Niño Dios

Something I did not get a chance to blog about earlier this year is that between Dia de Los Reyes Magos (January 6th) and Dia de la Candelaria (February 2nd) the custom is to dress the baby Jesus (Niño Dios) from the Nativity scene.  Then on February 2nd, the people take the Niño Dios to church with them.  This apparently corresponds to when Jesus was presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth, as recorded in Luke 2:22-24.

When you go to the market during this time period, it is very common to see women carrying a basket holding their Niño Dios in order to buy clothes for it.  This is a really big industry during this time of year - even smallish towns have 20+ vendors selling the clothes and accessories.

Of course the first thing you need is a Niño Dios and, if you do not have one from your Nativity Scene, you can easily buy one.  They come in a wide variety of sizes and colors.

Then you can decide what "type" of Niño Dios you want - or you can choose to pick out the clothing on your own.

Of course you can also buy a little "throne" for the Niño Dios.

And a basket, if you did not bring one with you to the market.

Notice the African- style Niño Dios

 

While I find the tradition to be fascinating (I mean really, what is not to love about elaborately dressed dolls?), I do find it a bit disturbing.  While the basic idea is Biblically-based, reenacting parts of Jesus's life, the connotations with choosing what "type" of Niño Dios is have and that it is verging on idol-worship make me a bit uncomfortable.  A Christian friend of mine, who is married to a Mexican man, found it particularly disturbing how the doll was treated in the house by her family members.  When they took the Niño Dios to the church on February 2nd, the priest centered the sermon that night on how the Niño Dios was only a representation of Jesus, and not something to be worshiped.  So it seems that she was not the only one to have problems about how the doll is treated in the Mexican culture.

Something to think about...
~ Kim