Huatulco is Nahuatl for “place where the wood is adored”. Legend says 2000 years ago, the apostle St. Thomas floated ashore atop a gnarled tree shaped like a cross, set it into the main beach sand and taught the locals to worship it - which they did for 15 centuries.
In 1587, the pirate Cavendish decided it was the devil’s work, so, failing to chop and burn down the Cruz de Huatulco he tied lines from his ship and tried repeatedly to pull it down. Cross 1, Cavendish 0.In 1611, Oaxaca’s Spanish bishop examined the cross and found it’s base buried in less than 20 inches of sand; a miracle. Renaming the bay Bahia Santa Cruz, he removed the original cross, fragmented it into smaller ones and distributed them around Mexico and Rome. Sans cross and abandoned as a port, the little bay slumbered for 372 years.
When Fonatur built the darsena in 1983, they resurrected the bay’s native name Huatulco.From the Mexico Boating Guide - Captain Rains Guide
(I thought the story was neat - B)
4 comments:
What a great log, Byron---we're taking the trip with you and the kids keep asking if there's more news from Paula and Byron. I can't describe my envy of your ability to just go.
It's great to follow your adventures aboard the Astor. Let's see, the noise of the wind on the sales and the ocean splashing on the bow vs the constant hum of traffic on the 55. Enjoy it while you can. Your blogs are great.
Thanks guys,
It's a been a tricky bit of work figuring out when to get these into the schedule here. There are things aboard that need to be done and those gotta be done first. Gotta keep the skip happy!
Tom, you are almost correct. We have waves on rocks, birds in trees, the occasional ponga scooting by, but dominating the air last night was the karaoke event at the resort till late hours. It was quite entertaining.
B
Your mention that, "Legend says 2000 years ago, the apostle St. Thomas floated ashore atop a gnarled tree shaped like a cross, set it into the main beach sand and taught the locals to worship it - which they did for 15 centuries" has been very interesting. can you give more details about such 2000-years old tradition, practices and related beliefs?
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