Religious Syncretism: An Anthropological Study of Maya Myth and Ritual

Excerpts from a Master's Thesis presented by Albert Garcia
to the Anthropology Department
of California State University, Fullerton

Guatemala, with relevant research areas highlighted

ABSTRACT

Anthropological Discourse on the processes of religious conversion and religious syncretism suffers from inadequate research data and imprecise conceptual models. Terms such as ‘syncretism’, ‘nativism’, and ‘acculturation’ are not defined operationally, and they often do not take into account the social and historical factors that shape the assimilation, rejection, or synthesis of diverse beliefs and practices.

The religious worldview of the Maya people is the result of centuries of interrelated factors that aren’t easily labeled under the terms anthropologists have ascribed them over the past one hundred years of research. Studies from the Western world perspective frequently exclude the multiple cultural factors that combine to produce localized forms of supernaturalism. Through field observations, ethno-historical analyses, and theories from noted cultural anthropologists, my study expands the scope of investigations that include local interpretations and the various forms of religious ideologies that existed prior to European contact, and offers a holistic theoretical model for an understanding of religious beliefs and practices among the Maya of Guatemala and Mexico.

This study is a contribution to the body of anthropological knowledge known as “historical ethnography” as well as to the anthropological understanding of religious syncretism (from a theoretical perspective) of the indigenization of Catholicism and of the Catholicization of Mayan myth and ritual (from an empirical perspective). Also, this study sheds light on various cultural processes such as globalization, transnationalism, and the creation and maintenance of individual and group boundaries.

Contents included in this project:

CHAPTER 1.

INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY OF

THIS STUDY.................................................................................................. 1

i. Investigating Religious Belief and Ritual: Theoretical Considerations.......... 1

ii. Cultural Response to Cultural Upheaval: Europe in the Maya Country........ 5

iii. Research Focus: Historical Ethnography of Religious Syncretism in Maya

Traditions ..................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER 2.

THEORIES OF RELIGIOUS INDIGENIZATION..................................... 9

i. The Role of Religion in Society..................................................................... 9

ii. Transnational Religion.................................................................................. 11

iii. Roman Catholicism Arrives in Mesoamerica................................................. 13

iv. Globalization of Catholicism........................................................................ 16

v. Mass Conversion........................................................................................... 19

vi. The Conquest of Maya Religion.................................................................... 20

vii. Theories of Religious Indigenization: Nativism and Syncretism................... 25

CHAPTER 3.

INDIGENIZATION, SYNCRETISM, AND ADAPTATION....................... 29

i. Clash of Worldviews..................................................................................... 29

ii. Conversion: East Meets West....................................................................... 31

iii. The Maya and the Friars: Interpreting the ‘Other’........................................ 34

iv. The Conquest of the Maya: Societal and Religious Upheaval....................... 38

v. The Indigenization of Jesus........................................................................... 43

vi. The Mayan Christ.......................................................................................... 44

CHAPTER 4.

THE PATRON SAINTS OF GUATEMALA................................................. 50

i. Intermediaries of God................................................................................... 50

ii. Cultural and Religious Similarities................................................................ 50

iii. Saints and Symbolism: History and Anthropology........................................ 52

iv. Maya Idols..................................................................................................... 56

v. Case Study: The Unofficial Patron Saint of Santiago de Atitlán................... 62

vi. Pilgrimage to the Shrine of MaXimón........................................................... 62

vii. Case Study: the Patron Saint of San Andreas Iztapa..................................... 77

viii. Pilgrimage to San Simon............................................................................... 77

ix. Analysis......................................................................................................... 86

CHAPTER 5.

THE SACRED UNDERWORLD................................................................... 88

i. The Ritual Use of Caves............................................................................... 88

ii. The Mouth of the Earth Monster: Caves and the Sacred Underworld.......... 90

iii. Ritual Use of Caves Among the Contemporary Maya................................... 93

iv. Ethnographic and Historic Evidence............................................................ 93

v. The Caves of Alta Verapaz........................................................................... 96

vi. The Caves of Chisec..................................................................................... 114

vii. Analysis......................................................................................................... 123

CHAPTER 6.

DISCUSSION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TRANSNATIONAL

RELIGION...................................................................................................... 125

i. Cross Cultural Similarities............................................................................. 125

ii. A History of Localizing Religions................................................................. 126

iii. Implications and Applications....................................................................... 130

iv. Re-Conquest: Evangelical Protestantism in Guatemala................................ 131

CHAPTER 7.

CONCLUSION: TOWARDS A BROADER DEFINITION OF RELIGIOUS

SYNCRETISM................................................................................................ 134

APPENDIX........................................................................................................... 140

1. Map 6. Jul Iq’ and Bom bil’ Peq, Chisec, Department of Alta Verapaz....... 140

2. Topographical map featuring the Candelaria Caves and associated sites..... 141

3. San Simón items for purchase for home reverence....................................... 142

4. Significance of colors for the candles burned to honor San Simón............... 143

5. Additional Photographs............................................................................... 144

REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 147

with much gratitude to and support from my graduate adviser, J. Pandian, Ph.D., and the other Professors on my committee, Dr.s Barbra Erickson & Hillarie Kelly