Introduction -- Visualizing the miraculous : the Virgin of the Rosary mural at Tetela del Volcán (Morelos) -- Organizing missions in sixteenth century central Mexico -- Dateline Yodzocahi (Yanhuitlan) 1542 : "idolatry" and an Inquisition investigation -- Visualizing the sacred : embedded stones and native religious iconography -- Representations of death and the challenge of evangelization -- Confraternities and the ritual of penitence : Catholic practice or ritual self-sacrifice? -- Conclusions
Summary
French historian Robert Ricard postulated a quick and facile evangelization of the native populations of central Mexico. However, evidence shows that native peoples incorporated Catholicism into their religious beliefs on their own terms, and continued to make sacrifices to their traditional deities. In particular the deities of rain (Tlaloc and Dzahui) and the fertility of the soil (Xipe Totec) continued to be important following the conquest and the beginning of the so-called "spiritual conquest." This study examines visual evidence of the persistence of traditional religious practices, including embedded pre-hispanic stones placed in churches and convents, and pre-hispanic iconography in what ostensibly were Christian murals
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-180), and index
