“You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”

Ladies and gentlemen gather around, gather round and hear the voices from those who have disappeared! Vanished! Into the night. Nothing but their clothes and close items were found, and then their voices called from beyond! You stand near, from where the devils hand, was said to appear, to snatch foolish soldiers who dared venture the dark. Welcome to the Castle San Cristobal, and welcome to The Devil’s Guerite!

Actually its not that freaky, its more like a natural occurrence caused by the sudden collision of two bodies. I’m talking about the supposed “voices” that can be heard on the Devils Guerite. But I am getting ahead of myself, lets go back  to the beginning.

The Spaniards began construction of Castle San Cristobal on 1765, and completed by 1783. The decision to construct another major fort in San Juan, came after the Dutch were able to take the city by attacking from  land side, on the year 1625. Initially the castle was a small post for look out and armed guards, and was later expanded.

And that, my precious reader, brings us to the soldiers who worked and lived in the Castle. When the night shift came, the darkest corner of the castle held a guarite that all sentinels hated to stand guard in. Maybe it was because the darkness, or because they all felt like they could hear voices in the vicinity, only to find themselves alone above the sea.

One night, their worst fears came to life. A young sentinel by the name Sánchez, stopped responding to his fellow soldiers alerts of guard. As soon as the sun rose above the horizon, the soldiers went to Sánchez’s post expecting to find him asleep during watch. They found his musket, his armor and his item bag, all inside the guerite. Sánchez was nowhere to be found. He disappeared without a trace.

“I hear the voices”

The soldiers who found his belongings said to their superior officer that: “it was as if the devil himself snatched him away.” Those same soldiers named the place their fallen comrade was last seen as: “The Devil’s Guarite.” The voices that they once only thought  they heard, became the clear voices of the damned.

I bet you are wondering what really happened to that lone sentinel Sánchez. Well several years after the legend of the devil’s guarite had spread around the city and settlements, Sánchez was found in a settlement on Luquillo’s Forrest. Apparently it was his love Diana, and not the devil, that snatched away the soldier from his post. He wanted to forget the wars and the military life, and settle down with his Diana to have a family and live a normal life. And the voices? Nothing but the sound of the wind coursing through the narrow walls of the fort. A sonic illusion.

But who knows? Dead men tell no tales.

So now in honor of Reba Stewart’s life and mythos, I present you with some of her art work.

Mobile / made from driftwood she collected from behind the cemetery/ 1961-1962

Mobile/ made from driftwood/ 1961-1962

“Tree Forms in Black” / Japanese woodblock print

Booklet/ Japanese woodblock print

Tanguo Bay #1/ Felt pen/ May 28 1969/ drawn in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Sea and Sky/ pen and ink with wash

These haunting works serve as proof of the amazing talent that was Stewart. They leave a trace of the passion and vision for Old San Juan and Puerto Rico that kept her here until her death from malaria in 1971.

]]> http://www.livesanjuan.com/history/the-art-of-reba-stewart/feed/ 0 http://www.livesanjuan.com/history/la-tumba-de-la-bruja/ http://www.livesanjuan.com/history/la-tumba-de-la-bruja/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:23:35 +0000 Toxic_Lunch http://www.livesanjuan.com/?p=163 You know, for such a small city, Old San Juan does have many ghost stories. Many of these stories deal with those who once roamed these historic ways, like the much rumored visits of Doña Felisa Rincón de Gautier, (San Juan’s first woman mayor), to her old house near San Juan’s cathedral that now serves as a Museum. Or how about the many different sightings of soldiers, prisoners, and slaves that have occurred in El Morro Fort during the guided tours? Maybe you’ve even heard of the spirit that roams the shores of the San Juan Bay, who walk past people and they never see its face.

Many of these stories are as old as the city itself, and through generations the handing down of these stories meet  with the modern world and take new forms and involve new players. Some however spring up anew from modern minds who try and make sense with the modern world and the remnants of those who’ve past. One of these is the famed “Tomb of the Witch” located on the  southeast quadrant of the Santa Maria  Magdalena de Pazzis cemetery.

This tomb has inspired many tales from people who try to decipher the symbols that are engraved on it. The surface is a work of art in itself, the elements of nature all come together to form Gaea, the earth mother, and within her the Egyptian ankh (symbol for eternity), the chalice (symbol for the divine feminine) and the Coptic ankh (symbol of eternal love) form the basis for all the speculations of who is buried here.

Many believe Reba Stewart was a witch that lived in Old San Juan, and while they may not be completely wrong, she was so much more.

Reba Stewart was a gifted artist who fell in love with Puerto Rico. A child prodigy, she was born in Hudson Michigan, and eventually relocated to Boston, Massachusetts to attend The School of the  Museum of  Fine Arts. She loved to travel and learn the many traditional arts of the places she visited. She was a regular visitor to Mexico and on 1958 she was granted the Bartlett Traveling Scholarship and was on her way to Japan to study the art of Japanese woodcutting.

In 1968 she started teaching at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and started making regular trips to Puerto Rico. Her love for the island was expressed in the drawings, paintings, woodcarvings and mobiles that she created often from driftwood that would come on shore next to the cemetery where she now rests. Her art now sits in private collections along with museums such as The Fogg Museum at Harvard(Cambridge),  The Museum of Fine Art in Boston(Boston,MA), and The Wellesley College (Wellesley,MA).

Reba Stewart

Was Reba Stewart a witch? Not likely. Although her tomb demonstrates a clear appreciation for the pagan symbols expressing the divine and the creative energies, they could be there also as a sign of her love for other cultures and their arts. But the creative energies that fueled her life embed her tomb with the mystical energies depicted on her grave. Thus just for being there, she has become a myth, who has put a spell on us.

*Tomb pictures taken by Toxic Lunch. Profile picture taken from Reba Stewart’s bio on MIT here

The Totem pole that stands in the Quincentennial Plaza, is one of the most recognizable structures in Old San Juan, right next to “El Morro Fort” and “La Garita de San Juan”. It has become the center stage for much of the day to day social activities, as well as the annual “Saint Sebastian Street Festival” and the monthly “Galleria Night”.

On a normal day you might see tourists taking pictures in the morning, students from all over the island mingling with local children in the public walk-through fountain in the afternoon. As the evening falls you could be entertained by the skater kids practicing their chops on their skateboards or a local troubadour who will delight you with songs for your spare change.

On “Galleria Night” you might have a hard time walking through, as the place is littered with makeshift kiosks from local artists that sell everything from t shirts to real pineapple cups. The Saint Sebastian Street Festival is the Puerto Rican equivalent of Mardi Gras, with college kids from all over Puerto Rico and the USA ,coming together for one week of fun and celebration. But aside from all the activities that go on on its vicinity: What does the Tótem “stand” for?

Created and named by artist Jaime Suárez, the Tótem Telúrico stands in the Quincentennial Plaza celebrating Puerto Rico’s history. It stands there as a reminder that history is above us, the supreme structure of our civilization.It stands as an example of strength of our culture. Its majesty is only over shadowed by the events it commemorates: the arrival of Cristobal Colon and the Spanish Conquistadores to our shores.

Today we realize that Arawaks who left South America and came up the Lesser Antilles are the real “discoverers” of our great Island, but the significance of November 19, 1493 to the European world is what is celebrated in the Quincentennial Plaza. The Tótem Telúrico represents how one tiny island, meant a whole new world for Europe.

So now you know, next time you stand before the Tótem in OSJ, remember the faces of your fathers, all of them tower in front of you.

*all pics taken from google images.