Buy Christmas Cards

This year we are offering a wider variety of cards, while stocks last. We are also offering a Surprise Mixed Pack at a bargain price!

The cards are A6 sized, and come with C6 envelopes.
They are priced at £4.50 for 10 – or a bargain £3.50 for the Surprise Mixed Pack
plus p&p
(£2.80 for 1 or 2 packs; £4 for 3 or more packs; 2nd class delivery).

We accept a BACS transfer and cheques (if you are sending a cheque,
please make it out to “Santa Maria Education Fund”).

To order these cards, and for bank details and addresses, email us on info@santamariadefe.org

You can also download the order form by clicking here

Mother and Baby

Selaida, a young mother from Santa María de Fe, Paraguay.

This baby boy is her first child.

 

Inside are Christmas Greetings in English and Guaraní, and on the reverse it says:

sold in aid of the Santa Maria Education Fund providing free education to talented youth from poor homes in rural Paraguay.

Virgin:

 

This is a detail of the large statue of Mother and Child that dominates the church from behind the altar in Santa María. Carved by an anonymous indigenous artist in the period of the Guaraní-Jesuit mission, 1669-1768, it is considered a masterpiece, combining traditional local style with European baroque influence, and presenting the Virgin as an indigenous woman with olive skin, brown eyes and dark hair.

Crib at the Hotel

 

Day Nativity

 

A nativity scene at sunset. Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are in traditional Paraguayan costume; Mary and Joseph rock the baby who is lying in a hammock with gifts of sweet smelling fruits in front of him, and the sheltering palm tree sports its fragrant yellow flower, always associated with Christmas. This is the tradition with Paraguayan cribs, because Christmas here falls in the hot summer..

Dove and People:

 

This design is taken from a mural on the wall of the Santa Maria Hotel, painted by the Chilean Jesuit artist Miko.

All in the Stable:

 

This wooden painted mural with life-size figures appeared outside a house on the quiet road leading to Santa María, in an open stable structure lit up by lamps. They are all here, the shepherds, the Kings, the animals, the angels, Mary and Joseph, all crowded round the manger.

 Shepherd and Sheep

 

An appliqué panel, embroidered by the women’s cooperative in Santa María de Fe, where around thirty women from poor homes meet daily to sew, chatter and earn a little money, producing creative designs from everyday life in the countryside.

Roadside mural

 

This wooden painted mural appeared outside a house on the quiet road leading to Santa María in Advent 2017, with a thatched roof to protect it from the elements.

Angel Head

 

An angel head with wings was a frequent theme in the art of the Jesuit-Guaraní missions (1609-1768). This angel was painted in Santiago, Paraguay, founded at the same time as Santa María de Fe.

ChristmasCard 2016Nativity with Angel:

 

Christmas falls in mid-summer in Paraguay, and people place fragrant fruits before the crib.

 

This wall hanging was made by a sewing co-operative (www.santamariadefe.com) which gives work to thirty poor women of all ages in Santa María de Fe.

Crib in Ox Cart

 

This crib was placed in an ox cart on the road to Santa María de Fe in December 2014. The standing figure in the background is the Virgin of Caacupé – the most famous statue of Mary in Paraguay – while the other plaster figures show the simple style typical of cribs made in the town of Aregua.

ChristmasCard2013The Holy Family:

 

This painted wooden panel depicting the Holy Family is found in the museum of Santiago, a Jesuit-Guaraní mission close to Santa María de Fe in Paraguay: the two were founded together.

Flight into Egypt

 

 

This Flight into Egypt is depicted in a typical Paraguayan rural landscape. It was used for one of Paraguay’s Christmas stamps in 2003. This hanging was made by the Santa María sewing cooperative (www.santamariadefe.com) which gives work to thirty poor women of all ages in Santa María de Fe, Paraguay, producing intricately embroidered appliqué work.

Mural

 

 

A late seventeenth-century statue of Mary with the Christchild, of great historical and artistic importance, is housed in the parish church of Santa María de Fe, Paraguay. This mural, painted by Nino Sotelo in 2008, shows the Guarani indigenous carrying it out in triumphal procession during the period of the famous Jesuit-Guarani missions (1609-1768).

The Crib at the Museum

This is the crib set up in the Santa María Museum

Madonna

We still have some copies left of the very first Christmas card we produced, depicting Martina and her baby in a Nativity play. Martina was from a very poor family who live on the outskirts of Santa María de Fe. She was a student at the Institute founded by the Santa Maria Education Fund, but took time out to look after her baby. Students like this would have no hope of further education and future employment but for the generosity of overseas donors.