Never Underestimate the Power of Trinkets

On Friday night, I sold my sequined wall hanging of St. Clare for $40 at a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders In Haiti. During the years I went to Haiti, I collected so many trinkets from the Episcopal cathedral's gift shop. I believe it is one of the buildings that has been destroyed. I could be wrong about that. At any rate, even though I gave most of them away, I still found so many more items tucked away in drawers and filing cabinets, that I ended up raising $80.00. People even bought the damp, limp paper gourdes (Haitian dollars)! And I still have a pile of trinkets left that I discovered the next day. One of the prettiest souvenirs I acquired (besides the paintings which I will not sell!), was the sequined voudou version of St. Clare, known as the loa Ayizan. Surrounded by vévés (symbols), this depiction of St. Clare, sewn into a wall hanging, remained folded neatly in my closet for years. I just didn't know what to do with her.

In the Catholic religion, Clare is known as the young woman who took a vow of poverty and lived a cloistered life. She was cofounder of the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares. Though she came from an extremely wealthy family, she wanted no part of the life of leisure. This infuriated her father who had grand plans to marry her off to an equally wealthy family, thereby securing his wealth even more. St. Clare died in 1253. Haitians have made her into a much more colorful loa (spirit) who of course has a loa husband, Loco. She is a mambo or priestess and is linked to knowledge, mysteries, initiations and the natural world. She must indeed be powerful because my girlfriend Liz snatched her right up and I was thinking, "Oh good, Liz will know what to do with her." She did. Being a seamstress which I am not, Liz explained how she would sew a quilted opening of sorts to the satin backing and run a dowel through it in a certain way that renders it invisible when you hang it from a wall. Then she quite bluntly stated, "Then I'm giving it back to you for your birthday. It's way too pretty for you to sell!" I was speechless after that—and thankful that someone had taken notice of my neglected loa and made me see her in a new light. At any rate, the moral of this story is never take your trinkets for granted. They can definitely be worth something to someone or some cause at some point. Amen.


Addendum: once it is hanging on my wall, after Liz has worked her magic, I will take a picture of this lovely loa St. Clare and share it on this blog.