Multilingual Pilgramage: Katrina Thralls

I thought it was interesting to read the chapter Mexican Pilgrimage: Myth and History in Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture because language shapes how we understand concepts, especially abstract concepts in the spiritual world. It was nice to have both the Spanish and the English translation for the words of the Guadalupan canon, but I wish that Spanish was my first language, because in every translation, things are lost. This was a “literal” translation, which to me means that while the words themselves were not lost, some sort of essence or feeling from the original language was. Furthermore, while the majority of our culture is Christian, John James Eagle represents so much more than that sociologically that even if there was no language boundary, we would probably still have difficulty fully grasping everything he wished to put forth because we did not come from his society in his time. Despite all this, his words manage to ring out and have meaning that transcends temporal and societal differences to be consequential to someone like me, who is not even Christian in the traditional sense. It spoke to me in English, but sang to me in Spanish. In particular, the message of Juanito’s question, “¿soy digno de lo que oigo?” and Virgen Santa María’s response “ten por seguro que lo agradeceré bien.” In other words, John wonders if he is worthy just to hear the songbirds, and the mother of God assures him that he is worthy, not only of her trust, but of a reward.