The Central Intelligence Agency (2017) revealed that the country of Guatemala is composed primarily of European mestizos at 59.4%, which is a combination of Amerindian and Spanish ancestry. This considered to be significantly higher when compared to the indigenous groups of K’iche at 9.1%, 8.4% for Kaqchikel, Mam at 7.9%, 6.3% for Q’eqchi, the Mayan at 8.6% and with other non-Mayan groups at 0.3% (Central, 2017). The effect of the higher percentage of mestizos is that Spanish became the official language of the country while only 40% uses the 23 Amerindian languages (Central, 2017). The additional effect of the Spanish migration is that Guatemalans are perceived to be practicing the Roman Catholic religion rather than following the indigenous Mayan beliefs and other inherent religions such as Protestant (Central, 2017).
This assumption was concurred by Watanabe (1990, p.131) when he disclosed that there is a Catholic church always present in every Maya town in Guatemala. This was seen in the Mam-speaking town of Santiago Chimaltenango where their patron saint is perceived as a combination of Catholic and Maya religion (Watanabe, 1990, p.131). The reason for the infusion of the Maya religious syncretism was disclosed by Watanabe (1990, p.131) to be due to the similarity of the native religion to the Christian elements (Watanabe, 1990, p.131). But this was because the native religion was reshaped by the Catholic Church (Argueta, 2014) when Guatemala was ruled by the Spanish conquistadores (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). The ethnic religion was further modified when the municipal decree during the civil war of the 1980s or the La Violencia was implemented (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). This is because the mandated service of the indigenous religion such as Costumbre in the town of Santiago Momostenango was forcefully eliminated by the government (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45).
The effect of the various Catholic Church influences is that indigenous religions like the Costumbre were modified to include the Jesu Cristo and saints (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). The remaining influence of the original indigenous religion is that the ethnic group perceives Jesu Cristo and the saints as earth lords while incorporating the value of the ancestors (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). This implies that the religion of the indigenous group is primarily agricultural or based on earth gods since the Mayan calendar is still used for the planting cycle (Argueta, 2014). This was concurred by the continued use of traditional dance-dramas, some of which were replaced by Catholic influenced dances or “disfraces” (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). The original culinary feature of the ethnic religion of roasted green corn with coarse salt and lime juice was also later replaced to reflect the modern taste preference of the Guatemalan (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45).
The religious modification was due to the fact that syncretistic approach saved the indigenous religion by maintaining and even strengthening selected traditional beliefs and culture (Argueta, 2014) such as the cofradia system (Cook and Offit, 2008, p.45). But syncretism is perceived by Watanabe (1990, p.131) to be an inherent characteristic of the indigenous group and not as a survival tool. This is because syncretism is primarily used by the Mayans for community morality instead developing a “false consciousness” or maintaining their culture (Watanabe, 1990, p.131). This is seen in the veneration of the folk saint of San Simon or Maximon, which is perceived by the Catholic religion as Judas (Argueta, 2014). The effect is that despite the religious imposition of the Spanish conquistadores the Mayan culture and other indigenous religions continue to survive. This is especially seen in the Guatemala festivals, of which the most popular is in Chichicastenango (DeLeon-Ahumada, 2010).
Figure 1. Religious parade
(Deleon-Ahumada, 2010)
References
Argueta, A. (2014). Religion in Guatemala: Mayan spirituality, Catholicism, and Christianity. Moon. Retrieved from http://moon.com/2014/02/religion-in-guatemala-mayan-spirituality-catholicism-and-christianity/
Central Intelligence Agency. (2017). Central America and Caribbean: Guatemala. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gt.html
Cook, G. and Offit, T. (2008). Pluralism and transculturation in indigenous maya religion. Ethnology, 47(1), p.45-59.
Deleon-Ahumada, E. (2010). Syncretism as its finest: Chichicastenango. A Journey Through Guatemala. Retrieved from http://ajourneythroughguatemala.blogspot.com/2010/03/syncretism-at-its-finest.html
Watanabe, J. M. (1990). From saints to Shibboleths: Image, structure and identity in Maya religious syncretism. American Ethnologist, 17(1), p.131-150.
