Abstract

PEDROSA, José Manuel. ¿Hacen milagros los santos de madera?: Devociones y escepticismos, poder y carnaval. Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2013, vol.3, n.6, pp.120-145. ISSN 2007-8846.

Folk legends and folktales registered in El Salvador and Cuba, as well as in some other places, such as Mallorca, tell the story of some skeptical men that doubt the miraculous skills of some saints made of wood. They are punished because of their ungodliness. But folk traditions of some other Latin American countries and of several regions of Spain are extremely rich in just the opposite type of story: comic and skeptical parodies of saints made of wood and of its supposed miraculous skills. Comparison in the field of oral traditions of Latin America and Spain of both types of stories, with their opposite ideologies, show another level of the conflict of official religion and popular satire, of expressions of authority and expressions of carnival.

Keywords : El Salvador; Cuba; oral literature; popular religiousness; joke; parody; carnaval.