san francisco solano da la bendiciĆ³n - humahuaca (argentina) - 25 photos
The benediction of San Francisco Solano in Humahuaca (Argentina)
Related series: Carnaval de Humahuaca (Argentina).
In the village of Humahuaca, in Northern Argentina, every day at precisely 12-noon, on the city-hall bell-tower, heavy copper doors slowly open and a life-size animated wooden, dramatic-looking statue of San Francisco Solano appears for about two minutes and gives his benediction to the silent crowd amassed on the village plaza.
The Saint's arms and head slowly move up and down. The Saint appears brandishing a white cross in his left hand, then raises his right arm and moves his head back. After the benediction, the heavy copper doors slowly close and the Saint disappears into darkness (until the next day at noon).
It takes two men to animate the life-size wooden statue using manual cranks.
This animated Saint is very famous in the region, and definitely worth seeing it you travel in the area. This statue is probably quite old (please email me if you have more information about its story). It's an amazing and unique Christian Icon!
San Francisco Solano (10 March 1549 ā 14 July 1610) was a Spanish missionary who evangelized North-West Argentina and Paraguay. For more information about him, read: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Solanus
There are several videos of this animation on Youtube: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=San+Francisco+Solano...
