Pumarmarca does not have a huge number of inhabitants, but the couple of thousand people living in the little town certainly are hard at work to earn a living...
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| Local Pottery and weaving... |
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| Shades of llama wool |
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| Lovely simple elegant shapes of local pottery |
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| A quick game of football amongst the sidewalk stands... |
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| Felt cloche with hand crafted pompoms decoration...head gear for everyone, and it keeps sun and rain at bay as well |
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| Waiting for customers... |
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| Plenty of wall hangings depicting local scenes, landscapes and most of all, local colour... |
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| Replenishing inventory...most, if not all, of the textiles offered for sale at local vendor stands are crafted by local people, here a woman knits a tuque... |
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| Ponchos of every colour, all woven from llama or alpaca wool with beautiful colour combinations |
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| Small bags, of antique design and weaving technique, with naturally died llama wool. These bags are not much bigger than the palm of your hand. |
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| Not the regular tourist wares. These woven tuques are also of antique design, which shows finer details, natural colours and exquisite craftsmanship |
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| Ornament, hammered from fine sheets of silver |
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| Building another abode house with plaster covering, just the right colour to blend with the surrounding mountains |
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| Early morning task: hose down the dusty street in front of your house.... |
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| Colourful handwoven throws, llama wool |
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| A few steps away from the 'thriving centre' of downtown Pumarmarca... |
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| The local church honours Santa Rosa, who is said to have been so chaste and virginal, that she cut off her hair, when she realized how attractive it appeared. Poor thing was tempted by the devil in the shape of a black dog. One of the painting in the local church show her dog/devil encounter. |
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(Wockipedia) Santa Rosa was born Isabel Flores y de Olivia in the city of Lima, the Viceroyalty of Peru, then part of New Spain. She was one of the many children of Gaspar Flores, a harquebusier in the Imperial Spanish army, born in San Germán on the island of San Juan Bautista (now Puerto Rico), and his wife, María de Olivia, a native of Lima. Her later nickname "Rose" was a testament to her evident holiness. When she was a baby, a servant claimed to have seen her face transform into a rose. In 1597 she was confirmed by the Archbishop of Lima, Turibius de Mongrovejo, who was also to be declared a saint. She formally took the name of Rose at that time.
As a young girl—in emulation of the noted Dominican tertiary, St. Catherine of Siena—she began to fast three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. When she was admired for her beauty, Rose cut off her hair and smeared pepper on her face, upset that suitors were beginning to take notice of her. She rejected all suitors against the objections of her friends and her family. Despite the censure of her parents, she spent many hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily, an extremely rare practice in that period. She was determined to take a vow of virginity, which was opposed by her parents, who wished her to marry. Finally, out of frustration, her father gave her a room to herself in the family home.
Stained glass window by Harry Clarke in St. Michael's Church, Ballinasloe, Ireland, depicting St. Rose burning her hands in an act of penance, after someone apparently admired the beauty of her hands.
Her fame even spread across the Atlantic.
Daily fasting turned to perpetual abstinence from meat. Her days were filled with acts of charity and industry. Rose helped the sick and hungry around her community. She would bring them to her room and take care of them. Rose sold her fine needlework, grew beautiful flowers, and would take them to market to help her family. Her exquisite lace and embroidery also helped to care for the poor, while her nights were devoted to prayer and penance in a little grotto which she had built. Otherwise, she became a recluse, leaving her room only for her visits to church.
The fame of her holiness became so widespread among the populace of the colonial city of Lima, that she attracted the attention of the friars of the Dominican Order. She wanted to become a nun, but her father refused to allow this. Out of obedience to him, instead she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic, remaining in her parents' home. In her twentieth year she donned the habit of a tertiary and took the vow of perpetual virginity for which she had longed. She donned a heavy crown made of silver, with small spikes on the inside, in emulation of the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ.
For eleven years this self-martyrdom continued without relaxation, with intervals of ecstasy, until she died midnight, on August 24, 1617, at the age of 31, having prophesied the date of her death exactly. Her funeral was held in the cathedral, attended by all the public authorities of Lima, and it was the archbishop himself who gave her eulogy.
Santa Rosa is the Patron Saint of all South America...
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Jesus, the Christ child appeared to her on several occasions...
My photo of Santa Rosa armed with a giant pair of scissors, ready to cut off her tresses did not make it into this blog...
She may be a Saint, but reading her autobiography she sound more like a sad, anorexic and severely disturbed youngster, who rejected her own beauty, and most of all LIFE...but, this apparent mental sickness caused her to be regarded as a saint in her day.... |
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| And here is Santa Rosa's little church in the main square of Pumarmarca |
Tomorrow: a visit to Humahuaca....
