Nino Fidencio: A Heart Thrown Open - Hardcover

Gardner, Dore

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 089013233X ISBN 13: 9780890132333

Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Pr, 1992

Synopsis

These documentary photographs capture the remarkable life of famed Mexican healer Nino Fidencio (1898-1938), his enduring power, and the practices and pilgrimages that continue in his name.

About this title

About the Author:

Dore Gardner

Review:

Nino Fidencio was Mexican folk healer who lived in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon in the early part of the 20th century. When he died at the age of 40 in 1938 (at the hands of jealous doctors, his followers believed), he was the country's most prominent healer -- it was even said that he had cured the Mexican President of a serious illness. Since his death his cult has spread, particularly among Mexican-Americans in south Texas; tens of thousands make a pilgrimage to his tomb every year. [This book] presents a reverential look at the experiences of his contemporary followers through Dore Gardner's documentary photographs of the pilgrims, and through testimonials from the women who are his mediums. Frequently these women go to Nino Fidencio's shrine (often over the objections of their husbands) seeking to cure themselves or their children of debilitating illnesses after traditional medicine has failed. If they or their children are healed, the women often pay their debt by allowing Nino Fidencio's spirit to take over their bodies so that they may cure others, and by making the arduous pilgrimage to the remote village where he lived. Few who knew Nino Fidencio are still alive, and details about his life are vague and subject to constant revision by his devotees. An essay by the folklorist Kay F. Turner offers some historical and psychological insight into the cult . . . This book offers a fascinating glimpse into a little-known phenomenon as well as a testament to the power of belief. -- Miriam Davidson, The New York Times Book Review, February 28, 1997

About this edition

• Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 089013233X
• ISBN 13: 9780890132333
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 136