Cosmetic Ontologies, Cosmetic Subversions: Articulating Black Beauty and Humanity in Luis de Góngora’s “En la fiesta del Santísimo Sacramento”

Abstract

In the spring of 1609, the city of Cordoba began preparations for its Corpus Christi festivities to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. In parish celebrations, street decorations were installed and lavish altars were erected in cathedrals and churches. The Corpus Christi monstrance-a 2 meter-high, 200 kilo creation in gold and silver crafted by German goldsmith Henry of Arfe nearly a century before-was polished once again in preparation for the procession. To contribute to the grandeur of the Corpus Christi celebrations that year, Cordoba Bishop Diego de Mardones, known for his devotion to the Santisimo Sacramento (Blessed Sacrament), commissioned Luis de Gongora y Argote to compose a number of letrillas. The letrilla is a short poetic composition that addresses themes of love, holy feasts, and satire. Primarily leisurely and satiric in tone, the letrilla is defined by Tomas Navarro Tomas as having an octosyllabic or hexasyllabic metric composition (530). At the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, the letrilla was also called a villancico. The villancico can be characterized in the following three ways: (1) by its musical character; (2) by its popular origin and appropriation in part by learned poets; and (3) by its restriction to religious settings.1The place of choice for performing these poems was the Cathedral of Cordoba, a dwarf religious structure within a massive mosque. A space illustrative of hyperbolic hybridity, the cathedral incorporated, on the one hand, the architectural design and remnants of the mosque that once belonged to the Umayyad Moorish dynasty and, on the other hand, extremely elaborate displays of Roman Catholic artwork and religious iconography. It is also important to highlight that the letrilla's 1609 date of composition coincides with King Philip III of Spain's 1609 Edict of Expulsion, when the first and largest of the morisco expulsions from the Grau of Valencia took place.2 For the Corpus Christi celebrations, numerous candles would have been lit on ornate golden-gilt Baroque candelarias (candle holders), sconces, and hanging chandeliers, whose flickering lights pierced the dense fog of aromatic frankincense and myrrh incense burning from thuribles. Corpus Christi processions would assemble at the main entrance of the cathedral to commence their travels throughout the city of Cordoba. Carnivalesque dances, mime, and music also accompanied these solemn processions commemorating the real presence of the Body of Christ. These performances were executed by acting troupes financed and hired by the Church and undoubtedly supported by Bishop Fray Diego de Mardones. Many of these dances portrayed black Africans, gypsies, moriscos, and Portuguese subjects.3On the eve of Corpus Christi in 1609, the ecclesiastical and political elite, as well as others belonging to all rungs of society-a multicultural and multiracial audience who participated in these religious feast day ceremonies- congregated at the Cathedral of Cordoba to hear the performance of Gongora's En la fiesta del Santisimo Sacramento.Juana: Manana sa Corpus Christa.mana Crara:alcoholemo la carae lavemono la vista.Clara: iAy, Jesu, como sa mu trista!Juana: ?Que tene? ?Pringa senora?Clara: Samo negra pecandora,e branca la Sacramenta.Juana: La alma sa como la denta,Crara mana.Pongamo fustana,e bailemo alegra;que aunque samo negra,sa hermosa tu.Zambambu, morenica de Congo,zambambu.Zambambu, que galana me pongo,zambambu.Juana: Vamo a la sagraria, prima,veramo la procesiona,que aunque negra, sa personaque la perrera me estima.A esse marmolo te arrima.Clara: Mas tinta sudamo, Juana,que dos pruma de crivana.?Quien sa aquel?Juana: La perdiguera.Clara: ?Y esotra chupamadera?Juana: La senora chirimista. …