While watching the festivities today from the bar balcony, I observed the celebration of many catholic saints and figures such as San Cristobal and The Virgen, but one stuck out to me in particular. Upon a raised platform, carried by probably 20 or 30 young men, the large rearing up figure of a horse and rider meandered around the chaotic square. Jon told me this figure represented Santiago Mataindios. Santiago Mataindios is a patron saint that represents the murder of indigenous people in the pursuit of evangelization of the Pre-Hispanic populus. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Were hundreds, thousands, of people here to venerate an idol of murder against the indigenous people, in the name of Catholicism? It made me wonder, just how much of a strong hold does Catholicism have on modern-day Cusco and in the context of Corpus Christi, how is indigeneity treated.
Stockholm syndrome is defined as a “coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation where people develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time (Cleveland Clinic). The parallels seemed undeniable as I watched the mass of bodies engulfed in ritual, one that celebrated the motivational force behind the death, ruin, and destruction for many of their ancestors.
Inka Bodies reinforces that Corpus Christi is a celebration of triumph, triumph of Christianity and of Conquest. The symbols and rituals nested within the festival celebrate the “victory of the Roman Catholic Church over heretics”. Elements such as the litter, the cart, the arch, and the visual and performative aspects of the festival are meant to symbolize the triumph of the Christian God over the Inkaic Sun. The text proposes that the inclusion of indigenous dance, dress, and custom was of no concern to the Spanish as to them it was either “entertaining” or an expression of joy which was read as compliance. Fast forwarding to the modern day festival, the expressions of indigeneity remain woven into the festival for the purpose of spectacle. But behind the spectacle, is syncretism evidence of indigenous permanence or is the willingness to participate in the Corpus evidence of indelible mark Catholicism has left on Peru? Furthermore, Dean refers to Cuzco as “A museum of the Inka, a place where the past was warehoused and brought out for occasional display” (25). The tension between the celebration of the indigenous in an authentic way with the celebration of the modern day Peru was squarely on display today.
Do the celebrations of Corpus Christi and the culture of Catholicism in modern-day Latin America constitute a form of Stockholm syndrome?
Does the spectatorship we are participating in contribute to the celebration of indigeneity or the celebration of the subjugation of the indigenous to evangelization?
3 replies on “Corpus Christi and Stockholm Syndrome”
Hi Morgan,
This is a fascinating point you bring up! It reminds me of earlier today, as well, when one of the people speaking mentioned that Catholicism was not imposed but rather was welcomed warmly by the region’s Indigenous inhabitants (or something along those lines). A lot of the time, people twist certain histories to positively promote what they support/follow. The question, therefore, is whether these things are expressed due to Stockholm Syndrome, pure convenience, lack of knowledge on what is being shown, or a little bit of all those things.
This is such an insightful blog, great job! It’s such a complex topic. When we start to find out more about the festival and the relationships between the Indigenous Peruvians and the church, it does start to look quite strikingly like Stockholm syndrome. It makes me wonder whether the first people who partook in these types of things did it begrudgingly just to satisfy the Catholic conquerors or if they really believed suddenly that everything they believed prior wasn’t quite right after all.
In some way, Francisco in the tour he gave us through the Cathedral completed that part of the information we needed to understand the appropriation of Catholicism. The last transformation of Santiago, after being Matamoros to Mataindios, is that of Matablancos during the indigenous rebellions. Could it have been the best way to get rid of Stockholm Syndrome?