Abstract
INTEREST inspired by the archaeology of Mexico and Central America is apt to divert attention from the study of the Indians themselves who lived in these regions, and the effect on them of the clash of cultures which arose out of the Spanish conquest, both at the time and in their subsequent history. It is, in fact, only comparatively recently that it has been realised that the customs and beliefs of the ‘Indian of to-day present an unrivalled field for the study of syncrisis in culture and religion. The possibilities of such study are suggested, for example, by a recent publication of the Institut d'Ethnologie of Paris, “La Conquete spirituelle du Mexique”, by M. Robert Rieard (Trav. et Mem., 20), in which it is remarked that the failure of the Church to establish a native priesthood as part of the campaign of Christianisation has never ceased to affect the course of history in the country down to this day by segregating the native population, even though the Spaniards were never affected by the colour-line in the accepted sense. M. Ricard's able study of the Catholic missions in Mexico from 1523-4 until 1572, that is, from the first arrival of the mendicant friars, after the conquest of Cortez, down to the arrival of the Jesuits, is based on a careful study of early records. It has, as one side of the picture, the culture of the Indians whom the friars sought to convert, as seen through the eyes of writers such as Sahagun, who recorded native customs for the instruction of those whose duties called them to the work. M. Ricard's researches have placed the early work of the Church in a more correct perspective than has hitherto been possible.
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Missions in New Spain. Nature 134, 454 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134454a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134454a0