Mexican Folk Art
Altar Retablo or Tablero
Virgin of Guadalupe
Saint Michael the Archangel
and Saint Francis
This is known either as a tablero or as a retablo (which word also refers to a hand painted picture of a saint). An item like this would have been placed in a private chapel for the use of a family in private worship. All of the figures and hand carved and hand painted. In the center is the Virgin of Guadalupe, and on either side are San Franciso (St. Francis) and San Miguel (St. Michael).

The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most famous saint in Mexico - the patron saint of Mexico, in fact. Known as the “Virgen Morena” - the brown skin virgin- Guadalupe was supposedly first encountered on the Hill of Tepeyac in what is now Mexico City only a few short years after the Spanish Conquest, by an Aztec Indian, Juan Diego, who was told to go and tell the bishop to build a temple on the spot where he first saw her. It happens that this spot is the same location where the temple of Tonantzin (“Our Lady” in the Aztec dialect, Nahuatl) was located. Tonantzin, on the other hand, was the recreation of an earlier Mother Goddess of the Indians who had been in the Valley of Mexico long before the arrival of the Aztecs.

San Miguel Arcangel - Saint Michael the Archangel - is a very important saint in Mexico. He is associated, for instance, with the cult of the Day of the Dead, because it is believed that, at the moment of death, the angels and the devils fight over the spirit of the departed, and San Miguel is called on in order to take the side of the angels and assure the spirit will be carried off to Heaven This figure is over twelve inches tall. At his feet is another carved and painted figure representing Lucifer as half man and half dragon. Notice the exquisite and painstaking detail.

San Miguel is considered to be the Captain of the Heavenly Army. He is likely derived from the Sumerian "seven gods of the Earth", who are called on to protect the human race from the "seven demons of the seven days".

In Mexico, San Miguel is often called to do an "amparo". This is something that a curandero is expected to have to protect himself from witchcraft. It is believed that, once a curandero has "cured" a patient from a spell inflicted by a witch, that the spell can "jump" onto the the curandero, and thus the amparo is necessary to prevent that.

Here is the most common prayer to San Miguel.

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel defend us in battle be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen

Saint Francis of Asisi is one of the most popular saints of all time. He was especially important in Mexico during the colonial period because of the strong involvement of the Franciscan friars in setting up the mission system there. Works like this, including the nicho, were often made for small chapels, which people seeking miracles would make pilgrimages to. Often, these pilgrims would later commision works like these for themselves, or they would commission retablos - painted by itinerant folk painters. The use of milagros is very important in these practices. Carved figures like this are often referred to by collectors as "santos", but the more proper word is "bulto".