Colonial Religion: The Many Faces of Mary

Handout on the Songs of the Virgin Mary

I. Introduction

A. Range of indigenous responses: resistance--mixture--acceptance
B. Syncretism (mixture)

• Cover up/ “idols behind the altars”?
• Parallel practices?
• Fusion? (Santiago/St. James)

II. The Virgin Mary in Spain

A. Medieval Cantigas (Illuminated verses commissioned by King Alfonso the Wise, 13th cen.)

• Music had Muslim influence
• Activist, merciful

B. The Virgin of the Seafarers (painted by Alejo Fernández, c. 1530s)

• Patroness of colonial commerce (commissioned for House of Trade)
• Linking colonialism and evangelization
• Other figures: St. John Evangelist (prophesy), Santiago, St. Sebastian, St. Elmo, Columbus?

C. 16th-17th- century Spain: painters Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) and Francisco de Zubaran

• Growing orthodoxy in response to Protestant reformation
• Concerns about expansion of women’s sphere of influence with male migration to Americas
• Emphasis on Mary as mother, more passive

III. American Virgins

A. Andes: Earth Mother (“Pachamama”) and/or Inca Queen (“Coya”)?

• Cuzco school of indigenous and mestizo painters
• Triangular shape like mountain (in Andes sacred sites)
• Association with moon—Inca symbol of Coya
• Importance of ritual garments (rich textiles, feathers)
• Ritual importance of spinning and weaving

B. Mexico: Guadalupe: indigenous and creole (i.e. Americans of Spanish descent)?

• Spanish wills refer to Mary as “Our Lady” or “Mother of God”; Nahuatl (indigenous language of central Mexico) wills refer to her as “Our Precious Mother”
• Association with pre-Colombian earth goddess Tonantzin
• Story of Guadalupe’s appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 and miracle of roses/cloak
• Identification with creole identity and later Mexican nationalism (banners in war of independence vs. royalist Virgin of Remedios)

IV. Conclusions: multiple meanings

ID Terms:

• Guadalupe/Tonantzin
• creole—a person of Spanish descent born in America (or in slaveholding regions, a person of African descent born in America). Can be used a noun or adjective

Questions:

What is syncretism?

How have representations of Mary varied by time and place?

Images:

Cantiga 59
Cantiga 107
Cantiga 7

Virgin of the Seafarers (Alejo Fernandez, 1530s)
Virgin (Francisco de Zurbaran, 1661)
Murillo Holy Family
Virgin at Seige of Cuzco (Guaman Poma)
Coya (Guaman Poma)
Virgin as Mountain (anon., 18th century)
Andean Virgin "Virgin of the Rosary of Pomata" (anon., School of Cuzco, 18th century)
Pre-conquest conopas
Virgin spinning (anon., School of Cuzco, 18th century)
Virgin of Guadalupe by Miguel Cabrera (c. 1760)
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of New Spain, Anon, 18th cen.

Link:

An example of a particular, contemporary representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe:
http://www.sancta.org/

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Last updated November 9 , 2006
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