Metepec, Mexico, San Juan Bautista mural

detail of Roman soldiers disinterring the three Calvary crosses and the sick man lying before each to determine which is the True Cross, all per Helena's instructions

The elegant composition is framed by a Roman arch in whose spandrels appear sound, or song, scrolls signaling the hand of an indigenous tlacuilo still familiar with pre-Hispanic pictorial vocabulary.


Other indigenous elements include an intricately modeled quail (lower right), two birds, a small serpent like animal (top right) and what appear to be crops . A descriptive plaque beside the mural reads as follows:

“According to doctorate Xavier Nóguez such elements suggest a direct tie between the celebration of St. Helena (August 18th) and Ochpaniztli, the ‘Festival of the Brooms’ as it was called in the náhuatl language, which used to take place on the 5th of 21st of August in the Valley of Matlatzingo. August is peak rain season. Corn has not matured and the young maize tastes of milk or candy.” (personal translation)


Unlike other murals about the ambulatory St. Helena was deftly conserved, at the auspices of César Camacho Quiroz either during his term of governor of the state of México (1995-99) or during his six-year term thereafter as senator.