Pray Me to Heaven

Anima Sola. c. 19th century. Carved wood, gesso, oil paint. 43" w x 21"h. Based on Roman Catholic tradition, the Anima Sola or Lonely Soul is an image depicting the souls in purgatory, popular in Latin America, as well as much of Andalusia, Naples and Palermo.

Souls in waiting: depictions of Purgatory

And of that second kingdom will I sing

Wherein the human spirit doth purge itself,

And to ascend to heaven becometh worthy.

Dante, Purgatorio

We are born and we die. Hopefully we die after a long, happy and productive life. The question that has evoked the wonder of humans through millennia is, “What happens after we die?” Can all of that quickness of life, the intensely felt emotion, the penetrating thinking, the uniqueness of personality be gone at the snuffing out of our flame? It is true that our corporal bodies do fail, decay, and disappear, but the essence, our soul, must survive to go somewhere. Our lives cannot have been born for no purpose. We wish and hope there is more after our brief loves are spent.

Most world cultures have decided that what happens after the husk that held us together dissolves into dust is that our sprit lives on – someplace. That place, that otherworld, has been conceived as many different situations, by many different cultures. Always it is determined to be much better in every way than the capricious, mercurial, earth-bound life that we all live.

Except the Greeks. The Greeks believed that there was nothing better than life and that the afterlife was just a pale shadow of life’s experience. There was the paradisiacal Elysian Fields which was strictly for the chosen elite: heroes who had transcended mortality; people who had done notable things for mankind and were chosen by the gods; or individuals that could count the Gods among their parents but who had not been elevated to the status of a full deity. As Pindar in his Odes explains: The chosen receive a life free from toil, not scraping with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the water of the sea, for the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the presence of the honored gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears, while the others undergo a toil that is unbearable to look at. Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus' road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others. With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner…”. Remember, this was not the fate of everyone. The common people had the neutrality of Hades to look forward to. Generally, the Greeks did not see death as the means to ascend to Heaven as a reward for a life of virtue. Death brought no reward at all. At death, nearly all souls except the chosen elite, went to Hades. Hades was basically a grey limbo, where everything that gave life joy and fulfillment was missing. Some individuals who had particularly offended the Gods were singled out for special punishments. Two famous instances of this are the myths of Sisyphus and Tantalus. Sisyphus was punished by the Gods for cheating death twice. He was condemned to roll a boulder up a hill, which always rolled back to the bottom just before it reached the top. Tantalus was damned for eternity as retribution for killing his son and trying to feed it to the Gods (the atrocities of filicide and cannibalism). His perpetual punishment was to stand in a pool of water up to his neck under a tree laden with fruit. The fruit moved out of reach when he tried to eat it, while the water drained away when he tried to drink.

But what does the Ancient Greek idea of the afterlife have to do with Christian thought on life after death? The Romans who copied the Greeks on most everything, took to the Greek idea of Hades as well. Under Roman rule, the grey, colorless limbo of Hades was the consensus of the afterlife. But when Jesus came preaching in the Roman territories, he offered an alternative to the banality of death. He offered a merit-based afterlife where those who lived in the grace of God and according to God’s laws, would be resurrected after the death of our corporal bodies and live eternally in Paradise with Him: And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelations 22:12). This alternative had its appeal and people began to listen. Everyone living in Paradise for eternity with the Gods among abundance and ease, seemed much more appealing than a grey, colorless limbo. Of course, in the Christian meritorious based system of the afterlife, there were also punishments for those souls that did not follow God’s demands. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:42). The torments of Hell were not a deterrent to the converted, because God was conceived to be a just and forgiving God. There were ways to approach the deity to ask for forgiveness and seek atonement and still be admitted to Heaven.

Besides the punishments of Hell, Jesus’ promise of eternal life with God in Paradise was not without conditions. Before there could be life in Heaven, there had to be a Judgement of all souls. This Last Judgment required Jesus to come back to Earth a second time. This was Christ’s commitment to his followers: In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3). The essence of Christianity is Christ’s resurrection from his death by crucifixion and then (after three days) his ascension into heaven as well as His promised second coming. His return at the end of time would be to judge all souls living and dead on their following of God’s laws. Unfortunately, when this would occur was not clear to the disciples or the Church Fathers. Jesus himself was unable to provide a date. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:36). It was assumed by both the disciples and the Church Fathers that the Second Coming would be soon. Early Christians lived their lives in preparation for it. This included pledging to a life of chastity to sanctify their bodies. Youth would vow to keep their virginity to be pure for the Day of Judgement.

The ideal state for Catholics is to live in God’s blessing and to avoid sin by living in concord with the teachings of Christ and the Church. Sex is considered sinful since it came about as a result of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. According to Scripture, God’s plan was for Adam and Eve to live in harmony with each other without physical passion. In the early Church, virginity was considered God’s intended, normal state for mankind. The sin of Genesis was the sin of knowledge, including carnal knowledge. Therefore, early Christians considered virginity to be necessary in order to live completely in God’s grace. Additionally, both Jesus and his mother were believed to be virgins, which amplified God’s preference for chasteness. Sexual abstinence became preferable to prepare the body for Judgement. Virginity and sexual abstinence were only the beginning of the methods needed to purify the body for it to be acceptable to God. A devotion to Christ’s teachings, attendance at Mass, confession of sins, prayers for forgiveness, and suffering, both physical and psychological, as punishment for sin, was also necessary. Early Christians believed that the highest honor and most assured way of gaining the Kingdom of Heaven was to die a virgin martyr. But Christ’s second Coming did not happen. Jesus’ clue that it should happen before the generation of Christ’s apostles had died: Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28), proved unfounded. Later, the Church fathers determined that Christ’s return would be in the year 500, based on the number of years since the creation of Adam. When that day passed, the date was moved to the turn of the millennium in 1000 AD.

Of course, the end of the world did not happen in 1000 AD, nor in 2000 AD. The idea of the imminence of Christ’s Second Coming and Judgement Day began to diminish in importance for the faithful. Taking their cue from the Gospel of Matthew, that no one shall know the day or the hour, the Church decided that Judgement Day and the Second Coming would happen when God willed it. Since that was an indeterminant time, all Christians had to be prepared for it by continuing to live in God’s grace, including the emphasis on sexual purity. The Church itself relaxed the importance of martyrdom.

This left open the dilemma of when are our souls judged. Do we wait in our graves until the end of time for Judgement, or is it determined at our deaths whether we head to Heaven or Hell? This is still a debated topic among religious scholars. The Catholic Church decided to split the difference, deciding that upon the death of our physical bodies, we are judged individually for our virtues and our sins and allowed either entrance into the glories of Heaven or punished with the torments of Hell. They called this our Particular Judgement. On the final Judgement Day, with the return of Jesus, we will be reunited with our bodies and fulfill our destiny according to God’s will. The question remained about what to do with those souls who died not unredeemable and condemned to Hell, but also not in the perfection of grace for Heaven? There is a large middle ground of those who died “in God’s grace but imperfectly purified” as tactfully worded by the Catholic Church. The Church’s directive was to pray for these souls to prevent them from being stuck in limbo. This was not a new or original directive.

Despite the multitude of beliefs in the afterlife that mankind has developed through its many cultures, almost all of them have seen it as a necessity to honor the dead. Through sacrifices, libations, prayer, or ritual the living have deemed it prudent to keep an ongoing relation with their ancestors. It is believed that the spirits of past generations could provide information otherwise unobtainable through any other source. Spirits have a connection to the Gods or to the intercessors to the Gods. Since they live eternally outside of time, they were considered to have special knowledge about the future, the past, and the best course of action for a given situation. To prevent spirits from becoming stuck in this world to haunt the living and cause trouble, they must be remembered, and their memories tended and honored. The Christians borrowed the Roman custom of remembering and venerating the dead through proper burial and regular observances with offerings on holy days. For Christians too, the dead were an intermediary to God, especially so if one was a martyr. They were seen as intercessors, able to carry prayer to the attention of Jesus, God, the angels, or other holy figures. The practice of praying to and honoring the dead was modified by recognizing a teaching from the second book of Maccabees from the Old Testament: It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. This teaching from the Old Testament brought in the idea that prayer for the spirits of the dead would have the effect of purifying those souls who had died in repentant sin, which would ready them for eternity with God. This idea became a popular belief among lay Christians. The Church made it a formal doctrine in 1274 at the Second Council of Lyon.

At the Council of Lyon, the Catholic Church defined a purgatorial process, whereby the souls of the dead who have died in redeemable sin can become purified through the will of God. The Council did not create a place named Purgatory. The process of purification they sanctioned, could be shortened through the prayers and indulgences (performing acts of charity and good deeds) of the living. This intervention by the living would eventually secure God’s grace and elevate the souls to Paradise. For the general Catholic populace, the idea of the process of atonement, without a place to do it was too abstract. Instead, to the people, Purgatory became a place, a third place in the Christian afterlife included with Heaven and Hell, that was the dwelling place of those souls doing penance for their sins in preparation for Heaven.

Purgatory as a place is envisioned with unrelenting fire. This is not like the fires of Hell, which consume the body painfully to torment the soul which has rejected God. The fires of Purgatory are purifying fires that cleanse the soul of the stain of sin and render it spotless and acceptable to God’s grace. The Anima Sola or the Lonely Soul, is a visual trope that is used for the depiction of Purgatory. It is the visual depiction of Purgatory through sculpture or painting that is present in many Catholic churches. It is used as a visual cue to remind the faithful to pray for the souls waiting in there. It is common to Hispanic and Southern Italian Catholicism, who share a corruption of the purgatorial belief, that the souls stuck in Purgatory cannot achieve Heaven without the intercessional help of the living. It is commonly believed that these Lonely Souls who may not have family to remember and honor them, need our prayers and dedicated acts of charity to move on to live with God. The visual depictions of the suffering in Purgatory often paired with an emotional, injunctive text, are designed to induce guilt and pity in the viewer and goad them into petitioning for their cause. This is a distortion of the official Catholic tenant regarding Purgatory. As a process of penance, the official Church stance is that the purging of a purgatorial soul will happen without the assistance of prayers from the living. While prayer directed to the souls while in their spiritual evolution may diminish their duration spent in this state of redemption, it is God ultimately who determines the length of time it will take.

The carved wooden frieze of the Anima Sola depicted above, shows nude figures in penitent supplication surrounded by flames. The prominent figure in the center is female. In most Hispanic examples of Anima Sola, the main figure is female. A similar female figure from this scene of Purgatory is used often as a trope on votive candles and on prayer cards, as a home or portable devotion. She has implications of Eve as the first person to sin with the misogynistic idea that women are more prone to sin since Eve was so easily persuaded by the serpent and she was the cause of Original Sin from which all of mankind must suffer. The central female figure in this interpretation is the only implied full body figure in the frieze, owing to the appearance of her leg breaking through the flames near the bottom of the piece. The pose of this leg gives an awkward twist to the figure, which already possesses some imaginative anatomy.

Anima Solas prayer card and votive candle.

On each side of the central woman, there are the head and shoulders of four other figures, two on each side. These figures alternate in gender, beginning on the left with a male and ending on the far right with a woman. The woman on the far right is compressed into an improbable position to accommodate her head so that it fits onto the piece of wood from which it is carved. It is not clear if this graceless and unnatural pose is a consequence of bad compositional planning or an attempt at evoking a pose of contemplative contrition. All the figures flanking the central female are writhing in the flames of penance. None are interacting with one another either physically or psychologically. Each are consumed with their own plight in keeping to the concept of the Lonely Soul. Below the half figures is a second row consisting only of heads. These heads are not depicted pleading for forgiveness, but all seem to be looking downward or inward, absorbed in their own predicament. Their presence looks perfunctory. They come across as necessary only to project the notion that Purgatory contains many souls. All these figurative elements are surrounded by the flames of expurgation. It is the flames that bring movement to the piece with their sinuous lines. There is a solidity to the fire that observed flames do not have. There is no lightness, or ephemerality that is the essence of fire. This may not be the limitations of the artist. Flames and fire are notoriously challenging to depict in any static art medium with any degree of naturalism. Fire is a perpetually moving, transparent, gaseous, and amorphous material. These qualities, even in three dimensions do not translate well into the traditional media of drawing, painting or sculpture. What artists usually do is to depict the human concept of what we believe fire looks like. Writhing and pointed lines become a symbol of the element and the viewer accepts it. The flames depicted here despite their solidity do add to the visual understanding of Purgatorial fire. This relief presents a Purgatory that is charming, sanitized and without heat. It manipulates our emotions without demanding our participation. We feel moved but not guilty. It has all the qualities of good folk art; quirky execution with recognizable and relatable subject.

Sculpture of Purgatory in the Most Holt Redeemer Church, New York City.

Variations on this fiery theme of Purgatory are common in Catholic churches. In the mid-19th century church of Most Holy Redeemer, built for the Manhattan, New York, Lower East Side German Catholic community, there is a scene of Purgatory where the central figure is male – a nod to Adam as the first sinner as he had the free will to say no to Eve’s suggestion of eating the fruit; and he had the ability to stop Eve from eating it, which he did not exercise. The secondary figures are of both genders as in the Anima Sola carving. In the Most Holy Redeemer Church version, there are some striking differences beside the central figure being male. The figures are standing in a more naturalistic space. The flames are gilded, instead of red. Gold emphasizes the process of purification rather than the red flames of consumption. It is the symbol of the light of heaven reflected in the cleansing fire of absolution. The greatest difference of this version is the presence of angels floating above the figures holding a chalice which contains the Eucharistic body of Christ. The figures below the angels are all in devotional poses facing the chalice. This is the symbol of Christ as the Redeemer and Savior. He is the one who will provide forgiveness and entrance to Holy Eternity. Above this scene of Purgatory, the words “Have pity on me … at least you my friends” is inscribed. This is a quote from Job (19:21), from when his friends see that Job has been laid low by God, all turn against him for fear that Job’s misery will be contagious. It is used here as a reminder for those passing the shrine to remember the souls suffering in Purgatory and pray for their redemption. They should not abandon them as Job’s friends did to him.

Fresco of Purgatory,1346 painted by Jacopo di Mino del Pelliccoiaio, the Convent of San Francisco, in Todi, Umbria, Italy,

However classic or clichéd these distilled presentations of Purgatory are, they are not the original depiction nor the only concept of it as a place. The earliest depiction that has come down to us of Purgatory, is a fresco dated 1346 in the Convent of San Francisco, in Todi, Umbria, Italy, painted by Jacopo di Mino del Pelliccoiaio (born 1315/1319 – died before 1396).* It is a depiction of a vision given to St. Patrick, who experiencing a reluctance of the Irish people to convert to Catholicism, prayed to God for guidance. St. Patrick was given a vision where he saw a pit (some say cave) in the ground. God called this pit/cave Purgatory. Inside the cave St. Patrick was shown the torments of Hell for sinners and the joys waiting for the faithful in Heaven. He was instructed to show this place to the people he was trying to convert, and they would believe his message.

St. Patrick’s miracle was expanded upon in 1147, by an unnamed monk at the monastery of Saltrey near Cambridge, England. He wrote about Owain, an Irish Knight, and the experiences Owain had during a visit to St. Patrick’s cave. Forty years before the monk penned the tale, Owain was allowed to enter the cave, located on remote Station Island in Lake Derg in the north of Ireland. Inside, he found himself surrounded by demons and cast into fire. He was saved by calling on the name of Christ. After further torments, he was led across a narrow bridge that spanned over Hell and entered an Earthly Paradise where souls awaited their entry into Heaven. Returning to the world, Owain told others of his ordeal and salvation. After the monk wrote down Owain’s story, St. Patrick’s Purgatory became a widespread legend around Europe, causing the cave, and the remote island it was located on to become a popular place of pilgrimage.

The fresco of Purgatory in the Convent of San Francisco merges both St. Patrick’s mystic revelation and the elements of Owain’s spiritual ordeal. It depicts St. Patrick’s Purgatory as a rocky hill, with a well-like opening at its crest. The interior of the hill is shown by the device of window like openings in the side of the hill revealing the appropriate torments of purgation the souls must endure for each of the 7 Deadly Sins (avarice, envy, sloth, pride, anger, lust, gluttony). St. Patrick is perched on the top of the hill, directing the souls to the entrance of Purgatory. After the souls have been purged of their particular sins, they are pictured leaving the hill through an exit at the bottom, where they are greeted by Mary and crowned by her with a wreath of white flowers as a symbol of their new purity. They then pass to St. Peter (with the key to Heaven dangling from his wrist), who allows them entrance to the Heavenly Jerusalem of Paradise. Between Mary and St. Peter is St. Philip Benizi in his monks’ habit, holding the white lilies from which Mary is fashioning the chaplets. St. Philip Benzi was one of the founding members of the Order of the Servites (dedicated to the Sorrows of Mary), the monastic order that founded the monastery and commissioned the fresco before it was converted to the Convent of San Francisco. His presence in the spiritual happenings of the painting honors his position as founder of the monastery and confirms his glorification as a saint. His place at the side of Mary commemorates his life’s devotion to her.

The Convent of San Francisco’s depiction of Purgatory, is similar to the Christian idea of Hell with demons providing the methods of penance. What makes it the place of purging sins rather than a place of the eternal suffering of sins, is that the souls are eventually released from their suffering after a suitable period of penance, into the waiting arms of Mary and guided to their reward in Heaven.

Map of Dante's Purgatory.

No discussion of Purgatory can be complete without mentioning Dante’s famous poetic version. Dante had a different take on the idea of Purgatory as a rocky slope. He enlarged the hill into a mountain surrounded by a vast sea. He moved the entrance to the base of the mountain and envisioned the places of penance as terraces on the craggy face of it. Like the caves in the rocky hill of the fresco at the Convent of San Francisco, each of Dante’s terraces is dedicated to one of the Seven Deadly Sins beginning with Pride and ending with Lust. Also like the fresco, each sin has an appropriate punishment: Pride, carrying heavy stones; Envy, sealed eyes; Wrath, smoke; Sloth, running; Avarice, prostration; Gluttony, starvation; Lust, fire. Each sin has an appropriate prayer that will assist in the shortening of the tormented souls time of punishment and a corresponding beatitude which eases the torment. An angel is stationed at each terrace to keep track of each soul’s progress, erasing the sins from them when the penitent has atoned for them, and allowing them to move on to whatever next level awaits their progress. At the pinnacle is the Earthly Paradise or Eden, where the purged souls finally ascend into Heaven.

Dante’s Purgatory, unlike the traditional idea of a place of fire where your misdeeds are burned away, has a somewhat more humanitarian discipline. It is structured as an ascent from bad to best and it continually offers understanding and forgiveness as its traits. The souls in Dante’s version are not lonely as depicted in the Anima Sola. They are not left to atone by themselves. There are comrades who move through the penitential landscape as a group; angels to watch over, mark the soul’s time and remove the sin when the allotted time has been completed, allegorical artworks carved onto the mountainside to contemplate while completing their punishments to aid in understanding their errors to become truly contrite, prayers for assistance that Dante provides for the reader to offer the souls to shorten their atonement, and beatitudes that the souls chant for succor as they journey up the mountain. All of this activity is in addition to their main designated punishment. Everything in Dante’s purgatorial universe is designed with compassion to assist the transgressor to their place back into God’s grace. In Dante’s vision, God wants us to live eternally with Him in Heaven. He will do everything (within the confines of free will) to make that happen.

Father Victor Jouet, founder of the Museum of the Souls of Purgatory, Rome, Italy

Still, there are those who believe that Purgatory is a Catholic vanity that has no grounding in scripture. The Protestants believe that salvation is achieved by faith alone so there is no need for a holding place to work out lingering indiscretions. To prove that it exists, one priest created the Museum of the Souls of Purgatory which collects artifacts that purport to provide evidence for the existence of the true souls waiting in Purgatory. In 1897, after a fire in the church of the Sacred Heart of the Suffrage in Rome, Father Victor Jouet while surveying the damage noticed an image of a human face delineated by soot, on the wall behind the altar of one of the chapels. Father Jouet believed that this image impressed on the wall, was created by a deceased parishioner conscripted to Purgatory who was trying to reach out to the faithful to remind them to pray for his soul. Father Jouet decided to search out other signs and proofs of the true existence of Purgatory. The meager collection of objects he was able to assemble through his travels within Europe took 14 years to collect. These objects can now be seen in the rebuilt church of The Sacred Heart of the Suffrage. They comprise one small case of ten objects where the hand or fingers of each deceased soul had touched a live object and left an imprint resembling a scorch mark caused by the touch of their hand or fingers. These marks, the Father believed, were the true indication of the existence of Purgatory, and that the souls there needed the help of the living to assist their redemption.

Objects touched by the souls in Purgatory in the Museum of the Souls of Purgatory.

Taking their cues from the Bible, the Catholic Church has a long association with interpreting miraculous supernatural events as signs from God. Their belief in Christ as a risen deity and in their belief of the eternality of the human soul, are encouragements, if not requirements, to communication with the dead. With the ingrained understanding that the souls in Purgatory require prayerful help from the living to speed their penance, it seems logical to Catholics that the dead trapped in Purgatory would reach out for assistance from the living if this relief was not forthcoming. The idea that the dead confined to Purgatory would be active in their supplication of the living for prayer is not a usual part of the folk belief of the Anima Solis. The concept of the Lonely Soul passively hoping for the compassion, with attached messages reminding the living to not forget the dead sufferers, is how most artist’s depictions imagine how Purgatory works. Jouet not only provides seeming proof of Purgatory, he provides evidence that it may be populated with proactive souls.

Angel and soul in Purgatory from a Catholic Missal.

When I was instructed into the ways of the Catholic Church, the discussion of Purgatory was minimal. There was a mention of prayers for the dead in every mass, but direct attention to the souls in Purgatory were confined to All Souls Day. The congregation of my parish church were originally Italian immigrants from Naples, Italy. Their main spiritual concern as part of their larger Catholic faith, was a cultic worship of Mary of Jerusalem, their particular version of the Virgin Mary. In the church I attended, there was no visual depiction of Purgatory. Families had their private devotions to their dead. My family lit candles weekly for deceased members and remembered them often by visiting graves or having masses said in their honor. In some vague and grey place in our minds, Purgatory was a place we had heard of, but it was not a living presence in our faith. Despite the exhortations of the ecclesiastic brethren, we still believed that Purgatory was a place for purification, not an abstract state for the soul to pass through. Like Hell, it was uncomfortable to imagine it. It meant that the people we loved may not be good enough to live with God. It meant we ourselves were probably somehow wanting in our devotions. It was more comforting to assume that all who died went to heaven. What we wanted was not to dwell on death, but to believe in the Resurrection. We wanted to believe in miracles that affirmed life. We wanted to believe in life, in a life everlasting.

Prayers to the souls in Purgatory from a Catholic Missal.

*This fresco was discovered in 1974 during renovations on the old convent. When good sisters took over the monastery from the Servite monks, they painted white over the fresco since it did not conform to their simple tastes. Restoration was completed in 1985.

Arthur Bruso © 2021

#arthurbruso #arthurbrusoartswriting #artswriting #praymetoheaven #purgatory #dante #purgatorio #elysianfields #pindar #pindarodes #hades #afterlife #sisyphus #tantalus #ancientromans #jesus #dayofjudgement #secondcoming #catholicchurch #originalsin #adamandeve #godsgrace #heaven #hell #particularjudegement #imperfectlypurified #secondcounciloflyon #indulgences #animasola #fire #mostholyredeemerchurch #gold #job #convetofsanfancisco #jacopodiminodelpelliccoialo #stpatrick #stpatricksmiracle #stpatrickscave #owain #7deadlysins #virginmary #stpeter #stphilipbenizi #heavenlyparadise #chaplet #orderoftheservites #freewill #museumofthesoulsofpurgatory #fathervictorjouet #churchofthesacredheatofthesufferage #sundaymissal

Domestic Abyss

Zapotec Tomb 104 replica at the American Museum of natural History, New York, NY. Mural copies painted by Augstin Villagra.

Zapotec Tomb 104 replica at the American Museum of Natural History

The Zapotec lived with their dead. The elite of the community built tombs under their homes and continued an intimate relationship with the buried deceased. For the Zapotec, the dead were viewed as an intermediary to the Gods. It was the dead who had access to the clouds where the Gods lived and the ability to consort and communicate with them. They were often invoked to bring messages from the Gods or looked to for the delivery of signs from the otherworld. The Zapotec believed that all people had originally come from the clouds, and that at the end of life all people returned to them. The noble elite also believed that the bones of their dead, especially the femur, conferred on the descendent the inheritable status of their forebearer. To own and display the femur of a deceased nobleman proved the holder’s right of ascension as the leg bone held the strength and mobility (life force) of the living body.

Map of Mexico showing the states. The state of Oaxaca is shown in yellow at the bottom of the curve into Guatemala.

The Zapotec were a Mesoamerican civilization that originated in the present southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca, near the present city of Oaxaca. They were the first recorded civilization in Mesoamerica that built cities with monumental architecture and sculpture. They built their political and economic center at Monte Albán (The name was given to the abandoned city by the Spanish conquistadores.) At its height, Monte Albán boasted an estimated population of 16,500 citizens. The civilization flourished between 500 BC and lasted until the Spanish conquest (begun in 1522). Monte Albán itself was abandoned in 1000 AD due to unsustainable wealth disparity and over exploitation of natural resources. The Zapotec people migrated to a nearby city (44 miles away) they called Lyobaa, named Mitla by the later Spanish. They were excellent agriculturalists, with their main crop being maize, beans, squash and chilies. They developed a sophisticated public architecture utilizing stone and stucco. In addition to their architectural sculpture in stone and stucco, they created an accomplished ceramic-based sculpture that was an adjunct to their funeral practices. They also have become noted for their mural painting. Although the ornamental details of public buildings were often painted to accent details, Zapotec wall painting was mainly an accompaniment to their ancestral tombs. As such, these wall paintings were not public art, rather private devotional and memorial works that were reworked with each new death. The murals painted inside the Zapotec tombs are the most extant Mesoamerican painting that has been found. They provide a new dimension to indigenous Pre-Columbian thinking and world view. Important to the greater understanding of the tomb murals, the Zapotec had a form of glyph writing that was one of the earliest writing systems in Mesoamerica. Glyphs were often incorporated into the design elements of Zapotec painting and sculpture which explain and provide deeper meaning to the imagery. To the untrained eye, these glyphs often look like part of the ornamental detail of the work of art.

The Zapotec had a 260-day calendar, with 20-day names in 13 yearly divisions. (The day names are: Cociyo (God of lightening), Owl, Water, Sliding Knot, Monkey, Soap Plant, Jaguar, Maize, Earthquake, Rain, Lord, Profile with Cheek Mask, Reed, Eye, Profile with Angled Lines, Deer, House, Serpent and Tooth.) These names have been reinterpreted and given other names by various researchers.) Their calendar was very important to the Zapotec civilization because it was used for divining a person’s destiny, as well as foretelling which days were auspicious and which days were not. The calendar was also important as a naming system for people. The Zapotec people (in fact most of Mesoamerica) were named according to the day they were born or according to the day on which their destiny was mantically determined.

Map of Monte Alban showing the location of the main buildings and Tomb 104.

Zapotec elite lived in palaces built on high, cold, dry ridges, leveled for construction, overlooking the valley of Oaxaca. The palaces were constructed as a series of rooms that faced a common patio, and often as a complex of several patios with surrounding rooms, connected by narrow hallways. This building design suggests a familial, communal way of living. The palace rooms had no windows, while the entrances faced away from the views overlooking the landscape. The living spaces were constructed this way because privacy for the elite was of prime importance. Keeping their lives mysterious and apart from the common people contributed to their perceived status and association with the Gods. Each palace apartment had a corresponding tomb, built either under the patio or under the largest room of the dwelling.

The tombs were carved out of the bedrock, often facing west in the direction of the setting sun. They were capped with large ceiling stones to create a roof. This construction was then buried under the floor of the patio or room where the tomb was located. The interior tomb walls show a variety of finishing techniques, but most are smoothed out, stuccoed, and painted with murals. They have the magical associations of the cave as the gateway to the underworld abyss and also as the place of transformation and resurrection of the spirit to the afterlife.

The palace ruins where Tomb 104 was found. The stacked squares found center, left is the present entrance to Tomb 104.

The most extant of the existing Zapotec tombs, is called Tomb 104. At the time of its discovery in 1937, it had been untouched and unentered since its construction in 450 – 550 AD. It’s singular survival, and the extraordinary pristine condition of its contents, led to its reconstruction as an exhibit in the Mexican pavilion at the 1939 World’s fair as a paean to Mexican culture. This reconstruction of the tomb was presented by the Mexican government to the American Museum of Natural History at the close of the World’s Fair.

In situ, Tomb 104 would have been accessed by a set of descending stairs leading to a small courtyard in front of the tomb entrance. While a necessary feature of reaching the tomb, descending stairs are symbolic of the downward and inward journey to the underworld. The stairs were not a visible feature in the room. They would have been filled in and paved over with stone creating a smooth floor, with only an offertory box to indicate what was beneath. This not only made discovery and pillaging difficult, but it also made the journey to the underworld as symbolically difficult as it would be in life. At the bottom of the stairs, was the entrance to the tomb. However, the entrance to Zapotec tombs was not simply a rough hole to crawl through as in other Mesoamerican cultures. The Zapotec tombs had an impressively designed and finished façade. The façade of Tomb 104 which rises about 10 feet from the bottom of the entrance stairs, is divided into three distinctive areas, each having its own meaning. The entrance to the tomb proper was originally sealed with a large stone. There are symbols painted around the entrance on the door jambs. These symbols have been deciphered to mean “blood” (on the narrow areas inset next to the entrance) and on framing the spaces further away from the door, “day” or more generically, “space” – which is to be read that this is a tomb for a person whose life has ended, and his spirit has moved on into space. This interpretation is supported by the remaining façade architecture. The three stepped lintels above the door are symbolic of the spirit rising into the clouds, while the three squared arched shapes above them are indicative of the destination of the spirit in the clouds. Indeed, there is imbedded in the depiction of the clouds, an effigy that may represent the ascended deceased, or a god protecting the tomb and guiding the deceased.

Looking into Tomb 104 as reproduced at the American Museum of Natural History.

The effigy figure in situ at Tomb 104 at Monte Alban, Mecico.

The effigy figure holds the most prominent position on the façade of the tomb and as it is detailed and the only figurative element, it is clearly the focal point. Originally, the present black clay figure was stuccoed and painted with touches of red. Red is an important color in Zapotec art and architecture since it denotes life, blood and the spirit. It is a color that is used liberally in their art. One of the most interesting details of this façade figure, is that it exhibits both male and female characteristics. It is presented outwardly as male, but certain details: the soft modeling of the face; the hair braided in a traditional female style (still worn by the Mexican women living in the area); the feet being depicted without sandals (an iconographic detail associated with women during this period of Mexican history); the figure wears a scalloped tunic (huipil) and fringed cloak which were traditional female clothing of the Zapotec. The most obvious male characteristics of the figure are the elaborate headdress (worn rituality only by men in Zapotec culture), the fringed bag held in the right hand which is a traditional male Zapotec accessory and the representation of a pectoral ornament depicting a human head with tassels, the design of which seems to be a personal identifier.

Drawing of effigy figure on the facade of Tomb 104 to show details.

Since understanding the meaning of this figure will afford the key to the interpretation of the entire tomb, there have been many theories about who or what this figure represents. It has been suggested that it represents Cocijo, the god of lightening. Cocijo is one of the most important gods in the Zapotec pantheon because he is associated with rainfall. Rainfall is the life sustaining element for agricultural societies. His presence above the entrance to the tomb could be as a protector of the sacred space of the dead. The error of this reading is that Cocijo is inherently a masculine God and not gender fluid. It has also been discussed that the figure shows the wife of the deceased being given the inheritance rights and rulership of the clan. This would account for the duality of gender markers expressed in the sculpture, as the consort of the elite would be taking on a male role of rulership along with her birth gender duties. This would have to indicate that the deceased in the tomb died without male heirs for this to happen in Zapotec society. The problem with this conclusion is that there is no indication that the occupant of this tomb had a wife or children. The tomb contains a single burial and has remained undisturbed since it was sealed. Any wife and or children would have been buried in the tomb and the tomb repainted and reconsecrated at their deaths. A third alternative (which none of my research has broached to explain the gender dualities) seems to be the most logical. It would be that the figure over the tomb is there to identify the interred in his role as an ancestral ruler and intermediary to the gods. He has ascended to the clouds, which was the final resting place of the Zapotec dead. As a representation of the deceased, this would not only indicate who was buried in the tomb but would also impart some interesting personality traits. The transgender characteristics of the figure could be accounted for by his being homosexual or transexual in life where he expressed the roles of both ruler and consort. This gender fluid identity must have been known to the commissioners and builders of the tomb for them to be displayed so prominently. But since it would also be hidden from public view by its location under a palace room, the importance of this information would be accessible only to family and the Gods.

Drwing shoing the glyphs carved onto the back of the stone that sealed the entrance to Tomb 104.

Originally the entrance to the tomb was sealed by two large stones fitted into the entrance. The largest measures 4 feet 3 inches high x 3 feet wide x 9 ½ inches thick. This stone is carved on the front and back. The smaller stone (the dimensions do not seem to have been recorded) has no carving. The carved stone seems to have been reused from another context, as the exterior side carving does not relate to the tomb but may still relate to the deceased’s notable actions while living. The second uncarved stone is apparently a filler stone to complete the sealing of the entrance.

The side of the carved stone that faces the interior can be deciphered to offer the birth and death dates of the departed. The interpreted dates offer an age of 38 years to the buried individual. It has been suggested that given the age of death, and the reusing of an already carved stone for the entrance sealer, that the death was sudden and unforeseen. The suddenness of the death could have made it impossible to have an original stone for the door to be quarried. A more prosaic reason could be given for the reuse of the sealing stone. It was available and large enough so it could be shaped to fit. Quarrying and transporting a fresh stone would take greater effort and expense than reusing a stone that was already convenient. However, the recycling of the entrance stone is another deviation from the standard Zapotec domestic tomb.

The interior of Tomb 104 as it looks in present day.

The tomb proper is a cell that measures approximately 6 ½ feet wide by 14 feet deep and is approximately 6 feet high. As mentioned previously, Tomb 104 is the only tomb so far found at Monte Albán that has been found intact and unsealed. The other tombs at this site show evidence of use over time with multiple burials and layers of repainting on the murals. Most have been emptied of their contents and moved by the families when Monte Albán was abandoned. One exception is Tomb 7, which was reused as a temple to the earth/fertility goddess Cihauacoatl several hundreds of years after its abandonment. It is curious, and another anomaly of Tomb 104, that it was not disinterred with the others at the abandonment of Monte Albán. This is further evidence in favor of the deceased dying without heirs or a spouse. Another curious fact of the tomb is that there is only one burial in it. All of the other grave sites held multiple burials (up to six). Here in Tomb 104, there lies only the remains of one male skeleton. He is placed so that his head is toward the back, facing west, while his feet point toward the entrance. In a semi-circle around his feet are five effigy urns: a large one in the center, flanked on each side by two smaller ones. The large urn dominating the center position in front of the feet of the body, shows similarities to the figure adorning the front of the tomb. It wears the same pectoral ornament of a human head with tassels, but this figure is hiding his face behind a snout-serpentine mask and wears a differently detailed headdress. This figurative sculpture found in the interior of the tomb is obscuring their real identity and taking on the role of another more powerful deity. It has been speculated that this sculpture is a representation of the Zapotec corn god Pitao Cozobi, or a priest dressed to impersonate the god. It may even be the deceased himself masked and adorned to portray the god. The representation of the pectoral jewelry appearing on both the figure on the façade and on the interior figure infers that the same person is represented. Due to the presence of the masks, the sculpture is clearly not a representation of the God itself. Its placement in a position of prominence and power just inside the entrance and at the feet of the body, along with its superior size and the complexity of its design in comparison to the other figurative objects in the tomb, indicates it must have a protective function. It would be the first image inside the tomb that would be seen by anyone entering. It would serve as a warning of consequences if the disturbance of the grave were not in some way appeased. The four smaller figures to each side would also serve at the bidding of the dominant one and would need to be placated as well. These ceramic sculptures are built around an open vessel shaped similar to a vase that could readily accept an offering of appeasement of some kind.

Drawing of Tomb 104 showing the placement of the skeleton and pottery.

Three of the figurative urns that were placed at the feet of the body in Tomb 104. The large central guardian effigy of Pitao Cozobi is shown in the center.

Carved out of the center of each wall and into the far corners of the tomb are niches which were filled with ceramic eating and cooking vessels left as offerings, although no traces of any food were found in them. On the walls themselves, are painted the murals for which this tomb is famed. Now faded upon being exposed to the air, and the breath and temperature of the public (Tomb 104 is no longer open to the public in hopes of preserving what remains of the murals) the murals were found in pristine condition. On the back wall lording over the imagery of the space is the God Pitao Pezelao, the Zapotec God of the Dead. He is the oppressive and static center of this burial space. His presence exemplifies finality and silence.

Schematic drawing of the murals as they wrap around the three walls of the interior of the Tomb 104.

The Murals themselves are painted in three colors: red, blue and grey (or a white that has dirtied) on a lighter red ground. By the presence of drip marks, it has been speculated that these paintings were executed with haste. Alternatively, the drips could have been as a result of the looseness of medium, or of the inadequacy of the tools used for application. As an artist, I can think of other reasons for the dripping paint than haste. But, when the murals of Tomb 104 are compared with other murals at Monte Albán, they do reveal a roughness of detail and are missing the strong, careful linear elements of others. With the youth of the interred inferring an unexpected death, the assumption of a quick execution of the painting is natural.

The murals can be read as a linear message from front to back. Each side begins with the image of a god. On the right is a representation of Pitao Cozobi, the God of Corn and harvest – the same God who is conjectured to be represented as the large sculptural figure at the feet of the body. On the left is Xipe Totec, the gory God of Spring and new vegetation. The God of beginnings who wears the flayed skin of a human victim, the new skin of the Earth as it regrows in the spring. Visually, Xipe Totec is depicted as thin, befitting his role as the God who begins the growing season, when food would be scarce. Pitao Cozobi on the other hand is rendered as plump, given that his role is one of the harvest when food would be plentiful. All of the implied movement of the elements of the wall paintings is directed toward the back wall to the static image of Pitao Pezelao the God of the Dead who lords in silence. The information on the walls identifies the body as Lord 1 M (first day of the time of Lightning) of the Jaguar lineage. In most Zapotec tombs, the mural imagery and glyphs depict the lineage of the buried, their connection to the living and proof of their ancestral superiority, Tomb 104 does not. Instead, the symbolism and the glyphs depict a particular time of the yearly cycle, the time out of time between the end of the dry season (spring) and the beginning of the wet (growing) as the journey of the deceased through the underworld.

This particular period of the yearly cycle is used as the metaphor for the dying of Lord 1M. It is the time of year when water is at its most scarce in this region of Mexico. It is the 65-day period before the rainy season when it is not time to plant, but a time of fallowness, scarcity and waiting for the rain in order to sow. To plant now would kill the crop before it had started to grow. This iconography is important, since it explains much of what makes this tomb different than the others at Monte Albán. Lord 1M is depicted in the murals as the end of his line. There was no progeny to open his grave and venerate him as an ancestor. This was proven by the undisturbed state of Tomb 104, and the single skeleton inside. Lord 1M has gone to join his ancestors in the clouds who are no longer connected to the living. His life had been fallow and barren as the dry fields waiting for rain. His seed died before it could grow, be harvested and produce heirs.

Tomb 104 is notable among Mesoamerican art and culture for several reasons. Due to the untouched, pristine condition in which it was found, it has provided a wealth of information on the funerary practices of early Mexican civilizations. It is the prime example of early Mesoamerican painting because its murals were never painted over or altered before their discovery in 1937. The tomb was not pillaged or looted by treasure seekers in its 1500-year history, allowing archeologists to get a complete picture of the idea of the Zapotec concept of the afterlife.

There are also many questions that Tomb 104 brings up as well, that we may never have satisfactory answers to. Why was this a solitary burial? All of the other tombs found at Monte Albán were multiple burial sites. As a ruling elite, Lord 1M of the Jaguar clan should have had a consort and heirs, yet all of the evidence indicates that he did not. Why does his identification effigy on the façade of the tomb have both male and female gender markers? This may be the lone indicator of a wife according to some archeologists . If that is so, why did the wife abandon the tomb to time? Even if Lord 1M died without issue, his wife would have been buried with him at her death. Most importantly, why was the tomb buried, paved over and forgotten? The iconographic symbolism and glyph reading in Tomb 104 tells us that Lord 1M was the last of his line to ascend to the clouds. This makes clear that he died without children to inherit the maintenance and veneration of his tomb. But again, what about the wife? Did she remarry and did this void her obligation to her deceased husband? Or was something else not examined by the scholars who have studied this civilization. Unless the evidence is unrefutable, the notion of homosexuality is not a major consideration in the intellectual community. But the iconographic evidence in this situation merits at least an investigation into the possibility that Lord 1M may have had other interests outside the heteronormative.

Tomb 104 stands not only as a rich repository of Zapotec funeral culture, but as a paradigm for Mesoamerican art. Its wealth of pictorial symbolism provides an exemplary understanding into the life of the occupant of the tomb as well as the lives of the people and the civilization that are responsible for its creation. So much of Mesoamerican art and culture has been lost to the Spanish conquest, looting or simply to the ravages of time. That this tomb was forgotten is a tragedy for the interred, but its rediscovery is a miracle of survival. Lord 1M has been rediscovered for modern times. His story provides a glint of the complexity and diversity of all of our ancient forbearers.

Arthur Bruso © 2021

#domesticabyss #arthurbruso #artswriting #arthurbrusoartswriting #americanmuseumofnaturalhistory #zapotectomb104 #zapotec #mexico #oaxaca #montealban #mesoamerica #Cocijo #genderfluidity #homosexual #transgender #PitaoCozobi #PitaoPezelao #tomb #underworld #dead #interred #skeleton #godofthedead #godofharvest #godofbeginings #timeoutoftime #lord1m #zapotectombmurals #cloudpeople #journeythroughtheunderworld #afterlife #ancestors #tomb104

Memory Box by Mark Dion

Mark Dion, "Memory Box," 2016. Wood, steel, shelving, and various objects, 114 x 113 x 125 inches.

With this piece, Mark Dion explores our curiosity. The work is conceived as interactive, in that the viewer is welcome to take out the boxes and look inside. Each box has an object or several objects that are waiting for discovery. Search and discovery is the main focus of this work. Dion is hoping to invoke in the participant the sensation of the archeologist discovering a long hidden tomb full of ancient treasure, or at least the furtive guilt of peeking in a strangers medicine cabinet at a party. It is less about visual stimulation and more about looking and discovery. Unfortunately, the gallery where I saw this did not clearly state that this piece was interactive, so I missed out on the larger meaning of the work, as I respectfully stared at the many boxes and moved on. Perhaps that was best, since while a good concept, I don’t believe that the intent of the piece would stand up to public groping.

Detail of some of the boxes inside the structure.

Arthur Bruso © 2017

#markdion #arthurbrusoartswriting #arthurbruso #memoryboxbymarkdion #memorybox #intallationart #fineart #art #curiosity #discovery #treasure