Native Views on Mountain Landscapes and the Role of Missionaries in the Synthesis of Andean Beliefs

CONSTANZA CERUTI

Saint Agustine

Simposio; II Franciscan Conference; 2014

Universidad Flagler College y Academia de la Historia Franciscana

Beliefs and rituals in South America are the result of millennia of cultural traditions and centuries of creative syncretism. The religiosity of the native people of the Andes is rooted in ancestral views of mountain landscapes that were modified under the rule of the Incas, challenged through the Spanish conquest, and modeled by catholic missionaries. The connection with the Andean peaks is fundamental, since peasants believe that the sacred mountains share their power with people who have been chosen to become ritual experts. The candidates may have exhibited particular physical signs at birth, but their status is to be confirmed (or signaled) by lightening at puberty. After proper instruction and a rite of initiation, the ritual experts can conduct healing ceremonies and perform rites of divination. During the Spanish invasion, and throughout colonial times, the interaction between Andean communities and catholic missionaries was not devoid of tensions, fueled in part by the campaigns of extirpation of idolatries undertaken by Agustinian, Dominican and Mercedarian friars. The Taqui Onkoy religious movement can be understood as a reaction against the intruding catholic beliefs and the suppression of traditional Andean rituals.