I have said that Christianity was paganized and the conditions to-day prove the statement. New ceremonies and symbols were substituted for the old, and the saints took the place of the former idols as a visible object of worship. Religious fiestas, of which there are now about two hundred each year, and processions were established to attract and hold the natives to the new worship and in an outward sense they were a success. Many of the religious ceremonies are performed with the most lamentable indifference and want of decorum. Some of the celebrations in the churches in the more remote districts include dances of the most grotesque description, being as near as possible to the old rites of the natives. The priests justify these ceremonies by saying that it is necessary in order to hold them in the church. “The old customs,” says one, “are respectable; it is well to preserve them, only taking care that they do not degenerate into orgies.”
These same simple natives will attend the churches to-day and kneel before the sacred images while making their prayers, and burn their candles, and then go and consult their old wizards and follow whatever his instructions may be. The old and the new superstitions are wofully confused in their minds, but they want to be on the safe side by following both. They even burn an incense made of gum opal before the altars in the churches, the same as formerly used in their idol worship. They will sometimes kneel to a blank wall or door post and mutter their prayers, being absolutely oblivious to anything going on around them. The impressive services, the chanting, the solemn music attract the Indian but at heart he is simply an idolater.
The Quiché Tribe of Guatemala, who are the most numerous body of Indians in that country, are descendants of that ancient race of builders who held sway in the Valley of Mexico from the seventh to the twelfth century—the Toltecs. Driven from there by the victorious Aztecs they fled south and early in the sixteenth century were divided into two or three powerful and flourishing kingdoms in northern and northwestern Guatemala. These people are also closely related to the Maya race in Yucatan who have been such a source of trouble to the Mexican government. They carried with them some of the gods and the horrible practices of their conquerors.
It is estimated that there are some three hundred and fifty thousand of the Quiché tribes now living in Guatemala. They are quite industrious being engaged in agriculture and the weaving of cotton and woollen goods. Although nominal Catholics, yet they follow their own customs of worship. They have their own wizards, who are always old men, and follow a strange mixture of fire and devil worship. These old men, the wizards or priests, are much feared and held in great reverence by the people. It is well known that the Indians have certain concoctions that will produce madness, and it is claimed that these wizards will sometimes give such herbs to the victims of their displeasure. The people at least credit them with such actions and fear is but a natural result.
During the first century and a half of Spanish rule hundreds of churches were built in Guatemala. It became a pious duty for returning Spaniards to bring paintings and statues of saints for these newly-erected churches and holy relics of the saints to place therein. Now most of these sacred edifices are in a very poorly preserved state. Much of the church property has been confiscated. The wealth thus having been taken away and the natives being poor, the churches have a neglected appearance. Even bats make their abode in some of these structures devoted to the worship of God.
The services are open to all and the Indian with a crate of chickens or turkeys on his back kneels side by side with a señorita who has the bluest of blood in her veins. They meet by a common genuflection. There are many old crude organs yet in the churches with the wind supplied by a bellows much the same as that found in a blacksmith shop. And as if this were not enough, native instruments, including a drum made of hides stretched over the hollow trunks of trees, are used, and bombs and rockets are let off to add to the confusion and make a deeper impression on the mind of the poor native.
The most absurd paintings and statues are used to portray sacred characters to the worshippers. In one place God is represented as a man with a bald head and white beard, almost as hideous as some of the eastern idols. Christ is represented both as a shaven monk and with bent legs, and staples in the ankles to strap him to a mule on Palm Sunday. Another figure of Christ, according to a careful writer, represents him with glass eyes, long human hair and a crown cocked over on his left eye like a drunken man. In the same church is an altar piece with deeply sunken panel containing a realistic crucifix with glass eyes, sweat, long hair, blood drops and from five wounds proceed skeins of crimson thread representing the blood flowing—a horrible and repulsive sight that seems to attract these simple people. On one side of this panel are Roman soldiers mocking the suffering of the Christ; on the other is a Guatemaltecan general in full uniform (the one who presented this gruesome work to the church) weeping at the sight. In a church at Esquipulas is a picture of the people lassoing Christ, and in another is a picture of a priest offering a consecrated wafer to a kneeling ass.
Huge figures, which are really dolls, represent the Virgin and other Marys. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, is generally represented as a large doll, all lace and tinsel, and is carried through the streets accompanied by music, flowers and fireworks. On December 8th is celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception. On this occasion religious processions are held which march over the principal streets and women dress up as devils and animals and dance before the image of the Virgin in many places. Many rockets are fired and candles are burned in almost every window. Holy week is also filled with processions in which images of the Virgin, Christ and the saints are carried through the streets. The day is a public holiday and candles are burned in almost every window. The most famous shrine is that at Esquipulas, called Our Lord of Esquipulas, and where the statue (if such it can be called) generally known as the Black Christ, is found. This was made in Guatemala City in 1594. The image is less than life size and has long female hair. Formerly as many as fifty thousand pilgrims came there in a year even from far away Mexico and Panama. Money then flowed into this shrine in great abundance, but it is now rather neglected.
It is little wonder that the men of the Creole class very seldom attend the services. Bringing down the Christian worship to such a low level cannot do otherwise than alienate one who thinks for himself. The majority of the men simply stand by without interfering with the services, but at heart they are atheistic and it is little wonder.
Several Catholic writers have been the most severe critics of the religious conditions in many parts of Spanish-America. The cause, in my opinion, has been the mixture of the religious with the political, in which the corruption of the latter lowered the high plane on which religion should stand. Those of the clergy who were ambitious for power cloaked their movements under the guise of religion and thus brought the odium of their political movements upon the Church, which, as an organization, had nothing to do with it. It is impossible, however, to absolutely separate the two in treating of the conditions which have existed in times past and which still exist in some places.