Pilgrimage in Latin America

N. ROSS CRUMRINE is Full-Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He has written numerous papers and articles on Latin American religious practices and Indian culture for scholarly journals.ALAN MORINIS is a filmmaker in Canada and is currently editing a collection entitled Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage.

In every region of Latin America, there are sacred shrines that draw tens of thousands of pilgrims. At present, most of these pilgrimages are overtly Catholic, but the roots of the contemporary practice are numerous: European Christian, indigenous pre-Columbian, African slave, and other religious traditions have all contributed to Latin American pilgrimage. This book explores the historical development, range of diversity, and the structure and impacts of this widespread religious practice.This volume, among the first to focus on pilgrimage in Latin America in general, creates a general framework for understanding Latin American pilgrimage. Although the contributors' focus is predominantly anthropological, analytical perspectives are drawn from numerous disciplines, including archaeology, geography, and religious and literary history. This diversity reflects the fact that pilgrimage is a multifaceted institution that incorporates geographical, social, cultural, religious, historical, literary, architectural, artistic, and other dimensions. It is this complexity that is responsible for the previous general neglect of the study of pilgrimage by scholars. The interdisciplinary collaboration that characterizes this volume is one of the most sensible ways to investigate pilgrimages. All of the essays in this book treat pilgrims, the pilgrimage center, the ritual performances, and the audience as major components, and examine the interrelationships among these dimensions. This volume will interest anthropologists, sociologists of religion, and others interested in aspects of religious practices.

This volume explores the historical development, range of diversity, and the structure and impacts of pilgrimage in Latin America. It is among the first to create a general framework for understanding this religious practice.

Foreword by Luis MillonesIntroductionLa Peregrinación: The Latin American Pilgrimage by Alan Morinis and N. Ross CrumrineThe European Roots of Latin American Pilgrimage by Mary Lee NolanMiddle AmericaDo-It-Yourself Religion: The Diffusion of Folk Catholicism on Mexico's Northern Frontier 1821-1846 by Henry F. DobynsFiestas and Exchange Pilgrimages: The Yorem Pahko and Mayo Identity, Northwest Mexico by N. Ross CrumrinePilgrimage and Shrine: Religious Practices among the Otomi of Huixquilican, Mexico by H.R. HarveySocial Structure in Pilgrimage and Prayer: Tzeltales as Lords and Servants by Walter Randolph AdamsPilgrimage as Cyclical Process: The Unending Pilgrimage of the Holy Cross of the Quintana Roo Maya by Herman W. KonradThe Politics of Pilgrimage: The Black Christ of Esquipulas by Carl KendallThrough the Fields to Amatitlán by Leslie Ellen Straub. O.P.South AmericaThe Literature of Pilgrimage: Present-day Miracle Stories from Northeast Brazil by Candace SlaterPilgrimages to Sorte in the Cult of Maria Lionza in Venezuela by Angelina Pollak-EltzThe Ethnography and Archaeology of Two Andean Pilgrimage Centers by Helaine SilvermanPilgrim's Progress: The Emergence of Secular Authority in a Traditional Andean Pilgrimage by James M. Vreeland, Jr.Locational Symbolism: The Fiesta de los Reyes o del Niño in Northern Peru by Richard P. SchaedelA Pilgrimage Fiesta: Easter Week Ritual at Catacaos, Piura, Peru by N. Ross CrumrineDual Cosmology and Ethnic Division in an Andean Pilgrimage Cult by Micheal J. SallnowRituals of Movement, Rites of Transformation: Pilgrimage and Dance in the Highlands of Cuzco, Peru by Deborah A. PooleMythic Andean Discourse and Pilgrimages by Henrique UrbanoConclusionDiscussion and Conclusions: Agrarian Conflict and Pilgrimage by Frans J. SchryerReferencesIndex