.  Leyde, the dairy company based in La Ceiba, as well as Sula and Zamorano produce queso crema.

However, this should not be confused with American style cream cheese.  It is only produced at Zamorano, which calls it Zamodelfia, since this kind of cheese was called Philadelphia cream cheese in the United States.

Quesillo gets its different texture because it is boiled.  Both Sula and Leyde make packaged quesillo for those who do not like markets.  The Mas X Menos supermarket also has its house brand of quesillo, queso blanco, queso seco, and queso ahumando wrapped in clean supermarket plastic, the price marked on a convenient sticker.

Although real mozzarella cheese is available in Honduras, most people just use quesillo on pizzas.

A few European-style cheeses are made in Honduras.  One favorite is Queso Edam produced by the Sula dairy.  This Edam cheese and Club Social crackers are an excellent appetizer.  Unfortunately, distribution is poor.  I have seldom seen it for sale outside of Tegucigalpa.  Mas por Menos also sells gouda cheese in the same wrappings as its other Honduran cheeses. 

AMERICAN-STYLE CHEESES

Sula and Leyde both make a cheddar.  Leyde also makes a Colby cheese.  These do not have exactly the same taste as American cheeses of these same names, but they are good for making macaroni and cheese or quiche.  For spaghetti, both Leyde and Sula now make a Parmesan cheese.

For reasons unknown to me, the cheese that has most caught the Hondurans' attention is American processed cheese, something like Velvetta.  Leyde, Sula and Zamorano all make American processed cheese.  Most Hondurans call it queso kraft after the company that makes it in the United States.  This cheese is in all ham and cheese sandwiches and makes a good grilled cheese sandwich.

Cheeses made by Honduran dairy companies like Leyde and Sula have to go through an inspection process by the Ministry of Public Health in order to get their registro sanitario.  Zamorano, which also produces yogurt, attempts to teach dairy processing standards at the Central American level.

So, if you are put off by the uncleanliness of Honduran markets, there are still many opportunities to try Honduran cheeses.  The other good news is that Honduran supermarkets are also more aggressively importing U.S. made cheeses.  A provolone cheese sandwich, an unheard of luxury 15 years ago, can be made with the cheeses at better supermarkets in La Ceiba, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro.

If you live somewhere else, bring your cooler and stock up on cheese.  No longer does living in Honduras mean giving up cheese.

CULTURAL EVENTS

MUSEUMS & GARDENS

TEGUCIGALPA

MUSEO DE HISTORIA REPUBLICANA

The Museum of Republican History is located at the Villa Roy building in Tegucigalpa's Barrio Buenos Aries.  It is open 8:30 to 3:30, Tuesdays through Sundays and features portraits, paraphernalia, and other interesting items from past presidents.  Admission is Lps. 20 for non-resident foreigners and Lps. 10 for Hondurans and Central Americans.  For more information, call 222-3470 or 222-1468.

CENTRAL BANK MUSEUM

The Central Bank of Honduras located at the Comayaguela annex building is open from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.  It has a permanent coin and painting exhibit.  For special presentations, call the Emision y Tesoreria department at 237-2270 (-78), ext. 2117 (-2120). [CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]

NATIONAL ART GALLERY

The Galeria Nacional de Arte features rock art, pre-Columbian ceramics, colonial paintings, religious art and a wide selection of 20th century Honduran painters.  The gallery is located at the Plaza de la Merced in downtown Tegucigalpa.  It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10-5 p.m. and Sunday from 10-2 p.m.  Admission is Lps. 10 for adults, Lps. 5 for senior citizens, Lps. 3 for students and Lps. 1 for children accompanied by adults.

IGUANA FARM

The Biosfera Ecocentro Iguana Farm in Colonia La Joya invites the public to come and learn everything about iguanas.  Admission is Lps. 5 for adults, Lps. 3 for children.  The facility is open every day (except Wednesday) from 9 to 5.  For more ingormation, call 230-6346.

COMAYAGUA, COMAYAGUA

COMAYAGUA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY

Located in the city of Comayagua, two hours north of Tegucigalpa, the Comayagua Museum of Archaeology is in the building that served as the seat of government in the 19th century.  Exhibits include prehistoric fossils, cave art, ceramics, and objects used by indigenous cultures during the pre-Colombian era.  The museum, which also has a small library, is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

COMAYAGUA RELIGIOUS MUSEUM

Located in the Casa Cural in front of Comayagua's cathedral, this museum features religious paintings and objects dating back to the 16th century.  Hours are 8-12 and 2-4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.  For more information, contact Leonardo Letona at 772-0348.

LA PAZ, LA PAZ

LA PAZ HOUSE OF CULTURE

The La Paz Casa de la Cultura is located in downtown La Paz.  It features an attractive exhibit of the Lenca handicrafts and culture.  It is open Mondays through Sundays.

SAN PEDRO SULA, CORTES

SPS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY

The Museo de Antropologia e Historia de San Pedro Sula features exhibits on the development of Sula Valley, from 1500 B.C. to the middle of this century.  The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.  Admission is Lps. 10 for adults, Lps. 5 for students and children under 12, and Lps. 2 for senior citizens.  For more information, call 557-1496/557-1798 or fax 557-1874.

MUSEUM OF NATURE OF SAN PEDRO SULA

Sponsored and managed by the Fundacion Ecologista H.R. Pastor Fasquelle, this new museum was inaugurated last December in its current location at the Biocentro on 3 Avenida and 9 Calle Noroeste.  It has 24 exhibits on the environment, natural resources and biology of Honduras.  Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturdays.  Admission is Lps 5 for students from public schools and Lps. 10.00 for everyone else.

YUSCARAN, EL PARAISO

YUSCARAN HOUSE OF CULTURE

Yuscaran's Casa de la Cultura is located at the former Casa Fortin in downtown Yuscaran, El Paraiso department, just 45 km from Tegucigalpa on the road to Danli.  It is open Mondays through Saturdays.

OLANCHO

PECH CULTURAL CENTER

The Pech have built a small house in El Carbon, Olancho to display their modern handicrafts.  An exhibit of archaeological finds in the area is planned.  You can ask to see the collection and/or get a tour of a Post Classic era fortified site.  The Pech Cultural Center also offers medicinal plant tours, nature hikes, Pech dinners, etc.  There is no admission fee to the cultural center.  Hours: If you ask, they will open it.

COPAN

COPAN ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Located in the village of Copan Ruinas, Copan department, the museum exhibits a splendid assortment of Mayan pieces that have been found in the Copan Ruins Archaeological Park just 1 km away.

LA PUENTE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Featuring a sizeable collection of Mayan handicrafts and photographs as well as a room with Japanese antique ceramics, this museum is located at the El Puente Archaeological Site, about an hour's drive from Copan Ruinas.

MAYAN SEPULTURAS MUSEUM

Inaugurated in 1996, this is the premier Mayan museum in the Mundo Maya, featuring the finest examples of Copan's tombs, sculptures and architecture.  Located at the Copan Ruins Archaeological Park, the museum is open Monday through Sunday.

TELA, ATLANTIDA

LANCETILLA BOTANICAL GARDENS

Located 2 kilometers from Tela on the Atlantic coast highway, the gardens feature one of the largest collections of tropical and subtropical plants, shrubs and trees in all Latin America.  It is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Mondays through Sundays.  There is an admission charge.

LA CEIBA, ATLANTIDA

 BUTTERFLY AND INSECT MUSEUM

Thousands of butterflies and insects from Honduras and 18 other countries are on display in La Ceiba' private Butterfly and Insect Museum.  It is located in Colonia El Sauce, 2nd etapa, casa G-12.  Visiting hours are 8-12 and 2-5, Monday through Saturday.  The museum is closed Wednesday afternoon.  Fees are Lps. 15 for adults and Lps. 10 for students.  Tel. 442-2874, e-mail: rlehman@ns.gbm.hn

TRUJILLO

TRUJILLO RUFINO GALAN MUSEUM

A private museum which has a memorabilia section, old chairs, anchors, silverware, beds of famous people locally.  There is an industrial archaeology section on how lights, axes, stoves, sewing machines, typewriters have changed over time.  They have a good collection of Garifuna handicrafts and the best collection

of NE Honduras archaeological pieces ‑‑ all unmarked.  A written guide to the museum is available at the Trujillo Tourism Office in English and Spanish.  The museum is open 8 to 4, closing for lunch.  Adults Lps. 20, children Lps. 10.  Located on Calle 18 de Mayo, next to the Crystales River and the famous "piscina" or pool, about a 15-minute walk out of town.

ROATAN, THE BAY ISLANDS

CARAMBOLA BOTANICAL GARDENS

The private Carambola Botanical Gardens and Nature Trails is located in Sandy Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands.  A wide variety of exotic plants is featured here, including "Roatan's most extensive orchid collection."  It is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.  For more information, call 445-1117 and ask for Bill or Irma Brady.

BAY ISLANDS MUSEUM

A private museum at Anthony's Key Resort, Sandy Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, it mostly includes archaeological pieces, but there is a small section on the modern Bay Islanders.  Museum admission is included in the cost of the dolphin show at Anthony Key's Institute of Marine Sciences.  Small buses or taxis will take you to Sandy Bay from most Roatan towns.

The Maya Calendar is a public service for our readers.  If you would like to announce an event taking place in Honduras, please send the information to: Calendar Editor, Honduras This Week, Fax 232-2300, e-mail: hontweek@hondutel.hn

Monday, November 20, 2000 Online Edition 47

Delving into the depths of bizarre names

It is pretty easy to accept the fact that cities will be called by proper names and titles in a country known by the cold and clinical designation of "the United States."  No funny business there.  One can locate the occasional bizarre city or town name in North America, but most of them carry names that have little or no meaning in English.  There are a lot of names that carried over from the native American languages, some brought in from Europe, and more that are named after their founding fathers.  Good proper names for proper places.  There wouldn't be a town called, for example, "Frogs singing."

The Spanish took a few more liberties with geographic names.  After all we live in "Honduras."  That is Spanish for "the depths" a deep place, or profound thought or mood.  The name is derived from the deep harbors off the coast of Honduras, according to lore.  And if that isn't descriptive enough, just to the west of us is The Savior (El Salvador).  Living in a country whose name brings to mind a deep, dark hole, you can see the precedent for weird names.

A recent Honduras This Week field trip in the car developed into a full-fledged game of "What's the weirdest name in Honduras."  I'm a novice at this sport, so I came up with the obvious: Gracias a Dios.  "Thank God."  The department got this name from a famous remark attributed to Christopher Columbus, who said, "Thank God we have left these depths" after riding out a terrible storm off the Honduran coast.

I think that the Pilgrims were pretty excited to reach dry land after a nauseous sea voyage, but they just called the place Plymouth.  They didn't doom future generations to such ridiculous statements as, "I was born in Thank God."

Even stranger -- in Lempira there is a town just called Gracias.  "Thanks."  Concise, at least.

My HTW colleagues were soon off making a list of strange town names.  They have more experience than I, and trust me there is a wealth of possible candidates for strange names here in the Depths.  The half-hour car trip was not long enough, but luckily Mario put pen to paper when we got home, and I am now the proud owner of a list of weird names that are actual towns in Honduras.

One of my favorites is El Porvenir.  This means, literally, "the future" in Spanish.  Some day I'm going to ride the bus to El Porvenir and back, just so that I can come home and say, "I've come from the Future, and it's been a rough ride."

Without even leaving the department of Intibuca you can go straight from Hope to Grief (La Esperanza and Dolores).  Then of course you could go back to the Future, but that would be taking things a little far, wouldn't it.

There's a town called Charity (Caridad, La Paz) and several towns called Loneliness (Soledad, in Francisco Morazan and El Paraiso).  Some Hondurans also live in places called Virtue, Liberty, Progress and Protection.

If descriptive adjectives don't give you enough illustration, wait until you come to a town named after an object.  There's the Lime and Lemon (La Lima, Cortes and Limon, Colon).   Vado Ancho is a wide crossing or ford.  There are several towns just called "Flowers."  Pimienta, Cortes is pretty weird too.  "I was born in Pepper.  Probably die in Pepper, too."

Town's are also named after geographic features.  From the Valley of Angels (Valle de Angeles) to the hills (Colinas, Santa Barbara) or right out on the Big Savannah (Sabanagrande), people here just loved to name the town after a local landmark.  Gold Mines (Minas de Oro) and the Ceiba Tree (La Ceiba) are located right where they ought to be.

There are Old Towns (Pueblo Viejo, Valle) and New Towns (Villa Nueva, Cortes).  A perennial favorite in the weird names contest is Ojos de Agua, or Water Eyes, although that was just a figure of speech used to describe the town's twin freshwater wells.  Singing Frogs (Cantarranas, Francisco Morazan) is pretty hard to beat too.

It makes it almost seem tame to live in a place called Tegucigalpa.

Monday, November 6, 2000 Online Edition 45

Book Review

By ROSIBEL PACHECO DE GUTIERREZ 

"Cantos de Barro" (Songs of Clay) is the latest literary work by Alejandra Flores Bermudez.  These seven short stories are woven together with the strings and needles of a mind that brims with imagination, candor and love for her country, that "Honduras profound with millennium patience."

The illustrations in the book are also the work of Alejandra, which allowed the author to communicate her message in more than one form.

In the story, "The Clay Vase," Alejandra writes at the end, "... so that the mystery of the night never has a bottom, a terminal or an end.  And so that the vases of clay that speak the language of time, of winds and of space may whisper their ancient secrets..."  It speaks of the mystery and language of clay, that humble material that man takes into his hands and inspires life and movement.  Who are we imitating?  Who took the clay and blew life into it at the beginning of time?

In "What's Necessary," an old man comes to the conclusion that people need roots and stability, and expresses: "We will stay in one place and children will learn from their parents... we will find reasons and truths behind everything we name."  Shared knowledge is necessary, along with the uninterrupted handing down of a people's wisdom; only in this way will roots find strength in the heart and will of mankind.

In her last story, "The Pain," Alejandra states, in a very singular manner, that pain is linked to life and learning.  She expresses that pain is felt by both animate and inanimate beings alike.  This story speaks of harmony between objects and beings: "Names learned to stay with the objects, and each object held on to its name, its color, its space in order to learn with patience how to have its own identity."

On reading these stories, I thought that the best way a child could enjoy them is through the sweet narration of his mother.  In this way, the child can fully capture the tenderness, freshness of the clay, love for the nation, imagination and magic of the butterflies, stars, flowers and other characters of the book.

Also, these short stories bring to mind that beautiful South American song performed majestically by Columbian singer Tania Libertad: "I want to be buried like my ancestors, in the dark and fresh womb of a clay vase..."

Stories, paintings and songs, all these have a meeting point in the language of the songs of clay.

Cantos de Barro costs Lps. 50 and can be purchased at Metromedia, Flamingo Bookstore (in Comercial Los Castanos, Boulevard Morazan, and Liberia Guaymuras.