Jesus’ Mom Is Salty
Beginning in April, 2005 and continuing through today, some people have been making a big deal about a salt stain on the wall of the Fullerton Avenue underpass on the Kennedy Expressway.
Some Christians, mostly Catholics, see the stain as an image of the Virgin Mary, who is famous for magically being Jesus’ mom even though she never slept with Joseph. I ride my bike through that underpass at least once a week, and I fail to see the resemblance. However, it has been interesting to see how the site has changed over the past few years. At points there have been huge collections of flowers, candles, crosses, and framed pictures of the Virgin Mary. Now the site is not quite so ornate, but there are still usually people down there checking it out. Sometimes they look like serious believers, but a lot of the people seem like they came out of curiosity more than reverance.
I think the popularity of this particular salt stain has much to do with the demographics of that part of Chicago. The underpass is in the Logan Square neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. This area has a large Latino population, who tend to be Catholic, with an above average reverance for Jesus’ virgin mom. In May of 2005 a 37-year-old man was charged with painting the words “big lie” over the image. Authorities had to paint over the image to remove the words. However, the outline of the image persists.
