Can you picture the Baby Jesus dressed in your favorite club’s jersey? Well, one Mexico City market has made this a reality.
According to merchants at the Historic Center’s Corredor del Niño Dios — known for it’s range of costumes for statues of Jesus — the most requested piece of clothing to dress up the Baby Jesus on Candlemas Day (Feb. 2) is Mexico City’s Club América “Tricampeón” football kit.
The capital’s Club América, also dubbed “Las Águilas,” is the club with the largest fan base in Mexico. The team recently won their third consecutive national championship title in the Liga Mx.
“We’re going to dress [the Baby Jesus] with the uniform of the three-time champion America. That’s what people are asking for, América,” the owner of Creaciones Guadalupe told newspaper Excelsior.
But the Archbishop of Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Oscar Roberto Dominguez Couttolenc, called on parishioners to be respectful of the image of the Baby Jesus and not to dress him as a soccer fan or a superhero.
“If you support America or Cruz Azul, that’s one thing,” the Archbishop said. “Don’t dress them as Batman or other superheroes. Let’s be respectful… Just dress [the figure] as Baby Jesus.”
Prices for Baby Jesus’ costumes vary, ranging from 80 pesos (US $4) to more artisanal pieces that cost around 2,000 pesos (US $100).
Vendors at the Historic Center told the newspaper Excelsior that dressing up the Baby Jesus on Candlemas Day is a Catholic tradition as old as Mexico’s love for football. The tradition of dressing up the Baby Jesus dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries when nuns often dressed many religious figures in garments they had woven themselves. Over time, this practice was passed on to parishioners, who continue the tradition by dressing the figurines today.
Candlemas is a holiday that celebrates the purification of the Virgin Mary after giving birth — following Jewish traditions of the time — and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. This celebration is still alive in much of Latin America and Spain.
In Mexico, observants dress up a Baby Jesus figure to take it to the temple in remembrance of the presentation day. There are no references in the Bible as to whether the Baby Jesus was a fan of Club Ámerica, however.
With reports from Excélsior
