Big Mother

I am traveling in Northern Spain, walking with the pilgrims of the Way of Saint James, the Camino de Santiago.

It´s true that the very early images of Mary the Mother from this part of Spain show someone who is very large, holding a grown man on her lap. I like to think this has something to do with an idea about a mother goddess, a holdover from what people knew about the unseen world before the coming of Christianity. But Big Mary went away, replaced by a young mother who delights in her infant son.


Then occasionally you see an image that evokes that Big Mother feeling, but the image is of Saint Anne, who is sometimes sculpted as holding a grownup Mary on her lap, with the grownup Mary cheerfully cuddling her baby. I like Saint Anne, the Big Mother. I understand that in the South of France, where grapes are farmed without irrigation, it is Saint Anne to whom the farmers address their concerns, and Saint Anne whom they thank with generous offerings after the harvest.

Who says the old ways have passed into the mists of forgetfulness?