Il culto di Maria Lionza
lunedì, 21 Novembre, 2011Venezuela, un terzo della popolazione si stima che abbia partecipato al culto di Maria Lionza. Ecco cosa è. Da Al Jazeera del 21.11.2011:
The Cult of Maria Lonza
Venezuelan religion draws thousand to mountainside rituals for puridfication and guidance
Of Rhodri Davies
A man with his own blood dripping over his torso makes guttural noises, before placing his hands on a pilgrim to cleanse him.
The bloodied entity embodies the spirit of a Viking, and is believed to have healing powers.
In a trance, he pushes the pilgrim to the ground, who appears shocked and dulled.
Thousands of followers of the cult of Maria Lionza enter into such purifications, spiritual acts and rituals every October.
It inspires religious devotion in some and has grown in popularity in Venezuela during the last few decades. One of few studies on the number of followers says up to one third of the population from every strata of society have in some way participated in the cult.
“I have been coming here for 30 years. I come to be with the spirits and to cleanse myself. I come to have a release from normal life,” said one woman.
Day and night, thousands of worshipers nestle themselves on the side of Sorte Mountain in the northwest, lighting candles and smoking cigars for purification and chanting to drum beats.
October 12 is usually the most sacred day – Venezuela’s Day of Indigenous Resistance – when some pilgrims dressed as Indians come to walk over fire in a show called Baile de las Brasas (dance of hot coals). They say the force of spirits prevent them from feeling the flames.
The cult has its origins in the writings of 19th-century Frenchman Leon Denizarth-Hippolyte Rivail. Rivail wrote, under the name Allan Kardec, that people could seek guidance from the souls of dead people summoned into a living body.
This has merged with African, indigenous and Catholic beliefs, brought under the central figure of Maria Lionza – or ‘La Reina’ (the Queen).
According to legend, Maria Lionza’s lived on Sorte Mountain in the 15th-century, after her Indian chief father sent her there for safety. One day, when staring into the river a giant anaconda ate her. But from within the anaconda Maria Lionza promised the mountain to disintegrate herself there if she were saved. When the mountain agreed, Maria Lionza and Sorte Mountain became one.
Her fame has grown so widespread that the salsa singer Ruben Blades composed a song about her in 1977 and a former Miss Veneuela starred in an eponymous TV movie.
On Sorte Mountain, near the town of Chivacoa in Yaracuy state, spirits, with one leading, are arranged into ‘courts’ with various identities – for example, Indian, African, Viking or Liberator.
Different spirits appear in the courts – including farming spirits, criminals and Simon Bolivar – Venezuela’s nineteenth century liberator.
Courts sit below the “Tres Potencias”, or three powers: Guaicaipuro – a native Indian chief, Negro Filipe – a black slave and at the pinnacle Maria Lionza. They all reside below Catholic saints who cannot be reached via mediums.
In a small clearing, a man in a red dress speaks in tongues and shouts cackles, as he interprets people’s souls and troubles.
The shaman beckons a woman into the circle of followers and helpers that surround him and an alter.
Amid cursing, smoking cigarettes and the drinking of a local liquor, he demands to know the about the woman’s stability, before blessing her using honey and a candle.
Next a man is told to come forth. The spirit tells him that he is searching that he cannot find, most prominently for a lover, before blessing him.
Followers are able to engage in direct dialogue with the spirit in the bodies of mediums.
Wade Glenn is an adjunct assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Tulane University in New Orleans and has spent about four years researching the cult as part of his PhD. He said: “The ability to have a face-to-face conversation with a spiritual entity who one believes has the power to resolve one’s problems is very therapeutic.”
“People discuss their problems with the spirits and receive advice and perhaps a healing ritual. Practitioners refer to the spirits as ‘hermanos’ [brothers] and feel a very close personal bond with these spirits.”
Traditional curing practices had been prohibited until the 1960s in Venezuela – where Catholicism is the dominant religion. However, currently legislation protects such religious groups.
Its devotees are mainly from the poorer sectors of society. At present, they often look for protection from insecurity in one of South America’s most dangerous countries, or economic progression in a nation where 37 per cent of people live in poverty.
“The failure of achieving cultural expectations causes young men to select between two options – they may choose a life of crime or they may choose to become a medium in the cult of Maria Lionza. Mediums earn respect. They feel important and powerful,” Glenn said.
But the upper classes have also had periods of affiliation from the 1950s and many now practice, typically for assistance with personal, family or relationship issues.
“These are reasons why people in the United States might go to a psychologist but many people in Venezuela prefer to seek a practitioner of Maria Lionza,” according to Glenn.
People also come for help with physical ailments, sometimes believed to be caused by witchcraft.
Where established institutions – whether government, the Catholic Church, health services or the security apparatus – in Venezuela are lacking, Maria Lionza is filling a gap.
To many is it a release from daily struggles, a hope for change in their lives – physical, emotional or financial – and a
steadiness in a nation increasingly viewed as unstable.
- Appuntamenti (45)
- Best (136)
- Cultura (95)
- Fotografia (26)
- Internet-Media (108)
- Lettere (20)
- Libri (25)
- Mondo (2.247)
- Ndrangheta (4)
- Politica (192)
- Società (3.530)
-
andrea
Flavia Perina in questa prosa che filtra cose a lei scomode (Elena Pacinelli) e amplifica particolari insignificanti (presnuto gramscianesimo della… -
Alessandro Londero
Salve, se Paolo Brogi avesse richiamato magari avrebbe potuto avere più info di quel viaggio. Ora che l’ONU ha fatto… -
Geneva
Hi there to every body, it's my first visit of this blog; this webpage consists of awesome and in fact…
- Aprile 2022
- Marzo 2022
- Febbraio 2022
- Gennaio 2022
- Dicembre 2021
- Novembre 2021
- Ottobre 2021
- Maggio 2021
- Marzo 2021
- Febbraio 2021
- Gennaio 2021
- Dicembre 2020
- Settembre 2020
- Maggio 2020
- Aprile 2020
- Marzo 2020
- Febbraio 2020
- Giugno 2019
- Maggio 2019
- Aprile 2019
- Marzo 2019
- Gennaio 2019
- Novembre 2018
- Ottobre 2018
- Settembre 2018
- Agosto 2018
- Giugno 2018
- Maggio 2018
- Marzo 2018
- Febbraio 2018
- Gennaio 2018
- Novembre 2017
- Ottobre 2017
- Maggio 2017
- Aprile 2017
- Marzo 2017
- Febbraio 2017
- Gennaio 2017
- Dicembre 2016
- Novembre 2016
- Ottobre 2016
- Settembre 2016
- Agosto 2016
- Luglio 2016
- Giugno 2016
- Maggio 2016
- Aprile 2016
- Marzo 2016
- Febbraio 2016
- Gennaio 2016
- Dicembre 2015
- Novembre 2015
- Ottobre 2015
- Settembre 2015
- Agosto 2015
- Luglio 2015
- Giugno 2015
- Maggio 2015
- Aprile 2015
- Marzo 2015
- Febbraio 2015
- Gennaio 2015
- Dicembre 2014
- Novembre 2014
- Ottobre 2014
- Settembre 2014
- Agosto 2014
- Luglio 2014
- Giugno 2014
- Maggio 2014
- Aprile 2014
- Marzo 2014
- Febbraio 2014
- Gennaio 2014
- Dicembre 2013
- Novembre 2013
- Ottobre 2013
- Settembre 2013
- Agosto 2013
- Luglio 2013
- Giugno 2013
- Maggio 2013
- Aprile 2013
- Marzo 2013
- Febbraio 2013
- Gennaio 2013
- Dicembre 2012
- Novembre 2012
- Ottobre 2012
- Settembre 2012
- Agosto 2012
- Luglio 2012
- Giugno 2012
- Maggio 2012
- Aprile 2012
- Marzo 2012
- Febbraio 2012
- Gennaio 2012
- Dicembre 2011
- Novembre 2011
- Ottobre 2011
- Settembre 2011
- Agosto 2011
- Luglio 2011
- Giugno 2011
- Maggio 2011
- Aprile 2011
- Marzo 2011
- Febbraio 2011
- Gennaio 2011
- Dicembre 2010
- Novembre 2010
- Ottobre 2010
- Settembre 2010
- Agosto 2010
- Luglio 2010
- Giugno 2010
- Maggio 2010
- Aprile 2010
- Marzo 2010
- Febbraio 2010
- Gennaio 2010