I believe I put this picture up when I took it around a year ago, but I still like it. It’s a picture of the magnetic Virgin Mary statue on the dashboard of my father-in-law Honorio’s 1985 Land Cruiser.
Many cars here have little magnets, decals, air fresheners, and other doo-dads that display saints, prayers, and other religious imagery. I guess in the US people have the “Jesus Fish” bumper thingy, but that’s about it, usually. Here there’s like a whole little subculture based around these trinkets.
I do wonder, though, in which direction Mary is supposed to face. Should she be placed to look at the drivers to better protect them, as well as provide a happy face to pray to, or should she be placed looking forward, providing her with a nice view of the oncoming road?
Maybe it’s one of those things–like taking communion–that I’m not allowed to know about since I’m not Catholic.
Who knows.