Reading Questions
- How did the Spanish view the natives and how did that contribute to the spread of Christianity?
- How did Spanish priests react to Natives that did not convert?
- What was the impact of religion on Indigenous women?
- Can you think of religious conflicts in the Land Based Empires Chapter?
- How is the virgin of Guadalupe an example of syncretism?
- How is the Día de Los Muertos an example of syncretism?
- How is the Brazilian Carnival an example of syncretism?
- Can you think of examples of syncretism in the land based empires chapter?
- How is the Vodum an example of syncretism?
- How was diet and food changed as a result of slaves in the Americas?
Culture in the Americas
In some cases, the increase and intensification of interactions between the newly connected hemispheres expanded the reach and furthered development of Christianity, and contributed to religious conflicts but also contributed to the development of syncretic beliefs like the Virgin of Guadalupe and Vodou and syncretic practices like Day of the Dead and Carnival that combined indigenous beliefs with Old World beliefs.
Diffusion of Christianity
The diffusion of Christianity was one of the motivating factors of exploration and expansion by European states. While Europeans spread their Christianity to Asia less successfully, they were able to convert most of the population of the Americas. Since Europeans viewed the natives a barbaric, they believed that one of the best ways to civilize them was to assimilate them to European culture. This led to the diffusion of Christianity mainly Catholicism. Spanish style architecture spread through the construction of government buildings, missions, and Cathedrals. European cuisine, fashion and languages quickly spread as well.
Initially, as Spanish conquered the Aztec, natives saw that initial success as a sing that the European God was more powerful than the defeated Aztec gods. By the 1700's most Natives had been converted. Many natives accepted baptism and contributed to the construction of Missions and churches.
The diffusion of Christianity was one of the motivating factors of exploration and expansion by European states. While Europeans spread their Christianity to Asia less successfully, they were able to convert most of the population of the Americas. Since Europeans viewed the natives a barbaric, they believed that one of the best ways to civilize them was to assimilate them to European culture. This led to the diffusion of Christianity mainly Catholicism. Spanish style architecture spread through the construction of government buildings, missions, and Cathedrals. European cuisine, fashion and languages quickly spread as well.
Initially, as Spanish conquered the Aztec, natives saw that initial success as a sing that the European God was more powerful than the defeated Aztec gods. By the 1700's most Natives had been converted. Many natives accepted baptism and contributed to the construction of Missions and churches.
You must be able to explain religious conflict all over the world during the period of 1450-1750 including conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in Europe, conflicts between Muslims and Hindus in South Asia, and conflicts between Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East.
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Religious Conflict and intolerance
The conversion process came with conflict as well. At times, the Spanish priests wet on violent missions to uproot local religion. They destroyed native shrines, idols, publicly urinated on on native idols. Spanish priests would destroy all Maya written records leaving only 3 surviving documents that recorded Maya knowledge. Many churches were built either next to or on top of native places of worship. Many Natives resisted these violent actions. Many would secretly pray in hidden shrines far from the Jesuit priests. In response to foreign conquest, other resistors often used the revival of pre-Hispanic religious tradition as a method of mobilization. In Peru in the 1560s, the Taki Onqoy (dancing sickness) movement including traveling teachers and performers who promised that the Andean gods would inflict illnesses upon the Spanish and restore the old order. This is only one example of religious based resistance to colonization. Eventually the leaders were caught, tortured and killed and the movement died out. |
Native Women and the Catholic Church
As the institutions of the Catholic church offered few opportunities for women to assume roles of leadership and authority, indigenous American women who had once served as priestesses found themselves forced out of spiritual roles in the new society.
As the institutions of the Catholic church offered few opportunities for women to assume roles of leadership and authority, indigenous American women who had once served as priestesses found themselves forced out of spiritual roles in the new society.
Syncretism
Syncretism was the religious blending of Iberian and indigenous traditions. Throughout the Spanish colonies, aspects of Catholicism such as the cult of various saints fused with local traditions, rituals, and spiritual figures such as the Andean huacas or gods. The result was a Mexican or Andean variant of Christianity that showed clear distinctions from Christian practices and patterns in Spain.
Syncretism was the religious blending of Iberian and indigenous traditions. Throughout the Spanish colonies, aspects of Catholicism such as the cult of various saints fused with local traditions, rituals, and spiritual figures such as the Andean huacas or gods. The result was a Mexican or Andean variant of Christianity that showed clear distinctions from Christian practices and patterns in Spain.
Lady of Guadalupe
Perhaps, the most important examples of religious syncretism in Mexico City is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, Mary appeared to Juan Diego, who was an Aztec convert to Christianity, on December 9 and again on December 12, 1531. She requested that a shrine to her be built on the spot where she appeared, Tepeyac Hill (now in a suburb of Mexico City). The bishop demanded a sign before he would approve construction of a church, however. Mary appeared a second time to Juan Diego and ordered him to collect roses. In a second audience with the bishop, Juan Diego opened his cloak, letting dozens of roses fall to the floor and revealing the image of Mary imprinted on the inside of the cloak—the image that is now venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe. Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City built upon foundations of the temple of Tonantzin (the Aztec Mother Goddess). Some historians claim that this tradition is the result of syncretism between the worship of the indigenous Tonantzin and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Eventually, these two religious images blended into one. |
Día de Los Muertos
Yet another example of syncretism is the The Celebration of Día de los Muertos. Parts of the celebration predate the Spanish. Images of skulls and skeletons are carved into stone walls. Skull racks and cempasuchil (marigold) flowers, paper banners used to mark graves, ritual cleaning of graves and offering of food to ancestors are all rituals used previous to Spanish arrival. Spanish colonization brought religious syncretism to this custom, and placed the current celebration on November 1st, to honor the souls of dead children, and on November 2nd to honor the adults who had passed. November 2nd is also All Saints Day in the Catholic Tradition. |
Brazilian Carnival
Carnival is festival held before lent. It is the "celebration" before abstaining from a vice during a forty day period before Easter. This is a Catholic tradition. Carnival is celebrated with public parades that include music and dance. The main rhythms used in carnival celebrations were developed by Afro-Brazilians and make use of European instruments like the cavaquinho and pandeiro to create melodies and arrangements, also the fantasies and costumes in the Brazilian carnival borrow concepts from the clothing of the natives, like the use of feathers and the tendency to use lighter pieces of clothing. Carnival is yet another example of syncretism. |
Vodum and Caribbean Culture
Slaves were taken to most regions of the Americas. Slaves and their descendants helped enrich and shape the culture of each of these regions. Vodum (meaning "spirit" or "god" in the Fon and Ewe languages of West Africa) is also one example of a blending (syncretism) of African religious traditions and Catholicism. It was brought to the Americas by the descendants of the Dahome, Yoruba and Kongo slaves that were taken to Haiti as slaves. Vodun is spiritual and emphasizes that spells and charms can be used to impact the material world. The forced migration of Africans to the Americas by way of the slave trade brought changes in diet as well. Slaves brought with them foods like rice and okra. Many of the foods eaten in the Caribbean today originated among slaves. For example, Jamaican ‘jerk’ pork and chicken probably originated in the flavoring and cooking of meat without smoke by slaves who were trying to cook and eat meat (which they may have taken from their masters) without them people knowing. |