Happy New Year!
To start the new year off right I have for you a fine selection of history and Hispanic culture. No story today though.
First off, pictures from a recent Mission trip. We went down to San Antonio and toured the San Jose Mission just south of town. There are several missions in and around the city, but we only had time for one this trip. The mission was peaceful and beautiful. The place is huge, with a nice central square area protected by the walls.
We also saw, though I did not take pictures of, a beautiful young lady in a gigantic light blue dress, most likely celebrating her Quinceañera. She was a beautiful butterfly flitting around, landing here and there for pictures, complemented by the azure sky.
The mission comes from the time when Spain was in charge of the Americas.
Picture above is one of the corners of the church. Bottom left of the picture (lighter area) can be seen some of the original decorative outer coating of the church
I enjoy going to missions. I could wander around them for hours. I don't like some of the history of the places, the enslavement and forced conversions of the Indians, but they are soothing places now. I've visited many missions in California, but I believe this is the first one I've been to outside of California.
The small mission cemetery.
The sky was a perfect blue that day
The front of the church
The cemetery in the previous picture
can be seen in the bottom right
Detail above the church doors
~***~
The next bit to share is about Alebrijes (pronounced ah-la-bree-hays). Here's the Wikipedia link for those who want to know more, but basically they are fantastical creatures made of bits of this and that -wings, tails, claws etc... all colored crazily. Anything I can think of as a writer is nothing compared to these things!Here's an example:
Have a great New Year!!!! Here are some more images from the Mission.
Diego and the Virgin Mary
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