As I read the beginning of Chapter 2 in When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away, I felt the same emotion that presumably most readers do. I was appalled at the way the Friars, along with the Spanish army and governors, imposed their values and religion on the Pueblos through the use of manipulation, fear and force. They had a plan before they arrived to set the Friars up as more powerful figures than the Inside Chiefs. They did this through choreographed acts such as Hernan Cortes kneeling before and kissing the Friar’s hands and hems, and the “rescue” of the Indians who had been sentenced to die. Once these friars were able to inter themselves amongst the Pueblos, they set about destroying or changing the entire structure of Pueblo society. Examples include the change in the division of labor, the lessening of the role of women, the forbiddance of sexual practices and rituals, and probably most important was the wedge they attempted to drive between the juniors and seniors through the changing of gift exchange. If the outcome was not so horrendous one could find humor in the irony of forcibly bringing the “love” of a benevolent God to the Pueblos by gun, sword and whip.
After reading the part in the chapter about the Franciscans and thinking about the syncretic nature of the Catholic religion, I understood more about where the friars were coming from. This in no way implies that I find their methods and the destruction they wrought upon the Pueblos any less abhorrent. It is just that these Franciscans really had faith in what they were doing. They were zealots who truly believed they were leading the Indians “out from the darkness of paganism…” and guiding them to the “Father of Light. So while they were attempting to expel the vestiges of the Pueblo’s old religion and beliefs, they were trying to make Jesus and Christianity more appealing by fitting it into a narrative they could understand. This can be seen in the crucifixes that had blood dripping from underneath the loin cloth on Jesus and in the way the friars portrayed Jesus as a war god by showing the similarities between him and the Pueblo’s Twin War Gods. This is something that Catholicism has done everywhere it has spread. As I stated earlier this does not mean that I have any admiration or absolution for the atrocities they visited upon the Pueblos, but there is an argument for saying they did these things because they felt they were called to do so.
Kelly Beck
After reading the part in the chapter about the Franciscans and thinking about the syncretic nature of the Catholic religion, I understood more about where the friars were coming from. This in no way implies that I find their methods and the destruction they wrought upon the Pueblos any less abhorrent. It is just that these Franciscans really had faith in what they were doing. They were zealots who truly believed they were leading the Indians “out from the darkness of paganism…” and guiding them to the “Father of Light. So while they were attempting to expel the vestiges of the Pueblo’s old religion and beliefs, they were trying to make Jesus and Christianity more appealing by fitting it into a narrative they could understand. This can be seen in the crucifixes that had blood dripping from underneath the loin cloth on Jesus and in the way the friars portrayed Jesus as a war god by showing the similarities between him and the Pueblo’s Twin War Gods. This is something that Catholicism has done everywhere it has spread. As I stated earlier this does not mean that I have any admiration or absolution for the atrocities they visited upon the Pueblos, but there is an argument for saying they did these things because they felt they were called to do so.
Kelly Beck