75 Syncretism among Native American Peoples

One misconception about Native American religions is that before contact with European colonizers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries CE they operated in a timeless “Golden Era.” Adopting this popular misconception means that the changes in Indigenous beliefs post-conquest can only be described negatively as degeneration. Instead, it should be noted that change, innovation, and adaptation are characteristics found in all religions. Many Indigenous communities incorporated change through oral communication, but, generally speaking, European colonizers were ill-equipped to notice and record subtle changes in beliefs and rituals over time. This section highlights syncretism, meaning the amalgamation of different religions, cultures, and schools of thought, among certain Native American groups such as the Nahua of central Mexico. In doing so, the authors hope to show the dynamic process by which societal change can occur among Indigenous societies.

Admittedly, the political and religious changes that visited Native Americans in the wake of the arrival of the Europeans were massive, unprecedented, and highly destructive. Entire languages and cultures were depicted negatively and, often times, pushed underground or into extinction. Other times, religious icons imported from Europe were incorporated into Native American cultures, creating a hybridized version of the original. Among the Nahua of central Mexico, scholars have identified the pre-Columbian fertility deity known as Tonantzin, meaning “our dear mother” as a syncretic form of the Virgin Mary. Consequently, Tonantzin has transformed this Catholic saint and mother of Jesus Christ into the well-known Virgin of Guadalupe.