Macarena’s hands take the wear and tear of San Gil’s massive kisses

However, attention has been drawn to state in which the hands have ended painful after the passage of thousands of people in front of it, showing the visible wear of a polychromy which had just been restored as part of the restoration process. In this way, the Macarena begins to accumulate again that “devotional trace” that she carried until her intervention, typical of the passage of time and accentuated by this type of cults, which has already been the subject of debate in the world of brotherhoods on several occasions.

Asked about the affection of the kiss of the hands of the Virgin of Hope, his restorer, Pedro Manzanoexplains to this newspaper that the erosion produced in polychromy is due to the continuous friction of the tissue crawling over the hand to clean it. This produces considerable wear and tear which will occur in the same manner every time a hand kiss is celebrated under these circumstances. “Polychromy is not something unalterable and its materials wear out.” In this case, this wear caused damage that had already had to be restored before, during the recent restoration.

Possible measures and solutions

This consequence of the kiss of the hands on the waist, as Manzano points out, “it cannot be controlled or reversed” unless the areas where polychromy has suffered are reintegrated into a new process of intervention on the image, as has already happened in the past. Over the years, the Virgin’s hands have been seen in the color of the wood itself.

Currently there is no ways to protect your hands from images for this type of worship beyond the gentlest possible direct contact. The restorer himself recognizes that he cannot imagine any other possible protective film than a varnish and that its condition would then have to be assessed. Yes, this would be a viable option to avoid damage if have several pairs of hands: the original, its daily life, and the one specifically intended to receive the kisses of the faithful during venerations and kisses of hands.

If all possibilities are considered, The extreme solution would be to replace the kiss of the hands with veneration without direct contact like that which occurred on the return of the Virgin from the Restoration. This, which has already been put into practice during the years of the pandemic, conflicts with the functions attributed to sacred images, as well as with the closeness that the brothers and the faithful themselves need in their devotions.

In any case, without entering into further debates, Pedro Manzano recommended to the outgoing and current board of directors to avoid dragging the handkerchiefadvising that the brothers responsible for cleaning Macarena’s hand choose instead to press lightly with the handkerchief, without any slippage. This habit, which the restorer always opts for, would considerably reduce friction and therefore wear. However, the restorer who has a workshop in Triana is aware of the difficulty of putting this advice into practice, because to clean the hand of the Virgin many different people are offered They are constantly rotating and do not receive specific training on what is best for image preservation.

The Macarena is already back dressing room of his basilicawhere since this Monday he has resumed worship normally after the celebration of the extraordinary kiss of hands in the parish of San Gil. Little by little, a brotherhood which has experienced a few months of great disruption and which, in December, twice celebrated its newfound closeness with its Virgin, will return to normality.