Landscapes of Syncretism

    Throughout Latin America, there are a diverse group of religions, some that originated long before European colonists arrived in the Americas, and some of the Old-World religions. Then, there are the religions that were created after colonization occurred, fusing together indigenous religions and Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, and Judaism. These folk religions are an important part of Latin American culture and daily life. Without religious syncretism, some of the most influential religious figures in Latin America would not exist, such as Our Lady of Guadeloupe, a dark-skinned version of the Virgin Mary. Many of the indigenous religions are still thriving alongside Christianity in Latin America as they have been brought together with Catholicism, praising their gods and heroes alongside venerated saints. Catholicism plays an extremely large part in this as it was the state religion of the Spanish colonists. Churches, monasteries, and convents were built all over Latin America, with the intent of converting the native population; however, their methods for doing so were flawed. Catholic Churches were built on top of indigenous holy sites such as pyramids. The Spanish thought this would effectively end the practice of indigenous religions, but this only led to the indigenous people to see the Catholic church as being equal to their religion as they were practiced on the same holy sites. This led to the acceptance of Catholic canon into the indigenous religious practice. On the map below, the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico is shown, with red pins in cities and towns with Christian inspired names and yellow pins for non-Christian inspired names. There is also a red pin to the south of Tlaxcala State, showing the Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies, Cholula. This is a Catholic Church built on top of a precolonial pyramid.

    The State of Tlaxcala in Mexico is a great example of religious syncretism manifesting itself in the landscape of Latin America. In this Tlaxcala, there are many different towns and cities named after various Catholic saints and important events in Christian canon. An interesting pattern is seen in the map, where many of these towns are named after Guadeloupe, the dark-skinned version of the Virgin Mary. This might occur because of the significance of Guadeloupe first appearing nearby Mexico City on top of a hilltop where an Aztec goddess was venerated, eventually being replaced by a shrine dedicated to Guadeloupe. Our Lady of Guadeloupe is a very important figure in Latin American religion and is therefore substantially represented in the landscape. Another pattern seen in the map is the use of Santiago, or Saint James the Great. This is because Saint James is the patron saint of Spain, therefore taking an extremely prominent role in Latin America in terms of religious canon and worship, but also in terms of city and town names. This is so prominent that the capital of Chile, is named Santiago after Saint James. Catholicism was and still is the most prominent religion in Latin America, therefore it is a large part of the culture, everyday habits, and the creation of the region itself. However, there are many more different examples of religious syncretism to explore in other regions where Catholicism took a lesser role, such as in the Caribbean where there is a large influence of West African religions with the creation of Santería, Voodoo, and Rastafarianism.