The Marriage at Cana

Christ performed his miracle before a crowd of guests at a for­mal wedding feast. Jesus is associating the wine with his blood, albeit indirectly.

The Marriage at Cana

Christ's first miracle was performed at the town of Cana during a wedding to which he had been invited along with his mother, Mary, and his disciples. During the feast, the host ran out of wine. Mary informed Jesus of this unexpected setback and he replied, enigmatically, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." Mary then turned to the servants and said, "Do whatever he tells you." Jesus ordered that six water jars intended for purification rites be filled to the brim with water. When this was done, Jesus asked the men to draw some liquid out and take it to the chief steward for tasting. After drinking what had now miraculously become wine, and not knowing where it had come from, the steward told the bridegroom that he was surprised that the new husband had kept the best wine for the close of the feast, contrary to the usual practice at wedding celebrations. Of clear significance in the episode is Jesus' apparently irrelevant reply to his mother, because it establishes a link between the wine and "his hour." The latter phrase is understood as referring to the time of his sacrifice and therefore links the wine and his blood.

Sources

John 2:1-10

Iconography

This is a very common subject in Italian and other European art from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Apart from its doctrinal content, the subject allowed artists to provide detailed depictions of the wedding feast. Since such feasts were customary everywhere, these paintings provided a significant expression of culture, customs, and taste. They remain an important source of information about everyday life

Hieronymus Bosch, The Marriage at Cana, ca. 1475-80. Rotterdam, Boymans-van Beuningen Museum.

•          The cupbearer, with his back to us, is offering a cup of the miraculous wine to the bride, seated opposite him.
•         Among the vessels on the sideboard at the rear is one shaped like a pelican, a bird that was a traditional symbol of Christ.
•         The wedding feast is the setting for Christ's miraculous transformation of water into wine.
•         The pig's head is symbol of sin.
•     In the world of  chivalry, swan was delicacy. Here it may be an allusion Eucharist because of its pure white feathers  and its habit of washing itself before eating, but it also a symbol of Venus, goddess of love. In one of  Bosch 's many otherworldly touches, the swan spouts fire, possibly a reference to the myth that the swan sings when about to die.