Table Of ContentPage i
Popular Religion and Liberation
Page ii
SUNY Series in Religion, Culture, and Society
Wade Clark Roof, Editor
Page iii
Popular Religion and Liberation
The Dilemma of Liberation Theology
Michael R. Candelaria
State University of New York Press
Page iv
Cover photo courtesy of Mike Garner
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1990 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Candelaria, Michael.
Popular religion and liberation : the dilemma of liberation
theology/by Michael Candelaria.
p.cm.—(SUNY series in religion, culture, and society)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0791402290.—ISBN 0791402304 (pbk.)
1. Latin America—Religious life and customs. 2. Liberation
theology. I. Title. II. Series.
BR600.C26 1990
282'.8—dc20
894573
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Page v
Contents
Introduction vii
Acknowledgments xv
Chapter 1 Is Popular Religion Alienating or Liberating? An Overview 1
The double dimension of popular religion • Clarifying concepts: popular
religion, popular culture, and popular people • Popular religion at Medellín and
Puebla • Sample approaches to popular religion
Chapter 2 People as the Subject of Liberation, Popular Religion and Popular 39
Culture: The Liberation Theology of Juan Carlos Scannone
Liberation theology and the theology of the people • Contributing factors to the
formation of the theology of the people • The theology of the people • Socio
economic liberation or the evangelization of culture?
Chapter 3 People as the Object of Liberation, Popular Religion, and the Mass 69
Minority Dialectic: The Liberation Theology of Juan Luis Segundo
Popular religion: a semantic problem • From the semantic problem to the
problem of the universality of the church &!: The massminority dialectic •
Universalparticular dilemma of the church: Christianity and the masses •
Pastoral models in conflict
Chapter 4 Shared Themes and Significant Differences: Toward a Possible
Page vi
Synthesis between the People as Subject and Object of Liberation 103
Secularized Uruguay and Roman Catholic Argentina • National history or an evolutionary
outlook Secularization and popular religion • Religion and faith • The people: subject or object
of our liberation endeavors?
Chapter 5 Incarnating Myth in History 119
The principle of incarnation • Incarnation in social space Incarnation in popular history • A
shared common world • Fundamental criteria and guiding questions
Notes 139
Bibliography 163
Index 191
Page vii
Introduction
At the heart of Latin American popular culture resides a profound religious vitality. Among the exploited classes and marginal groups, religion and culture are
inextricably mixed. Indeed, in order to understand or to articulate the meaning of life and death, hope for the future, the longings for liberation, and the worldview of a
people we must take into account what the Peruvian Marxist pensador José Carlos Mariátegui called the "religious factor." 1 The heart and soul of the people, the
ethicomythical nucleus of popular culture, is constituted by popular religion.
From the threshold of birth to the threshold of death, religion pervades the popular cultural ethos. At critical junctures of human development—birth, childhood,
puberty, marriageceremonies, festivity, and ritual reinforce human ties with the sacred. From the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on the hill of Tepeyac, on
December 9, 1531, to the Sandinistaled people's revolution in Nicaragua, the poor and the oppressed of Latin America have rallied behind powerful symbols of
religious faith. From Delano, California, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, religiosity informs the structure and meaning of daily life and social relations. The unrelenting
pervasiveness of popular religion in Latin American and HispanicAmerican culture is reflected in the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Carlos Fuentes and
memorialized in movies like "The Milagro Beanfield War."2
Little escapes religious "baptism" under the "sacred canopy" of religious beliefs and symbolic practices elaborated by the common people. In Managua, Nicaragua, the
revolution is celebrated at the annual festival of Santo Domingo, the patron saint of Managua.3 In Guatemala, Natives bathe newborns in baths of oil to ward off
curses and evil spells.4 Penitents in the Spanishspeaking villages of northern New Mexico flagellate themselves with yucca whips to atone for their sins. Everywhere
Latino people march in processions, walk in pilgrimages, undertake vows, light candles, worship the Virgin Mother, supplicate saints, ward off demons and ghosts
with gestures, recite creeds
Page viii
and formulas. Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week and other privileged moments reinforce order in the universe and impart meaning to human existence. 5
Perhaps the most prominent and universal feature of Latin American popular Catholicism is the veneration of Mary. Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patron Saint of
Mexico and MexicanAmericans, is ubiquitously present on bedroom walls, tattooed backs, decorated candles, and cast plaster statues. In the form of a symbol she
appears as a young brown Mestiza, a woman of mixed racial background, Spanish and Indian. A crescent moon serves as her footstool; the sun, hiding behind her,
spreads its rays around her, forming an aura. The sun and the moon represent Aztec deities. In fact, Our Lady of Guadalupe was originally the Aztec fertility goddess
Tonantzin, whom the Spanish conquerors baptized as Mary the mother of Jesus, in an effort to evangelize and complete the subjugation of the natives. The Basilica of
Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, was built on the very site consecrated by the Aztecs to Tonantzin, consort of Quetzacoatl.
The Virgin assumes many forms throughout Mexico and the rest of Latin America. In Mexico City stands the shrine of a rival Virgin—Our Lady of the Remedies,
venerated by Spanish creoles and white upper classes. Mestizos and Indians, on the other hand, favor Our Lady of Guadalupe—a classic example of the symbolic
reduplication of class struggle. Our Lady of Solitude, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Zapopan, Our Lady of Ocotlan, Our Lady of Candelaria, Our Lady of
Assumption, Our Lady of Annunication, Our Lady of Atocha, Our Lady of Mount Carmel—these are just some of the more popular representations of Mary in
Mexico and New Mexico. In Argentina you may find the Virgin of Copacabana at Punta Corral, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at Itati, Our Lady of the
Consolation at Sumampa. Even in secularized Montevideo, Uruguay, a shrine is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Saint worship is another prevalent characteristic of popular religion in Latin America. Every city, town, village and hamlet venerates a patron saint. In Chimbote, Peru,
a port city, the patron saint is San Pedrito, the protector of fishermen. The Patron Saint of Managua is Santo Domingo. In Buenos Aires, San Cayetano is a popular
workingclass saint brought over by Italian immigrants. Penny Lernoux, a journalist and author, observes that "there is a saint for almost every activity, from
Page ix
lotteryticket selling to breadmaking, and for every conceivable problem. St. Patrick cures snake bites; St. Anthony is invoked to attract boyfriends." 6 In central
Mexico, saints like Santa Maria Magdalena, Santiago, and Santa Ana offer protection against storms. On the day of San Antonio, January 17, people take their
animals to the Church for the priest's blessing.7
In addition to Virgins and saints, spirits, demons and superhuman beings roam the symbolic universe of the poor. In Mexico and the Southwest, tales abound about La
Llorona, The Crying Woman. According to folklore, La Llorona roams about gullies, streams, and rivers weeping for her lost children. God condemned her to
wander in an endless search as punishment for having killed her children. Having been forsaken by a lover, she took vengeance on him by killing the children she bore
to him. It is believed that she can be heard wailing in the midnight hour near gullies or rivers.
In central Argentina there is the popular legend of La difunta Correa. According to legend, a woman crossing a desert died of thirst. When mule drivers discovered
her dead body, they were astonished to find that her infant was kept alive by feeding on the dead mother's breast. There are shrines dedicated to her in Argentina,
Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and Bolivia.8 In central Mexico, campesinos believe that the devil runs loose on September 29, the day of San Miguel Archangel.
To protect themselves, they make crosses of yellow flowers and hang them above windows and thresholds to ward off the devil.9 Such quaint practices are only a
part of a larger complex of pilgrimages, processions, festivals, and rituals. Together they assist the poor in creating a meaningful conception of the world in a social
context of oppression and exploitation.
Oppression is a haunting reality facing Latinos in Latin America. Millions of children are ravaged by undernourishment. Illiteracy limits opportunities for advancement.
Infectious diseases stalk half the population. Curable diseases snuff out young lives because medicines are priced out of reach. Oppression and piety are the hallmarks
of Latin America's poor masses and ever present realities in the barrios of the United States.10
These two factors, piety and oppression, serve as theological and pastoral points of departure. In Gustavo Gutiérrez' own words, "in these peoples, at once poor and
Christian, there is a concrete point of departure, charged with consequences, for Church life and theological reflection."11 In their poverty and in
