The Puerto Rican Mano Poderosa does not include the Chalice or Lambs, but rests on a heavenly cloud, surrounded by what seams like four Archangels, which are believed to be Saint Michael, Saint Rafael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Uriel. Often the Mexican Mano Poderosa demonstrates the Cinco Señores “Seniors” or Cinco Personas each on top of a finger of the hand, while the hand rests on a chalice, as blood from the wound on the palm over flow es and quenches the thirst of a group of 7 “Seven” sheep or lambs. The Puerto Rican Wooden Mano Poderosa mimicks its elder Mexican predecessor Tin Retalbo, with some differences. The earliest known folk art of the Mano Poderosa “with hand intact” comes from Mexico in its tin Retalbo form that dates back from around 1807 through 1809, and then in Puerto Rico in its Santo de Palo wooden saint carvings forms that date from 1915. Originally the Santos brought to the Americas where wooden statues or expensive art paintings. Saints and religious paraphernalia such as Las Cinco Personas or Los Cinco Señores, was used as a way of teaching the then illiterate African and Indigenous population the life and veneration’s of its Catholic saints. The Mano Poderosa as we know it today is an ancient symbol of protection and its idea was brought to Mexico and the Caribbean by Spanish and other European settlers and missionaries who settled in Latin America. Much of its elements are rooted in folk Espiritismo traditiones, West African Religion and Indigenous Spiritual beliefs. One of the most iconic symbols in both Mexican and Puerto Rican folk art is the Mano Poderosa or the All Powerful Hand, and while it does have much Catholic “Cristian” elements, and its based on the Cult of Saint Ann and the Holy Family.
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