Cultural Syncretism

After the fall of the Aztec and Incan Empires, the natives had to live with the Spanish in order to survive. Doing this was a difficult task, especially since the Spanish had managed to obtain control of the mestizos and the natives. After being put through tedious slave labor for countless years, the Spanish and native culture blended through syncretism. Syncretism, or the blending of 2 or more different cultures, mixed Spanish Catholicism and Aztec beliefs into an unnamed religion followed by both the Spanish and the natives.

However, Clendinnen admits that the sources available for the analysis of the Mayan view point of the Spanish conquest are severely limited and therefore the majority are from one-sided Spanish accounts. A main source used in this section are the confessions and testimonies of Indians to the infamous Diego de Landa, which may or may not be trustworthy. Nevertheless, she tries to support her thesis that the Indians were able to retain some autonomy by never fully accepting Christianity. She shows readers how the Maya were not passive victims of colonial rule, but actually incorporated some elements of Spanish culture while preserving some of their traditions. Christian religious elements were dominated with Mayan, not Spanish, interpretation and meaning.

During the years of Mesoamerican civilizations, natives were ambushed in a physically and religious manner. Mesoamerica was introduced to various different forms of conquest from the Spaniards. Through military conquest the Spanish decreased and destroyed the native population, art, and buildings. This led to the destruction of the native’s religion making them into a monotheistic society.

Colonies made a huge impact on other cultures. They changed their beliefs and rituals. When a colony is with other cultures, their religion spreads. The way they act changes and the native americans were with different colonies. The native americans changed the way they acted and that set a new standard for them. According to the UClan Journal 2011, “Each unique to the other with their own distinctive subculture of beliefs, customs and practices.” Despite differences in the colonies, they shared some common beliefs.

The arrival of Europeans and their expansion across North America negatively affected the Native American people’s culture, politics, religion, economy, and population.

The indigenous leader’s willingness to show these sacred texts to the Spanish, lends great insight into how the Mayans rationalized Spanish conquest - the landing was not viewed as an unprecedented, forthcoming cultural calamity - but one that was forecasted within the cyclical framework of Mayan culture. Furthermore, this idea of the cyclical relationship between prophecy and history, enabled the Mayans to interpret Spanish dominance as something temporal. A provisional “eclipse” that they only needed to endure, in order to survive and reach the part of their historical cycle where “they would rule again.” This necessity to endure trying times in a cyclical process, was a mindset that enabled Mayan religious resilience to Spanish conversion (Clendinnen, pg. 384-85). Moreover, Clendinnen explains how culturally subjugated Mayans sought to endure the historical determined Spanish landing, through rebellion. When the indigenous population was required to both teach and learn Christian doctrine in schools - often times teachers “persisted in their traditional rituals…pretend[ing] to teach the Christian doctrine.” Furthermore, Clendinnen cites the research of historian Alfredo Barrera Vasquez, a 20th century Mayan scholar, in explaining how Mayans quickly adapted to the confiscation and subsequent burning of their sacred books by friars, by “transcrib[ing]”

The Mayan and American religious practices are alike and different in many ways. First of all, the Mayans tend to be more religious and focus a lot on the gods, while the American religion we aren’t as religious, even though we still have a god. The second big thing to know is that the Mayans only had themselves to rely on while the Americans today have many things to rely on, such as tools and machines! That is part of why the Mayans are so religious, because they relied on themselves and the gods.

When Europeans started to travel to the Americas, they had other Intensions in mind; to bring with them the Christian religion. The men that arrived there began to have relations with indigenous women, which lead to a mixing of cultures. Although the European men overpowered the indigenous people, there were some who continued to worship their own beliefs privately (Bentley, Ziegler. Pg 539)

The Maya refers to a group of ancient Mesoamerican people famous for the development of the Western Hemisphere’s sophisticated culture prior to the Spanish arrival (Cook & Offit 32). One of the primary factors of their culture was their religion which was characteristic of nature gods’ worship, a priestly class, astrology’s and astronomy’s importance, human sacrifice rituals, and pyramidical temples’ construction (Cook & Offit 32). In addition to the religion, the Maya people are also special because of elaborate systems of art, architecture, mathematics, and astronomy. The Maya’s written language, available in the form of several codices and inscriptions, reveals principal aspects of rainforest civilization and mysteries. Just like several modern Mesoamerican religions, the Maya religion is a consequence of hundreds of years’ symbiosis with Roman Catholicism (Cook & Offit 32). Considering the pre-Spanish antecedents of the Maya religion, it emerges that the traditional religion was already there for over 2000 years in the form of a distinct phenomenon. Currently, the religion exhibits interaction and coexistence with syncretism of pan-Maya which is a tradition’s re-invention by Christianity and the movement of Pan-Maya (Cook & Offit 32). Indeed, several Mayan religion’s aspects survive among the current Mexican Mayan Indians alongside Central American Mayan Indians, with their practices being an integration of Roman Catholicism and the old religion. This has the implication

The Mayan are an ancient cutler, they were advanced for their time. Mayan worshiped gods and goddesses. There coulter consist of blood sacrifice to feed the gods, this was done bye there priest.

The Mayans of northern Central America were very religious. The majority of the Mayans worshipped in stone ziggurats. This temple was used for worship and to sacrifice people to the gods. There was also a second stone temple, which was much bigger than the others, and it was not meant to be touched by anyone other than the priest. This temple was almost impossible to climb, and it was a sacred place where the priest could communicate with the gods. The Mayans believed that they each had spirit animals, or Way’ob. Each class of people would have a different Way’ob; for example, all kings were portrayed as jaguars. Most people would only have one Way’ob, but very powerful priests could have multiple. They Mayans were polytheistic, and worshipped

The Mayan religion was linked to the uncertainties of agriculture and generated a large number of rituals interventions, which amounted to as many intercessions before the gods for that would facilitate daily life and good harvests. It is what has been called official religion, always heritage of the gods.

I believe that Syncretism and dualism are both good descriptions of the situation of native peoples in North America. Before the American Revolution when New France, New Spain, and New England first came in to contact, harsh invasive ways were not the only methods used in attempting to assimilate Amerindians into European culture and religion.

Religion appears to have been a dominate factor in preclassical Mesoamerican life, not just for the Maya but for all the surrounding cultures as well. One of the first temples in Mesoamerica had been built at around 900 BC. This temple was 150 x 90 meters at its base and stood over 25 meters tall.[6] A colossal structure that took planned engineering and coordinated man power to be built solely on the basis of religion.

Differently put, the price in lacking a clear definition of cultural fidelity, or in keeping the concept’s meaning bound to the genetic analogy, is equivocation. Different researchers may understand the meaning of the analogy differently, adopting conflicting notions of fidelity, yet fail to realize that they do so. Equivocation also opens the door to those disagreeing about the importance of fidelity in maintaining cultural traditions – and those dissenting on the validity of the analogy – to talk pass one another. Finally, and more importantly, newcomers to the field of cultural evolution studies may find the prevalent concept ambiguous, understand the analogy through unchecked idiosyncratic interpretations, and thus perpetuate its