The concept of marriage and sexuality was, I argue, the greatest dividing force between the Pueblo Indians and the Franciscan friars during seventeenth century New Mexico.
The Franciscan friars used sex and chastity as the basis of their mission to convert the Indians. In the friars’ view, polygamy, concubinage, and sensuality were anti-Christian and abominable. A good Christian kept sex within the marriage, and only as a necessity, not a pleasure. For the friars, the ideal marriage was that of the soul to God in death. Open sexuality was sinful to the friars. However, sex was a prominent force in Pueblo Indian society.
The Pueblo Indians viewed marriage and sex as social alliance between foreigners and themselves and as an important component of gift-giving. When a foreign war chief married a native woman, he was integrated into the Pueblo society. The Franciscan friars installed themselves as, among other titles, the war chiefs to which the Indians should submit. The Indians were amazed at first at the friars’ chastity, but as allegations and confessions about several friars’ “enjoyment” of the native women and the birth of their children surfaced, many Indians were not surprised, because war chiefs, in this case the friars, did have sex with their women. In contrast, many traditionalist Indians were appalled with the joining of Pueblo women with the Christian friars they detested and were especially furious at the physical reminders of such unions present in the resulting children. To offer sexual intercourse with the enemy was to transform him into a benevolent part of their lives, but the traditionalists didn’t want any part of the friars and Spanish they viewed as the enemy.
After the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, as a method of dividing their practices and existence from the exiled Spanish, the Indians had to abandon the spouses they married under Christianity so they could again embrace the traditional aspects of Pueblo marriage and sexuality. Their identity resided in their sexuality just as chastity was essential to the friars. Open sexual practices, or lack thereof, gave each side an identity that barricaded the other from understanding and accepting their religious beliefs.
Stefanie Clark
The Franciscan friars used sex and chastity as the basis of their mission to convert the Indians. In the friars’ view, polygamy, concubinage, and sensuality were anti-Christian and abominable. A good Christian kept sex within the marriage, and only as a necessity, not a pleasure. For the friars, the ideal marriage was that of the soul to God in death. Open sexuality was sinful to the friars. However, sex was a prominent force in Pueblo Indian society.
The Pueblo Indians viewed marriage and sex as social alliance between foreigners and themselves and as an important component of gift-giving. When a foreign war chief married a native woman, he was integrated into the Pueblo society. The Franciscan friars installed themselves as, among other titles, the war chiefs to which the Indians should submit. The Indians were amazed at first at the friars’ chastity, but as allegations and confessions about several friars’ “enjoyment” of the native women and the birth of their children surfaced, many Indians were not surprised, because war chiefs, in this case the friars, did have sex with their women. In contrast, many traditionalist Indians were appalled with the joining of Pueblo women with the Christian friars they detested and were especially furious at the physical reminders of such unions present in the resulting children. To offer sexual intercourse with the enemy was to transform him into a benevolent part of their lives, but the traditionalists didn’t want any part of the friars and Spanish they viewed as the enemy.
After the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, as a method of dividing their practices and existence from the exiled Spanish, the Indians had to abandon the spouses they married under Christianity so they could again embrace the traditional aspects of Pueblo marriage and sexuality. Their identity resided in their sexuality just as chastity was essential to the friars. Open sexual practices, or lack thereof, gave each side an identity that barricaded the other from understanding and accepting their religious beliefs.
Stefanie Clark