Black Maria refers to the Black Madonna, or Black Virgin, which is a depiction of the Virgin Mary which has dark or black skin. Black Madonnas may have grown out of pre-Christian earth goddess traditions and that their dark skin may be associated with ancient images of these goddesses and the colour of the fertile earth. Further assertions say that some of their Christian shrines were built on sites dedicated to Cybele and Diana, or Artemis of Ephesus.
Some say that Black Madonnas sprouted from the goddess Isis, which implies that the dark skin may have echoed an African archetypal mother figure. It is also claimed that they express a feminine power that is not fully conveyed by the paler Virgin Mary, which symbolises gentler qualities, such as obedience and purity. This feminine power may be linked to female sexuality, which was suppressed by the early or medieval Christian Church.
Profile
Strange Journey
"A holy mother of the dark, of Christian descent. The statues in regular churches are usually of the Virgin Mary, but there exist some suspicious black statues. They say that these statues have their origins in the Middle East, such as Egypt's Isis and the Phrygian Cybele."
