Encyclopedia of Religion

(Darren Dugan) #1

marily to prevent hailstorms and to obtain padrinos
(“godfathers”), who provide social and political connections.
Sometimes couples marry in the church, but only after a trial
marriage (iqhisiña) to see whether the wife is fertile. Catholic
catechists and Protestant missionaries have recently been
converting Andeans to an evangelistic Christianity opposed
to earth shrines, fiestas, and traditional Andean beliefs. Many
evangelistic Protestants emphasize literacy and the reading of
the Bible. Protestantism cannot be incorporated into the tra-
ditional Andean system because it tends to be comparatively
barren of symbols and ritual. Consequently, converts to cer-
tain Protestant sects have radically changed their traditional
cultural patterns. In sum, Catholicism has been adapted pe-
ripherally to traditional Andean religious practices, whereas
evangelistic Protestantism has been very effective in changing
traditional belief systems. This is because many Andeans see
traditional religious practices, which reflect verticality, re-
source exchange, ayllu solidarity, and ecology, as being unim-
portant to modernization, with its emphasis on literacy, hori-
zontal links, competition, and individuality.


Nevertheless, the traditional religion retains a strong
hold on Andeans, who continue to look to earth and nature
for their identity. Their land and their mountains continue
to be their deities—not as abstract symbols but as real entities
with whom they live and work and with whom they share
important relations of reciprocity. For these reasons, the An-
deans built a high civilization in a mountainous land that
they came to worship.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, Catherine J. “Body and Soul in Quechua Thought.” Jour-
nal of Latin American Lore 8 (1982): 179–195. Explores the
conceptual basis of “animistic” ideology, focusing on atti-
tudes toward death and the custom of “force feeding.” Excel-
lent description of relationship between ancestors and the
living.


Allpanchis Phuturinqa (Cuzco, 1969–). Published by the Instituto
de Pastoral Andina, this review was founded to educate pas-
toral agents about Andean culture and includes many articles
on Andean religion.


Arguedas, José María. Deep Rivers. Translated by Frances Horning
Barraclough. Austin, 1978. Noted Peruvian novelist de-
scribes conflict within mestizos caught between the Andean
and Spanish cultural systems. Shows how myth bridges the
gulf between the magico-religious world of the Andean and
the social reality of mestizo life. A penetrating book.


Arriaga, Pablo Joseph de. The Extirpation of Idolatry in Peru
(1621). Translated by Horacio Urteaga (Lima, 1920) and L.
Clark Keating (Lexington, Ky., 1968). An extirpator’s manu-
al accurately describing Andean religious practices of the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries, many of which are still
found in the Andes. Shows how missioners suppressed Ande-
an religion and attempted to replace it with Catholicism—
and how Christianity got off to a bad start in the Andes.


Bastien, Joseph W. Mountain of the Condor: Metaphor and Ritual
in an Andean Ayllu. Saint Paul, 1978. A description and anal-
ysis of rituals performed by Qollahuaya Andeans, whose di-


viners are famous throughout the Andes. Rituals provide the
context for understanding the metaphorical relationship of
Andeans with their land.
Bastien, Joseph W., and John N. Donahue, eds. Health in the
Andes. Washington, D.C., 1981. First part contains three ar-
ticles on how rituals are used to cure sick Andeans. Other
parts contain environmental information concerning
Andeans.
Cuadernos de investigación (La Paz, 1974). Pamphlets on Andean
culture and religion published by the Centro de Investiga-
ción y Promoción del Campesinado. Especially insightful are
those by Javier Albo, Tristan Platt, and Olivia Harris.
Isbell, Billie Jean. To Defend Ourselves: Ecology and Ritual in an
Andean Village. Austin, 1978. Describes marriage, hydraulic,
harvest, and fertility rituals in the village of Chuschi, Ayacu-
cho Department, Peru. Treats the relationship between ecol-
ogy and ideology through the observation and analysis of rit-
uals.
Lewellen, Ted. Peasants in Transition: The Changing Economy of
the Peruvian Aymara. Boulder, 1978. Analyzes the impact of
Protestantism on social and economic factors of an Aymara
community.
Millones Santa Gadea, Luis. Las religiones nativas del Peru: Recuen-
to y evaluación de su estudio. Austin, 1979. A review of studies
concerning Andean religion. Very useful for early studies on
Andean religion.
Núñez del Prado, Juan Victor. “The Supernatural World of the
Quechua of Southern Peru as Seen from the Community of
Qotobamba.” In Native South Americans, edited by Patricia
J. Lyon. Boston, 1974. Delineates the structure of the super-
natural world in southern Peru from the mythology and eth-
nographic data of two Quechua communities.
Orlove, Benjamin S. “Two Rituals and Three Hypotheses: An Ex-
amination of Solstice Divination in Southern Highland
Peru.” Anthropological Quarterly 52 (April 1979): 86–98.
Describes two solstice divinations in Peru. Illustrates how
Andeans weigh alternatives and make decisions.
Ossio, Juan M., ed. and comp. Ideología mesiánica del mundo an-
dino. Lima, 1973. Compilation of articles by anthropologists
and historians concerning messianism among Andean peas-
ants. Many authors employ structuralist interpretations of
Andean religion.
Paredes, M. Rigoberto. Mitos, supersticiones y supervivencias popu-
lares de Bolivia (1920). 3d ed., rev. & enl. La Paz, 1963. A
reference book for religious practices of the Aymara.
Sharon, Douglas. Wizard of the Four Winds: A Shaman’s Story.
New York, 1978. Documents a modern shaman’s view of the
world. Describes mesas performed by a shaman in Trujillo
Valley in the northern Andean highlands. A well-written and
insightful book about Andean shamanism.
Taussig, Michael T. The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South
America. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1980. Discusses the social sig-
nificance of the devil in the folklore of contemporary planta-
tion workers and miners in South America. The devil is a
symbol of the alienation experienced by peasants as they
enter the ranks of the proletariat.
Tschopik, Harry, Jr. “The Aymara of Chucuito Peru.” Anthropo-
logical Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 44,

8620 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE MODERN ANDES

Free download pdf