AUSTIN, Texas (September 7, 2004) — The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection of the University of Texas Libraries announces the opening of the exhibit, “Celebrating Los Pastores: The Mexican Shepherds Play in San Antonio, Texas” on Tuesday, September 21, 2004.
Photographer Mary Ann Bruni has collaborated with the Benson Latin American Collection to present a retrospective exhibition of her photographs documenting the Christmas play as produced in San Antonio from the early 1980s to the present.
The shepherds play has a long European tradition dating to the twelfth century. Its emergence in the New World coincided with conversion practices by missionary friars who used theatrical displays to present Christian concepts to native peoples. These plays, however, contained non-canonical elements offering individuals in local communities opportunities to express themselves in fanciful and even comical ways.
Today, communities of the southwestern United States carry on this Mexican custom to participate actively in the story of the Nativity. Performing at local churches, private homes and the San José Mission, San Antonio members of the Guadalupe Players act the parts of the shepherds and devils, the Virgin, St. Joseph, the good angel Michael and the bad angel Lucifer. The shepherds are taunted and delayed on their trip to the stable by Lucifer. Saint Michael, however, conquers the devil to much singing and rejoicing by the cast members and audience.
Bruni’s fascination with the shepherds play, a folk art form that continues to intrigue anthropologists of contemporary Latino culture in the United States, has led her to become familiar with the Guadalupe Players and their families who have acted out this play for the last generation. The photographs chronicle the growth of these “actor” families as young angels grow to become older shepherds and young devils develop their craft.
Bruni depicted the players in her children's book, Rosita's Christmas Wish, translated as El Sueño de Rosita. For that work Bruni received a La Bahia award from the Sons of the Republic of Texas. Juan Carlos, King of Spain, awarded Ms. Bruni a Lazo de Dama of the Order of Isabel la Católica for her contribution to the understanding of Spanish culture in America.
The exhibit includes prints selected from more than 200 images digitized for the web, along with sound recordings of Los Pastores in action, that the photographer has made available to the Benson Collection. These materials may be used by researchers as part of the Mexican American Library Program (MALP), a unit of the Benson Collection. The Los Pastores exhibit marks the opening event of year-long celebrations of MALP’s thirty-year anniversary supporting the educational needs of students and researchers of Mexican American and U.S. Latino culture and history.
The public is invited to the exhibit’s opening and reception on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Rare Books Reading Room of the Benson Latin American Collection. The Benson Collection is located in Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 1, on the east side of campus at the northwest corner of Red River and Clyde Littlefield Drive (formerly Manor Road). Parking is available in Lot 38, adjacent to Sid Richardson Hall, with entry from Red River Street.
The exhibit will continue through January 2005.
The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection embodies more than 80 years of The University of Texas at Austin's commitment to create and maintain a specialized research library dedicated to the culture and history of Latin America and of U.S. Latinos. The Benson Collection is part of the University of Texas Libraries.
