İnanç Dosyası 29 | Syncretism

Vietnam – Tay Ninh, the temple of the Holy See of the Cao Dai creed. 

The term SYNCRETISM is used to designate a system which reconciles dissonant elements or combines heterogeneous elements, or for systems which endeavour to reconcile conflicting philosophies or inimical factions of theology. Syncretism in religion usually comes about through the communication and interplay between different cultures. A thriving syncretism is a result of the contributions from popular traditional rites, mystery cults, astrology, mythologies, magic, ecclesiastical cosmologies and the speculations of philosophy. Syncretism comes about as a natural, unconscious movement whenever differing cultures come into contact. Occasionally however, it can be brought about by a conscious, systematic endeavour. In many parts of the world, the activities of missionaries have produced many various syncretistic forms of religions, which combine Christian with native elements. In that sense, syncretistic developments are found in nearly every religious faith. The many conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE brought about the meeting of east and west, caused differing cults and mythologies to become acquainted with each other, and increased the interaction between the eastern religions and the west over a vast geographical area. This mixture of Greek and eastern forms of worship was widespread in the Hellenistic age. Whether primitive or sophisticated, many contemporary systems of religion and cults have today a distinctly syncretistic nature.

The following chapter on Syncretism will deal with Cao Daism, Agama Hinduism and Santerias.

A huge church with some surprising sights.  Along the walls are wooden statues of the saints, each of whom gets a new shawl embroidered by local women every year.  Depicting the saints with the villagers’ own features and dressing them in their own regional costume undoubtedly makes it easier for them to identify with the church doctrine.  There are wooden carvings with the figures of corn (from which humans were formed, according to Mayan religion).

Guatemala - Santiago Atitlan

 

On the steps of the Cathedral, Maya men and women pray and burn incense before entering the church to approach the altar.

Guatemala, Chichicastenango.

 

There are many examples of the way in which, after the arrival of the Spaniards, Christian beliefs and forms of worship synchronised with local customs. The Virgin Mary and Pachamama (the Soil Mother), the Rain God, Illapa, (known to the Aymaras as Thunupa) and Saint James were held as equal partners. In the same way, pagan festivals and Christian feast days overlapped. The southern solstice on which rain prayers were offered and Christmas, also the Inti Raymi festival celebrated to prevent frost and drought and a Catholic feast day were combined.  Natives who once were not allowed in the church to pray can now practice their faith in their own way. 

Bolivia – Copacabana, in Our Lady Morena del Lago Church.

Priests sing to a mournful drum rhythm at the monastery of Ura-Kidanemeret, Lake Tana. Music and dance are an integral part of the religious ceremony in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and their mastery requires many years of rigorous training. Yared, a sixth century Ethiopian saint, is said to have devised the first system of musical notation in Africa and to have composed the entire body of formalised sacred music and dance still in use in Ethiopia today.

Ethiopia,Lake Tana