Yesterday was Father’s Day, and my family decided it would be a good day to take an outing. Our decided destination was San Xavier del Bac mission in Tucson. Perhaps the 115 degree temperature squeezing all of the moisture out of my body had me thinking a lot about the sun. Perhaps it was all of the obvious solar imagery that caused me to realize that Father’s Day is always the Sunday closest to Summer Solstice (duh!).
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Catholicism is a solar cult. While observing the mashup of O’odahm symbolism with that of Catholic, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. There I was in a Catholic mission, on a Sunday which happened to be Father’s Day and two days before summer solstice. Interesting that Father’s Day always falls on the closest Sunday to Solstice? Could it be coincidence? Not likely considering that the solar cults refer to the sun as “Heavenly Father”. Sunday is also the day of worship of said deity because it is the day of the sun. The sun has the most power on the solstice, the longest day of the year. Therefore, you add Sunday and Solstice and you get Father’s Day. Pretty neat huh?
Below is a photo exploration of my visit to San Xavier del Bac Mission with occasional commentary.
There is also no shortage of lunar symbolism at the mission as the Madonna serves this purpose. Here is Our Lady cloaked in a garment of stars and standing on a black crescent moon.
This gate is a pretty neat use of the Tonto O’odham symbol of the man in the maze. Of course, with the bars interrupting all of the paths in the maze, the man would find it impossible to complete it (perhaps that was the idea?). Right next to the gate is a lion head which is a typical symbol of the sun.
On the cross mound next to San Xavier del Bac Mission, are two Lion statues and a large white cross. Of course, lion and cross are symbols of the sun.
Inside of San Xavier del Bac Mission, is this really cool lion statue which could very well have been designed by Dr. Suess. 
Here, seeming pretty out of place, is the sign of Osiris Slain (haha!) tagged onto a pipe. Alright, so it is probably really meant to just be a parishioner in exaltation before the mission bells but still a pretty neat stencil. 