Among many Mexicans, a most beloved santo is El Santo Niño de Atocha. Who cannot be charmed by El Niñito? There he sits on a throne, this adorable Christ Child, royally dressed in an elegant cape and gown, a plumed, floppy hat atop his curly hair, with common, dusty, worn sandals on his feet. The sandals are important because they identify him as a wanderer, a pilgrim, with ties to the humble and poor. In his left hand the Child holds a crooked staff, a water gourd hanging from the crook, and in his right he grips a straw basket, most often empty but at times containing ordinary peasant food such as nuts or cherries. A small scallop shell, the traditional sign of St. James, highlights the right side of the cape, symbolically linking El Niño to Spain’s most revered saint. As with all such religious icons, of course, details...

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