Local and global icons of Mary: An ethnographic study of a powerful symbol

Abstract

This ethnographic study focuses on the relationship between ailing Dutch pilgrims going to Lourdes and their favorite Marian icons. Based on an iconographic elicitation method, it explores how and why people select from and respond to different Marian icons and what personal meanings they attach to them. Through studying people’s interaction with Marian imagery, the article aims to understand people’s personal relationship with Mary and how this relationship empowers the ailing old people to cope with the problems in their present life stage.