craft home


Christmas Cards and Hangings for 2006
from the Santa Maria Education Fund
sadly sold out: try another design


Each year we produce a Christmas card,
the sales proceeds of which go to the Education Fund.

The SMEF Christmas card for 2006 shows the Angel Gabriel bringing the good news to Mary. This wooden statue is one of the best known and most admired statues in the Jesuit Reductions, and is believed to be by the Italian Jesuit artist, Giuseppe Brasanelli, who came over to Paraguay in 1692 to work in the Missions and to teach sculpture to the Guaraní.

Most of the statues we have today are carved by the indigenous, but a few notable examples - of which this is one - have more European features, and of these, several are believed to be by Brasanelli. In the Santa María museum we have around 60 statues, including a figure of Mary at the Annunciation and several angels, and a couple of Brasanellis.

The elaborate, billowing folds of material became one of the distinctive features of the art of the Reductions, and the angel's gestures - one hand holding something (now lost) and the other raised aloft - are also typical of Jesuit-Guaraní style. The statue is life-size, and is found today in the Oratory of Loreto in Santa Rosa, which is the neighbouring village to Santa María, at the end of a dirt road through the campo. Pilgrims visiting the Santa María Hotel - if they stay long enough - go to see this statue of Gabriel, along with Mary and the Dove, that together form the scene of the Annunciation.


These cards are now available priced at £3.95 for 10
plus postage and packing: £1.95 for up to 30; £2.95 for 31 - 70; £5.50 for over 70.
Cheques should be made out to Santa Maria Education Fund and sent to Mimi Stephens at the address below.
2004
2007
2008
2009

Some cards from previous years are still available!

Christmas hangings may also be ordered from the
Sewing Co-operative - for pictures and details click here

For more information or to make an order, contact Mimi Stephens
Lee Cottage, Blockley, Moreton in Marsh, GL56 9HH.
or email us on info@santamariadefe.com

The Santa Maria Education Fund is a UK registered charity, no.1105031
craft home