Cusco, Peru - La Ultima Cena Con Cuy (2/2) By Ruth

(1/2), (2/2).

The Catedral de Cuzco was the last stop on the tour. By this point, both of my kids were stretched out and immobilized on the back seats. The guide had abandoned all hopes of getting them out to see the Cathedral, so we quickly set off without them. The Cathedral is as impressive as any I have seen in Spain, possibly more impressive because of the vast supply of silver and gold, which the Spaniards discovered while invading this land.

We wandered through the immense Cathedral, and I inspected the various altars. Each altar is more ornate than the previous. The high walls are crowded with large gold-framed canvases depicting various Old and New Testament scenes.

As I walked the width of the building, I saw a huge rendition of The Last Supper. This subject is one of my favorites. Jesus and his apostles are having a Seder. The Seder is a ritual meal celebrating the holiday of Passover. The word Seder means, 'order'. In the course of the meal, the story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt is re-told. This meal includes ceremonial foods, prayers and songs.

Passover is also known as the feast of unleavened bread. As the story goes, the Jews were in such a hurry to get out of Egypt, the bread did not have time to rise. Traditionally, no bread or leavened products are eaten during this eight-day holiday (it's seven days in Israel).

The ceremonial meal is a long one with four glasses of wine punctuating the festivities. The Last Supper is a Seder. Jesus celebrated the holiday of Passover with his followers. Through two thousand years of revisionist history, this small fact has routinely been overlooked. As I drew nearer to the enormous canvas, I was quietly pleased to see that Jesus and his followers looked Jewish.

Rendering them as fair, Nordic characters is a pet peeve of mine. My eyes then scanned the table set before the men, looking for the items I place on my own Seder table. My Seder plate has a roasted bone, egg, parsley, chopped apples and nuts, and horseradish. On this Seder plate was an odd object. It looked like a baby or some sort of animal.

As I squinted and drew closer, the guide anticipated my question. "In this depiction of the last supper painted by Marcos Zapata, Jesus and the apostles are eating cuy, which is roasted guinea pig, it is an Incan delicacy. Also, you see papaya on the table. We understand these fruits did not grow in Israel." "Wow!" I said, "That's fantastic.

I'm Jewish and I was wondering what that is on the Seder plate." My guide smiled politely, oblivious to the significance of my remark. Jews don't eat guinea pig; it's not kosher. For that matter, neither were the hunks of bread I saw placed on the table.

Rather than my usual irritation however, I found myself quietly applauding the Incans who endured the Spanish invasion and embraced the new religion, but without relinquishing their existing culture. The surviving Incans agreed to worship this Spanish god, but they did so on their own terms, as Incans. During the centuries of Spanish conquests, their victims were systematically stripped of their customs and social mores.

The survivors dutifully dressed, spoke, ate, worshipped and lived as Spaniards.

History chronicles the tendency of proselytizers to destroy native culture during the conversion process. The obvious irony is that the version of Jesus presented by the Spaniards was not very Jewish at all. In the relentless effort to convert the world and destroy the original culture, Jesus also became a victim. This is just one of many primitive examples of identity theft, repeated endlessly by various religious sects. But, this huge canvas speaks to the tenacity of the Incans, and their refusal to accept this new faith at the expense of their own rich cultural traditions.

As a Jew with Spanish ancestors, I could only grin quietly at the significance of this. As we turned to leave, I glanced at the very Jewish face of Zapata's depiction of Jesus. Maybe it was the altitude, but he appeared mildly amused as well.

Copyright © Ruth 2009

thisisUll.com Featured Writer Ruth
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