Table Of ContentA Girardian reading of the myth of Maria
Lionza
Gabriel Ernesto Andrade
School of Sociology, La Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo, Venezuela
Contents
1. The Maria Lionzan religion
2. Past and current academic discussions about Maria Lionza
3. The myth of Maria Lionza
4. A brief structuralist view
5. A Girardian analysis
6. Maria Lionza, the goddess
7. Final considerations
Bibliography
Notes
1. The Maria Lionzan religion
If I would have to find one word to describe the Maria Lionzan religion, it would be 'mysterious'.
It is impossible to speak about any aspect of Maria Lionzan religion with certainty. There are no
official beliefs and practices, there are no canons. Historians have not been able to reach an
agreement as to when and how this religion started to develop.
Unlike some other afro-Caribbean syncretistic religions, the Maria Lionzan religion has not
reached a considerable level of institutionalisation. For that reason, it is difficult to speak about
the cult to Maria Lionza as if it were a uniform set of beliefs and practices.
Instead, we must speak about Maria Lionzan religion in terms of spiritualist circles that possess a
special knowledge regarding the best way to approach the goddess Maria Lionza. Most
marialionceros (those who adhere to the Maria lionzan religion) live in the province of Yaracuy
in Venezuela, but their numbers have grown in other cities such as Caracas, Maracaibo,
Barquisimeto and even other countries such as Colombia, Panama, the U.S.A. and Canada. The
spiritualist groups have developed an intense rivalry among themselves. Most of them consider
that they hold the true knowledge as to how to approach Maria Lionza, and that the other groups
are 'ignorant' and their practices and beliefs offer no results.
Despite these disagreements, there remains a basic set of beliefs shared by all the circles. The
central aspect of Maria Lionzan religion, is of course, the cult to the goddess Maria Lionza. As
we shall soon see, there are many stories regarding how she came to be a goddess.
Maralionceros believe she lives in the mountain of Sorte in the province of Yaracuy. The
goddess Maria Lionza is the highest deity in an altar of three, although she is lower than Christ(1).
The other two deities of the 'Trinity' are Guaicaipuro (an Indian Chief murdered by the Spanish)
and el Negro Felipe ('the Black Philip', a black slave also murdered by white masters).
These three are the leading figures of a pantheon composed by many other lesser deities grouped
according to the 'court' that they belong. There are at least six basic courts:
1. The 'Indian' court, led by Maria Lionza herself and composed of many Venezuelan Indian
chiefs.
2. The 'Medical' court, led by Dr. José Gregorio Hernández (a soon to be Venezuelan
Catholic Saint who lived in the early XX Century and was a physician) and composed of
many miraculous doctors.
3. The court of the 'Juans', composed by a number of figures belonging to Venezuelan
folklore.
4. The 'Teachers' court, led by Andrés Bello (a brilliant XIX Century Venezuelan writer)
and some other authors.
5. The 'Black and African' court, led by popular black figures of Venezuelan history, such
as La Negra Matea ('The Black Matea'), and El Negro Primero ('The First Blackman').
6. The 'Celestial' court, composed by a number of Catholic Saints.
Maria Lionza is the central goddess, but different marialionceros adhere themselves to one of
these courts, and become devout followers of Maria Lionza and some specific lesser deities.
Most researchers of Maria lionzan religion agree that the essential trait of this religious
expression is participation. Scholars describe the religious attitude and behaviour of
marialionceros as 'horizontal'. Unlike monotheistic religions, Maria Lionzan religion has some
concrete purposes. Marialionceros participate in the cult; they interact with the goddess. Marcel
Mauss' (1967) analysis of archaic societies' relationship with deities is very accurate to describe
the marialionceros' relationship with their goddess. They have created some special bonds and
networks with their goddess through gift-giving practices. Most marialionceros practice their
religion hoping their everyday troubles may be overcome. In such a manner, they pay tribute and
offer gifts to their goddess, but they expect some benefits in return.
Most of these benefits are related with divine intervention upon others (even though some
informants have expressed that these interventions can be evil, most of the interventions request
good fortune for third parties), purifying, healing, making someone fall in love, communicating
with the dead, etc.
One of the most important characteristics of Maria Lionzan religion is the state of trance that
many marialionceros go through. During some special ceremonies, spirits take possession of a
person and the rest of the group is able to communicate with the spirit. 'Bancos' are some sort of
priests or shamans that possess a special knowledge about Maria Lionzan religion and only
through their help can the rest of the marialionceros achieve the results they hope for.
Just as it is impossible to speak with any certainty about the features of the Maria Lionzan
religion because of the contradictory sources and the informants' accounts, it is also very difficult
to discuss with any precision the historical roots and development of the Maria Lionzan religion.
Above all, the Maria Lionzan religion is a remarkable syncretistic religious product. In this
religious expression, Catholicism, Native American religion and African animistic religion
crossed each other's paths synthesising many of their elements.
Until the 1950's, most Venezuelans ignored the existence of such religious practices and beliefs.
There was some slight knowledge that in the remote mountains of Yaracuy, there was a legend
about a goddess who still lived there. Pollak-Keltz (1985) argues that during colonial times, the
cult to Maria Lionza was only one among many others, thus being largely ignored until the
second half of the XX Century.
The opening of the oil-industry in Venezuela launched massive migrations to urban centres.
Many migrants from Yaracuy brought the cult to the cities, but, since the cult was largely
particularistic of each spiritualist group, it did not achieve a sufficient organisation level to be
launched. The soon-to be marialionceros attempted to shape the cult into a single unified
religion. In 1943, a man named Guédez brought together an organisation of spiritualists to
discuss the basis of the cult. This has been viewed as one of the first attempts to formalise the
religion (Pollak-Keltz, 1985).
According to Pollak-Keltz (1985: 34), "the cult per se is of recent formation", precisely because
of the lack of unity and coherence among the spiritualist groups prior to the 1950's. As we shall
see later on, it is most likely that the myth of Maria Lionza, its rituals and its practices, were of
native origin but found some equivalent in Catholic and African traditions and synthesised
giving shape to the new religion.
During the 1960's, Venezuela began to receive large influxes of Cuban and Haitian immigration.
These immigrants adopted the Maria Lionzan religion, but contributed to the cult adding some
Yoruba elements coming from Santeria and Voodoo. In such a fashion, the Maria Lionzan
religion adopted a Yoruba profile, which had been absent from Venezuela's religious
development until the 1960's.
The Maria Lionzan religion has a great social significance for Venezuela. It is very difficult to
state with certainty the percentage of marialionceros among the total of Venezuelan population.
Marialionceros consider themselves to be also Catholic, and consider the cult to Maria Lionza as
an extension to approach Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Because of its 'horizontal' and utilitarian nature, many practitioners of the religion do so only
temporarily. They perform Maria Lionzan rituals only when they are in need of it. In such a
manner, there are many cases of Catholics who do not consider themselves to be marialionceros,
but at some point in their lives have requested the help of a 'banco'.
During the process of Venezuelan national conformation, Maria Lionza was adopted as a symbol
of national identity, and the cult was powerfully launched by dictators such as Gómez and Pérez
Jiménez. Prior to this launch, Maria Lionzan religion remained obscure and confined to marginal
sectors of Venezuelan society. The opening of the Maria Lionza cult attracted large followers
coming from other sectors of Venezuelan society, and little by little, the figure of Maria Lionza
has increased her prominence as a deity. She became subject of popular and elitist art, and has
come to represent an informal national symbol of harmonious mestizaje; this is the process of
mixing of the three main cultures (Indian, African, Spanish), which has played a vital role in the
social and cultural conformation of Venezuela.
There is a great deal of controversy regarding the Maria Lionzan religion. Orthodox Roman
Catholics object to the cult and strongly suggest that it is anti-Catholic. Most physicians also
consider that Maria Lionzan religion to some extent is dangerous, for it uses unhealthy methods
to attempt healings. Government authorities have guaranteed the freedom of religious cult and
expression for marialionceros and have launched its cult as a uniquely Venezuelan religious
practice.
Despite all the controversy that she generates, Maria Lionza is a figure of great social and
cultural significance in Venezuela. Maria Lionza has ceased to be exclusively confined to the
marialionceros and is now a part of all Venezuela. After all, Maria Lionza, the queen, the
goddess, is the quintessence of Venezuela: wild, beautiful, exotic; three in one. A Christian
trinity, but also a mestizo trinity: Indian, Spanish and African.
2. Past and current academic discussions about Maria
Lionza
Because of its recent formation as a cult, most research on Maria Lionzan religion has been
eminently descriptive. We might think of most Maria Lionza scholars as outside 'detectives'
finding new features about this cult, which still remains largely hidden and mysterious. Their
work has been very important, for until the mid XX Century, the religion was largely unknown.
Jiménez Sierra (1971), Zerries (1954), Tamayo (1943) and Salazar were pioneers in penetrating
the mountains of Yaracuy and presenting the information about the cult to the rest of the
Venezuelan population. Their work deals with a description of the cult and testimonies from
informants. Antolínez (1945) recorded some different accounts of the Maria Lionza myth and
compared it with other mythological figures of other indigenous peoples of Venezuela and
Brazil.
Straka (1972) pointed out the similarities between the myth of Maria Lionza and some traditions
from Spain, and suggests that these similarities are causal; the contemporary myth of Maria
Lionza must have received some influences from Spanish folklore. Capriles (1973) believes that
Maria Lionza is the Venezuelan version of 'The Great Mother', an archetype present in a wide
range of cultures.
There have also been some important works written from different theoretic frames. Most of
these attempt to explain the popularity of the cult to Maria Lionza from a psychological,
sociological and anthropological perspective. Pollak Eltz (1972) believes that the cult has risen
among Venezuelans as an alternative to the lack of utilitarianism and social work in the Catholic
Church. García Gavidia (1987) considers that the expansion of the cult can be traced to the
massive migrations of Venezuelans farmers to the oil industry in the cities. This process
threatened the religious stability of Venezuelans, who found in Maria Lionza a new source of
psycho-religious equilibrium. The transition from a rural society to an urban one, forced
Venezuelans to open up to new religious alternatives, including Maria Lionzan religion. The
psychoanalyst Hermann Garmedia (1966) considers that the cult is a product of the archaic
Venezuelan mentality that stands behind the rational and modern mentality that the urban
Venezuelan society has adopted. For him, Maria Lionza is a manifestation of past experiences
that have been stored in the collective unconscious of Venezuelans. Through Maria Lionza,
Venezuela's repressed desires and fears come to surface.
3. The myth of Maria Lionza
Anthropologists and historians alike have had some real tough times in tracing back the origin of
the goddess Maria Lionza. How did she come to be a goddess? What's her story? There have
been around 25 different legends referring to a character named Maria Lionza, but we shall only
take a look at a handful. Ethnologists, however, have discovered that the Maria Lionza myth is
constantly being written in the spiritualist circles of Maria Lionzan religion. The informants of
the stories are not even consistent with what they tell ethnologists. Some cases have been
reported where one individual tells a story, and some years later, that very same individual has
changed it, although most of these changes are not really significant.
Until the early XX Century, there was a slight knowledge in Venezuelan urban society that in the
remote mountains of Yaracuy there was a myth of a goddess called Maria Lionza. However, no
one had attempted to get a written account of the myth. In the early XX Century, Venezuela
attempted to launch a massive modernisation program. One of the main features of the project
was to provide roads to gain some access to remote corners of the country. This facilitated the
job of some ethnographers, who penetrated some regions that previous researchers and travellers
had never gone into.
Let us turn to the most important and accepted versions of the Maria Lionza myth.
Among some groups of marialionceros, this version is widely accepted, although it has never
been recorded by any ethnologist(2):
"The Caquetio Indian's chief had a beautiful daughter with green eyes. Because it was a bad
sign, he decided to take her to the lake and gave her to the anaconda that lived at the bottom
of the lake. Right after he threw her, she came right back up as a wonderful goddess
surrounded by many animals, waters, and plants. She was Maria Lionza" [Account #1].
The most famous one of all is the one recorded by the ethnographer Gilberto Antolínez (1945)
around the year 1923:
"A long time ago, the Jirjana people of Yaracuy received a warning that a girl with green
eyes would be born. This was to be considered an alert, because her eyes would be a signal
of bad times to come, and if the green eyed girl ever saw herself in the reflection of the
nearby lake, a monstrous giant snake would come out of her and would bring death and
destruction. Under this prophecy, and just before the Spanish Conquest, a girl with green
eyes was born. She was destined to be sacrificed to the Great Anaconda Snake because of the
warning, but the girl's father saved her and sent her to a secret place where she grew up. 22
guardians took care of her in her new home, and the guards would energetically prevent the
girl from reaching the water at the lake. But, one day, the guards fell asleep and she sneaked
away from them and went out into the country and found on her way a beautiful lake, and
with fascination, saw her reflection in the water. From this moment on, she took the shape of
the giant snake, and grew so much that her body exploded and it overflew the waters and
brought floods to the town. Her head stayed in Acarigua, and her tail in Valencia" [Account
#2].
The writer Francisco Tamayo (1943), who was a contemporary of Antonilez, collected some
more information on this first legend and added that the goddess was benevolent, and that she
rides a boar. The name Maria Lionza still does not appear as such, but one of her familiar traits
as a boar rider appears (Narváez, 2002).
Homero Salazar offers another description of the legend of the goddess:
"The Caquetio Indians of Yaracuy had a girl with dazzling green eyes. This was a good sign
for the family and the community, so much needed, especially during the tough times they
were going through as a result of the Spanish Conquista. As she grew up, she came to be a
salvation amulet for the community. The girl's name was Yara. Tupi, her mother, took her to
the mountains where she remained safe under the care of a platoon of guardians. However,
the situation with the Spanish conquistadors grew worse. Yara's charm allowed her to
become a diplomat to establish talks with the Spanish, and the community put all of its
expectations on her as an instrument for peace. She met Ponce de León(3) using the name
'Maria del Prado'. The talks ended in failure, and she retreated to the mountains where she
disappeared and stayed there as a goddess." [Account #3] (Narváez, 2002).
Some ethnologists have noted the fact that these two stories resemble the profile of Uyara, a
character found in some myths of the Tupis in Brazil. Antonilez defines Uyara as a woman of
sweet but melancholic smile, who attracts and catches men, satisfies her desires with them, and
then abandons them. Lust is her moving impulse; she's a man-eater. Uyara's attributes were then
projected upon Maria Lionza.
Up to this point, the reader will wonder where does the name Maria Lionza come from? Maria
Lionza is a Spanish name, and so far, the goddess is always an Indian. We have only reviewed
the versions recollected from Indians who probably had little contact with the Venezuelan
criollos. By the 1920's the goddess adopts a new profile in the following story recollected by
Garmendia (1980). She is pictured as a white woman:
"Maria was the daughter of a Spanish couple. When she was 15 years old, she disappeared
when she was swimming in a lake. She didn't really die, but was rescued by a boar. The boar
and Maria were one and the same." [Account #4].
Boar is translated into Spanish as 'onza'. Because of this, she came to be known as 'Maria de la
Onza' (Mary of the boar), and popular dialects contracted the name into 'Maria Lionza'.
Another story also portrays her as a white woman:
"There was a girl named Maria Concepcion de Sorte. She was the daughter of a Spanish
couple. She grew up among the animals of the forest, until one day she was attracted by a
strange light and disappeared. She went to the heavens and joined some Indians, where they
made her queen, and rode a boar. [Account #5]" (Narváez, 2002).
Some historians have attempted to enquire on a real and precise non-mythical story of Maria
Lionza. According to Herman Garmendia, Maria Lionza was a Spanish lady who lived in
Barquisimeto during the mid XVIII Century, and whose real name was María Alonso. She
owned vast extensions of land and was famous for her charity attributes, as well as for the nice
way in which she treated the land workers. She felt some affinity for boars, and owned a stock of
about 1000 animals [Account #6] (Pollak-Eltz, 1985).
Historian Bruno Manara (1995) believes that the character Maria Lionza actually came from
Spain. It is possible that Maria Lionza may have been Maria del Marqués. She was born in Spain
and came to Venezuela, after her ship wrecked as a result of a hurricane that swept the Caribbean
Sea in 1800. She was dragged to the Venezuelan shore, and was rescued by a group of Indians
that took her to Chivacoa, a young Indian chief. He introduced her into the tribe and taught her
some basic skills, and then she would become queen of the tribe and the mountains [account #7].
4. A brief structuralist view
A word by itself means nothing. The significance of a word must be considered in relationship to
others. The significance of elements is centred on binary oppositions. This basic premise of
structuralist linguistics has been the cornerstone of the works of Claude Lévi-Strauss and other
ethnologists who have followed a structuralist approach.
Ferdinand de Saussure's method identified langue and parole. Langue is the whole set of
possible permutations that language can adopt, while parole is one of those permutations that
conforms a specific language. Structuralist anthropology, then, considers cultural elements as a
permutation set out of all possible permutations (Millet and Varin, 1975).
In mythology, the interchange of permutations (parole) is usual. However, the set of possible
permutations (langue) remains a closed system for all of the human minds. Thus, myths may
differ in content, but structure prevails. Structuralist anthropology has proven that myths
continuously play with the possible permutations of culture. What takes place in one myth is
switched around the same structure in others. This clearly takes place in the Maria Lionza myth.
Lévi-Strauss' methodology suggests that in order to understand a myth's structure, we must place
the myth in a table of diachronic and synchronic elements. Rows represent synchronic elements
and columns represent diachronic elements. Reading the table horizontally, we will study the
system at a given point in time. Reading it vertically, we will study its development over a period
of time. Let us turn to such a table.
Table 1
A B C D E F
Account Maria Maria Lionza Maria Lionza is Maria Lionza
#1 Lionza is an has green eyes thrown to the comes right back
Indian girl lake to the surface
Account Maria Maria Lionza Maria Lionza's Maria Lionza is Maria Lionza Maria Lionza's
#2 Lionza is an has green father saves her looked after by becomes a body winds up in
Indian girl eyes, it's a bad from sacrifice 22 guardians monstrous snake Valencia
sign
Account Maria Maria Lionza Maria Lionza is Maria Lionza Maria Lionza
#3 Lionza is an has green guarded by a becomes a disappears
Indian eyes, it's a platoon of diplomat
woman good sign guards
Account Maria Maria Lionza is Maria Lionza Maria Lionza
#4 Lionza is a rescued by a becomes half- disappears while
Spanish girl boar human, half-boar swimming
Account Maria Maria Lionza is Maria Lionza
#5 Lionza is a made queen by goes to the
Spanish girl Indians in heaven heavens
Account Maria Maria Lionza
#6 Lionza is a becomes a land
Spanish lady owner
Account Maria The Indians Maria Lionza
#7 Lionza is a rescue Maria becomes an
Spanish lady Lionza from Indian queen
drowning
As we can see from table #1, the Maria Lionza myth itself is a complex game of switching. On
some accounts she's Indian, on others she is Spanish. Her eyes are a good sign, but they also
become a bad sign. On some accounts she is rescued by her father, on others she is rescued by
some Indians. She becomes a queen, but she can also become a monstrous snake or a diplomat.
Structuralist anthropology shows us that indeed, myth is conformed around binary oppositions
and continuously undergoes transformations.
5. A Girardian analysis
According to Girard (1986: 73), "mythology is a game of transformations. Lévi-Strauss has made
a most important contribution in revealing this". The Maria Lionza myth is a game of
transformations itself. What shows off in one account is shifted in another. Mythology is a game
where cards are being continuously shuffled by a magician, every time we have different orders
of cards, but the whole set of cards is the same, it remains there, or so the structuralists claim.
Girard (1986: 73) warns that "when the magician shuffles the cards long enough and displays
them in a different order he is preventing us from thinking about what has disappeared and
makes us forget the disappearance if we happened to notice it. The magician of mythologies and
religions has a very good audience in our structuralists".
We will probably wonder, what disappears? Myth is to Girard, a fallacious story. But it is not
fallacious in the sense that it deals with supernatural events. There is a wide variety of texts that
deal with magical elements and they remain truthful indeed. Myth is fallacious in the sense that it
lies, it hides a story that does not want to tell us. For Girard, the origins of culture can be traced
back to a collective murder. Myths keep a record of the founding of culture, but as they develop
and change, myths will do whatever possible to hide the original murder. Myth development is a
game of transformations. Although structurally identical, myths are different. But in the process
of transformations, the original murder is eventually erased from myth, though never completely.
Even in the most complex and fascinating myths, we could look for clues that point towards the
original murder.
Girard's thesis on the origins of culture in a founding murder is not entirely new. In Totem and
Taboo (1948 [1913]), Freud had already worked out a relatively similar formula regarding the
original murder, and in Moses and Monotheism (1948 [1937]), added the notion that culture tries
to erase the traces of the murder. What's ground-breaking in Girard's work is the way in which he
understands how this murder takes place and how culture rises.
Human beings, according to Girard, are highly mimetic creatures. Aristotle had already
discovered this. Human beings are capable of reproducing others' behaviour in a most unique
way. At the same time, man feels incompleteness with himself; he feels he lacks something. Man
continuously looks for this missing piece in other people whom he takes as models. Everything
models do, the subject feels attracted to do also. In such a manner, desire is highly mimetic also.
The subject desires almost nothing by his own. The subject's desires are only a copy of those of
the model's. Anything the model desires, the subject will desire it also. The subject does not
desire an object because of a real need or autonomous wish to achieve the object. The subject
desires being the model, and understands that desiring the object his model has desired is the
closest path to being the model. This is what Girard (1996) calls 'metaphysical desire'.
Very rarely does an object of desire have the capacity of satisfying both the model and the
subject's desire. The subject understands that he will never be his model, and thus, begins to hate
him. The model turns into a rival. Both individuals want the same thing, but only one of them
can achieve it. The object of desire looses importance in the rivalry. The more fascinating the
rival is, the more hated he turns. The real quarrel is not over the object of desire. The quarrel is
about defeating the other, the model/rival; achieving the object of desire will only function as a
token of the defeat over the rival. Both quarrellers imitate each other's desire with such intensity
that they become each other's doubles. They can't tell apart from each other any longer.
Animals do not have the mimetic capacity of men. Girard (1987:95) writes: "growth of mimetic
activity [is] linked to the increase of brain size". In animal societies, a well-structured hierarchy
of dominance prevails. Dominated individuals have no chance of taking the place of those in
control. They don't have the mimetic capacity to do so. Animal societies are naturally
differentiated; there is no danger of getting to situations of doubles that can lead to violence and
self-destruction. Man, on the other hand, does have the capacity to put in danger the hierarchy
structure of dominance in the specie. Man is able to imitate to such a degree, that there is no
natural differentiation. Anybody can become anybody's double. As long as they imitate,
dominated individuals can easily take the place of those in control.
