In This Issue:

• What's New In The Store
• Artist Spotlight: Enedina
  Vasquez
• Collector's Corner Featuring
  Priscilla Murr
• January Sale

Marcia's Minute

Although it seems as though Spring will never get here, take heart! In indigenous Mexico, preparations to celebrate the festivals of Candelaria and Candlemas on February 2nd are now underway. It is an important time to celebrate and bless the growing young light of the sun with processions, fiestas and ceremonies, especially in the agricultural regions of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Any village that has The Virgin of Candelaria as a patron saint will celebrate with fiestas and ceremonies and processions.

February 2nd is exactly six weeks before the Spring equinox and six weeks after the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. The light is returning and for the festival of Candelaria and Candlemas, candles are lit and blessed, and the baby Jesus is honored while the fields are being prepared for the Spring plantings.

In many villages, the community offers up dances, ceremonies, and fiestas as a way of assuring good rains and crops in the coming year. Farmers bring hands full of seeds into the churches to be blessed and to assure the fertility of their seeds. For example, in Atzacualoya, Guerrero, there are dances for several days in which there are up to 10 or 12 troops from small communities in the area paying tribute. This occurs on February 2nd and then again on the 8th in honor of the Virgin of Candelaria. I was fortunate to attend this celebration several times in the 1990's and was amazed at the dedication of the dancers, the mayordomos, and the community at large. This is where the dance masks of Guerrero truly come alive!

This is also typically the time of year when the nativity scenes are taken down; the baby Jesus is dressed in fine new clothes, and in Oaxaca, the custom is to seat the infant in a chair on the home altar with a big red velvet and gold heart upon his chest. One of my favorite folk artist, Guillermina Aguilar, considers this to be one of her favorite and most special times of the year, she has more than a dozen Santo Ninos on her home altar and often has them out all year long. In many areas, one can see women scurrying to early morning mass on the 2nd of February with their baby Jesus under their arm on the way to church to have him blessed.

So like the people of Mexico, let us get ready to welcome in the spring!

Saludos,
Marcia Lucas
Owner

Each month we will be holding a drawing for our email subscribers for a $50 gift certificate, so watch for it - next month you might see your name!

This month's winner is
Peg Weiss

Do you know someone who loves folk art? Email amy@elinterior.com & we'll send them a copy of this email and enter them into the drawing!

As a bonus, you'll also get your name entered twice in next month's drawing!

We are finally starting to get our new spring fashions in! We have just received some incredibly cute linen separates from CLICK, in the new spring colors. Additionally, we have received a few wonderful Cuzco paintings, so after you go by the Blanton Museum to see their Virgins, Saints and Angels exhibit, stop by El Interior to see these incredible paintings.

CLICK HERE TO SEE NEW ITEMS

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT ENEDINA VASQUEZ & SEE HER WORK

Featuring Priscilla Murr

If you love color, and we know that you do, you will love the collection that we're featuring this month. Highlighted by the exuberant colors of her home, Priscilla Murr's collection of folk art is an uplifting feast for the eyes. Click below to read about and enjoy this wonderful collector's treasures.  

CLICK HERE TO SEE COLLECTION

Can you tell me what the symbol means that shows a hand with a spiral, and sometimes a heart, in the middle? I have seen that symbol on some of your jewelry and tin ornaments.

Cindy

This is a very common question, so thank you for asking. This symbol is seen in many different cultures and religions, usually in the context of offering protection or healing. In fact, there is strong evidence that this symbol predates Judaism and Islam and refers to an ancient Middle Eastern Goddess whose hand wards off the Evil Eye. However, today this symbol is most often used to attract good luck, happiness, riches and good health. It represents life, creativity, flowing water and healing.

Show us your project or collection! We'd love to feature YOU in an upcoming issue, so email us a project that you've done using our textiles, oilcloth, or your folk art collection, at amy@elinterior.com.

Also, we'd love to get your comments or questions, so submit them to the El Interior Mailbag to be featured in future issues of our newsletters!

El Interior
1009 West Lynn
Austin, Texas 78703
(512) 474-8680
www.elinterior.com
info@elinterior.com

Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10am to 6pm
Sunday, 12pm to 5pm