Day One Findings

Today it was sunny and 30 degrees.   Lots of snow along the edge of the road but still found some good stuff.  found ten lead wheel weights, two metal wire hub cap rings, a couple of bent up road flare wires, an "ancient" looking reed "bow-like" thing with black string attached to it, an interesting shaped piece of cardboard, a piece of bright pink yarn, a big black rubber object with a hole in it, a great "switch" comb that looks like a menacing mouth full of teeth, some little rubber and plastic odds and ends and a bunch of really great advertising cards for a Botanica in Langley Park with various Christian saints and other figures on the front and Spanish text on the back advertising consultations for everything from  impotence to money problems and it's advertised as 100% effective, can't beat that!   These cards are interesting to me, they remind me of my undergrad body of work that touched on Catholicism, rituals and the wishbone.  

Langley Park has a large immigrant population from 120 different countries.   As of the 2010 census, 76% were Latino with a large percentage being Salvadorian.   I did a little research and found that these cards are from the "Santeria (Way of the Saints) religion which is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, with some Roman Catholic elements added."   "The religion is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha.   Santeria is a syncretic religion that grew out of the slave trade in Cuba."  (www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/santeria/)