TRANS · núm. 12 · 2008 Este artículo estudia las marcas de catolicismo encontradas en DOSSIER · 67-79 la traducción de textos religiosos por el misionero jesuita José de Anchieta (1534-1597) en Brasil durante el siglo xvi. El estudio muestra cómo Anchieta empleó en sus traducciones términos del mundo espiritual de los Indios Tupi como «equivalentes» de terminos cristianos para evangelizar pero no buscó entender su significado profundo. Se establece un paralelismo entre la voluntad de Anchieta de mezclar términos cristianos con conceptos del mundo espiritual de los indios brasileños, y la «equivalencia dinámica» de Eugene Nida así como los conceptos de «naturalización» y «extranjerización» de Lawrence Venuti. El artículo termina examinando las obras de Anchieta y los asentamientos religiosos conocidos como Santidades estrechamente vinculados con la identidad católica híbrida predicada por los jesuitas. palabras claves: José de Anchieta, aculturación, inculturación. Jesuitas, traducción de textos religiosos. The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta in 16th century Brazil
This article will examine the characteristics of the Catholicism found in the translation of religious texts by the Jesuit missionary José de Anchieta (1534-1597) in Brazil in the 16th century. The study will show that Anchieta used terms from the spiritual world of the Tupi Indians in his translations as «equivalents» for Christian terms as a way of introducing Christianity but made no attempt to understand the deeper meaning of these terms. We make a parallel of Anchieta’s readiness to mix Christian Catholic terms and concepts from the spiritual world of the Brazilian Indians with the «dynamic equivalence» found in the work of Eugene Nida and the concepts of domestication and foreignization found in the work of Lawrence Paulo Edson Alves Filho Venuti. The article will also examine the writings of Anchieta and the religious settlements called Santidades, which were closely Universidad de Sorocaba, Brasil related to the hybrid identity of Catholicism preached by the Jesuits. John Milton keywords: José de Anchieta, acculturaltion, inculturaltion. Jesuits, Universidad de Sao Paulo, Brasil religious translation. Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
the arrival of the jesuits in brazil were also subject to the colonizers, known as mamelucos1, as they were seen as a potential In 1500, when Pedro Álvares Cabral arrived in slave workforce for the large sugar cane farms 68 the lands that would be called Brazil, a mass and mills along the coast. From the contact was promptly celebrated. This fact shows with mameluco and Portuguese colonizers the that the Portuguese Crown and the Catholic Indians were subjected to slavery and mistreat- Church were partners in the enterprise of colo- ment. It can be said that the colonizers were nizing this part of South America. The Portu- interested in their bodies, their potential as a guese, still in the atmosphere of the Crusades, labour force, whereas the Jesuits were interested had the Cross of the Order of Christ painted in their souls2. on the sails of Cabral’s fleet. They landed in what is the modern-day state the jesuit translations to tupi: a of Bahia, but the main town they founded was mixing of cultural patterns São Vicente, in what is now the state of São Paulo, over a thousand kilometers further south in 1555, three years after arriving in Brazil, Jose down the coast. There, Manuel da Nóbrega, a de Anchieta supervised a meeting with other leading priest of the Society of Jesus, started his «Lingoas» (Jesuits who spoke Tupi fluently) activities of teaching and catechizing the Tupi in Sao Vicente, in order to normalize the ter- Indians. The main impression of the Jesuits was minology used in the Dialogues and Speeches that the Indians neither had any religion nor addressed to the Indians. By this time Anchieta worshipped any deity or god. had learnt and mastered Tupi and translated It did not take long for the Portuguese to texts such as the Roman Catechism, primers, change their minds: as soon as they were in parish manuals, spiritual exercises, poems and contact with the Indians’ anthropophagical rit- didactic plays. uals they realized that these rituals were closely In order to make these translations, Anchieta connected to the Devil. tried to transfer a set of concepts from his cul- From 1543 on the Jesuits were simultaneously ture to Tupi. Due to the enormous difference engaged in delivering the message of God and between both cultures, the results were often erasing the Indians’ ancient habits. In order to unexpected, as Alfredo Bosi (1992:65) states: carry out this complex task, Nobrega depended «In the passage from one symbolic sphere to on other members of the Society, among them another, Anchieta found obstacles which at times the prominent priest, José de Anchieta, who could not be solved. How could the Tupi Indians was the most important translator of the liturgy be told about the word ‘sin’ if they had no such used for catechizing the natives. Both Nobrega notion, at least according to what was registered and Anchieta had the missionary task of gathe- throughout the Middle Ages in Europe?»3 ring the Indians in villages and, through prea- 1 ching, bringing them close to the true Catholic Mameluco, word from the Arabic, memluk, «slave», the household cavalry of the former sultans of Egypt. A faith. Besides this, they would fight polygamy general term applied in South America to designate the and nudity among other so-called ‘barbarian’ mixed European-Indian race. 2 For a broader discussion on the intentions of Euro- ways of the Indian daily lives. pean colonizers in Brazil, see Schwartz 1988. Differently from the Jesuits, the Indians 3 «Na passagem de uma esfera simbólica para a outra TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta
Anchieta frequently tried to look for some ves rather than for its diabolical essence. corresponding element in two languages with Bosi (op.cit., p. 69) states that the most unequal results (op. cit., p. 67) as, for instance, efficient method of destroying the bad habits translating «angel» as «karaibebe», or «a flying of the Indians was quickly discovered: genera- 69 shaman» or «devil» as ‘Anhangá’, whose original lizing fear among the natives and extending it meaning for the Tupi Indians was the super- to all entities that might appear in the native natural entity that protected the animals and trances and ceremonies, demonizing any events the jungle. Through the speech of Anhangá in that facilitated the path for the return of the his plays he observed the Indian rituals and dead. At the time of the arrival of Europeans in behavior (i.e., anthropophagy, polygamy, com- Brazil witches and sorcerers were persecuted all munication with the dead) as devilish. over Europe. The imaginary of the men from Anhangá was not exactly an evil entity (evil Europe on American soil was dominated by the as per the European definition), but a mutable vision of parallel forms of religion, i.e., pagan being that could take on a number of identities worship, and thus the tendency was to interpret in order to entrap humans. the worship of the Indians as a kind of «demo- Manipulating and translating elements nolatry». In the same way that in Europe, like these, Anchieta tried to reorganize their pagan rituals and worship were condemned and place in the Tupi imaginary. In order for the suppressed, in America the Europeans had to Manichean-European religious perspective to exterminate the tradition of paganism (Mello e be inserted in the Indian religion, Tupã (ori- Souza, 1993). ginally meaning the thunder god) would need It is no surprise that Anchieta chose the an opposite force to represent the dark side and Devil as the most common character in his the Devil, which Anchieta would name Anhan- plays. Through the Devil’s speech, he would gá, who, according to the Indian imaginary, was portray Indian rituals and behavior as devilish, the protector of the jungle and animals and had criticizing them and delivering a strong mes- amazing powers and skills, and was able to shift sage against them. Cannibalism and polygamy form and shape and torment human beings. In were key elements for the Indians’ social lives, this new model introduced by the Jesuits, the and were the elements which most appalled powers of Anhangá were increased: he would the missionaries. But the Indians did not relate take on the role of Prince of the Darkness and them to Anhangá. Cannibalism was the result would be directly responsible for all bad habits of warfare and important for the tribe’s supre- of the Amerindians such as cannibalism, poly- macy over their enemies. A prisoner of war gamy, drunkenness from cauim4, and all other would be kept for several months, treated well «devilish» rituals for European eyes. Indeed, and sometimes given a wife. But on an appoin- Anchieta might have made this choice as a ted day he would be killed and prepared for a result of the fear Anhangá inspired in the nati- feast. Old women drank his blood and mothers smeared it over their breasts. The body was Anchieta encontrou óbices por vezes incontornáveis. Co- roasted and eaten by the entire village and their mo dizer aos tupis, por exemplo, a palavra pecado, se eles guests. If the prisoner had been given a wife, careciam até mesmo da sua noção, ao menos no registro que esta assumira ao longo da Idade Média européia?» she wept for him, but then she also joined the 4 Wine made of fermented corn. feast. The executioner was forbidden to feast Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
and had to stay in seclusion to protect himself for rendering the word «purity», thus erasing and the village from the prisoner’s ghost. This any Christian concept of «purity». cannibalistic treatment given to the enemy was Similarly to missionary translations in the 70 justified for two reasons: revenge and incorpo- Phillipines, as noted by Rafael (1988:20-21), ration of the brave soul of the enemy into the Anchieta chose to keep some words in Por- executioner’s own soul. tuguese, such as ‘domingo’ (Sunday), ‘Virgem Likewise, polygamy was a useful and Maria’ (Holy Mary), ‘Santa Igreja’ (Holy meaningful practice for daily tribal life: while Church), ‘tentação’ (temptation) and ‘reino’ one woman was working out in the field the (kingdom). In this way, the Christian flow of other (or others) would look after the children discourse in Tupi was interspersed with alien and work in the village. language. Some examples are as follows: The complex task of translating these new elements would show how different the cul- «Eimoeté Domingo» 5 tures involved in the process were, especially in (Keep Sunday holy) linguistic terms. From the Jesuit point of view, Tupi was basically a concrete language, lacking Orê rûb Ybàkupe tekóar,Ymoete pyramo,nde the range of words to describe abstract concepts rera toikó T´our nde Reino 6 and ideas of Portuguese (or any other European (Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be language). thy name. Thy kingdom come) Along with the new terms, the European introduced an array of new practices, instru- Oré mo’ar-ukar ume iepé tentação pupé 7 ments and intentions, which eventually also (Lead us not into temptation) provided the Indian language with neologisms. It was the case of karaibebé (angel). The con- If the insertion of Portuguese words in the ception of a flying shaman was very different Tupi speeches points to how inadequate the to the biblical definition. The same may be said native language was to express God’s will, such about the word «sin», which Anchieta chose a flaw would be repaired through reformulating to render in Tupi as «tekó-aíba», «tekó-poxy», the Tupi and through embedding a new vocab- or «tekó-angaipaba» (bad life, bad culture of a ulary with foreign words in it, so it was now people). The definition itself of «sin» would considered by the colonizer to be more suitable imply a broader range of concepts. As it usually for transmitting the precepts of God 8. refers to a transgression of God’s will or any In addition to the Tupi language, the native of the godly laws or principles, it would not culture was also manipulated by Anchieta. His mean «bad life» according to indigenous para- plays mixed Iberian drama, Catholic precepts meters, but rather according to European ones. and Indian rituals. All these source elements Therefore, «sin», translated as «bad life» would have a rather diffuse sense for the Indians, as it 5 Anchieta, 1992:143. lacked a prior acknowledgement of God’s will. 6 Navarro, 2001: 62. Another neologism created by Anchieta, which 7 Op. cit., p. 63. 8 In order to illustrate his argument, Rafael gives a contains the missionary id eology, is «moro- number of examples of words kept in Spanish such as potar-e’yma» (not desire someone sexually) used Dios, Spiritu Santo and Jesu Cristo. TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta were translated / rewritten in order to work in If we literally back translate this dialogue, we favor of his missionary purposes. would have: «their own things, truly we love in Ultimately, the beginning of a hybrid culture our liver». The word «py’a» refers to «heart» in a was partly due to the translation of elements figurative sense, as in the Tupi culture the organ 71 from the «other» being intelligible in linguistic related to feelings was the liver (py’a). This but not in conceptual terms. The missionary is a good case of dynamic equivalence. Nida translation inserted a new organizing matrix (1964:158) says the «translator´s purposes may into the Indian imaginary and also provided new involve much more than information. He may, values for familiar elements to the native, thus for example, want to suggest a particular type of collaborating in the creation of a religion with a behavior by means of a translation. Under such new identity, i.e., an Indigenous Catholicism. circumstances he is likely to aim at full intelli- In order to examine the choices in Anchieta’s gibility, and to make certain minor adjustments translations, we can look to the theories of in detail so that the reader11 may understand Eugene Nida and Lawrence Venuti. the full implications of the message for his own Formal and dynamic translation: Eugene circumstances». Nida and Anchieta’s strategies. When Anchieta employs the word «py’a» Eugene Nida, in Toward a science of transla- (liver) for «heart», he is using dynamic equiva- tion, notes that translators exist between the lence, which aims a natural expression for pressures of form and content: privileging the listener / reader. Some other examples of stylistics, the translator may distort meaning; dynamic equivalence in Anchieta’s transla- privileging meaning, he or she may lose the tion are God (Tupã), baptism (imongaraib) stylistic elements. Anchieta’s works feature a and devil (Anhangá), but, paradoxically, these linguistic attempt to make the terms familiar helped to distort the message as «baptism» and to the natives (i.e., using neologisms for new «imongaraib»12, «God» and «Tupã» are not cul- concepts or using Tupi words to render new turally equivalent. concepts and thus performing a translation According to Nida, the translation should which is closely related to what Nida calls «for- render the closest equivalent in the target lan- mal equivalence». guage to the original message. Nida applies the This is the case with the following extract: terms «equivalent» (towards the message in the source language), «natural» (towards the target Ndiapysýkixópemo serobiasára opyápe ñóte language to complete the comprehension of the serobiámo? 9 receptor culture and audience) and «closest» (Was not it enough that the believer would (which is a mixture of both). For Anchieta, it believe only in his heart?) seems that the nearest «closest equivalent of» «O mba’e, n’ipó, asé o py’a pupé s-aûsub-i» 10 God was Anhangá. (Their own things, truly, we love with our heart) A natural translation might imply two types of adaptation: grammatical and lexical. The 9 Opyápe: the word «pe» equals to the preposition «at». Opyá, in literal translation, is liver. In: Anchieta, 1988:119. Seleção, notas e introdução de Eduardo de Almeida Na- 11 In the case of Anchieta, the hearers. varro. 12 literally means «something made enchanted or 10 «Auto de São Lourenço», v.306. In: Anchieta, 1999. bewitched by water». Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
grammatical adaptation is ruled by the struc- In many instances Anchieta tries to explain ture of the target language whereas the lexical the foreign words inserted in his transla- may be divided in three sub-areas: tions. This is the case of his «Diálogo da Fé» 72 1 ) those that involve terms with immediate (Dialogue of Faith), which usually introduced equivalence. In the case of Tupi, they are, for Christian concepts and subsequently offered an example, «hand» (pó), «water» (y), «man» (abá), explanation to the listener: «sky» (ybaka), etc. 2 ) those that involve terms for identifying «M:Marã ybyrá supéñépe asé jerokýu? objects culturally different but with the same (M: Should we compliment the wood some- functions: «hell’s fire» (añanga rata13 - literally: how?) Anhangá’s fire), «church» (tupã okupé14 - Tupã’s D: Aáni; saangábijára supéé, sesé omanen- house), «heart» (pya15 – liver), etc. duáramo When rendering the message into Tupi (D: No, but we do have to compliment it hav- through lexical adaptation, Anchieta changed ing in mind what it refers to) the definitions and thus added to the infidelity of the text in terms of the original. M: Abápe Cruz raangábijára? 3 ) those that involve specifications of the (M: What does the Cross mean?) culture: «Christians»16, «Holy Cross»17, «sin»18. D: Jandé Jára Jesu Cristo Anchieta most often kept these words in (D: [It means] Our Lord Jesus Christ) Portuguese. «Usually the first set of terms involves no M: Maránamope? problem. In the second set of terms several (M:Why?) confusions can arise; hence one must either use D: Sesé imojáripýramo omanómo oje- another term which reflects the form of the moatãáguéra resé19. referent, though not the equivalent form, or (D: Because he was crucified on it and there he died) which identifies the equivalent function at the expense of formal identity. (…) In translating This passage shows Anchieta’s effort to show terms of the third class certain ‘foreign asso- Christian meanings to the natives. The cross ciations’ can rarely be avoided. No translation («cruz» in Portuguese) is justified by its relation that attempts to bridge a wide cultural gap can to Jesus Christ. hope to eliminate all traces of the foreign set- ting. (…) It is inevitable also that when source and receptor languages represent very different foreignizing and domesticating cultures there should be many basic themes translations in anchieta’s writing and accounts which cannot be ‘naturalized’ by the process of translating» (Nida, 1964:168). Lawrence Venuti, in The Translator´s Invi- sibility, shows evidence of foreignizing and domesticating translations throughout history 13 Anchieta, 1988. 14 Ibidem. and theoretical studies of translations in the 15 Ibidem. West. He claims that translation has been used 16 Ibidem. 17 Ibidem. 18 Ibidem. 19 In: Anchieta, 1988:122. TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta as a tool of conquest since, at least, the Roman Anchieta also uses similar solutions in parts Empire. In order to illustrate his point he states of his work, maintaining literality when trans- that Roman translators of Greek works not only lating into Tupi. The comparison of the flow of excluded Greek cultural markers but also added discourse between Anchieta’s writings and the 73 allusions to Roman culture in their renderings, letter of Diogo Camarão 21, the only surviving replacing names of Greek poets by Roman ones (or existing) letter written in Tupi by an Indian, in order to give the impression that the texts shows a similar foreignizing strategy, following were originally written in Latin. the parameters proposed by Crofts (1974) rela- Venuti says that the domesticating method ted to differences between the Tupi language in translation, which has many similarities to and Portuguese. Hansen (2005: 33) 22 also obser- Nida’s dynamic equivalence, is an ethnocentric ves the foreignizing strategy in Anchieta as he reduction of the foreign text into the target tries to imprint Portuguese rhymes, rhythm and language’s culture and values, thus resulting metre onto Tupi. in a fluent translation (Venuti, 1995:20). This The definition of domesticating translation reduction turns the text into something easily from Venuti’s point of view is that it is a trans- understood, made in the standard language of parent and fluent translation which eliminates the target culture instead of a variant discourse. the linguistic and cultural difference of the origi- The concept of foreignizing translation priv- nal in the target culture and is often rewritten ileges the foreign text, approximating elements with the social representations, beliefs and values of the text to the foreign culture (op. cit., p. 146). of the target culture (Venuti, 1995:38). According to Venuti, the foreignizing transla- Using Venuti’s hypothesis, we can find in tion might have the following features: parts of Anchieta’s plays a ‘transparent’ trans- a) it follows syntactical, lexical or rhythmical lation, providing the audience (Indians and elements of the foreign text; colonizers) with a fluent message from the b) it maintains foreign cultural markers; characters. Anchieta had strong influence from c) it creates dialectal variations in the lan- the works of Gil Vicente (1465-1537), one of guage of the target culture, such as stylistic the most important Portuguese dramatist. His innovations, neologisms and literary figures of speech such as metaphors. peculiar syntax and aesthetic compared to those dominant Venuti mentions his own translation of the in English poetry: poems by the Italian writer Milo De Angelis «Despotic beings made a gift of the center absentmindedly, with an X-ray, which challenged the dominant Anglo-Ameri- and in a dream threatening bosses can aesthetics in order to reproduce the discon- hissing: tinuity and indetermination of the original20. ‘if we take from you what isn’t yours you’ll have nothing left’.» op. cit., p. 291. 20 De Angelis writes: 21 Letter written by Diogo Camarão to his cousin, Pe- «Esseri dispotici regalavano il centro dro Poty, in 1645. in Navarro, 1999:530. distrattamente, com una radiografia, 22 «Metrificar o tupi com a redondilha menor medieval e in sogno padroni minacciosi impõe uma acentuação, um ritmo e a forma de respiração sibilanti: européia que o aculturam. Rimar o tupi submete a língua do ‘se ti togliamo ciò che non è tuo indígena a um sistema musical de equivalências relacionadas non ti rimane niente’.» ao principio de similitude e, portanto, ao princípio metafísico de The translation by Venuti foreignizes the text due to its identidade, Deus.» in Hansen, 2005:33. Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
plays and poetry, written in Portuguese and «Kûeîsé kó a-por-apiti Spanish, reflected the changing times during aîuruîuba îukábo, the transition from Middle Ages to Renais- ûi-nhe-moerapûã-ngatû-abo 74 sance and their themes, ideology and structure T’a-só nde pyr-y, kori, are clearly reflected on Anchieta’s works. Aîpó t-ubixaba gû-abo» 24 Anchieta’s play Auto de São Lourenço (Play of Saint Lawrence) features characters such (Yesterday I slaughtered people, as Guaixará, Aimbirê e Sarauaia who are Killing the Europeans, enemy Indian leaders. At the beginning of I became very famous. the Second Act, Guaixará is welcome by an I ought to go to you, today, old Indian woman with a traditional ‘tearful To eat those kings) compliment’23. Among characters known by the audience, there are others only known by the In the speech of the devil Kaburé, Anchieta Europeans, such as Saint Sebastian and Saint uses the term «aîuru-îuba» to render – in a Lawrence. domesticating translation - «Europeans». This On one hand, Anchieta domesticates his word in Tupi literally means «yellow parrots», translations by using familiar terms and does which was used in a negative sense by some not force the audience to acknowledge the Indians for referring to the French and the cultural patterns of the source language. But on English. the other, he takes advantage of this domesti- In this extract from the play Na aldeia de cation in order to insert elements of the source Guaraparim, Anchieta chooses the foreignizing culture into the Indian culture. This interven- translation, keeping the Portuguese term «cris- tion has been one of the main characteristics tão» (Christian) instead of choosing another of his catechizing. Both strategies are described explanatory term or expression in Tupi: by Schleiermacher (2004) who claims that the translator can choose from two options: either S-emo’ ˜e, oiobaupa. he leaves the author in peace, foreignizing the Xe r-erok-eté pa’i. translated text, or leaving the reader in peace, A-royrõ-mbá t-ekó-poxy, domesticating his production. In the case of Abaré nhe’eng-endupa. colonial Brazil, one can see reader as represen- Xe cristão, xe karaí. 25 ting the colonized, and the author as the Jesuit. (They lie, to each other. As examples of such translated texts, the plays I was truly christened by the priest. Auto de São Lourenço (Play of Saint Lawrence) I completely hate sin, and Na aldeia de Guaraparim (at Guaraparim Listening to the priest’s word. Village) feature both domesticating and foreig- I am Christian, I am virtuous.) nizing translations: In the same play, we can find both foreigni-
23 «saudação lacrimosa», in which the women of a tribe 24 «Auto de São Lourenço» V.766-770. In: Anchieta, compliment the host, weeping and telling them about bad 1999. events which took place in their community. 25 «Na aldeia de Guaraparim» V.503-507, op.cit. TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta zing and domesticating translations: Indians as their shadows as they brought their «own Lucifer in the bilge of their ships»27. In «Tupã-eté r-erobîara ethnological terms, the colonizers seemed not îa-î-poraká xe ybyîa. to be aware of the concept of «Otherness». For 75 Diabo 1 - Abá-pe nde r-erok-ara? instance, the Devil seemed to be extraneous for Alma – Akó Ana gûaîb˜ı rainha, the Mayas, Aztecs and Tupis. The deities of the pa’i Tupã r-aûsup-ara.»26 native were neutral, neither good nor bad, very different to the Christian God. They would not (The belief in the true God fit at all into the European dialectical vision has filled my soul. of the universe, in which opposite forces were Devil 1 – Who was your patroness? seen as reciprocal and complementary. The Soul – That old Ana, queen, Indian entities did have massive and destructive Who loves the Lord) powers but were hardly related to whatever the Christians considered, for example, as «devi- The expression ‘r-erok-ara’ means ‘who lish». However, Anchieta attempted to fit them has erased the name’ (referring to the fact of into the Christian scheme. This inculturation, replacing it by another Christian name) and the mixing of Christianity and the Tupi Indian is directly related to the role of a ‘patroness’. spiritual world, remained at a merely superficial However, Anchieta does not worry about level, and the Indian deities were also reshaped finding an equivalent in Tupi for the expres- by being given Christian qualities. The ori- sion ‘rainha’ (queen, in Portuguese). ginal Jewish God brought by the Portuguese In his translations and writings in Tupi, the and named Tupã in the conversion-translation social representations, beliefs and values of the made by the Jesuits, would take on a new sta- target culture are reorganized with the inten- tus: it would be the supreme god, would have tion of introducing the European cosmology a mother (Tupansy – Holy Mary), who would into the life of the Indians. Anchieta manipu- also be its daughter and would have a house and lates these elements in favor of his mission and a kingdom (Bosi, 1992:67). blends them with exotic and alien elements for In the list of other «unequal» translations his audience, thus creating a religion with an that configure an inculturation of the method identity which had elements borrowed from of catechizing the Indians, Navarro (2001) both the European and the Indians. exemplifies the expressions ratá (the fire of Anhangá, related to the «inferno», a definition inculturation to promote the of a place of eternal suffering, a concept totally acculturation of the indians extraneous for the native) and moro-potar-e´yma (literally: «not to desire people sensually»), When trying to classify the Indians by using which, as previously mentioned, would be used the realms of Heaven and Hell, the Europeans for «purity», an expression loaded with ideology were projecting their own European ideas and (in this case, the most suitable way of disagree- identity onto them, in other words, seeing the 27 «…seu próprio Lúcifer que haviam levado do Velho 26 Op.cit., V. 508-512. Mundo nos porões de seus navios.» In Vainfas, 1995:25. Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
ing with the Indians’ sexual behavior, which depicting a clear image of the mother of Jesus. hardly followed Catholic principles). However, he did not translate the term Virgin This choice of keeping some words in Por- to Tupi: 76 tuguese also shows how unsuitable Tupi was for the task of expressing God’s truth and, to repair (…) morausúberekosar, seémbae Virgem Maria! 32 this lack in the natives’ language, As mentioned (…pious, sweet Virgin Mary!) earlier, Tupi itself needed to be reformulated and to incorporate an extended vocabulary with Anchieta’s play Recebimento do Padre Marçal words from the foreign language, considered by Beliarte [The Reception of Father Marçal the colonizer as superior and thus more suitable Beliarte] (1589), features plot and characters to express God’s precepts28. clearly based on Gil Vicente’s works, with Vicente Rafael, discussing the introduction Good always winning. The conversations of of Christianity into the Phillipines in the 16th the characters are in Portuguese and Tupi, and century, also points out a hierarchy emerging Anchieta introduces into this representation an from this translation chain29 (in Robinson 1997: important «translated» Indian element familiar 85): God’s Word was suitable in Latin. Spanish, within the Indian code of conduct and skill- the language of the Empire, was situated one fully diverts it from its original meaning in the step below, in the case of Colonial Brazil, Por- native universe of symbols: one of the devils tuguese, and less suitable for this purpose. At (Makaxera) is killed in a traditional Tupi ritual the bottom of this hierarchy was Tagalog, the of cannibalism by a courageous Indian under native Phillipine language, at the same level the command of Tupansy, i.e., mother of Jesus. Tupi, and it was much less suitable than Spa- Shortly before killing the Devil, the Indian nish for the purpose of expressing the divine Añangupiara says: truth. Rafael concludes that «the further away from God a language and its culture are, the Kueseñey, Tupansy (As before, the less able they will be able to participate in ‘the Mother of Jesus) divine commerce’, the exchange of prayers and Nde reytyki, nde peabó (has ruined and answers, gifts and gratitude between God and smashed you) believers». Aé xe mboú korí (so she has sent Regarding this hierarchy proposed by me here) Rafael, neologisms, such as tupãoka30, were not Ko aikó nde akánga kábo (to split your head) surprisingly introduced when Catholicism was Nei! Ejemosakói (defend yourself, spread among the Indians. In blending Tupã tough beast) with sy31 (Tupãsy), Anchieta believed he was Tajopune, marandoéra (I will hurt you, false face) 28 Rafael provides some examples of untranslated Spa- (The Indian nish words such as Dios, Spiritu Santo and Jesu Cristo. 29 In Robinson, Douglas. Translation and Empire: smashes the Postcolonial Theories Explained. St. Jerome Publishing, 1997, Devil’s head) p.85 30 The blend of the words «Tupã» (God) and «óka» (casa) which meant «church». 32 Excerpt from the Hail Mary prayer in Anchieta, 31 «Sy» in Tupi means «mother». 1992:148. TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta
Te! Ajuká Makaxera (Ready! I have featured the powerful positions of the pope and killed Makaxera) priest, which were inherent to Catholicism. Omanongatú moxy (Evil does not exist Although it was declared against the religion anymore…) of the European, its followers did not cut these 77 «Añagupiara» xe rerá! (I am Añagupiara!) entities out of their religion. The movement came to an abrupt end when it attracted the (Anchieta 1999: 245) attention of the Santo Ofício de Lisboa, and officers were sent to Bahia and torched the With this violent scene, so common in his church in 1595. plays, Anchieta reinforces the Christian mes- The Santidade do Jaguaripe had strategic sage. Though in the ritual proceedings of the elements borrowed from what the missionaries Indians the sacrifice of a captive was meant to preached as the Jesuits themselves used ele- periodically nourish the virtues of the warriors, ments from the Tupi cosmology in their wri- in Anchieta’s rewriting, this same sacrifice is tings and practices of delivering the Catholic performed to get rid of the evil. In his «mis- message. Anchieta’s writings and translations translation» or «rewriting», Anchieta envisions had spread to all the places where the Jesuits the ritual as a process of «extirpating» rather arrived, and, we can conclude that the santidade than «incorporating» since «the words of colo- form of religion was quite similar to the syn- nized population can be ‘cited’ or ‘translated’ cretism found in the process of translating the or ‘reread / rewritten’ by colonizers in way to Christian dogma into the Indian language, as reframe the colonized culture in the interest of seen in Anchieta’s writings. colonial domination» (Robinson,1997:93). The examples shown above clearly demons- trate that the inculturated Catholicism practi- a result of inculturation: the ced by the Jesuits was quite permissive in terms santidades of using the elements of the Indian culture. Anchieta and the Jesuits involved with the mis- By 1591, in the region of the Recôncavo Baiano, sionary work in Brazil did not try to extirpate near the city of Salvador, Bahia, a settlement of the supernatural elements of the Indian but an Indian hybrid religion was founded, whose rather gave them a new identity in order to features were inversions and reinterpretations acculturate the Indians and introduce them of what the Jesuits had been preaching during into Christianity. But in the case of the Santi- the previous decades. The Santidade do Jagua- dade do Jaguaripe the Tupi Indians inculturate ripe», as it was called, had Antonio, descendant elements of Catholism into native beliefs. This of Tupinambas, as its leader. He conducted could not be accepted by the Catholic Church. baptisms, assigned «popes», organized rituals, Although there has been no evidence that prayer sessions, and was married to Maria the translations made by José de Anchieta were Tupansy (literally, the Mother of Christ) (Vain- connected to the santidade, both his translations fas, 1995:81). The Indian church kept the belief and the movement had similar identities which in the «Land Without Evil» (Yvy Mareiy, in could be classified as an «Indian Catholicism», Tupi), the paradise they believed to be within an acculturated religion spread either by the the reach of living humans, over the sea. It also Indians (as there are other documented occur- Paulo Edson Alves Filho, John Milton TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008
rences of santidades in 16th century Brazil) 33 or by which the Indian culture integrates the by the Jesuits themselves. European elements without losing its original This «Indian Catholicism» featured concepts characteristics. This is why the Cuban Ortiz 78 that neither belonged to the dogma preached (1940) forged the term «transculturation» to by the missionaries nor to the ancient native cover both meanings. beliefs and rituals. Although the latter had The very development of this acculturated clear signs of an anti-colonialist movement, the identity through partial tolerance of Indian former was an attempt made by the Jesuits in practices and the appropriation of the Tupi order to turn the array of cosmological parame- codes by the Jesuits to transmit definitions of ters into something understandable and palata- exotic elements for the local culture in addi- ble for the Indians. tion to the insertion of Europeans words and practices in the daily village life, might help to conclusion explain the santidade phenomenon that took place after contact. It is possible that the Santi- The missionary work seen in the literary output dade de Jaguaripe shows an interpretation of the of José de Anchieta used elements of the Indian Catholicism preached and translated into the cosmology, in varying degrees of deviation from vernacular language, under the supervision and the original sense, in order to spread Christian guidance of José de Anchieta. The santidade precepts. In the same way the Catholic Church portrayed a part of the Jesuit discourse, which itself has featured different rites for different was consolidated in translated texts that moved peoples since the Roman Empire34, one might between foreignization and domestication and here claim that the kind of Catholicism the did not clearly mark the boundary between Jesuits practiced in Colonial Brazil was a tailo- Indian and Christian mythology. red one, an Indian Catholicism as a result of its terminology and range of meanings deployed in recibido en enero 2008 the oral task of preaching the Word of God. aceptado en febrero 2008 The new identity of the religion that started to be formed in 16th century Brazil had much in references common with the interpretation and practice of the Indian santidades. This is due to the efforts Alves Fº, Paulo E. (2004). «A colonização espanhola: of the Society of Jesus to give the Indians the a sociedade indígena e os modelos propostos pelos teó- same religious standards as the Europeans. logos espanhóis do século xvi» in Revista de Estudos Universitários. Sorocaba, v.30, no. 2, p.141-168, Le Goff and Nora (1976:114) observe that the junho de 2004. acculturation cannot be reduced to a simple Alves Fº, Paulo E and Milton, John (2005). «Incul- passage from the Indian culture to western turation and acculturation in the translation of civilization, but there is also an inverse process religious texts: The translations of Jesuit priest José de Anchieta into Tupi in 16th century Brazil» in Target 17: 2, Tel-Aviv, p. 275 – 296. 33 See Pompa, 2001:189. Anchieta, Pe. José de. (1988). . Intro- 34 Diálogo da Fé Examples of different Catholic rites are: Armenian, dução histórico-literária e notas do Pe. Armando Chaldaean, Coptic, Georgian, Greek, Melkite, Maronite, Cardoso, S. J., São Paulo, Loyola. Bulgarian, Serbian, Rumanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Mala- bar, Malankara, West Syrian and Ethiopian. Anchieta, Joseph de S.J. (1992). Doutrina Cristã Tomo TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 12, 2008 The mixed identity of the Catholic religion in the texts translated by the Jesuit priest Jose de Anchieta
I: Catecismo Brasílico. São Paulo, Edições Loyola. Navarro, Eduardo de Almeida (2001). The Transla- Anchieta, José (1999). Teatro. São Paulo, Martins tions of the First Texts to Tupi, the Classical Indian Fontes. Seleção, notas e introdução de Eduardo Language in Brazil, in «Crop 6», São Paulo, de Almeida Navarro. Humanitas. Araújo, Jorge de Souza (2003). Pegadas na Praia. Neves, Luis Felipe Baeta (1978). O Combate dos Sol- 79 Ilhéus, Ed. Da UESC. dados de Cristo na Terra dos Papagaios, Forense Azevedo Fº, Leodegano (1966). Anchieta, a Idade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro. Média e o Barroco. Rio de Janeiro, Editora Ger- Nida, Eugene A. (1964). Toward a science of transla- nasa. ting. Leiden, E. J. Brill. Azzi, Riolando (1987). A Cristandade Colonial: um Nóbrega, Pe. Manuel da (1988). Diálogo do Pe. Nóbre- projeto autoritário. São Paulo, Edições Paulinas. ga sobre a conversão do gentio (1559). In Manuel da Beall, Stephen M. (1966). Translation and Incultura- Nóbrega. Cartas do Brasil. Belo Horizonte/ São tion in the Catholic Church in Adoremus Bulletin, Paulo, Itatiaia/ Edusp. Vol. II, No. 6: October 1996. online edition: Ortiz, Fernando (1940/1995). Cuban Counterpoint.