12 Popular Religion and Festivals

The introduction of Roman Catholicism to the New World was part of the colonizing policy of both the Spanish and the Portuguese, but on Latin American soil Christian beliefs and practices came into contact with those of the native Amerindian peoples, and later with those brought by enslaved Africans and their descendants. Latin American Catholicism has consequently absorbed elements of pre-Columbian reli- gious beliefs and practices, giving rise to what is known as “popular” or “folk” Catholicism. Popular Catholicism has blended elements of differ- ent religions, yet it is still a recognizable mutation of traditional Roman Catholicism. In Mexico, for example, Catholic saints are matched up with pre-Columbian deities, as are Christian festivals with indigenous ones. Similarly, popular religion in the Andean countries must be under- stood in its historical and cultural context, since it is heavily influenced by the experience of conquest and the persistence of indigenous beliefs under a Christian guise. In recent years, Catholicism in Latin America has also become synony- mous with Liberation Theology, with its commitment to social change and improvement of the lot of marginal sectors. This radical theology was announced at Medellín, Colombia, in 1968 with a formal declaration of the Church’s identification with the poor. The doctrine’s complexity and diversity make it difficult to define, but the influence of Marxism is apparent, along with that of pioneering social reformers and educators such as the Brazilian Paulo Freire. Liberation Theology’s most famous advocate is the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, whose humble origins sharpened his awareness of social problems. Gutiérrez was responsible for setting up the Bartolomé de las Casas center for theological research, named after another famous reforming churchman and situated in one of Lima’s poorest districts. Liberation Theology essentially holds that salva- tion can occur in this life, and that it is not God’s will that people suffer while awaiting redemption in the hereafter. More recently Latin America has been marked by the growth of New Protestantism. Among the theories attempting to explain why Latin Americans are willing to abandon their traditional Catholicism (not just 286 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! official Roman Catholicism, but more often ico and Central America over the five cen- popular Catholicism) in favor of evangeli- turies since the Conquest. These include, cal churches is the notion that Protes- on the one hand, a substantial number of tantism and indigenous religions are simi- similarities between the pre-Columbian re- lar. For example, both Protestantism, ligions of Mesoamerica and Catholicism particularly Pentecostalism, and indige- (similar symbols and concepts, parallels nous Mesoamerican religions allow for the between gods and saints, and the existence possibility of direct communion with God of similar social structures based on hierar- and/or “possession” by spirits—in contrast chy and wealth redistribution), and the to the more mediated versions of commu- willingness of the early missionaries to ac- nion advocated by the Catholic Church. cept the use of such “metaphors” from the The religious and mythological land- old religions to help indigenous peoples as- scape of Latin America is undeniably rich. similate Catholic doctrine. On the other In Brazil and Cuba, African slaves forced to hand, a tradition of accepting the gods of worship the Christian God and the saints conquering civilizations already existed in preserved their own belief systems by pre-Columbian society, along with a will- drawing direct associations between ingness to accept conversion to Christian- Catholic icons and their own deities. This ity in exchange for some protection by the practice gave rise to Candomblé in Brazil Church from the states that governed in- and Santería in Cuba, both of which are digenous groups, and some respect for the sometimes referred to as syncretic reli- latter’s traditional self-image. The syncretic gions. Religious faiths such as Bahá’í, and nature of the religious practices of these Santo Daime and Umbanda in Brazil, to- new converts did not go unnoticed or un- day continue to appeal to large numbers of punished by the guardians of the faith, but people, who are drawn to the alternative by then the existence of popular Catholi- approach and perspectives on life that they cism was a fait accompli. offer. Alongside organized religions, both In more recent times, it has become evi- within and outside the mainstream, many dent that popular Catholicism is also the of the region’s poorer inhabitants also preserve of women, both indigenous and maintain strong beliefs in pagan rituals, white. Whereas the Catholic Church itself particularly those linked to healing. All is very much a male-dominated institution, strata of society unite annually to celebrate Mexican and Central American women local and national festivals, such as Carni- have taken an active role in the more pri- val in the run-up to Lent—particularly im- vate world of popular Catholicism—in the portant in Brazil—and the Day of the Dead imparting of beliefs and practices from one in Mexico. generation to the next, and in the venera- —Lisa Shaw and Thea Pitman tion of saints on altars in their own homes, for example. Mexican women in particular Popular Catholicism have also found strength and identity in the role model that is the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico and Central America the mestiza (brown or mixed-race) virgin A number of factors have affected the who is a popular Mexican adaptation of the emergence of popular Catholicism in Mex- Virgin Mary. POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 287

Contemporary popular Catholicism is Green, Duncan. 1997. “Thy Kingdom Come: The most easily identified by a number of prac- Church.” Pp. 201–215 in Faces of Latin tices: dependency on a complex network of America, by Duncan Green. London: Latin America Bureau. social support known as compadrazgo (kin- Ingham, John M. 1986. Mary, Michael, and ship relations defined by the choice of god- Lucifer: Folk Catholicism in Central parents for different events in a person’s Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press. life), the veneration of often uncanonized Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling. 1991. santos (saints) with a consequent lessening Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in of emphasis on God, and the expression of Latin America. London: Verso, pp. 68–74. Stracke, Claire T., and J. Richard Stracke. 1997. such veneration in many annual fiestas “Popular Catholicism.” Pp. 1130–1134 in (processions and dramatizations of biblical Encyclopedia of Mexico, vol. 2, edited by stories and historical events), in the con- Michael S. Werner. Chicago: Fitzroy struction of altars in private homes and on Dearborn. street corners, and in the painting of retab- los (votive offerings) to thank saints for The Andean Countries their help in times of need. To outsiders, the The relationship between the Church and practices of popular Catholicism seem color- the lower classes in the Andean countries ful and entertaining, and they constitute a has always been contradictory, if not para- substantial tourist attraction across the re- doxical—the result of a Spanish tradition gion. In recent years, the pre-Columbian ele- of anticlericalism apparent even among the ments of popular Catholic practices have devout. Even as early as the sixteenth cen- been emphasized to lend weight to the tury, faith in God and contempt for ecclesi- reevaluation of the pre-Columbian contribu- astical authorities were not mutually exclu- tion to Mexican and Central American cul- sive. Moreover, as Jeffrey Klaiber has tures. This shift in emphasis is also highly shown in the Peruvian context, cleric sup- attractive to tourists. port for despotic regimes has not always —Thea Pitman precluded popular support for the Church, even at times of popular rebellion. It is al- See also: Cultural Icons: Religious and most inconceivable that even the most ex- Mythical Figures (Virgin of Guadalupe); tremist rebellion should include the kind of Popular Religion and Festivals: Indigenous violent anticlerical retribution seen, for ex- Religious and Cultural Practices (Guatemala; Mexico); New Protestantism (Mexico and ample, in the Spanish Civil War. Klaiber Central America); Popular Festivals sees the Catholic faith as the only element (Mexico); Popular Medicine and Healing shared by all social classes and ethnic (Mexico and Central America); Visual Arts groups in the Andes. An explanation for and Architecture: Art (Religious Folk Art) this unifying role can be found in the trans- cultural nature of Andean religiosity and in Bibliography the reconciliatory movements within lib- Carrasco, Pedro. 1976. El catolicismo popular eral sectors of the Church. de los tarascos. Mexico City: SEP/Setentas. Espin, Orlando O., and Roberto S. Goizueta. The expression of the integration of 1997. The Faith of the People: Theological Christianity into indigenous belief systems Reflections on Popular Catholicism. can be clearly seen in colonial churches Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. throughout the Andes and elsewhere in 288 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Latin America, decorated largely by indige- Klaiber, Jeffrey L. 1977. Religion and nous hands and according to native aes- Revolution in Peru, 1824–1976. London: thetics. The Catholic Church during the Notre Dame. Muskus, Eddy José. 2002. The Origins and colonial era learned the pragmatic value of Early Development of Liberation Theology tolerance and the incorporation of poten- in Latin America: With Particular tially troublesome popular movements. Reference to Gustavo Gutiérrez. Carlisle: This sort of pragmatism is visible also in Paternoster Press. the absorption of native festivals into the Sobrino, Jon. 2001. Christ the Liberator: A Christian calendar, and more recently in View from the Victims. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. the acceptance of unofficial saints, ele- vated to this status by popular belief. An example of this phenomenon is Sarita Venezuela Colonia, a girl from the Andean town of Popular Catholicism in Venezuela is intrin- Huaráz who migrated to Lima, where she sically linked to Liberation Theology, a died in 1926. Several miracles are attrib- doctrine that conceives of action vital to uted to Sarita, who is believed to be the pa- the promotion of social justice and sees the tron saint of the urban migrants. Saints can everyday experience of the people as a also be created to placate marginal social source of valid religious values. In sectors: this was arguably the case with an- Venezuela, from the late 1950s onward, a other Peruvian, the black saint Martín de growing interest developed within the offi- Porras, who was canonized in 1962 with cial Catholic Church in working with popu- the title Patron of Interracial and Social lar sectors of society. Small, independent Justice. Other important figures in popular groups of clergy and activists set up a num- Andean religiosity are the Virgins that have ber of initiatives directed at the poor. appeared throughout the region, such as Though these movements had only lim- the Virgen del Agua Santa (Virgin of the ited impact in Venezuela, they paved the Holy Waters) in Baños, Ecuador. One of way for important pastoral work and of- many reputedly miraculous Christian ap- fered free schooling or training, among paritions in pre-Columbian sacred sites, other activities. By the late 1960s, as Levine the Virgin is credited with having saved notes, some religious congregations began many lives, is the object of pilgrimage, and to articulate a “liberationist position,” and is habitually showered with gifts. members went to “live with the people,” —Keith Richards got involved in barrio or community orga- nizations, and came face-to-face with See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: poverty and inequality. Indigenous Religious and Cultural Practices Similar groups sprang up around the (The Andean Countries); Popular Medicine country. Not all of these groups survived, and Healing (The Andean Countries) but two important initiatives from this pe- riod have not only lasted, but have played a Bibliography Candelaria, Michael R. 1990. Popular Religion major role in popular religion in Venezuela. and Liberation: The Dilemma of Liberation The first of these is the Centro Gumilla, a Theology. Albany: State University of New Jesuit center for research and social action York Press. that was founded in 1969; it has two bases, POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 289 one in Caracas, the other in Barquisimeto. Bibliography The center produces a wide range of publi- Berryman, Phillip. 1984. When Theology Listens cations directed at the working class and to the Poor. San Francisco: Harper and Row. Cleary, Edward, ed. 1990. Born of the Poor: The rural poor, including a pamphlet series that Latin American Church since Medellín. has essays on such topics as educational Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame reform, agriculture, Liberation Theology, Press. and contemporary reworkings of Bible sto- Gutiérrez, Gustavo. 1973. A Theology of ries. These publications reveal a profound Liberation. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. respect for popular culture and link reli- Levine, Daniel H. 1992. Popular Voices in Latin American Catholicism. Princeton, NJ: gion with the experiences of real social Princeton University Press. groups. The second initiative, CESAP (Centro al Servicio de la Acción Popular or Center for Brazil Popular Action), was founded in 1974 and Within popular Catholicism in Brazil, offers courses to popular organizations. homegrown saints are particularly impor- Each of its three regional centers runs tant. The country has also witnessed the courses, operates a lending library service, emergence of many millenarian cults, the and runs a series of outreach programs on most famous of which was that led by the topics such as nutrition and literacy. Again, ragged lay preacher Antônio Conselheiro this center produces numerous pamphlets (“the Counselor”), who settled thousands for group discussion and grassroots partic- of his followers on an abandoned ranch ipation, and its stated goal is replacing cap- called Canudos in 1893. Having refused to italism with a just, participatory, and class- recognize the rule of the new Republican less society. government established in 1889, the com- Alongside these two important centers munity was eventually brutally wiped out are a variety of popular religious organiza- by the federal army. More recently, popular tions throughout Venezuela. There are dif- Catholicism has become closely inter- ferences among the forms of popular woven with Liberation Theology (as is pop- Catholicism in Venezuela, but there are ular Catholicism in Venezuela and other common features as well, such as the em- parts of the subcontinent). In Brazil this phasis on Bible study in which the local radical doctrine became closely identified people are seen as active interpreters of with the Franciscan Leonardo Boff, and biblical texts, and the importance of collec- Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, the bishop of tive action. In this way, these and similar São Paulo archdiocese during the violent religious groups within Venezuela can be years of the military dictatorship estab- defined as “popular Catholicism” in that lished in 1964. Their evangelical concept they attempt to return the Church to the was to allow people to liberate themselves people and to start out from the beliefs and from the socioeconomic injustices at the experiences of the masses. root of Brazilian society as part of a gen- —Claire Taylor eral liberation from sin. In the state of Bahia the people show See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: their devotion to the patron saint of the New Protestantism (Venezuela) state, Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord 290 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! of the Good End), a manifestation of Jesus. In the arid and poor northeast, several The basilica that takes his name is situated major religious figures have emerged on on a hill overlooking the city of Salvador the margins of the Catholic Church, such and facing the sea. People flock there from as Padre (Father) Cícero, who opposed miles around to seek cures for their ills. the transition of Brazil from monarchy to Street vendors outside sell wristbands, nar- republic at the end of the nineteenth cen- row colored ribbons that bear the saint’s tury. He remains the focus of pilgrimage name, as talismans to bring good luck. It is even today, as depicted in Walter Salles’s believed that he will grant three wishes award-winning movie, Central Station during the three-time knotting of the rib- (1998). Padre Cícero’s image can still be bon, provided that the person making the seen in many of the homes of the poor in wishes wears it until it drops off. A ritual the northeast. cleansing of the church’s steps takes place Liberation theologians introduced a sys- every year, a popular Catholic festival that tem of “base community” pastoral work is traditionally held on the Thursday before into the Catholic Church in the 1960s, for the third Sunday in January. This popular example in the shantytowns (favelas) of religious outpouring is given the tacit ac- Brazil’s big cities. In the heyday of these quiescence of the Catholic Church, whose base communities, at the end of the 1970s, resident priest schedules a nine-day series it appeared as if a new Church were being of masses (novenas) during this period. born, with an emphasis on lay leadership Followers of Candomblé and Umbanda and consciousness-raising. In São Paulo, also participate in this street festival. for example, the base communities were The national shrine of Nossa Senhora da part of the so-called Operation Periphery. Aparecida (Our Lady of Aparecida) is lo- This program, launched by Archbishop cated two hours away by bus from the city Arns and his collaborators, sent people and of São Paulo. The construction of the pres- resources to the poor outskirts of the city ent-day shrine, on the site of an earlier where new neighborhoods were being chapel, was begun in 1940 and only finished erected. Priests and nuns helped these in 1990. According to legend, in the eigh- communities with practical issues and en- teenth century a group of fishermen, about couraged them to make their own deci- to return home with only a few fish after an sions, including interpretations of the Bible unsuccessful trip, found a wooden statue in based on their own life experiences. the image of the senhora in their nets, The progressive Catholic Church in Brazil whereupon they obtained a more abundant in the 1980s showed considerable courage catch than ever before. With the permission in defending the lives and cultures of indige- of the Church they then built a small chapel nous communities and the rural and urban to enshrine this statue of Our Lady of Apare- poor against both the state and powerful cida. The fact that the image is black sug- groups who were prepared to use extreme gests that the poor were appropriating in violence to protect their vested interests. their own way the devotion to the Immacu- But Church leaders in Rome, and even in late Conception then being promoted in the some parts of Brazil, watched the Libera- Iberian Peninsula. An estimated six million tion Theology movement with growing Brazilians visit this shrine every year. alarm. For them it represented a trend POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 291

T-shirts featuring an image of Padre Cícero are sold in Juazeiro do Norte, the town that the priest founded in the 1920s. (Stephanie Maze/Corbis)

away from Church orthodoxy toward a ma- Bibliography teriality considered inappropriate. As bish- Boff, Leonardo, and Clodvis Boff. 1994. ops have retired or left the Church in Brazil Introducing Liberation Theology. New York: Hyperion Books. and in other Latin American countries, Burdick, John. 1993. Looking for God in Pope John Paul II, in office since 1978, has Brazil: The Progressive Catholic Church in replaced them with orthodox clergy who Urban Brazil’s Religious Arena. Berkeley: do not espouse the ideals of social reform University of California Press. or Marxist economic analysis. Although the da Cunha, Euclides. 1944. Rebellion in the Backlands. Translated by Samuel Putnam. movement was thus brought to a halt, it did Chicago: University of Chicago Press. not fail. Hundreds of people who were Gutiérrez, Gustavo. 1988. A Theology of schooled in its ideologies have gone on to Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation. advocate a range of socially just causes. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. Nagle, Robin. 1999. “Liberation Theology’s Rise —Lisa Shaw and Fall.” Pp. 462–467 in The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by Robert See also: Popular Social Movements and M. Levine and John J. Crocitti. London: Latin Politics: Base Communities in Brazil; America Bureau. Popular Cinema: The Brazilian Film Industry Silverstein, Leni. 1995. “The Celebration of Our (Box-Office Successes and Contemporary Lord of the Good End: Changing State, Film in Brazil); Popular Religion and Church, and Afro-Brazilian Relations in Festivals: Candomblé; New Protestantism Bahia.” Pp. 134–151 in The Brazilian Puzzle: (Brazil); Popular Catholicism (Venezuela); Culture on the Borderlands of the Western Popular Medicine and Healing (Brazil); World, edited by David J. Hess and Roberto Umbanda; Visual Arts and Architecture: DaMatta. New York: Columbia University Architecture and Landscape Design (Favelas) Press. 292 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Santería cultural practices to maintain a relationship to the mother continent while evolving into One of many religions of the African dias- something specific to the island. pora in Latin America brought across the In Santería and similar religions, African Atlantic with the slave trade, all of which and European elements coexist, originat- combine elements of African worship with ing in the religious instruction with which the Catholic faith. Santería, although best colonial masters were supposed to “repay” known in its Cuban manifestation, also ex- those they had displaced and dispossessed. ists under the same name in Puerto Rico, However, Africans, like indigenous peoples Venezuela, and Mexico. A similar phenom- in the Americas, were wary of discarding enon in Haiti and the southern United their religious heritage and unreservedly States is the unjustly demonized vaudun, adopting Christianity. They needed to pre- or voodoo. Brazil has its Candomblé, serve their own spiritual traditions and ap- Uruguay its Candombe, and Trinidad its or- pease their ancestral gods as well as the isha. The common feature of all these reli- Christian deity, while maintaining the ap- gions is their preservation of beliefs deriv- pearance of obedience to their masters. ing mostly from the Central West African They fulfilled this need through dual wor- Yoruba culture that continues to exist in ship: the African pantheon, multiple and present-day Nigeria, Congo, and Benin. multifaceted, was paralleled with the When they were brought to the Spanish Christian system of saints. Thus each and Portuguese colonies in the New World, Yoruba deity, known as an orisha, would slaves were transported in groups that gen- be “paired” with the saint who most closely erally remained more or less intact after ar- resembled his or her physical attributes, rival, a policy that permitted them to retain spheres of influence, or preoccupations. elements of the African cultures they left This phenomenon is often described with behind. In contrast, the British colonies the contentious term “syncretism” but can separated slaves who might have language also be seen as a simultaneous and parallel or customs in common, thus systematically observance of discrete cultural codes. erasing cultural roots in order to better ac- The Santería system, also known in culturate and control them. The result of Cuba as La Regla de Ocha or Rule of Ocha, the Iberian approach is a visible continua- is not merely a duplicitous practice aimed tion of African cultural and religious prac- at hoodwinking religious authority. Nor is tices in Latin America, a phenomenon it simply a product of the trauma or cul- rarely seen in North America or the British tural crisis created by the experience of Caribbean. slavery. The identification of orishas with Santería was not brought to Cuba in a saints does reveal certain similarities be- single demographic wave; the first consign- tween African and European worship, ments of slaves arrived in the mid-sixteenth since the Santería figures have spheres of century, and the height of the slave trade influence similar to the Christian ones. For occurred more than two centuries later, in Fernando Ortiz, the original scholar of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth Afro-Cuban culture, the complexity and centuries. This continual wave of forced richness of Yoruba mythology are compa- migration from Africa allowed Afro-Cuban rable to those of ancient Greece. Ortiz POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 293

A Cuban worshipper weeps over the icon of St. Lazarus, who is both a Catholic saint and an important deity in the Afro-Cuban religion Santería. (Reuters/Corbis)

coined the crucial term “transculturation” fied with St. Anthony as his Catholic mani- to describe the interaction and reciprocal festation, Elegguá is the figure evoked first influence between cultures, irrespective of in all ceremonies, as he alone permits com- political and social power. Santería is a munication. Yemayá, the archetypal mater- prime example of this phenomenon. nal figure who controls the sea and the The Yoruba creator god Olodumare is moon, is the figure most closely identified the almighty in the Santería pantheon, with women’s lives and exclusively female from whom aché or cosmic energy origi- concerns. Like all the orishas, she is an nates. The orishas are his emissaries, and ambivalent figure with moods just like their exploits, strengths, and frailties paral- those of human beings: she nurtures but lel the human world, as did those of the can also be implacable and merciless when Greek gods. Moreover, the divine and mor- riled. She is paired with Our Lady of Regla, tal worlds are linked by the figure of Eleg- patron saint of the port of Havana. Several guá, the messenger and intermediary who of the orishas are of indeterminate gender opens paths, and the prankster who and may change sex according to circum- teaches moral lessons with levity. Identi- stance. Changó, one of the fundamental or- 294 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! ishas, is identified with a female saint whole and whose contributions combine (Barbara) despite his association with tra- as one single expression. ditionally masculine roles as a warrior, Another important part of Santería prac- drinker, womanizer, and daredevil. His tice is divination, performed either with brother Oggún (St. Peter), still worshipped obi (coconuts split into four parts), by widely in West Africa, represents telluric means of seashells in a system known as energy and governs all activities involving diloggún, or using a complex set of config- the use of iron. Another androgynous god, urations called the Tablero de Ifá. The ba- Obbatalá (Our Lady of Mercy), represents balaos or santeros, high priests who origi- truth, peace, and justice. The severe female nally introduced these systems, are the god Oyá (St. Teresa) reigns over death, prominent figures in the divination wind, and lightning, and cares for the dead. process. Central figures in the Santería hi- She is closely associated with Changó, who erarchy, they oversee all other ceremonies occasionally disguises himself as Oyá. and initiations. Sacrifice or propitiation Ochún (Our Lady of Charity) is the coun- (ebó) is also essential, and each orisha has terpart of Changó, displaying all the char- preferred foods or animal sacrifices. There acteristics considered essentially feminine. are also colors associated with each one, There are now some thirty orishas in seen in the necklaces or elekes worn by fol- Cuban Santería, pared down from the orig- lowers. inal Yoruba pantheon, which numbered The fact that it has survived discrimina- hundreds of deities. Others have arisen tion and occasional persecution through- from non-Yoruba sources, including Bantu out Cuban history is a testament to its per- culture and Catholicism. All are considered suasive force. Today Santería has been ancestors who have become divine, indi- accepted, though in diluted forms, even cating the fundamental role of family and among the nation’s white population. It is lineage in Santería. also evident in some of the mainstream cul- Music and dance are crucial elements of ture emanating from the island: in the 1992 Santería worship, facilitating the evoca- novel Dreaming in Cuban by the Cuban- tion of orishas and their possession of American writer Cristina García, numerous worshippers. Drumming sessions, known white characters are influenced by a san- as bembe in the Lucumi language, are held tero’s advice and predictions. An example to evoke an orisha with his or her own in music is the jazz pianist Omar Sosa’s particular rhythms. The possessed are fa- 2001 album Sentir (Feeling), and in film, miliar with the deity’s habits and are able Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s Guantanamera involuntarily to reproduce them. The sa- (1994). Santería is still practiced by new cred batá drum, brought out only in sun- generations of Cubans. Although the origi- light, is indispensable to these rituals. The nal Yoruba elements are fading, the sur- other musical element is singing, particu- vival of this Afro-Cuban religion, and the larly by the akpwon, who knows the music associated with it, appears assured. prayers for all the orishas and is able to —Keith Richards lead a session of followers. There is a close link among musicians, dancers, and See also: Introduction; Popular Cinema: The the lead singer, who are conceived of as a Film Industry and Box-Office Successes in POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 295

Cuba; Popular Religion and Festivals: Candomblé

Bibliography Atwood Mason, Michael. 2002. Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute. Barnet, Miguel. 2001. Afro-Cuban Religions. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener. González Wippler, Migene. 1999. Santería: Mis experiencias en la religión. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn.

Candomblé

An Afro-Brazilian religion that originated among the slaves taken from the Dahomey and Yoruba regions of what is today south- west Nigeria, Candomblé first emerged as a religious practice in around 1830. Today A statue of Iemanjá, the Candomblé and it is practiced mainly in the city of Salvador Umbanda deity who combines elements of in the state of Bahia. Its most important de- both the Virgin Mary and a mermaid. (Courtesy ity or god, known as an orixá, is Oxalá. of Alex Nield) This religion shares its origins with San- tería, the Afro-Cuban religion. Candomblé began as an expression of manjá (sometimes written Yemanjá), is di- resistance to slavery. The African slaves rectly associated with the Virgin Mary. The brought to Brazil belonged to a variety of iconography of Candomblé today directly different religious belief systems, but their reflects this idea of syncretism or at least Portuguese masters forced them to con- parallel association. The orixá Oxossi, for vert to Christianity upon arrival in the example, is associated with St. George and colony. In order to preserve their beliefs, is depicted as a hunter connected with the the slaves made associations between forest. Iemanjá is depicted with both the their own religious figures and icons and face of the Virgin Mary and the body of a the Catholic God and saints that they were mermaid. Iansã (or Yansan) is syncretized obliged to worship—or to seem to wor- with St. Barbara and associated with the ship. This system of associations gave rise color red. to what is often referred to polemically as Each orixá has his or her own special a syncretic belief system that combines el- day (equivalent to the saints’ days of ements of Catholicism and African reli- Catholicism), on which he or she is hon- gious practices. Oxalá, for example, is ored and appeased. Each is associated considered to be the equivalent of the with a particular color, symbol, song, Christian God, and the sea goddess, Ie- dance, and type of food, all of which fea- 296 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! ture in the ceremony held on that day. Ox- religion. As each orixá or deity is honored ossi’s preferred foods are boiled yellow in a ceremony, his followers (known as corn mixed with coconut, yams, and black filhas- or filhos-de-santo, literally daugh- beans, and his color is turquoise blue. ters or sons of the saints) fall into a trance Iansã’s favorite food is a fried cake of as their particular orixá enters their body. ground black-eyed peas (acarajé) and When the followers are possessed by the cooked okra cut into circles (caruru). spirit of the orixá, they retire, returning to Each follower of Candomblé has his or her the central area of the terreiro wearing own personal orixá who appears to him or the clothes and adornments associated her every week and to whom he or she with their deity. must pay tribute on a weekly basis. Exú is Candomblé provides a closed, alterna- the messenger of the orixás, the means of tive society with its own hierarchy, and making contact with them. It is believed thus appeals to the marginalized poor, that he sometimes makes mischief and so largely of mixed race. The priestesses pre- must be appeased before the deities will serve the oral history of the Afro-Brazilian come to earth. His favorite food is farofa community by reciting the names of their (roast manioc flour) and a glass of water or ancestors and those of other worshippers, cachaça (a kind of rum made from sugar- and describing how their forebears were cane). transported to Brazil in slave ships. This in- The place of worship is called a ter- formation is passed on to newly ordained reiro, and the religious leaders are known priestesses to ensure that cultural memory as pais-de-santo or mães-de-santo (liter- is preserved. ally fathers or mothers of the saints). It is —Lisa Shaw the mães-de-santo or priestesses who hold the positions of greater power and See also: Sport and Leisure: Food (Brazilian Food); Language: Brazilian Portuguese; prestige. They are ordained in a ceremony Popular Religion and Festivals: Santería that involves shaving their heads and smearing them with the blood of hens or Bibliography goats. Chicken feathers are then stuck to Afonjá, Ilé Axé Opô. 1999. “Iansã Is Not Saint their foreheads. This ceremony is accom- Barbara.” Pp. 408–410 in The Brazil Reader: panied by the beating of atabaque drums History, Culture, Politics, edited by Robert and chanting in African languages. The M. Levine and John J. Crocitti. London: Latin priestesses dance frenetically until the America Bureau. Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling. 1991. new mãe-de-santo falls into a trance. Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Spirit possession or a trancelike state is Latin America. New York and London: the crucial mechanism of Candomblé. In Verso. the public ceremonies, called toques, ani- Silverstein, Leni. 1995. “The Celebration of Our mals are often sacrificed (Iansã’s pre- Lord of the Good End: Changing State, ferred sacrifices, for example, are nanny Church, and Afro-Brazilian Relations in Bahia.” Pp. 134–151 in The Brazilian Puzzle: goat, hen, and guinea fowl). Songs are Culture on the Borderlands of the Western sung in Nagô, the Yoruban language, from World, edited by David J. Hess and Roberto which terms are taken to describe the dif- DaMatta. New York: Columbia University ferent hierarchical positions within this Press. POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 297

Umbanda time of great social upheaval, particularly for former Afro-Brazilian slaves and their A Brazilian religion that combines elements descendants, who after the abolition of of European Spiritism (founded by Allan slavery in 1888 moved en masse to the Kardec, 1804–1869) and Catholicism, to- cities, particularly the then federal capital, gether with Afro-Brazilian and Amerindian Rio de Janeiro, in search of work. Finding religious beliefs. It is sometimes referred to a belief system of their own became very as macumba. Today people practice Um- important for the marginalized and dis- banda to cure illnesses and solve personal placed Afro-Brazilians. problems. For this reason it has been called In the 1920s and 1930s, Umbanda was a form of psychotherapy for the poor. Um- persecuted by the state, which feared gath- banda emerged in the early twentieth cen- erings of disenchanted Afro-Brazilians. It tury in urban Brazil and is often called the was only given official status in the 1940s, only truly Brazilian religion. principally to attenuate any threat it posed There are dozens of different sects of for inciting racial tensions. The first Um- Umbanda, and each is independent within banda congress took place in 1941, and it this religion. Followers meet in centers, is said that the religion took its name from each known as a centro (center), tenda the sacred Sanskrit word Aum-Bandha, (tent), cabana (hut), or terreiro (yard). meaning “the divine principle” or “the limit Each center is associated with a particular of the unlimited.” saint, such as Caboclo (an Amerindian —Lisa Shaw spirit) or Pai or Vovó (literally, father or granny, the spirits of African slaves). Cabo- See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: Candomblé clo is worshipped with candles, Pai likes cigars, and Vovó smokes a pipe (or at least Bibliography the mediums who make contact with them Brown, Diana Degroat. 1994. Umbanda: do). The possession of mediums by the Religion and Politics in Urban Brazil. New spirits is the central mechanism of Um- York: Columbia University Press. banda. The mediums use alcohol and to- Goodman, Felicitas D., Jeannette H. Henney, and Esther Pressel. 1982. Trance, Healing bacco to aid spirit possession. Followers and Hallucination: Three Field Studies in believe in reincarnation and seek separa- Religious Experiences. Huntington, NY: tion of the spirit from the body. Umbanda R. E. Krieger. shares some of its terminology (although not always with the same meanings) and icons with Candomblé, such as Iemanjá, an Indigenous Religious and amalgam of the Virgin Mary and a mer- Cultural Practices maid, and Oxalá. The good spirits are known as orixás and the evil spirits are The Andean Countries called exús. As in most areas of Latin America with a In the 1930s the processes of urbaniza- deeply rooted native culture and dense tion and industrialization were beginning population, the Spanish colonizers were to take hold in Brazil under the presidency able to make only limited inroads into in- of Getúlio Vargas (1930–1945). It was a digenous religion in the Andes. The 298 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! strength of belief in autochthonous deities stone. A church built to house this image is was severely tested by the ravages of Con- visited only during the festival, in early quest and disease in the early sixteenth June. As Michael Sallnow has shown, the century, but there followed in 1564 a move- appearance of these “miraculous shrines” ment known as Taki Onqoy, or “Dance of constituted a phase of consolidation in the Sickness.” It invoked regional deities or imposition of Christianity and served to wakas in challenging both the spiritual and link the native worship of natural phenom- political authority of the Europeans. Taki ena with the introduced Christian features Onqoy aimed to end Spanish rule through a and sacred elements. It is also likely that, combination of ritual and direct action, by as often occurred, the “miracle” came at an invoking the old gods and mobilizing them opportune moment. The great Andean re- against the invader. Its eventual suppres- bellions of the 1780s (Tupac Amaru II in sion was followed by the first campaigns to southern Peru and Tupac Katari in the La wipe out idolatry: these had only limited Paz region) had barely ended, the repres- success but required the Spaniards to un- sion of indigenous culture had been institu- derstand certain characteristics of the An- tionalized, and the reconciliation of the dean religion they sought to replace. two religious systems might have been The result of this shared experience, in seen as politically expedient. The original which Andeans and Spaniards not only en- nature and function of Qoyllur Rit’i is, gaged in confrontation but were ultimately however, still visible. It coincides with the obliged to reach some consensus, is the rise of the Pleiades in the southern skies, a kind of ritual in which both belief systems fine moment to propitiate deities able to in- are honored simultaneously. Variously seen fluence harvests. as syncretic, transcultural, or hybrid, such Visually, however, Qoyllur Rit’i is un- rituals often take place in sites held sacred mistakably an indigenous Andean festival: by indigenous tradition. The Catholic pilgrims arrive from villages in traditional Church traditionally reports an apparition, dress as well as in guises assumed for the at or near an indigenous holy site, of a event itself, such as chunchos (Amazonian Christian saint, the Virgin, or Christ him- peoples) and ukukus (bears). The self, thus allowing the Church to influence, ukukus, always personified by young though by no means transform, the preex- men, have a variety of roles. They police isting indigenous event held there. the event, mocking any miscreants in a A prime example of this phenomenon is Quechua delivered in falsetto. They also Qoyllur Rit’i (“snow star” in Quechua), spend the night on the snowcap, in the held annually at Sinakara in the Ocongate morning bringing down the ice. This ice, region of southern Peru near Cuzco. The which is considered sacred, is taken into site, some 4,700 meters above sea level and Cuzco and shared amongst the faithful even now difficult to reach, is below the there. Qoyllur Rit’i is today a massive pil- snowcapped peak of Ausangate, an Apu or grimage, constantly changing in nature ac- object of ancestral worship. It is believed cording to the circumstances, and is that, in the late eighteenth century, the in- adopted by white Peruvians as well as na- fant Christ appeared to an indigenous boy tives and those of mixed race, not to men- and eventually left behind an image on a tion the increasing number of tourists. It POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 299 is a prime example of syncretic religious and renewal on a social and individual practices in the Andes. level, and hence viewed death as less of an —Keith Richards end than a new beginning; they believed that all things, including rocks, were ani- See also: Introduction; Language: Indigenous mate beings that had souls; and most, as Languages; Popular Religion and Festivals: has been widely reported, conducted sacri- Popular Catholicism (The Andean ficial rituals that included the offering up of Countries); Popular Medicine and Healing (The Andean Countries) anything from corncobs to small children. In the five centuries since the Conquest, Bibliography despite decimation by war and disease, Fleet, Michael. 2001. “Religion in Latin forced conversions to Christianity and America.” Pp. 295–320 in Understanding Western cultural values, and the gradual Contemporary Latin America, edited by process of mestizaje (racial mixing be- Richard S. Hillman. Boulder, CO: Lynne tween Spaniards and indigenous peoples), Rienner. there are still millions of indigenous people MacCormack, Sabine. 1991. Religion in the Andes: Vision and Imagination in Early living in Mexico, divided into over thirty Colonial Peru. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford: different ethnic groups defined by factors Princeton University Press. such as territory, culture, and language. Mills, Kenneth. 1997. Idolatry and Its Enemies: Many indigenous people still do not speak Colonial Andean Religion and Extirpation, Spanish fluently and many still continue re- 1640–1750. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford: ligious practices that predate the Con- Princeton University Press. Sallnow, Michael. 1988. Pilgrims of the Andes: quest. Nevertheless, almost all indigenous Regional Cults in Cuzco. Washington, DC: groups have, by now, been influenced by Smithsonian Institution Press. Catholicism, and indigenous cultural and religious practices are best perceived Mexico through the prism of the colonizers’ culture The cultural and religious practices of the and religion. In some Catholic churches, ancient civilizations of Mexico, in particu- such as that in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, lar the Mexica (or Aztecs) and the Maya, all the pews have been removed, and the are well documented. It is common knowl- local Tzotziles kneel on pine needles edge, for example, that these peoples un- strewn on the floor, light candles and in- dertook vast civil engineering projects to cense, pray to their santos, sleep, eat, and construct ceremonial centers, some still drink. Today, they even use Coca-Cola to visible today in the form of pyramids; that burp out evil spirits. Catholic priests are they had ideographic writing systems and used only to provide the odd service; other- recorded their own history; and that they wise, the practices of these Tzotziles are al- had advanced knowledge of astronomy and most entirely pre-Columbian in nature. The mathematics (the Maya are credited with rituals and beliefs of faith healers (curan- the invention of the concept of zero, or deros) are also infused with elements of rather the “place-value” numerical system Catholic iconography, but those forms of we use today). They were polytheistic faith healing that aim to cure spiritual (worshipped many gods); they believed in rather than physical ailments are perhaps preprogrammed cyclical transformation where indigenous religion is at its purest. 300 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Curanderos also tend to respect the tradi- Carrasco, David. 1990. Religions of Mesoamerica. tional calendrical systems of the ancient San Francisco: Harper and Row. civilizations and organize rituals to coin- Green, Duncan. 1997. “Race against Time: Indigenous Peoples.” Pp. 183–200 in Faces of cide with them. Latin America, by Duncan Green. London: Despite the gradual merging of cultures, Latin America Bureau. many indigenous groups are making a con- Sullivan, Lawrence E., ed. 2002. Native certed effort to preserve their cultural Religions and Cultures of Central and identity by recording their beliefs, their South America: Anthropology of the Sacred. oral history, and their traditional ways of New York: Continuum. Wauchope, Robert, ed. 1969. Handbook of working (agricultural methods or patterns Middle American Indians. 16 vols. Austin: of weaving, for example). By working with University of Texas Press. institutions such as the Instituto Nacional Indigenista (National Indigenist Institute) they protect their right to be different; in Guatemala extreme cases, such as the Zapatistas in Within Guatemala, a country where an esti- Chiapas, they rise up in arms. A few groups mated 56 percent of the population are have had less contact than others with mestizo (of mixed Amerindian and Span- Spanish culture (often because of the diffi- ish origin) and 44 percent are predomi- cult access to their territories) and con- nantly Amerindian, indigenous religions tinue to live and work as their ancestors are widely practiced. Guatemala’s Indians did. Such is the case of the Lacandón group are the modern-day descendants of the in southern Chiapas. This very small group great Mayan civilizations, and their com- of people has never been Christianized and munities are for the most part concen- continues to practice essentially the reli- trated in the western highlands. However, gion of the ancient Maya. what may be termed Guatemala’s “indige- —Thea Pitman nous community” is very diverse. At least twenty different Mayan languages are spo- See also: Introduction; Popular Social ken, and the various communities range in Movements and Politics: Zapatismo; size from some groups with fewer than Language: Indigenous Languages; Popular 5,000 members to others with up to 80,000. Religion and Festivals: Indigenous Religious Until the mid-twentieth century many and Cultural Practices (Guatemala); New Mayan communities remained outside the Protestantism (Mexico and Central America); Popular Catholicism (Mexico and scope of the Catholic Church in terms of Central America); Popular Festivals religion. Instead, a dual system has arisen, (Mexico); Popular Medicine and Healing whereby a local Catholic church exists (Mexico and Central America); Visual Arts alongside a parallel system of “shaman-di- and Architecture: Art (Religious Folk Art) viners” outside the Church who help out the people with their concerns over crops, Bibliography health, and personal problems. Benítez, Fernando. 1989. Los indios de México: As a whole, Mayan religious and cultural Antología. Mexico City: Era. Bonfil Batalla, Guillermo. 1996. México practices are centered on the principle of profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization. living in tune with nature and a spiritual Austin: University of Texas Press. connection to the land. A variety of rituals POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 301 are performed, the most important of in popularity. He describes how this ethnic which are those related to the sowing and revivalist movement was led by Catholic cultivation of maize, rituals that have ex- lay activists, who encouraged a renovation isted since the time of the ancient Maya. of the “earth cult” in an attempt to create a These rituals involve a night vigil before the new ethnic identity. In this way, just as pop- day of sowing the seed and a ritual at the ular indigenous practices contain elements moment of harvest to thank the land for of Christian symbolism, so too has the providing the crop. Other rituals include Catholicism practiced in Guatemala taken that of “house feeding,” a ceremony that on a variety of elements from indigenous takes place when a house has just been beliefs and rituals. built. Friends, relatives, and other villagers —Claire Taylor are invited to a meal that is presided over by the pasawink, or elder of the village. See also: Language: Indigenous Languages; Interestingly, within these popular prac- Popular Religion and Festivals: Popular Catholicism (Mexico and Central America); tices are frequent syncretic elements that Popular Medicine and Healing (Mexico and combine indigenous traditions with the Central America) symbols of Catholicism. Siebers notes that the cross, for instance, is frequently used in Bibliography indigenous communities during the ritual Marzal, Manuel M., Eugenio Maurer, Xavier of the sowing of the maize, and that this Albó, and Bartomeu Melia. 1996. The Indian has a dual meaning: on the one hand, the Face of God in Latin America. New York: cross refers to the Christian cross and Orbis. Siebers, Hans. 1996. “Popular Culture and Christ’s death; on the other, it represents Development: Religion, Tradition and the concept of the four corners of the uni- Modernity among the Q’eqchi’es of verse within Mayan belief, and also the Guatemala.” Latin American Studies 76: spirit of the maize. In this way, the indige- 137–158. nous groups integrate different religious el- Smith, Carol A., ed. 1990. Guatemalan Indians ements and practices into their lives and and the State: 1540 to 1988. Austin: University of Texas Press. culture. Wilson, Richard. 1995. Maya Resurgence in The percentage of Guatemalans who Guatemala: Q’eqchi’ Experience. Norman: consider themselves followers of indige- University of Oklahoma Press. nous religion is very low: according to U.S. government statistics, only 1 percent of the population describe themselves as practi- Popular Medicine and Healing tioners of traditional Mayan religions, with the majority describing themselves as Ro- Brazil man Catholics. However, many elements of In Brazil, curandeiros (healers) and ben- Mayan religion have been incorporated into zedeiras (blessers) are ritual healers who popular Catholicism within Guatemala. Wil- treat various illnesses and problems such son, who carried out extensive research as infertility, poverty, and unemployment. with Mayas in the province of Alta Verapaz, They employ a mixture of Catholic sym- found that the traditional Mayan rituals of bols and prayers and a special relationship fertility and healing are once again gaining with the supernatural. This is traditionally 302 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! a female domain, since the majority of passes them over the sufferer. Massages problems they deal with are related to the and baths are also given to remove the in- family. Pajés (medicine men) are local fluence of the spirits. These rituals are very spirit healers that are consulted by people similar to those used in Umbanda. The all over Brazil who do not have access to pajé can also traditionally perform harmful medical services. Such forms of alternative actions if a client requests this: for exam- medicine, which are typically offered free ple, an egg buried underneath the ham- of charge, are naturally very attractive to mock of one’s enemy will, they believe, the poor. cause him or her to go blind. Over the last hundred years or so the hi- —Lisa Shaw erarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has condemned these practices as pagan tradi- See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: tions and actively sought to suppress them. Popular Catholicism (Brazil); Umbanda However, the benzedeiras consider them- selves an essential part of popular Catholi- Bibliography Van den Hoogen, Lisette. 1988. “Benzedeiras cism in Brazil, and they use prayers and within the Catholic Tradition of Minas psalms from the Bible to cure many ail- Gerais.” Pp. 177–193 in Social Change in ments and predicaments. When a person is Contemporary Brazil, edited by Geert “cured,” he or she has to give gifts to the Banck and Kees Koonings. Amsterdam: healer, and a relationship of dependence Centre for Latin American Research and and obligation is established. These heal- Documentation. ers have to be obeyed exactly, and their au- thority over many of their clients is not un- The Andean Countries like that of a shaman, an alternative source The Andean region has a rich and varied of power to the Church that is open only to tradition in healing. Like most areas of in- the initiated in the community. Any person digenous culture in the Americas, it was re- with a special dom or gift, Spiritist or pressed by European colonizers quick to Catholic, can become a healer. In many associate the unknown with devil-worship. ways these practices offer an alternative However, since the 1980s official attitudes religious vocation to women, who are de- have changed. In 1984 Bolivia became the nied access to the priesthood and margin- first Latin American country to officially alized by the male-dominated medical pro- accept indigenous medical practices, fession. which in any case are often the only re- The beliefs of the pajés are allegedly course for remote or impoverished com- based on those of the indigenous tribes of munities. Brazil and center on the spirits of dead In- A particularly famous example of An- dians. These spirits are believed to work dean medicine is that of the Kallawaya peo- mischief and to introduce objects into a ple who live to the north of La Paz. They person’s body to cause illness. The pajé are renowned herbalists who reputedly has the power to discover what these ob- treated the Inca nobility and have long jects are and how to remove them. To- been itinerant healers; their practice was bacco smoke is used to induce a trance or institutionalized in 1987. Today they are is blown on the pajé’s hands before he well enough respected and established to POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 303 be the subject of tourist excursions. Other Bibliography famous communities of healers can be Allen, Catherine. 1988. The Hold Life Has: found in Catacaos, near Piura in coastal Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. London: Smithsonian Peru, Iluman in Ecuador, and among the Institution Press. Kogi of the Colombian Sierra Nevada. Koss-Chioino, Joan, Thomas Leatherman, and The role of coca in Andean society is Christine Greenway, eds. 2002. Medical controversial due to the leaf’s use as a nar- Pluralism in the Andes. London: Routledge. cotic since the early twentieth century. Morales, Edmundo. 1995. The Guinea Pig: However, coca use in both diagnosis and Healing, Food and Ritual in the Andes. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. healing is an ancestral practice. It is also Revista Medica. www.revistamedica.8m. used in divining, an activity not divorced in com/histomed130.htm (consulted the Andean mind from medicine; diagnosis September 2003). often focuses on the spiritual condition of Ventura i Oller, Montserrat. 2001. “Chamanismo the patient. Moreover, coca is an important y redes de intercambio en el Ecuador social component that reinforces commu- contemporáneo.” Revista GeoNotas 5, no. 2. Online journal attached to the Website of the nity relationships and identity. North Department of Geography, State University American and European attempts to sup- of Maringá. www.dge.uem.br//geonotas/ press coca have contributed to a wide- vol5–2/ventura.shtml (consulted September spread distrust of Western medicine, giving 2003). rise to numerous modern myths no doubt also inspired by rumors of rogue organ Mexico and Central America transplants and the practice of herbal and Popular medicine in Mesoamerica covers a gene piracy. wide range of practices, some of which Another widespread Andean practice, if deal with the curing of identifiable physical less controversial, involves the use of cuy, ailments and conditions, such as a broken or guinea pigs, in diagnosis. Here coca is of- leg or pregnancy. Others concern culturally ten consumed by the doctor to aid his con- specific, often emotional ailments such as centration. Then the animal is rubbed over susto (fright) and mal de ojo (the effects of the patient’s body before being opened and the evil eye), or are of a more spiritual or- its organs examined. A diagnosis of the pa- der such as the loss of one’s soul, moral tient is then made. Such practices must be dilemmas, or those ailments thought to be seen as elements of an overall cosmology caused by the ill effects of sorcery. In all and of a complex system of interactions cases the approach is far more holistic between humanity and the natural environ- than that offered by traditional Western ment. Traditional medicine is also crucial medicine, and almost all cures combine in the maintenance of trade and reciprocity practical solutions (medicinal infusions, between neighboring regions. etc.) with prayer, ritual, and psychological support. Rituals involve such activities as —Keith Richards the sacrifice of chickens and other small animals, the use of incense, blowing or See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: Indigenous Religious and Cultural Practices spraying the patient’s body with liquids, (The Andean Countries); Popular and passing objects such as eggs and Catholicism (The Andean Countries) plants over the body. 304 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Practitioners who deal with a wide range of most Mesoamerican indigenous commu- of ailments, especially those pertaining to nities, closely entwined with popular the spirit, are referred to by the overlap- Catholicism. In rural regions they easily ping terms of curanderos/as (curers, faith outnumber state health-care workers. Fur- healers), chamanes (shamans), and/or bru- thermore, the relationship of trust between jos/as (witch doctors). Many other terms patient and curandero is much greater used to designate curanderos are specific than that between patient and health-care to certain regions and ethnic groups, such worker, and this promotes the use of cu- as sukias in Nicaragua and h’men in the randeros and even their ability to provide Mayan Yucatan. Many of these healers, effective cures (faith alone can help heal). specifically shamans, invoke the supernat- Even among the urban mestizo (mixed- ural world via trancelike states (often pro- race) populations of the region, curan- voked by the ingestion of hallucinogenic derismo has not been totally supplanted by drugs such as peyote or magic mushrooms) Western medicine. For example, limpias and then journey into the supernatural or barriadas (ritual cleansings) are still realm with the aid of a “spirit helper,” who popular, cheap, and easy. often takes the form of an animal such as a In more recent years, the countries of coyote. Central America have attempted to utilize Curanderos may be either male or fe- the knowledge of curanderos and to li- male, although across Mesoamerica there cense them as practitioners rather than is a tendency for purely spiritual healing to outlaw the practice altogether. Indigenous be done by men (with this position go so- parteras (midwives) have been legalized cial prestige, civic authority, and even spe- in El Salvador, and curanderos may obtain cial dress codes and artifacts), and for the licenses in Guatemala. Furthermore, forms of physical healing done with medic- health-care workers have been encour- inal plants and prayers, especially those as- aged to cooperate with parteras and cu- sociated with gynecological issues and randeros so that their healing integrates childbirth, to be the preserve of women. elements of Western medicine and so that, Most curanderos assume their role as a in certain cases, patients can be referred hereditary duty after a long apprenticeship. to state health-care workers when their However, many female curanderas begin complaints fall beyond the realms of the their healing activities on the death of or faith healers. abandonment by their husband in order to —Thea Pitman make a living and have a valued place in their community. See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: Since the time of the Conquest indige- Indigenous Religious and Cultural Practices nous curanderos have experienced perse- (Guatemala; Mexico); Popular Catholicism cution for their beliefs and practices. Even (Mexico and Central America); Popular Festivals (Mexico) in the twentieth century, state health-care workers across the region were at pains to Bibliography eradicate curanderismo in favor of West- Castañeda, Carlos. 1968. The Teachings of Don ern medical science. Nevertheless, curan- Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. Berkeley: deros are an essential part of the makeup University of California Press. POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 305

Dow, James W. 1986. The Shaman’s Touch: establish a church and community in the Otomí Indian Symbolic Healing. Salt Lake rainforest where followers would live to- City: University of Utah Press. gether in harmony with each other and Huber, Brad R., and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds. with nature, combining periods of work, si- 2001. Mesoamerican Healers. Austin: University of Texas Press. lence, and meditation with the drinking of Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling. 1991. tea on set feast days. These days consist of Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in twelve hours of chanting and dancing to Latin America. London: Verso, pp. 68–74. the rhythm of maracas around a six- Trotter, Robert T., II, and Juan Antonio Chavira. pointed star, with the express purpose of 1981. Curanderismo: Mexican-American becoming closer to God and learning about Folk Healing. Athens: University of Georgia Press. oneself. The notions of fraternity, community spirit, and love of nature, so dear to the Santo Daime movement, along with the speedy arrival at a state of transcendence afforded by the A religious cult founded in the Amazon at Santo Daime tea itself, drew the attention the turn of the twentieth century, based on of Brazilian hippies in the 1970s, who took the ritual, communal consumption of an in- Serra’s teachings, and his drink, to other fusion of herbs. Santo Daime was made parts of the country. In the 1980s, govern- popular from the 1980s onward by the ment investigations concluded that there large number of Brazilian celebrities who was nothing untoward taking place within have adhered to its doctrines. the Church and that followers of Santo The inspiration for Santo Daime (or the Daime were not drug addicts. A number of Eclectic Cult of Fluid Universal Light, to critics of Santo Daime have argued that give it its formal title) came from Mestre governments have continued to turn a Raimundo Irineu Serra (otherwise known blind eye to the drug-taking in these com- as Rei or King Juramidã), a rubber tapper munities because they can count on the and son of black slaves who learned about support of the powerful environmental the healing properties of Amazonian plants lobby, of a number of senators represent- from Peruvian Indians. It is said that on ing the northern states, and even of some drinking for the first time one particularly Catholic bishops. potent mixture, ayahuasca, a blend of the Several high-profile stars from television jagube liana (Banesteriopsis caapi) and and the music industry became involved the rainha leaf (Psicotrya viridis) that with the movement in the 1980s, such as supposedly has been around since the days the popular composer Peninha, singer- of the Incas, Serra received a visitation songwriter Ney Matogrosso, actress Maitê from the Virgin Mary. Thereafter, every Proença, and most significantly, the tele- time he consumed the tea (which he novela (soap opera) superstar Lucélia San- named Santo Daime), he would receive tos, who temporarily gave up her television prayers that later would form the basis of and film career to live in one of the the cult’s worship. Church’s remote communities. Having started out as little more than a The espousal of values such as the pro- backwoods shaman, Serra would go on to tection of vegetation, along with the 306 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Church’s charity work to aid the environ- of this religion, with its accent on global ment, has recently attracted people from unity, lies in its rejection of discrimination all over the world, both New Age eco- on grounds of ethnicity, gender, or social tourists and people seeking alternative background. systems of belief, to the headquarters in Bahá’í, which has neither dogma nor Céu do Mapiá in Amazonas state. As well priesthood, proposes a noncentralized as having established a number of faith in which all creeds can converge and churches throughout Brazil (most in rural share both differences and similarities. The areas traditionally associated with emphasis upon unity is manifested in the Brazil’s hippie population), Santo Daime faith’s temples, which are circular, intimat- has traveled to Europe and the United ing the deliberate exclusion of any geo- States where, according to the move- graphical focal point or place of origin ment’s official Website, there are ten such as Mecca or Jerusalem. This philoso- churches. With the exception of Spain, phy is applied in practical terms in commu- where the use of the infusion in recog- nities with differing faiths: Bahá’í meetings nized religious rituals has recently been begin with prayers from members of all re- made legal, followers abroad are obliged ligions represented. to celebrate in secret, and transporters of Bahá’í is clearly attractive to those seek- Santo Daime tea to locations outside ing an alternative atmosphere, social as Brazil have been given prison sentences well as spiritual, in societies with en- for drug trafficking. trenched chauvinist attitudes and where —Stephanie Dennison discrimination on the basis of gender, eth- nicity, or beliefs is all but institutionalized See also: Travel and Tourism: Ecotourism; (the advancement of women is a notably Mass Media: Telenovela (Brazil) high priority in all Bahá’í literature). In Bo- livia, where a high proportion of followers Bibliography are from indigenous communities, Bahá’í Official Santo Daime Website. www. works to implement social benefits, raising santodaime.org (consulted September 2003). funds for projects such as educational fa- cilities, without the apparent self-promo- tion and paternalism associated with more Bahá’í entrenched religions. The results are ap- parent both at grassroots and central lev- A faith that was founded in 1844 along uni- els: in remote villages, where the possibil- versalist principles by the Bahá’u’lláh, the ity of extending local education into high title of the Persian mystic Mirzá Husayn Ali school has been achieved, and in a city like (1817–1892). It first made its mark on Latin Santa Cruz, where the influential Bahá’í- America in the late 1930s, in Mexico and inspired Nur University runs a program to Central America, entering most of South train teachers to serve the entire Andean America a few years later. Today it is the region. third most popular organized religion in Radio has also been a successful tool for many Latin American countries after Bahá’í, raising its profile in Latin America Catholicism and Protestantism. The appeal while facilitating communication among POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 307 rural communities. The world’s first New Protestantism Bahá’í radio station, in the Otavalo region of Ecuador, was set up as a means of en- Mexico and Central America abling contact between members but The Protestant faith, particularly the newer eventually took on a far broader role. The branches (as opposed to traditional Angli- realization of the potential of indigenous canism or Lutheranism), has witnessed a communities, within the context of the boom in popularity in Mexico and Central modern nation, became central to its aims, America since the 1970s, both in rural ar- and the station has enjoyed considerable eas and in poor neighborhoods in urban ar- success. Conserving Andean cultural tradi- eas, and in particular among the substan- tions has been one of its main achieve- tial indigenous populations of these ments, though it also promotes numerous countries (i.e., the poorest sectors of soci- social projects. ety). Statistics show that growth has been Bahá’í has formal associations with the particularly large in Honduras and United Nations and with many nongovern- Guatemala since the mid-1980s (7 percent mental organizations such as UNIDA and 6 percent respectively of the popula- (Unidad en Diversidad, or Unity in Diver- tions of these countries converted to sity), a group that responds to the political Protestantism over the period 1985–1995). crisis in Argentina via training programs Mexico, the most populous country in Cen- aimed at providing models for participa- tral America, has the highest number of tory development and the fortification of Protestants, around 5.5 million in 1995, de- civil society. spite a slower rate of growth of the Protes- Of the estimated 7 million or so Bahá’í tant community. followers worldwide, there are an esti- Unlike the original split in Europe be- mated 57,000 members in Brazil and tween the Catholic and Protestant 300,000 in Bolivia. Of the seven worldwide Churches, the split in Mexico and Central Bahá’í temples, one is in Latin America America was not based on a clash over (Panama) and a second is currently under doctrine. Much of the “new” Protestantism construction in Chile. in the region is evangelical in nature, and —Keith Richards hence sets itself up in opposition to all other religions, including other branches of See also: Mass Media: Radio (Cuba and the Protestantism. Andes) Community health workers in Chiapas, southern Mexico, have noted that indige- Bibliography Bahá’í Official Website. www.bahai.org nous women prefer a religion that allows (consulted September 2003). them to use contraception, and that in gen- Hein, Kurt John. 1988. Radio Bahá’í Ecuador: eral, women find that the Protestant A Bahá’í Development Project. Oxford: Church offers them a more active role than George Ronald. that available to them in the male-domi- Lamb, Artemus. 1995. The Beginnings of the nated Catholic Church. It has been argued Bahá’í Faith in Latin America: Some Remembrances. http://www.bahai-library. that indigenous communities also use org/books/latinamerica.lamb.html (consulted Protestantism as a way of showing their September 2003). dissent from the impositions of the 308 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Catholic-oriented nation-states by which digenous group who have chosen to re- they are governed. Other theorists suggest main Catholics. that concerted missionary activity from —Thea Pitman abroad, the experience of rapid moderniza- tion, and/or large-scale demographic See also: Popular Social Movements and change (migration to big cities or to other Politics: Zapatismo; Popular Religion and Festivals: New Protestantism (Brazil; countries), coupled with the dismember- Venezuela); Popular Catholicism (Mexico ment of traditional social structures and and Central America) cultural practices, have created a spiritual gap that Protestantism has filled. Bibliography One of the most compelling explanations Dow, James W., and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds. put forward is that economic change, and 2001. Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The in particular the advance of the market Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico economy into parts of the world where and Central America. Westport, CT: Praeger. Fleet, Michael. 1997. “Religion in Latin America.” people have previously been unaffected by Pp. 295–320 in Understanding Contemporary its logic, is the root cause of the surge in Latin America, edited by Richard S. Hillman. popularity of New Protestantism in the re- Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. gion. In traditional, indigenous communi- Green, Duncan. 1997. “Thy Kingdom Come: ties—in the highlands of Guatemala, for The Church.” Pp. 201–215 in Faces of Latin example—a “cargo system” is still in place. America, by Duncan Green. London: Latin America Bureau. This system, intimately related to the Martin, David. 1990. Tongues of Fire: The Catholic calendar, is a way of redistribut- Explosion of Protestantism in Latin ing wealth for the benefit of the whole America. Oxford: Blackwell. community by designating individual com- Stoll, David. 1990. Is Latin America Turning munity members to be in charge of organiz- Protestant?: The Politics of Evangelical ing and financing specific festivals. How- Growth. Berkeley: University of California Press. ever, this practice stands in direct opposition to the concept of a market economy where the individual seeks to Venezuela make and retain profits for the benefit of The evangelical presence in Venezuela’s his/her own family. Protestantism, with its capital city, Caracas, is low-key in compari- concept of a “work ethic,” provides the re- son with Brazil’s main cities, but the sys- ligious background to support the logic of tematic promotion of New Protestantism is the market economy and is hence making actively under way. The best-known evan- dramatic in-roads in parts of the region gelical phenomenon in Caracas is the inde- where the market economy is not yet fully pendent Las Acacias Pentecostal Church. in place. Nevertheless, such widespread In the 1990s, about half of Venezuela’s conversions to Protestantism have not 325,000 Protestants could be found in six gone unopposed, and there is substantial churches: Assemblies of God, Light of the disharmony recorded in the indigenous World, OVICE (Venezuelan Organization of communities of Chiapas, Mexico, for ex- Evangelical Christian Churches), Peniel, the ample, between breakaway Protestant National Baptist Convention, and the Pres- groups and those members of the same in- byterian Church. The first two churches are POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 309

Pentecostal, and the second two are of the the Baptist Church, the Assemblies of God, Free Church tradition. the Christian Congregation, the Four- With the exception of the Baptists and square Gospel Church (which now has the Presbyterians, the mainstream Protes- more followers in Brazil than in the United tant churches have had relatively little States, where it originated), Brazil for presence in Venezuela. A survey carried Christ, God Is Love, and the Universal out in 1992 found that the 231 Protestant Church of the Kingdom of God. For many churches in Caracas had a total member- Brazilians, the Universal Church epito- ship of 31,000 people, which represented mizes the new brand of Pentecostalism, just over 1 percent of the 3 million people with “services” akin to television shows in the area surveyed. As low as this figure and a heavy emphasis on financial contri- is, it is important to remember that butions from the “audience.” Members of Catholic practice is on the decline. It has other churches worry about the effect of been estimated that 6 percent of the inhab- the Universal Church on the image of the itants of Caracas attend mass on any given Protestant community as a whole. A com- Sunday and that this percentage falls to mon misconception holds that the growth just 2 or 3 percent in poorer areas. of Protestantism is fostered and funded The history of Protestantism in Vene- from abroad, but it is the Brazilian zuela dates from the early nineteenth cen- churches that are expanding the fastest. tury, when itinerant Bible salesmen passed The rapid rise of evangelical Protes- through the country. The first congrega- tantism in Brazil can be explained in part tions in Caracas were established in the by the failure of Liberation Theology to 1870s. For decades, however, missionaries provide spiritual solace for the impover- were attracted more to rural areas, and vir- ished masses. Following the Vatican’s deci- tually no Protestant congregations were sion, taken in 1989, to carve up the arch- founded in the capital city until the 1940s diocese of São Paulo arbitrarily, the poor and 1950s. Many of these first-generation central districts of the city were increas- church leaders were still active in the ingly neglected by the Catholic Church, al- 1990s. lowing the evangelicals to gain a foothold. —Lisa Shaw Like Brazil for Christ and God Is Love, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: God, established in 1977, revolves around New Protestantism (Brazil; Mexico and its founder, Edir Macedo. By 1990 the orga- Central America) nization had 700 churches and claimed to Bibliography have 500,000 members. In that year it Berryman, Phillip. 1996. Religion in the bought a television station in São Paulo for Megacity: Catholic and Protestant Portraits 45 million U.S. dollars. Macedo obviously from Latin America. London: Latin America appealed to mass audiences. One morning Bureau. in September 1990 he drew 150,000 people to a stadium in Rio de Janeiro and then Brazil caught a plane to São Paulo, where he ad- The following Protestant Churches are dressed a crowd of 50,000. Like soccer now represented in many Brazilian cities: fans, many of them carried banners, includ- 310 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

from Latin America. London: Latin America Bureau.

Popular Festivals

Colombia One of the most important popular festi- vals within the Andean region of Colombia is the Aguinaldo Boyacense, the period of celebration held in the Boyacá region in the last few days before Christmas. The Carnaval de Barranquilla (Barranquilla Carnival), which takes place in the city of Barranquilla on the northern coast of Colombia, traces its roots back over sev- eral centuries. It has links with the black slave celebrations that took place in nearby Cartagena de Indias in colonial times. While Semana Santa, or Holy Week, Edir Macedo, the infamous founder of Brazil’s is important throughout Colombia, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. (Ted place that is most famous for this celebra- Soqui/Corbis Sygma) tion is Popayán in the southwestern part of Colombia. The Aguinaldo Boyacense festival lasts ing one that read: “Pele, the king of soccer, from 16 to 23 December each year. Games has gone, and Jesus, the king of kings, has for children and a variety of sporting arrived.” There have been reports of events or competitions, such as tennis, cy- bizarre and disturbing events at these gath- cling, and chess, are held throughout the erings. On one occasion, for example, day and into the night. The afternoon activ- Macedo promised to cure people’s eye- ities are dominated by the novena or reli- sight. Hundreds of pairs of spectacles were gious service; in the early evening the main handed over to him, which he promptly attractions are the processions, which of- trampled on. ten include decorated carrozas (carnival —Lisa Shaw floats). The carrozas are created by a vari- ety of local entities, including schools, See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: churches, local companies, and the police New Protestantism (Mexico and Central force, and prizes are awarded for the best America; Venezuela); Popular Catholicism (Brazil) float. Finally, once the processions are over, a lively, open-air concert is held in the Bibliography main square, the Plaza Bolívar. Every night Berryman, Phillip. 1996. Religion in the at least three bands perform into the small Megacity: Catholic and Protestant Portraits hours, playing salsa, vallenato, or even car- POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 311

Women in costume dance in the street during carnival, Barranquilla, Colombia, 1994. (Jeremy Horner/Corbis)

ranguera, the local folk music of the Boy- all decorated with flowers. Sunday is taken acá region. The concert usually includes at up with the Gran Parada (Big Parade), least one big national name, such as Los which concentrates on folk, indigenous, Tupamaros, who performed there in 2002. and black forms of music and dance, in- From the mid- to late nineteenth century cluding cumbia, mapalé, and son. On the the Carnaval de Barranquilla proper Monday, the Festival de Orquestas (Festi- started to take shape. Now the carnival val of Bands) takes place, during which na- takes place over four days, starting on Sat- tional and international bands play salsa urday and ending the day before Ash and the obligatory vallenato to crowds in Wednesday. Over the four days, a variety of the Romelio Martínez stadium. The last day events are staged: on the opening Saturday of the carnival is dominated by the tradi- is the Batalla de flores (Battle of the Flow- tion known as the Muerte de Joselito ers), an event that memorializes the civil (Death of Joselito). Legend has it that war that Colombia endured between 1899 Joselito was a coachman who drank so and 1903, the Guerra de Mil Días (War of a much that he fell asleep in his coach; to Thousand Days), and that functions as a tease him, the carnival-goers decided to tribute to peace. During this event, a large put him in a coffin and carry him to the procession makes its way through the city, cemetery, amid great wailing and mourn- with carnival queens, dancers, and floats, ing. Every year this prank is reenacted, 312 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! with the crowd carrying a coffin and crying is the third biggest in the world, after those over “Joselito” as they process through the of Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. Many streets. of the festivals are based on the events of Holy Week in Popayán is marked by the Roman Catholic calendar (saints’ days, solemn processions throughout the week, posadas or pre-Christmas processions, as well as the Festival de Música Religiosa Easter week celebrations, and reenact- (Festival of Religious Music), which at- ments of the crucifixion), though some tracts choirs and orchestras from all over may have been superimposed over older the world. The celebrations consist of six pre-Columbian festival days and ritual processions: one during the day on Palm practices. Others are purely civic celebra- Sunday to represent Christ’s triumphal ar- tions designed to reaffirm a sense of na- rival in Jerusalem, and five at night, from tional pride (for example, El Grito de Inde- Tuesday to Thursday, which represent the pendencia or Independence Day and El passion, death, and burial of Christ. The fi- Día de la Raza or Mexico Day). Still oth- nal procession takes place on Saturday to ers, which celebrate the culture or the arti- celebrate Christ’s resurrection. During facts of a particular place, have been devel- these processions, images carried on plat- oped by the Mexican government and the forms are decorated with candles and a dif- tourist industry as a way of promoting ferent color of flowers each day, leading up trade and tourism (for example, the Silver to the final celebration on Saturday, in Fair in Taxco). The concept of the fiesta which multicolored flowers symbolize joy popular really applies only to the first cate- at the resurrection. gory of festival mentioned. Nevertheless, in —Claire Taylor contemporary Mexico many of the tradi- tional, popular fiestas based on the Roman See also: Popular Music: Cumbia; Salsa; Catholic calendar have incorporated ele- Vallenato; Popular Religion and Festivals: ments of the more urban-based civic and Popular Festivals (Carnival in Brazil; commercial festivals. This is part of the Mexico) process of encroaching national and global (capitalist) culture, studied in detail by Bibliography Harding, Colin. 1995. Colombia: A Guide to the Néstor García Canclini. People, Politics and Culture. London: Latin Undoubtedly the most important and America Bureau. the most idiosyncratic of Mexico’s popu- Samper Martínez, Diego. 1994. Carnaval lar festivals is El Día de los Muertos (The caribe: Exploración del carnaval de Day of the Dead). The festival dates back Barranquilla Colombia. Quito: Andes to colonial times, although some critics Editores. Williams, Raymond L. 1999. Culture and see it as a prime example of the blending Customs of Colombia. Westport: Greenwood of indigenous culture with Spanish Press. Catholic culture (the Mexica are known to have venerated their dead in similar ways Mexico using similar iconography). This festival Mexico celebrates a huge variety of fiestas has developed spectacularly since the populares (popular festivals) that attract 1960s and is now an essential part of Mex- visitors from all over the world. Its carnival ico’s national identity. POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 313

Typical skeleton figures used to celebrate Mexico’s popular festival the Day of the Dead. (Danny Lehman/Corbis)

The festival of the Day of the Dead homes, and a vast amount of merchandise is stretches over two days, on 1 and 2 Novem- available in shops and markets to decorate ber of every year, which correspond to All ofrendas, the graves themselves, or simply Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the Roman to offer as gifts to friends. These items in- Catholic calendar. Traditionally, the de- clude pan de muertos (loaves of bread dec- parted souls of small children are honored orated with crossed bones, which are also on the first of the two days, and those of made of bread), calaveras (skulls made out adults on the second, and it is usually the of sugar or chocolate and brightly deco- second of the two days that is the more exu- rated), and all sorts of arts and crafts that berant day of the festival. The basic festival play on the theme of death. (In recent years, consists of several masses. However, ofren- products associated with Halloween have das (offerings of food, drink, and other sym- appeared for sale beside them as the two bolic items for the dead) constructed in festivals have begun to merge.) Although people’s homes and the candlelit vigil at the the death of relatives is still a cause for graveside of departed relatives on the night great sadness among Mexicans, the humor of 1 November are the readily identifiable brought to the fore in this festival is remark- symbols of the festival today. In the run-up able and helps shape the popular view that to the festival, the ofrendas become ubiqui- Mexicans treat death lightly. tous, more in public places than in private —Thea Pitman 314 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA!

Carnival in Brazil Some form of pre-Lenten celebration (like Mardi Gras in New Orleans) has existed in Brazil since the mid-sixteenth century, af- ter the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500. Today this annual event, held seven weeks before Easter, is most widely associated with the city of Rio de Janeiro, where the so-called escolas de samba (“samba schools”), or neighborhood carnival asso- ciations, take part in a lavish parade that is screened by satellite all over the world. Carnaval is celebrated all over Brazil for four days, from Saturday to Tuesday. Not every city has a street carnival, however; some prefer well-behaved indoor balls. The musical accompaniment to the car- nival processions in Rio de Janeiro is per- cussion-based samba, provided by a 300- piece drum section or bateria from each A reveler shows off his Internet costume during “samba school.” The marcha carnavalesca the Rio de Janeiro Carnival in 2000. (Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images) or carnival march provides an alternative rhythm in Rio, favored for indoor balls and by the bandas, groups consisting of brass See also: Popular Religion and Festivals: and drums, that pass through Rio’s streets Popular Catholicism (Mexico and Central with crowds following behind them. America); Popular Festivals (Carnival in The official celebrations in Rio are held Brazil; Colombia) in the purpose-built Sambódromo (Sam-

Bibliography badrome). Each escola’s parade must have Canclini, Néstor García. 1993. “Fiesta and a theme or enredo, which might be histori- History: To Celebrate, to Remember, to Sell.” cal or political, or linked to a particular in- Pp. 87–104 in Transforming Modernity: dividual. The carnavalesco, a kind of art Popular Culture in Mexico, edited by Néstor director within each escola de samba, García Canclini and translated by Lidia chooses the theme, and in June of the pre- Lozano. Austin: University of Texas Press. Carmichael, Elizabeth, and Chloë Sayer. 1991. vious year the escola’s composers begin The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the writing sambas on this theme. The best Dead in Mexico. London: British Museum. songs are chosen by the directors of the Nutini, Hugo G. 1988. “Pre-Hispanic “school,” and around September the re- Component of the Syncretic Cult of the Dead hearsals begin in the headquarters of each in Mesoamerica.” Ethnology 27, no. 1: 57–78. organization. On a given night, usually at Rosoff Beimler, Rosalind. 1998. The Days of the Dead/Los días de muertos. Photography by the end of October, the members choose John Greenleigh. San Francisco: the winning samba. For the parade, the Pomegranate. “school” is divided into units called alas, POPULAR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS 315 or wings. Each ala wears a different cos- and party to the music of the blocos afro tume relating to a specific aspect of the (Afro-Brazilian carnival groups), afoxés theme. The bigger escolas have over sixty (carnival groups that perform music and alas, each containing eighty or so mem- dance based on Candomblé rituals), and bers. Two alas are compulsory: one is the trios elétricos (musicians playing electrified ala das baianas, older women dressed in instruments on top of decorated trucks). In the attire of the Afro-Brazilian street ven- the northeastern states of Bahia, Ceará, and dors of Salvador da Bahia, who wear tur- Pernambuco, frevo, a fast, syncopated ver- bans and long lace dresses (this costume sion of the marcha, is the main carnival mu- harks back to the Bahian women who first sic. In Recife, and Fortaleza in Ceará state, practiced Candomblé in Rio, personified the maracatu, an Afro-Brazilian proces- by Carmen Miranda in Hollywood); and sional dance, is performed during Carnival. the comissão de frente (literally, front Participants sing and dance to a heavy, slow, commission), who open the parade by almost trance-inducing rhythm. walking or dancing slowly. The main Carnival has its roots in pre-Christian samba dancers are called passistas, the festivities held by the ancient Greeks, Ro- most important of whom are the porta- mans, and others. In spite of their pagan bandeira (the flag-bearer, always a origins these festivities were assimilated woman, who carries the escola’s flag) and into the traditions of Roman Catholic coun- the mestre-sala (master of ceremonies), a tries of Europe. The early carnivals in man. In between the alas come the or- Brazil were based on a popular festival nately decorated floats—–the carros known as entrudo, a tradition that origi- alegóricos—–that take around six months nated in the Azores and became popular in to build. On top of the floats stand the Portugal in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- destaques, men and women wearing either turies. Associated with riotous antics and very expensive and elaborate costumes or pranks, the entrudo was outlawed in Brazil next to nothing. Another aspect of the in 1853 and finally died out at the begin- city’s festivities are the blocos de empol- ning of the 1900s. In the first years of the gação, great masses of people wearing the twentieth century, three separate carnivals same costume that parade in one solid were held in Rio de Janeiro: that of the block and dance energetically. The bloco poor, largely Afro-Brazilian population in called Cacique de Ramos, for example, al- the central Praça Onze district of the city; ways dress up like Indians, and Bafo da that of the middle classes in the Avenida Onça (Jaguar’s Breath) consists of 6,000 Central (now the Avenida Rio Branco); and to 7,000 members. They dance to the that of the wealthy, white elite, which cen- samba de bloco played by the bateria at tered on lavish masked balls. By the 1920s the close of the carnival parade in the the annual event had become associated Sambadrome. with two musical rhythms, the carnival Today Salvador da Bahia in Brazil’s north- march (marcha or marchinha), of bour- east vies with Rio to create the most popu- geois origin and inspired by Portuguese lar carnival in Brazil. Each year an esti- marches that were brought to Brazil with mated 2 million people crowd into music hall (teatro de revista), and the Salvador’s narrow streets to dance, sing, samba, believed to have grown out of the 316 POP CULTURE LATIN AMERICA! percussion-based batuques and lundus las), and include Mangueira, Portela, and performed by African slaves on rural plan- Salgueiro. —Lisa Shaw tations. The first escola de samba, named Deixa See also: Popular Music: Samba; Popular Falar (Let Them Talk), was founded in Theater and Performance: Popular Theater 1928 in the Rio district of Estácio de Sá by and Music Hall (Teatro de Revista); a group of Afro-Brazilian samba com- Cultural Icons: Latin Americans in posers. The term “samba school” is said to Hollywood (Carmen Miranda); Popular have been an ironic reference to the school Cinema: Youth Movies, Cinema, and Music; Popular Religion and Festivals: across the street from where this marginal- Candomblé; Popular Festivals (Colombia; ized group used to meet. A kind of neigh- Mexico); Visual Arts and Architecture: borhood club, Deixa Falar was dedicated Architecture and Landscape Design to making music (samba) and parading (Favelas) during Carnival. It was only in 1935, during the presidency of Getúlio Vargas (1930– Bibliography 1945), that the escolas de samba were no Guillermoprieto, Alma. 1991. Samba. New longer repressed as manifestations of Afro- York: Vintage Books. Brazilian culture, and their carnival pa- McGowan, Chris, and Ricardo Pessanha. 1998. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova rades were officially recognized. Today and the Popular Music of Brazil. Rio’s main escolas de samba are still asso- Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ciated with particular areas of the city, of- Teissl, Helmut. 2000. Carnival in Rio. New ten one of the hillside shantytowns (fave- York: Abbeville Press.