Each week you will be asked a question or series of questions about the content of the week. Each response needs to be at least 300 words. You are welcome to write as much as you would like in any of the weekly journals.
What do you think was the most important thing you learned in this week’s Module as it relates to your own life*? Why?
week’s Module
Syncretization andMestizaje
Syncretism is the combining of cultures. One of the most common versions of this is religious
syncretization.
Spanish-controlled versus English-controlled America
Integration more prevalent in Spanish-controlled areas due to the lack of European women
English-controlled spaces are often populated by whole families, including women and children
Mestizaje is Spanish for the mixing of different ethnicities, mainly Europeans and Indigenous peoples.
Systematized by the Spanish
Entrenched a new hierarchy, based on European descent
French-controlled areas of North America were generally more integrated than English-
controlled and less systematized than Spanish-controlled areas
Kurly Tlapoyawa – Archaeologist, filmmaker, and founder of the Chimalli institute of Mesoamerican Arts
Professor of C/S at Colegio Chicano del Pueblo
Las castas. Casta painting showing 16 racial
groupings. Anonymous, 18th century, Museo
Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotln, Mexico.
Syncretization
and
Mestizaje
Syncretization &
Mestizaje:
The Virgin of
Guadalupe
Left: undressed statue
Middle top and bottom:
21st century pictures in
various dresses
Right: 1745 oil painting,
purchased by Henry S.
Wellcome
The discovery of the statue follows a well-known trope, according to
legend:
712 CE the statue is buried by priests from Seville fleeing from
the Muslim invasion
In 1326 Gil Cordero, a local herdsman, was looking for a lost cow
he found it dead near the Guadalupe River
As he made a cross-shaped incision to begin butchering
the cow, it came to life and Mary appeared
She told Cordero to get the bishop and dig on the spot
where they would find the statue and then build a church
The bishop, however, was unimpressed by the story
After Corderos son was also brought back to life the
bishop consented and they dug where the cow had died
The statue was found along with a record of its burial
In the 1340 King Alfonso XI of Castile soundly defeated Abu al-
Hasan ‘Ali and the invading forces of the Moroccan Sultanate at
the Guadalupe River
Legend has it he attributed the victory to the Virgin
In 1389 Hieronymite monks made the shrine their central
monastery
Syncretization & Mestizaje:
The Virgin
of Guadalupe
Left: Virgen de Guadalupe, 1777 painting, still
with crown ( Juan de Senz)
Top right: the banner of Hernn Corts
during his campaign against the Aztec Empire
Bottom right: Virgen de Guadalupe from the
hometown of Corts and many conquistadors
Syncretization &
Mestizaje :
The Virgin of
Guadalupe
Syncretization & Mestizaje
La Virgen
de Guadalupe
The revelation of the image seems to follow the same well-known trope:
Juan Diego sees a Marian apparition December 9, 1531 on his way to
Tlatelolco at the Hill of Tepeyac, declaring that Juan Diego tell the
bishop to build a church on the hill
The bishop does not immediately deny Juan Diegos when he tells
of the vision, but says to come another day
Juan Diego sees Mary again on the way home and she assures him
that he should try again
He does and the bishop says he needs a sign from Mary
However, the next day, Juan Diegos uncle, Juan Bernardino, was
sick and so he was unable to leave
Feeling guilty for not having received Marys sign and fulfilling her
mission, Juan Diego tries to go another way but he is stopped by
the apparition
She tells him to go collect the flowers on the hill and bring them to
the bishop, and that his uncle had already recovered from his
illness
When Juan Diego let the flowers drop the most-famous image was
on the cloak
This is not syncretism
Indigenous peoples do not immediately latch onto the story
In fact, there was pushback on all sides at first
Here is Franciscan monk and historian, Bernardino de Sahagn, in
1570, only 14 years after first historical account of the painting:
At this place [Tepeyac], [the Indians] had a temple dedicated to the mother of
the gods, whom they called Tonantzin, which means Our Mother. There they
performed many sacrifices in honor of this goddess … And now that a church
of Our Lady of Guadalupe is built there, they also called her Tonantzin,
being motivated by those preachers who called Our Lady, the Mother of God,
Tonantzin. While it is not known for certain where the beginning of
Tonantzin may have originated, but this we know for certain, that, from its
first usage, the word refers to the ancient Tonantzin. And it was viewed as
something that should be remedied, for their having [native] name of the
Mother of God, Holy Mary, instead of Tonantzin, but Dios inantzin. It
appears to be a Satanic invention to cloak idolatry under the confusion of
this name, Tonantzin.
Left: Virgen de Guadalupe; Right: Chikomekoatl seven serpent and Ziwakoatl
serpent woman, both guises of Tonantzin our beloved mother
Syncretization & Mestizaje:
La Virgen
de Guadalupe
Left: Virgen del Coro,
Monastery of Our Lady
of Guadalupe,
Extremadura, Spain
c. 1499
Middle: The Madonna
and Child in a Rosary,
c. 1490
Right: Detail of The
Assumption of the
Virgin, Ambrogio di
Stefano da Fossano,
c 1500
Syncretization & Mestizaje:
La Virgen de Guadalupe
Syncretization & Mestizaje:
Creoles and Peninsulares
Mid-1600s: Catholicism becomes dominant religion among lower castes
Political power with Spanish, Creoles versus Peninsulares
Feast date of Virgin of Guadalupe moved from September to December
Removes Spanish influence on image and events
December 26, 1733, Fray Juan de Villa
As God gave Moses the Law on the mountain, so he gave
Zumarraga the image on a hill.
Where is Juan Diego here?
September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo de Castillo
Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government! Death
to the gachupines!
Indigenous icon, not until Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 Modern depiction of Miguel Hidalgo de Castillo
giving his Grito de Dolores
