The Cult of the Virgin: Offerings, Ornaments and Festivals

Gorgeous color photography and a well-conceived layout mark this art book about the veneration of Mary, but the text is less than inspired. Author Boyer has a keen eye for detail, noting the incongruity, for example, of contemporary Spanish women who don the respectable black mantilla for processionals, when the veil is almost as long as their miniskirts. But Boyer's sparse text is all description rather than analysis. The chapter on Black Virgins notes the stubborn presence of black statues, icons and paintings of Mary in Europe and elsewhere, but at no point does Boyer ask the obvious question: Why? For instance, why would 16th-century Europeans--some of whom were in the business of exploiting and enslaving darker races--simultaneously choose a Black Madonna to adore? A later chapter on syncretism observes the universal tendency to superimpose Mary worship on local goddess traditions, but the only explanation Boyer ventures for this phenomenon is to hint that the natives upon whom Catholicism had been foisted could discover ""in the Virgin Mary an extension of their own beliefs."" This book is best appreciated for its 173 vivid, full-color representations of worldwide Mary worship, from early icons and the jewel-encrusted robes that enveloped Mary statues to the contemporary practice of pinning baby booties to a shrine when the Blessed Mother is credited with a successful conception and delivery. (June)