Master of Puerto Rican Tradition Shares Meaning of Santos
Updated on April 12, 2025 by Meg Pier
Learn about the Puerto Rican tradition of santos from master artisan Pedro Rinaldi of Ponce. He reveals the history of this Puerto Rican folk art.
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Can you, please, send me the address of Mr. Ronaldo’s studio? Thank You!
I am a native from the PR. I love the history of it too, but the story that is told here is not all correct. I have the fortune to have a small figure of the Holy Mother that was given to me by my grandmother when she passed away in 1982. This was a wedding present from her father when she got married in 1919. The problem with your story is that in Spanish the word Santero has two means: One is from the slaves that came from Africa with their religion and custom, they were medicine men and call Santeros. the other is from the ones who made the image of the Saints. Most of the images they had at the time were made of wood. When the Americans arrived. They had been catholic for 400 yrs., but with the American came the other religious group. They burned most the religious icons the people had and persecuted them. But I have to give you great credit for your description of the Museum of Las Americas, it is fantastic. Did you know that it was donate by the Governor Ferrer. He came from a family of wealth and begin born in Ponce he wanted to give the island something to enrich it by, and he did.