* Indication of biography about this matter for
personal deepening:
. BERKENBROCK, V. J. A
experiência dos Orixás: um estudo sobre a experiência religiosa no candomblé. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1997.
.
CONCÍLIO ECUMÊNICO VATICANO II, 1962-1965, Cidade do Vaticano. Sacrossanctum Concilium. Disponível em http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html. Acesso em 24 de maio de 2017.
. IPOAA Magazine. The Religions of Latin American and African
Slaves: Indigenous People of Africa an America. year 2010. Digital text,
disponível em http://www.ipoaa.com/religion_african_latin.htm. Acesso em 23 de maio de 2017.
. MARZAL, M. El rosto índio de Dios. Lima: Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Peru, 1991.
. MEDINA, Walys
Matos. Sincretismo religioso dominicano. Disponível em http://elrinconcitoculturalrd.blogspot.it/2016/07/sincretismo-religioso-dominicano.html
Acesso em 02 de junho de 2017.
. REHBEIN, F. C. Candomblé e
salvação. São Paulo: Loyola, 1985.
. SCHREITER, R. J. A nova catolicidade: a teologia entre o
global e o local. São Paulo: Loyola,
1998.
. SILVA, A. A da (Org.). Existe um pensar
teológico negro? São Paulo: Paulinas,
1998.
. SOARES A. M. L. Impasses da teologia católica diante do
sincretismo religioso afro-brasileiro. Disponivel em http://ciberteologia.paulinas.org.br/ciberteologia/wp- content/uploads/2009/05/impassesdateologiacatolica.pdf Acesso em 22 de maio de 2017.
. WILSON, R. Maya resurgence of Guatemala: Q’eqchi’
Experiences. Norman Oklahoma University Press,
1995.
In order to understand the dynamic of syncretism, it is necessary to
bear in mind that in the history of civilizations “cultural interaction and
symbolic transformation have always occurred”[1] characterizing, among others, the formation of
religious identities. One cannot think that there is a pure cultural or
religious identity, because, as traditional as it may be, it will always be an
adaptation according to the environment[2] as
a result of lived and interacted experiences.[3] Thus, when we speak of religious syncretism,
we begin with integrated concepts of culture. According to these,
People strive to live integrated lives: they seek to incorporate new
information into their own cognitive universe in order to have a fuller and
more humane life. The results of such attempts are rarely organized and
complete, since the new information also changes the cognitive universe. New
information is never received in a vacuum. They are related to what is already
known.[4]
Thus, in order for a new religious identity to emerge, cultural
interaction and symbolic transformation are necessary. These aspects are at the
basis of syncretism and the process happens in several ways. It is important to
consider the division that the author R. J. Schreiter makes to understand the
process that occurred in Brazil and in the other countries of Latin America. He
examines three types of formation of religious identity: by hybridism, by hierarchy,
and by resistance.
Identity Formation by Hybridism[5] - Refers to the mixture of cultures and
languages of different peoples. This type of identity is what is also called crioulização. There are six types of
mixtures that are nowadays called hybridism:
The first three mixtures refer to the syncretic phenomenon proper. The first is the emergence of a new reality from the union between Christianity
and another tradition. In this case, the tradition offers the basic structure
of this new reality. In the second is
Christianity that provides the structure for the syncretic system, but receives
a new interpretation being substantially remodelled. This process is arbitrary
on the part of the tradition, that is, regardless of any dialogue with
established Christianity. In the third
phenomenon, some elements of Christianity are selected and incorporated into
another system. There is no new reality, but this other system is enriched with
these new elements.[6]
The other three mixtures refer to dual
religious systems (which we would also call "double belonging"):
In the first group, people are aware
of the distinction between Christianity and the other tradition, but they still
practice both side by side. In the second
group, we have Christianity as the predominant religion, but which includes
in its rituals a selection of elements from a second tradition, which is also
practiced separately from Christianity by other believers. In the third group,
our author evaluates how problematic, since the people who joined the
Christianity[7] seek to maintain also the fidelity to their
national identity that has already its own religious expression.[8]
Formation of identity by hierarchy - This is when the ecclesial leadership or its
cultural elite tries to move in a certain direction the cultural and religious
mix that has taken place.[9] This can happen by hierarchical assimilation in the sense of incorporating external
practices and ideas. For example:
The choice of December 25 to commemorate the date of Christ's birth was
an assimilation of the Roman Saturnalia,
as well as the introduction of pine and related trees at the commemoration of
Christmas in Northern Europe. Assimilation is a re-contextualization of signs
and rituals that can make the identification with Christianity easier for
members of other cultures, even if it causes a change in Christianity as well.[10]
The formation of new identities by hierarchy also takes place through legislation, for example, the reforms of the official Church (XVI),
“the promotion of some saints or special devotions with the function of shaping
new religious identities in Catholicism”,[11] the production of documents Of Catholic Christianity
with guidelines for missionary action and to make inculturation more possible
or to postpone it, etc.
Identity formation by resistance - It is about this last type that we now fix our
attention, because it is a cultural encounter, in which the power plays a
determining role, making the encounter invasive, unequal and violent. As a
result, the reaction is the resistance. “Resistance can take the form of total
refusal to participate or, if participation is forced, the result is to abandon
as soon as possible”.[12] In this sense, we will analyse two examples of
different people of Latin America that illustrates this part of our study.
The territory of the people Tainos[13] of the Dominican Republic was invaded by the
Spanish empire in the sixteenth century, but the Tainos managed to expel them and kept them away for forty years.
All the churches were destroyed and in the place were built kivas (sacred places of meetings). The
Spaniards managed to recover the area, but the Tainos people although accepted the Christianity, they continued to
live a double participation,[14] that is, together with the Christian rituals,
they also performed some religious
practices clandestinely and in secret. Funeral rites, for example, did not
always happen in the Christian way, and when they decided to call the local
clergy it was because other rites had been performed according to what they
learnt from their ancestors. At the same time, the veneration of saints and
other feasts happened and devotion to other spirits and entities was also
experienced.[15]
The Q'eqchi are a people of
Mayan culture from Guatemala. The colonialism imposed Christianity on them,
oblivious to the values of their culture. When they succeeded in leaving
behind this new religion, they reinterpreted their Mayan heritage, abandoning
Christianity altogether. The interesting thing is that the army had moved them
to a different area, away from the mountains where they invoked the spirits of
a certain mountain (the tzuultaq'as).
Their relations with these spirits were cut off, but later they were recovered
and re-contextualized in different spaces according to the new conditions of
the Mayan resurgence. From then on, the Tzuultaq'as
began to appear before the Q'eqchi
'dressed as German landowners, and more recently, they appeared in military
outfits.[16] It means that the only landowners and soldiers who can give orders to
the Q'eqchi 'are the tzuultaq'as.
As we can see, the encounter between
Christianity and cultures was also a meeting of religions, because there is no
culture without religion. As we know, in its beginnings the evangelizing process
happened without taking into account its fundamental requirement, that is, the inculturation–
“adaptation” to the mentality of peoples and cultures.[17] When this happens properly, it incorporates
cultural elements that have their religious expression. Thus, it is in close
connection with syncretism, since both have elements of one religion in
another. Perhaps that is why there is still so much resistance to the process
of inculturation, which is necessary in evangelization. Although we shall have
the opportunity to study the process of inculturation more deeply later, it is
convenient to present a brief comparison between syncretism and inculturation
in order to clarify our understanding of syncretism.
In syncretism, there is an assimilation of Christian elements by
religions. In inculturation, Christianity is called to assume the features and
elements of the local culture, which already has its way of being and living
shaped by a religious understanding. Thus, it is possible to say that
inculturation is the back of syncretism[18] or, as M. Marzal said, “syncretism is the
other face of inculturation.”[19] This relationship can be better understood
from what the author V. Berkenbrock states:
(...) syncretism is the project of the evangelized and inculturation is
the project of the evangelizers; inculturation wants to be a process of
openness to the other and syncretism is the result of resistance in (inevitable)
contact with the other; inculturation is an active process, syncretism is a
reactive process. Inculturation is a project of the dominant culture;
syncretism is a project of resistance of the dominated culture.[20]
The prophetic force of the Christian message has brought life and liberation
to every human being. In contact with many cultures, for a time this truth was
overshadowed, making the encounter dramatic. From this meeting, some forms of
resistance, new discoveries and re-significances emerged, an expression of the
creative capacity of each visited people, enabling a particular experience of
Christianity.
In our days, it is possible to admit in a positive way that in
many of the evangelizing experiences the religious elements of cultures did not
disappear in contact with Christianity, but they found their new form of expression
within “inculturated” Christianity. What we call popular piety today is the
synthesis resulting from this encounter, in its multiple adaptations to the new
reality. Therefore, we can analyse critically the syncretism, but without
forgetting that its positivity helps us to understand better the process of
inculturation and then we can perform it effectively.
Author: Josuel dos Santos Boaventura PSDP - Fr
Ndega
Theological review: ThD Fr Luis Carlos Susin
English review: EdM Mary Kung'u
[1] SCHREITER,
Robert J. Op. cit., p. 76.
[2] Cf. Ibid., p. 79.
[3]In addition of
talking about interaction between Christianity and Religions that come from
Africa to Brazil, the author F. RHEHBEIN mentions popular feasts of reisados,
congadas e maracatus as a “mixture between religious and profane”, extension of
syncretism that happened between the two religions (cf. RHEHBEIN, F. C., Op. cit. p. 82).
[4] SCHREITER,
Robert J. Op. cit., p. 80
[5]“The
Hybridism results from removal of a frontier between two entities (cultural or
religious) and of redefinition of a new one. This was also called ‘crioulização’, a hybrid of language and
culture of African slaves and New European World” (SCHREITER, Robert J. Op. cit., p. 83).
[6] Cf. Ibid., p.
84.
[7]We are referring
to a simple and popular way of living the catholic Christianity that is much
present in the experiences of Brazilian people. “If these faithful ones have
reason or don’t, that is not matter; but it is undeniable that it is necessary
to start from this data: a conscience too diffuse that such a way of
understanding and practicing the religion is, surely, Catholic” (SOARES, A. M.
L. Op. cit., p. 2).
[8] Cf. SCHREITER,
Robert J. Op. cit., p. 84.
[9] Cf.Ibid., p. 87.
[10] Ibid., p. 88.
[11] Ibid., p. 88.
[12] Ibid., p. 82.
[13] These ones were the first habitants of the Island Domenican
Republic and we can find more details about this people with the author W. M. MEDINA in his text Sincretismo religioso dominicano (op. cit.).
The author R. J. SCHREITER, when he does his analysis about the
resistance of the Tainos, define them
using the word Pueblo. Probably this name
was the way how the Spanish people called them.
[14]An example in
this sense we can find also in afro-descendent experiences in which “the
religious leaders of the Afro-American religions value Christian practice,
especially the catholic ones and recommend to the faithful the sacramental
frequency, the following-up of Jesus and the filial cult to Our Lady” (SILVA,
A. A. da. (Org.) in SILVA, A. A. da., Op.
cit, p. 49).
[15] Cf. SCHREITER,
Robert J. Op. cit., p. 82.
[16] Cf. Ibid., p. 82s.
[17] Cf. CONCÍLIO ECUMÊNICO VATICANO II. SacrossanctumConcilium 37.
[18] Cf.
BERKENBROCK, V. J. Op. cit., p. 348.
[19] MARZAL, Manuel.
El rostoíndio de Dios. Lima:
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Peru, 1991. Apud SCHREITER, Robert J. Op. cit., p. 93
[20] BERKENBROCK, V.
J. Op. cit., p. 348.
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