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Peru Catholicism and Community
Like many Latin American nations, Peru's predominant
religion
is Roman Catholicism, which after 460 years has remained a
powerful influence in both state affairs and daily
activities.
Church activities and personnel are, of course, centered
in Lima,
symbolically located on the east side of the Plaza de
Armas to
one side of the National Palace and the Municipality of
Lima,
which occupy the north and west quarters, respectively, of
the
central square from which all points in Peru are measured.
The
ceremonial functions of the state are integrated into the
rites
of the church, beginning with the inauguration of the
president
with high mass in the cathedral, Holy Week events, and the
observances of major Peruvian saints' days and festivals,
such as
that of Santa Rosa de Lima (Saint Rose of Lima) and
others. The
institutional role of the church was established with
conquest
and the viceroyalty, but since independence it has slowly
declined through losing its exclusive control over the
domains of
education, maintenance of vital statistics, marriages, and
the
organization of daily life around church rites.
Nevertheless, the
ceremonial aspects of the Catholic religion, moral
dictates, and
values are profoundly embedded in Peruvian culture; parish
priests and bishops play active roles in local affairs
where they
are present.
The policies of the church historically have been
considered
as very conservative, and the various parishes and
bishoprics
were great landlords, either managing their properties
directly
or renting them to other elites. Church districts with
such
properties were eagerly sought by ambitious clergy, many
of whom
even gained dubious reputations as
hacendados (see Glossary).
Throughout the highlands, the priesthood actively carried
the
colonial legacy in its dealings with the Quechua and
Aymara
peoples until the decade of the 1950s, when many foreign
priests,
notably the Maryknolls in Puno, began introducing
substantial
changes in these traditional patterns. Part of this
development
resulted in the emergence of a strongly populist and
social
activist theme among many clergy, such as Gustavo
Gutiérrez,
whose 1973 book, A Theology of Liberation, was
perhaps to
have greater political impact outside of Peru than in it.
The
changes, however, were considerable, and many priests and
nuns
worked to assist the poor in ways that marked a turnabout
in both
style and concept of duty from a short generation before.
Although the Peruvian priesthood has been thus
invigorated, the
church remains unable to fill a large percentage of its
parishes
on a regular basis, in part because of the demand for
clergy in
Lima and the other coastal cities.
Roman Catholicism, as the official state religion, has
played
a major role in Peruvian culture and society since
conquest, with
every village, town, and city having its official church
or
cathedral, patron saint, and special religious days, which
are
celebrated annually. These kinds of activities are focal
events
for reaffirming social identity and play key roles in the
life of
all types and sizes of community. Participation in these
events
is spurred by both religious devotion and desire to serve
in
community functions for prestige and perhaps political
purposes.
The most notable of these activities are the patronal
festivals
that each settlement annually celebrates. Costs for these
affairs
vary greatly, depending on the size of the town or
community. In
the case of large cities like Ica or Cusco, expenses are
impressive. To underwrite the costs, localities have each
developed their own methods of "taxation," although none
would
call it that. The most common method is to obtain
"volunteers,"
who agree to serve as festival sponsors, called
mayordomos (see Glossary),
who can enlist their family members to aid
in the
work of organizing and paying for community-wide
celebrations. In
small places, the mayordomo and his or her family
may
handle the costs within the group, even going into debt to
do
things properly. In large towns and cities, the festivals
are
often sponsored by the municipal government as well as the
church, with mayordomos serving in only limited
capacities. In many towns, there is a religious
brotherhood
(hermandad) or other organization that also takes
part in
this fashion. Peru's largest religious celebration, the
Señor de
los Milagros, which takes place in Lima during the month
of
October each year, is largely funded by the brotherhood of
the
Señor de los Milagros.
In communities that maintain strong native cultural
traditions, Roman Catholicism is intricately mixed with
facets of
Incaic beliefs and practices. The native populations hold
firm
animistic notions about the spirits and forces found in
natural
settings, such as the great snowpeaks where the
apus
(lords of sacred places) dwell. Many places are seen as
inherently dangerous, emanating airs or essences that can
cause
illness, and are approached with care. The Incas and other
Andean
peoples revered the inti (sun) and pacha
mama
(earth mother), as well as other gods and the principal
ancestral
heads of lineages. The Spaniards, in converting the people
to
Catholicism, followed a deliberate strategy of syncretism
that
was used throughout the Americas. This process sought to
substitute Christian saints for local deities, often using
existing temple sites as the location of churches. Many of
the
biblical lessons and stories were conveyed through
dramatic
reenactments of those events at fiestas that permitted
people to
memorize the tales and participate in the telling.
Thousands of
Andean fiestas are based on such foundations.
The annual celebrations of village patron saints' days
often
coincide with important harvest periods and are clearly
reinterpretations of preconquest harvest observances
disguised as
Catholic feast days. In the south highlands, among such
pastoral
peoples as those of Q'eros, Cusco preserves many ancestral
practices and lifeways. Elaborate rites to promote the
fertility
of their llama and alpaca herds are still undertaken. In
other
communities, religious rites that evoke natural and
spiritual
forces require sacrifices of animals, such as llamas or
guinea
pigs, the spillage of chicha or alcohol on sacred
ground,
or the burying of coca and other ritual items to please
the
apus or the pacha mama. In numerous highland
areas,
the Spanish introduced the Mediterranean custom of blood
sports,
such as bullfighting, bullbaiting, and games of
horsemanship in
which riders riding at full gallop attempt to wring the
necks of
fowl or condors. José María Arguedas recounts these
practices in
his famous 1941 novel, Yawar Fiesta.
Andean religious practices conform to the sociocultural
divisions of Peruvian society, with the Hispanicized
coastal
cities following general Roman Catholic practices, and the
Andean
towns and villages reflecting the syncretisms of conquest
culture, which endure as strong elements in modern belief
and
worldview. The importance of these events is considerable
because
they evoke outpourings of devotion and emotional
expressions of
belief, while giving opportunity for spiritual renewal.
They also
function to tie the population together in their common
belief
and allegiance to the immortal figure of the saint or
apu,
and thus constitute important bonding mechanisms for
families and
neighborhoods. From the major celebrations--such as those
of two
specifically Peruvian saints, Santa Rosa of Lima and San
Martín
of Porres (Saint Martin of Porres)--to the dozens of
important
regional figures, such as the Virgin de la Puerta (Virgin
of the
Door) in La Libertad Department and the revered saints and
crosses in village chapels, these feast days have a
singular role
in social life. Indeed, not only do settlements have
religious
allegiances, but so, too, do public institutions. For
example,
the armed forces celebrate the day of their patroness, the
Virgen
de las Mercedes (Virgin of the Mercedes--Our Lady of
Ransom),
with pomp and high-level participation around the country.
Since about 1970, Protestantism has been winning
converts in
Peru at a relatively rapid rate among the urban poor and
certain
Indian populations
(see The Church
, ch. 4). Yet,
Peruvians, like
those in other Andean countries, have not been as
receptive to
Protestant entreaties to convert as have people in Central
America. According to one study, only about 4.5 percent of
Peruvians can be counted as Protestants, with the Church
of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) forming about a
quarter of
the number and the rest belonging to various other groups.
To
many, the appeal of Protestantism comes in reaction to the
kinds
of ceremonial obligations that have accompanied Roman
Catholic
practice and the failure of the traditional church to
address
adequately the pressing issues that were problems among
the poor.
Most intensive Protestant missionary attention has been
directed toward the tribal peoples of the Amazon Basin,
where the
Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), Wycliffe Bible
Translators, and similar evangelical groups have long
worked. In
particular, the SIL has occupied a peculiar position in
Peru
through its long-running contracts with the Ministry of
Education
to educate the numerous tribes, such as the Shipibo, and
assist
the government in developing linguistically correct texts
for
several groups. Nevertheless, nationalistic public
reaction to
the SIL's activities has provoked many attempts to force
the
organization out of Peru. Because the force behind the
evangelical movements emanates largely from the United
States and
because Roman Catholicism is the official state religion,
there
have been occasional hints of loyalist hostility with
respect to
zealous proselytizing.
Catholic cults have also bloomed throughout Lima's
squatter
settlements. The role of religion and the fact that the
people
themselves generate institutions of worship with
relatively
little external guidance is yet another expression of the
migrants' striving for a sense of community in the
difficult
circumstances of Lima's squatter settlements.
Data as of September 1992
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