Starbucks San Miguel de Allende mug: Discovery Series
The front prints SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE under a string of papel picado, with flaming hearts, a horse-drawn cart, cacti and a painted door. The back shows two mojigangas (giant puppets), a hot-air balloon, a walled church complex and tall candles with a sugar skull.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozStarbucks's Discovery Series launch story calls it the 14-ounce ceramic mug
- SKU
- Not confirmed
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The priest who slept in a coffin under his altar
On 3 May 1740, a priest from San Miguel el Grande began a church at Atotonilco, on ranch land that, in his own words, produced only thorns [6]. Luis Felipe Neri de Alfaro had raised 20,000 pesos to buy the hacienda from its owner, Ignacio García [6]. The site was a crossroads, a compulsory stop for merchants, miners and pilgrims [6]. A 19th-century local tradition says Christ, carrying his cross, appeared to Alfaro in a dream there as he rested under a mesquite [6]. On Good Friday he led a procession from Atotonilco into San Miguel, hauling a heavy cross, with a crown of thorns on his head and a rope around his neck [6]. For many years, according to the sermon preached at his funeral, he rose at midnight, lay down in a coffin under the altar and spent the night preparing for death [6]. He died on 22 March 1776. His Calvary chapel was not yet finished [6]. The walled church with the blue dome on the back of the mug (13) may be his sanctuary, 14 km outside the town [7].
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE
The town's name is printed in two lines of red capital letters, SAN MIGUEL over DE ALLENDE, across a dark green circle in the middle of the Front view.
- 2Papel picado
A green string across the top of the Front view carries cut-paper flags in light blue, green, red, yellow and blue, each with a fringed bottom edge and small holes cut through it. These are papel picado, the Mexican cut tissue-paper banners that are strung across streets.[1]
- 3Flaming and pierced hearts
Three red hearts hang near the handle. The large middle one has a scalloped light blue border, a yellow inner band and orange and yellow flames on top. A small one below it, to the left, has a black border with white dots and pink-purple flames. The one nearest the handle has a scalloped yellow border, a blue flame on top and a black arrow through it on a slant. They look like the flaming and pierced hearts common in Mexican folk art. The mug doesn't name them.
- 4Horse-drawn cart on a blue street
A brown horse with an orange and yellow patterned blanket and a blue harness pulls a cart with a multicoloured spoked wheel. A driver in a yellow hat and blue trousers sits up on the cart, which is cut off at the left edge. The ground is drawn as blue paving with dark dots.
- 5Cacti
A round yellow-green barrel cactus with red spines sits in front of two tall green columnar cacti, one pale green and one darker, below the lettering.
- 6Painted door
A tall door in a dark frame with an orange surround, two yellow-and-green panelled leaves, standing on a yellow step. It is drawn as a street door set in a wall.
- 7Climbing plant that may be bougainvillea
A brown branching plant with small red-pink flowers climbs beside the door. It may be bougainvillea, which a source describes falling down the outside of many house walls in San Miguel de Allende. The mug doesn't name the plant.[3]
- 8Striped jug and orange shapes at the left edge
At the far left of the Front view, near the side opposite the handle, there is a jug with blue, green, red and yellow stripes, and below it a stack of orange shapes with yellow dots falling from them. They are seen edge-on and cut off, so we cannot say what they are.
- 9STARBUCKS Back view
The STARBUCKS wordmark is printed vertically in black next to the handle on the Back view.
- 10Hot-air balloon Back view
A balloon with yellow, green, blue, red and black stripes floats between blue and green clouds above a hillside. The mug doesn't say where it is flying.
- 11Terrace looking over a hillside town Back view
On a yellow terrace with a red table and red chairs, two small figures stand at a blue railing looking at a green hillside covered with little houses. The mug doesn't name the viewpoint.
- 12Mojigangas (giant puppets) Back view
Two tall women figures tower over the buildings: one with a blue face, black hair, a pearl necklace and a red dress with black spots; the other with a yellow face, a crown of blue and red flowers and a green and blue dress with an orange-edged shawl. Thin green and black poles show below their hems, as on puppets carried by a dancer. These are mojigangas, the giant puppets of San Miguel de Allende's festivals.[2]
- 13Walled church complex that may be the Sanctuary of Atotonilco Back view
Low pale blue walls with red-tipped crenellations join a yellow block with a bell in an arch and a blue dome with a lantern, a small bell tower on the right and a yellow tower and dark cypress on the left; blue water and a small red figure sit in front. The walled group with its dome resembles the Sanctuary of Atotonilco near the town, though other colonial churches could fit. The mug doesn't name it.[4]
- 14Candles, sugar skull and flowers that look like a Day of the Dead altar Back view
Three tall light blue candles with orange flames stand in yellow holders on a candlestick, with a yellow skull with black eyes at its centre and orange flowers painted on the holders either side of the skull; a small green tree stands below. Together the group looks like the candles, sugar skulls (calaveras) and marigolds of a Day of the Dead ofrenda, though it could simply be a decorated candelabra. The mug doesn't name it.[5]
- 15Star that may be a tin star lantern or piñata Back view
A many-pointed star in dark green and olive with a gold dotted pattern sits near the right edge of the Back view, partly turned away. It may be a punched-tin star lantern or a star piñata; the photo does not settle which.
- 16Tall building and winged figure at the edge Back view
At the far right of the Back view, near the side opposite the handle, a tall orange, yellow and red building with dark windows rises behind a blue curve, with a blue wing above it. Both are seen edge-on and cut off, so we cannot say what they are.
The photos do not show the inside below the blue-glazed rim or the base. In the Front photo the handle is on the right and in the Back photo on the left, so the part of the wrap opposite the handle sits at the far left of the Front photo and the far right of the Back photo and is only seen edge-on: a striped jug, orange shapes, a tall building and a winged figure there are cut off.
Collector notes
- The catalog lists other mugs with this name: Been There 'been-there-san-miguel-de-allende', Been There 'been-there-san-miguel' and Icon 'icon-san-miguel-de-allende'. This one prints SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE in red capitals over a dark green circle, with a light blue glaze inside.
- The printed name says San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, even though checklists may list this mug only as 'San Miguel'; do not confuse it with mugs of other places called San Miguel.
- The part of the drawing opposite the handle, with a tall orange and yellow building and a blue winged figure, is only seen at the edges of these photos; a straight-on photo of that side would show what they are.
Before you buy
The photos show a light blue glaze inside the rim but not the base. Been There and Icon mugs also carry San Miguel de Allende; this Discovery Series one prints the name in red capitals over a dark green circle under a string of papel picado. The side opposite the handle, with a tall orange building and a blue winged figure, shows only edge-on here, so ask a seller for a straight-on photo.
Other San Miguel de Allende mugs
About the Discovery Series
Sources
- Papel picado (Wikipedia)
- Hermes Arroyo (Wikipedia)
- San Miguel de Allende (Wikipedia)
- Sanctuary of Atotonilco (Wikipedia)
- Ofrenda (Wikipedia)
- Erandi Rubio Huertas, "Vínculos espirituales e históricos. Del oratorio de San Miguel el Grande al santuario de Atotonilco", Historia y Grafía (Universidad Iberoamericana), no. 51, 2018
- INAH, Villa Protectora de San Miguel el Grande y Santuario de Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco
