This precious site is 12 kilometers from the center Tenancingo . Santo Desierto is a thickly forested mountain-national park upon which there is working carmelite monastery built around 1801.
In addition to the monastery within its bucolic setting one can admire recently restored religious art, or explore an alpine forest of oak and pine.The mountain was called Nixcongo in prehispanic times. Little is known of its precolombian past yet an idol turns up now and then. Presently Nixcongo is called Santo Desierto, yet it does not resemble an arid wasteland for nature is there in abundance, and as the entire area is enclosed by a wall it resembles a garden of Eden. Santo Desierto is lush and moist and pasted upon a rarefied sky, a place removed from the world of man. Passing clouds are elongated as they leap the summit like hurdlers. For centuries, possibly much more this mountain and its forests have been a place for pilgrims who crave a place closer to heaven, a verdant abode where they can find peace through contemplation.
Indeed, Santo Desiertos appear in many religious myths about Eden or paradise. Jesus spent 40 days in the Judean Desert after his baptism. He was tempted by the devil so the story goes but he resisted. He was taken by the devil to a high mountain where he could see all the kingdoms of the world. The desert and the mountain are symbolic. The desert represents relief from the competition for our consciousness,, the auto-removal from the chaotic world of man to a place where reflection rules. Attention is focused inwards. The mountain is symbolic for height which offers one a greater field of vision. The temptations represent the material world that is laden with too many options.
In Catholicism there exists the collective memory of remorse for having been scarred by original sin in a garden. Man attempts a reconciliation through penance or reflection in a natural setting. We arrive like the carmelite priest, as a humble hermit. The garden becomes the homeopathic cure in order to regain paradise. Within the architecture of the convent atop this mountain surrounded by forest one may be cured of the world below.
The design of the church is in perfect harmony with nature.
Walk the path to the monastery lined with tall cedars, and marked by the Stations of the Cross ,, listen to the wind, and the many birds, breathe the fresh cool air. The church a beautiful surprise set among tall trees,, an architectural breach in a dense green forest. Let yourself go and you will be mesmerized by the beautiful solitude. Visit the church and explore its secrets and then afterwards see the small giftshop where handicrafts and souvenirs are sold some made by the monks themselves. The monks also produce and sell eggnog, cheese, jellies (ate), farm fresh eggs and in addition religious articles and books which tell the history and legends about the convent.
A nice side trip is a walk on a path that passes behind the convent grounds that winds through the forest and ends at "St Michael's Balcony" on the edge of a cliff affording a great view towards the valley of Malinalco. This walk takes perhaps a half hour in total. There is another beautiful vista called "Devil's Balcony" that is worth a visit. The thick forests create a special environment with abundant shade and humidity that contribute to extensive mushroom growth in the rainy season during the months of june, july, august, and september. Many delicious edible wild mushrooms from the mountain are sold in the market in Tenancingo.
If you have the opportunity, with permission of course, one should visit inside the convent, which has beautiful gardens and religious paintings. Also overnight stays can be arranged in simple quarters.
The small town, above the monastery, that sprung up after the Mexican Revolution is a classic example of the intersection between religion and commerce that repeats itself all over the world. It is unsurprising that the two forces would meet. Most times the commerce is crass. I am reminded of the Vatican where outside the walls generations of Italians sell fast dry religious art and trinkets. Chalma, the second most important religious site in Mexico, is one of those gross intersections. The church in Chalma obscures the ancient indigenous religious site that came well before the spanish and now that church is completely obscured by a countinuous roof of multiple plastic tarps under which exist a small commercial class of people selling a sea of cheap crosses and rosaries.
In El Desierto there is a cadre of sellers of peanut brittle, gorditas, pulque, and now mescal all along the via dolorosa,, a long path with the stations of the cross embedded on stone pillars that ends in the convent itself. All these vendors are tresspassing on convent property and each year they encroach more. A family of caciques with economic interests have enabled the encroachment. They have helped shape the town into a bloodsucking tick on the spiritual idea of the convent. also there is the month of july. It has been a long tradition during this month for Santo Desierto to host daily pilgrammages by local guilds such as carpenters, taxi drivers, flower growers,, etc. All go to the mountain, attend a mass, then spend the day celebrating. Over the years this has metamorphosed into a huge now month and a half long party. The guld members imbibe flaggons of alchohol and pulque, baskets of quesadillas, and gorditas while listening to the tunes of Norteño bands. The month long fiesta is in stark contrast to this sacred mountain top reserve that was always meant to be a place of spiritual healing not a cheap carnival. Santo Desierto was meant to provide a place where one's gaze is turned inward. The fair is the largest deposit of funds for the community atop the mountain and has become their "thing". The tons of garbage generated by the fair have a scar on the landscape.
Sooooo,,,,, the earthquake struck in september 2017 and damaged the convent enough to be closed for revision by INAH, the archaeological arm of the government charged with the preservation of all national treasures of which Santo Desierto is one. After the church was flagged safe for operation the monks decided not to reopen until they got their land back. They have plans to rescue some ancient stone retreats amidst the woods and reforest an area where venders now sell food and drink. There has been a standoff,, no one budging until a group of concerned citizens in Tenancingo in conjunction with the well connected monks took action. It seems to be working. An agreement has been reached. This year the vendors will be allowed along the Via Dolorosa but after August they must permanently leave by order of INAH and the government of Tenancingo.
The design of the church is in perfect harmony with nature.
Walk the path to the monastery lined with tall cedars, and marked by the Stations of the Cross ,, listen to the wind, and the many birds, breathe the fresh cool air. The church a beautiful surprise set among tall trees,, a sweet breach in the dense green forest. Let yourself go and you will be mesmerized by the beautiful solitude. Visit the church and explore its secrets and then afterwards see the small giftshop where handicrafts and souvenirs are sold some made by the monks themselves. The monks also produce and sell eggnog, cheese, jellies (ate), farm fresh eggs and in addition religious articles and books which tell the history and legends about the convent.
A nice side trip is a walk on a path that passes behind the convent grounds that winds through the forest and ends at "St Michael's Balcony" on the edge of a cliff affording a great view towards the valley of Malinalco. This walk takes perhaps a half hour in total. There is another beautiful vista called "Devil's Balcony" that is worth a visit. If you have the opportunity, with permission of course, one should visit inside the convent, which has beautiful gardens and religious paintings. Also overnight stays can be arranged in simple quarters.
Nuestra Señora Del Carmen
Monday july 8th I accompanied my mother-in-law, wife, and the carpenters on their annual guild pilgrammage to Santo Desierto. First we went to mass then afterwards we ate together. We walked down to the monastery with all the other pilgrims. My mother-in-law who is well connected to Tenancingo marched in measured step with head high all puffed up with pride like a queen. She saluted this person here and that person there "¿Holaaa Carlito como esta mano?" Her composure is regal but she has always matriculated well with the more common folk.
I go to mass only to accompany my wife or family. I always need relief from the repetition of the catholic liturgy so to find peace I pass time studying the architecture trying to decide how they might have erected that arch so many years ago, or why this dome is better than that one. The mass that day began with a mariachi band playing Las Mañanitas. They soon left and were replaced by a trio. The music echoed off the the hard surfaces of the small church. That day the mass was said by a tall fussy red faced carmelite in ratty sneakers who darted about the altar with great energy. He spoke clearly enunciating well so I could understand each word. He wasn't a mouth filled with marbles who mumbled and buzzed a monotonous familiar path. Let me say the sermons I have heard but not listened to since my childhood are too numerous to count so when he asked us to sit for the sermon,, it was my queue to untie the rope from the boat and drift away in a light wind. He opened the new testament and began to read about the first miracle of Christ, the marriage feast at cana. However he caught my attention when he began to ask questions of the crowd. This is rare in the Catholic church where all oracions travel one way. He asked who said this to whom, and what did Jesus say to his mother and how he said it,, and what did he order done? One guy behind me got right into the moment and fired off all correct answers as if he had been waiting a lifetime for the opportunity,,,, or maybe he was just a plant by the padre I thought.
The Priest began to explain the story with another perspective. The parable was more than a reluctant Christ implored by a pushy mother to make something really cool happen. A new perspective, well this is something usually out of reach of the typical secular country priest. The priest talked about the family who ran out of wine risking not only embarrassment but the loss of happiness. Perdieran la alegria. And happiness is what we must never lose and must labor to maintain with our families, friends,, our work,, and in even the smallest aspects of our daily life,,,,,and just when all the people in the audience were thinking "this guy is telling us to leave here and then party like there is no tomorrow", he spoke,, "y para todo esos cabrones que piensan que esto significa que puedes salir ahora y emborracharse sin conciencia estan perdiendo el significado".
This wasn't all. The Carmelite then began to explain the history of his order in Tenancingo. Why 200 years ago they left the higher altitude of Desierto del Los Leones near Mexico City for the likes of Tenancingo. He talked briefly about the hermit life, something valued highly in the Carmelite order. Hermits existed apart from any community . In contrast monks were part of a greater group. The hermit though in his aloness was more disposed to deal directly with God. The desert setting reflected the hermit's state of soul, ever striving for "quiet", within solitude which promotes spiritual reflection.The hermit, having no ties to communitarian ritual or especially economics, was free to plumb the depths of religious life.That was interesting enough but then he began to explain the difference between the pilgrimages to El Señor de Chalma (to the son) in comparison to The Virgen del Carmen (the mother). The mother always touches hearts in Mexico,,, that elusive dominant figure who deals love and guilt with a scalpel. She is the bitch before whom all bow, the queen of tidal emotions. Before the conclusion of the mass he explained some of the paintings about the church that we all had seen but no one knew.
I was ready,, at least for five glorious minutes, to turn in my shoes and Dockers shirt for a drab brown habit,, to trade it all for a cell, a mind free of distraction, a patch of high altitude green, and spiritual peace.
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