Discover Chile : Religions

The spirituality of the first peoples

Since time immemorial, native Americans have developed a rich and complex belief system. From Easter Island to the Atacama Desert, via Patagonia, these peoples based their cosmology on reading the sky map, referring to natural phenomena and perpetuating the memory of the Ancients. Pachamama (Mother Nature), the divinization of the Earth, is at the heart of Andean beliefs. Her cult is said to have begun to emerge around the^5th century, well before the apogee of the Inca Empire. Pachamama worship continues today, particularly in the Aymara communities in the north of the country. During ceremonies, offerings are made to thank the Earth for what it offers mankind. The cult of the Pachamama is, after all, nothing other than a celebration of love, gratitude and respect for planet Earth.

In the middle of the Pacific, the Rapa Nui culture is still the subject of in-depth research: whether they originated in Polynesia or are descendants of the Incas, the mystery remains. But one thing is certain: their lives were governed by religious rites and spiritual beliefs. The Moai reflect a strong cult of ancestors, while Make-Make, the creator god, was honored through impressive competitions, such as the "bird man" competition: participants jumped into the sea from the Oronge cliff and swam to the islet Motu Nui, where they had to collect an egg from the mahoke tern, a bird that rarely lays eggs. The one who brought the sacred egg back to his master was then called the Bird Man, or in the local language Tangata manu; he incarnated on Earth the God Maké Maké: the creator of the universe.

In southern Chile, the Alakalufs believed in deities such as Ayayéma (storms and wind), Kawtcho (the night strangler) and Mwono (avalanches). The Yamanas, on the other hand, believed in a supreme being, called Watauinewa (the Ancient One), creator of all things in the world.

The Mapuche, in particular, continue to maintain an intimate relationship with their ancestral culture. To understand the relationship between Mapuche culture and nature, it's important to understand the concept of ngen, the spirit of nature that maintains cosmic balance. This spirit is a supreme beneficent being who helps and protects human beings, and fights against the forces of evil. According to them, they were created by Nguenechen, the creator god who controls life on Earth. According to their beliefs, the Mapuche are surrounded by spirits characterized by ancestral spirits(wangulen), nature spirits(ngen) and evil spirits (wekufe). An important figure in Mapuche culture alongside the lonko (chief), the religious chief(machi) is the bearer of ancestral beliefs and spiritual practices. He is always represented by his rehue (a totem) and his kultrung, a drum. Recognized on the Mapuche flag, the circular shape of the kultrung symbolizes the infinity of the world. The cross on its surface indicates the spaces into which the world is divided, and the central part contains the core and force that maintains the balance between the vertical spaces formed by Wenu Mapu (the land above); Nag Mapu (the land below), and Minche Mapu (the land below). The machi is a man or woman esteemed above all for his or her healing talents. He or she is the master of a complex rite of therapeutic action called Machitún, a ceremony designed to heal the patient of the "evil" that caused it. Machi eliminate evil spirits through shamanic prayers, drumming, trances, massages, herbal infusions and dances. This ceremony is still alive and kicking in many Araucanian communities. But few machi remain: this is obviously due to the strong Catholic and Pentecostal influence that has counterbalanced ancestral mythologies. Today, Mapuche beliefs are built on the principle of syncretism, a concept introduced by Christian evangelization (a kind of fusion between Christianity and Andean cosmogony).

Evangelization

The conditions of evangelization in Chile, and more generally in South America, explain the Christianity present throughout the region today. But to better understand the present, we need to take a step back in time. At the end of the ^15th century, Christopher Columbus set sail for America at the same time as the Catholic Monarchs were engaged in an extensive evangelization and colonization drive. Columbus signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe with the Catholic Monarchs, in other words, he was expected to deploy his political power in the places he was about to discover. He was also renamed Christophoros: "he who carries Christ". After a slow and painful Conquest, the Spaniards succeeded in establishing themselves, notably with the financial support of the Church. Several missionaries set about colonizing Chile, and a system of quasi-servitude was established. Many natives refused to submit to this system of enslavement, more commonly known as encomienda. At the end of the ^16th century, the Spanish Crown called in the Jesuits to instruct the natives in the faith. They first arrived in Santiago in 1593, and the missions then spread from Chiloé to Tierra del Fuego. An in-depth evangelization that worked on the island of Chiloé, still steeped in Jesuit tradition today. In 1887, the first Salesian missionaries founded the first Salesian work in Concepción under the direction of Don Bosco. By the end of the ^19th century, they had established themselves in southern Chile, before moving deeper into Patagonia: they succeeded in raising a mission on the shores of the Strait of Magellan and the archipelagos of Tierra del Fuego. Despite the harsh climate and numerous setbacks, they persevered, gathering several thousand people - mainly Selknams, but also Alakalufes and Yaganes - in a reduction on Dawson Island in 1889, and baptizing 20,000 natives. Marriages, schooling, orphanages and chapels followed. Cultural upheavals included the adoption of Christian names for the baptized, the separation of the sexes (a previously unheard-of puritanism), and the obligation to live in enclosed dwellings instead of moving about freely. The religious missionaries also set up reductions(reduccionnes in Spanish) to group individuals together. This abandonment of nomadism made them more docile sheep and, in Tierra del Fuego, protected them from the violence of the colonizers, who decimated them for stealing sheep raised on the land where they had always lived. The new life was summed up in the Latin formula "ora et labora" ("to pray and to work"), with the constant learning of Christian rites. While teaching was consubstantial with evangelization for the Salesians, it was more sustained for the boys than for the girls, who were assigned to household tasks. In the end, despite the objective of "protecting" the native peoples, the experience was devastating: by the time the mission closed in 1911, only twenty-five of the thousand who had settled there remained. The missionaries' protection of the future Christians eventually led to their extinction. Church representatives, in the name of theological prejudice, were one of the driving forces behind one of mankind's most spectacular genocides.

Some populations claim to have preserved part of their beliefs, even if these are often mixed with Catholic ones.

The influence of the Church

Nowadays, the dominant religion in Chile is the Catholic religion, although there is complete freedom of worship. Chile no longer has a state religion, but is strongly influenced by the Catholic Church (75% of the population is Catholic). The various Protestant currents (recently evangelical) have become very important in recent years and represent about 15% of the population. The dictatorship of Pinochet, a convinced churchgoer, did not for a moment try to change the way things were seen. The influence of the Catholic Church is still palpable; the Church gives its opinion on politics, the economy and social matters (in Chile, abortion is limited to cases of rape, a symptom of a Church very present in politics). Even if freedom of worship has been recognized since 1925, by talking to the inhabitants, one quickly realizes that the society remains very impregnated with this Christian culture. Nevertheless, a more libertarian current is circulating everywhere, especially among the young. Finally, it is important to note that Christianity here is the fruit of a religious syncretism: one finds thus many superpositions between saints and Andean figures. For example, every year the local Atacamene communities celebrate the Candelaria, the feast of San Pedro and the Limpieza de Canales, three festivities marked by the mixture of different local beliefs with the Bible. The festival of La Tirana is also one of the most striking examples of the syncretism present in the country. Located 72 km from Iquique, the small village has only a hundred inhabitants, but every year in July it is invaded by hundreds of thousands of visitors. A colourful carnival that celebrates the Virgin Del Carmen, patron saint of Chile. Legend has it that an Inca princess named Tirana del Tamarugal and a Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Almeida, fell in love during the Spanish Conquest. Converted to Christianity, the young princess decided to be baptized, but during the ceremony, the two lovers were surprised and executed. In the 15th century, the two commemorative crosses were discovered and a chapel was built in homage to the Virgin of Tirana. Thus the practice of ancestor worship and Andean deities is perpetuated under the guise of classical Catholic symbols. In the north of Chile, in particular, the Virgin Mary is often associated with the Pachamama, Mother Earth and symbol of fertility in the Andean cosmogony.