‘Child God’ bolsters Mexican hopes for health, peace

By Inés Amarelo

Mexico City, Jan 27 (EFE).- A five-meter (16 feet) high doll of a “Child God” weighing half a ton and mounted on an imposing red and gold throne in the southeast of Mexico City is reinforcing Mexican hopes for peace and health.

Behind this gigantic figure in the main square of Iztapalapa is the Gómez Reséndiz family of artists who unveiled it in 2013.

“It was built to be an exact replica of the little ones that are displayed on Dec.24 and sit for Candlemas Day,” Abraham Gómez Reséndiz, one of the brothers who created it, told EFE in an interview on Thursday.

Every year on Feb.2, Mexico celebrates Candlemas Day to mark the end of the Christmas season.

On this day, families cook tamales, made from corn-based dough and a variety of fillings, and bring out their Child God (Niño Dios).

The enormous “Child God” installed at the Iztapalapa Tamal Fair was created so that everyone could enjoy its presence and has been taken to several towns and celebrations in the area since 2013.

The doll, which has a steel skeleton, a body made out of polyurethane foam, an epoxy resin coating and bright blue glass resin eyes framed with horse hair eyelashes, began its journey in 2013 with a message of peace.

A local priest even created a prayer for the “Child God” with a message “that violence ceases and we can live in peace,” Abraham said.

However, the exhibition of the doll, which has inspired many others to replicate it, was brought to a halt by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

With its return to the streets this year, the “Child God” carries not only a message of peace but also a prayer for health.

“It is a very important message right now, we want to give people some hope and strength to go through these very difficult times of illness and pandemic that we are experiencing,” Abraham said.

The Gómez Reséndiz family had a most complicated past year with the death of their mother from Covid-19.

“It is difficult to go through a situation like this, sometimes you think you are in a horror movie but we have to hold on to faith…to generate a feeling that we will be able to overcome it,” the artist said.

And it was this feeling that gave the family strength to take the “Child God” from the workshop to Iztapalapa, where they dressed it with the traditional ropón gown – made by one of the brothers.

They also built a throne so that it could preside over the Tamal Fair and impart a message of hope, faith and peace to all the visitors. EFE

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