Central American Indians Celebrating Easter

The Mayan Indians live in the Highlands and cultivate very steep slopes, as seen in this topographic map. The large farms, or Finca, are often owned by non-Indians, European descendents.

Mayan Indians are celebrating Easter in a Guatemalan Highland village. In what ways has European colonialism left its imprint on native cultures? How have they resisted?

Answers:
religion: Roman Catholicism [look at a comparative graph]; language: Spanish; clothing: notice the western-style clothing of the man in the middle of the photo. Mayan Indians continue to wear their distinctive clothing, speak their own languages, and combine their religious practices with Catholicism.

Optional, but highly recommended:
1) Examine Mayan Spirituality, especially Maya Catholics, on Brett Greider's (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, UWEC) wonderful web site.
2) Take a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico for plaza life, markets, and festivals.

Day of the Dead and Halloween in Latin America
In the cooling darkness, the steep cobbled streets of Tepoztlan, south of Mexico city, were thronged with youngsters. They had come, on November 1st, to celebrate the traditional festival of the Day of the Dead. Lighting their way with skull lanterns made of papier-mâché or carved from gourds, they went from house to house, collecting sweets on behalf of the dead. Church figures in Mexico, as elsewhere, ritually denounce Halloween for its dark pagan undertones.

It is more than a millennium since the Catholic church, attempting to convert the pagan Celts in Britain and Ireland, created All Saints or All Hallows Day to coincide with the Celtic festival honoring the dead. But this is unlikely to satisfy the purists. "Halloween doesn't get you in touch with the dead," replies Mr. Rubio. The traditional view of death as a transformation, rather than an end to life, he says, is being lost. His institute counts at least 62 distinct traditions for celebrating the Day of the Dead, legacies of the various civilizations that dotted Mesoamerica (most of which is now central and southern Mexico) before the conquest. It was Spanish Catholic priests in the newly conquered Americas who persuaded the Aztecs and other indigenous peoples to shift the dates of their death-cult festivals to match All Saints and All Souls Days on November 1st and 2nd.

Today's revelers usually build a shrine to welcome the souls of the deceased, which are said to drop in for an annual visit. In some towns, the shrine is bedecked with their photographs, in others with their old clothes, or favorite food. In some places, church bells are rung to guide the souls to their home towns; in others, flowers are strewn to mark the path home from their graves. It is a time for joy as well as regret, as the dressed-up, grinning skeletons suggest. Revelers may have borrowed the odd symbol from Halloween, but, judging by the crowds in Tepoztlan, enthusiasm for the death-cult festivity is still strong in many places. Tepoztlan enjoys it so much that it repeats the whole thing a week later. [Source: The Economist, 6 Nov. 1999]

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 17 December 2003.