Oh yeah!...or Donatello's anything.
In Mexico, worship of the Virgin was almost an
>independent thing from regular Church, but I wasn't old enough and
>didn't stay long enough to really get what was going on. It was as if
>women, especially old women had a god of their own. It is hard to
>remember without too much later overlay.
I'm not sure that what is being worshipped is the "virgin" part of the woman; I think Mariolatry had more to do with worship of the "merciful mother."
I myself never saw the point of virginity in any form; it always seemed to me that virtue (virtu) in action was much more difficult/challenging/interesting than the virtue of abstention. Perhaps some catholic on this list....could set me right :)
Joanna