SYNCRETIC CULTURES

Whenever two or more cultures come into contact, there is a mixing of some elements from each. Syncretism is one specific type of cultural blending that, in its most extreme form, results in the development of a new culture or ethnic group characterized by numerous cultural traits and institutions that are an amalgam of traits drawn from different cultures. A less extreme example of syncretism involves the development of new forms of cultural institutions through a blending of traits but not a transformation of the entire culture. Syncretism is most evident among the African-ancestry cultures of the Caribbean region, including those in Brazil, along the northern coast of South America, in eastern Middle America, and on the Caribbean islands.

The various blendings involve the West African cultures brought from Africa by slaves, American Indian cultures (especially Carib culture), and the cultures of the European settlers—Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, and Dutch.

African Brazilian Candomble, Cuban Santeria, and Haitian Voudun (Voodoo) are all syncretic religions formed through a combination of theology and practices from African religions brought by slaves and the Roman Catholicism of the European colonizers. Voudun, for example, is based on African elements, primarily from the Fon of Benin, the Yoruba of Nigeria, and the Kongo of Zaire and Angola, coupled with the form of Roman Catholicism imposed by the French colonists.

From African religions come various spirits, although they are often redefined to fit the Haitian situation, such as the Yoruba iron smithing spirit, Ogou, called Ogan in rural Haiti and seen as the spirit of military power; the image of Africa itself as the homeland and the home of the spirits; and African rites for serving the spirits.

Added to this African base and merged with it are elements taken from Roman Catholicism, including specific rites such as baptism, Mass, and confession; Catholic prayers; the names of saints; and the role of the "bush priest," whose status is based on his ability to conduct Catholic rites in the original Latin. In Haitian Voudun and other syncretic religions, the elements do not simply exist side by side, but are often merged in various ways. For example, the African god Bondye, the "Good God," is linked with the Christian God while the Snake deity, Danbala, is linked to St. Patrick, who is depicted with snakes around his neck.

Earlier in the twentieth century, social scientists viewed syncretic elements of a culture such the Voudun religion as an adaptive response to the colonial situation that enabled oppressed peoples to live in both their own and the world of the colonists. More recently, syncretism has become a mechanism of resistance and revolt, through which African-ancestry communities in Brazil, Suriname, Haiti, and elsewhere developed their own sense of a unique ethnic consciousness and used that consciousness to seek recognition and political power.

In Brazil, syncretic religions are an important element in the black consciousness movement. In Haiti, Voudun played a role in the overthrow of the Duvalier government in 1986, as it had in the slave revolt of 1789-1804 that ended French rule, the only such revolt that has been successful in human history.

The label syncretic cultures is used for some peoples of Middle America known as Black Caribs or Garifima; they are descended from African slaves and American Indians, and their modern culture is a mix of African, American Indian, and European elements. The Black Caribs of Honduras are descendants of escaped slaves who settled on the island of St. Vincent beginning in 1635 and the Carib Indians then resident there.

After 1796, when the British took the island from the French, these Black Caribs fled west, ultimately settling in Honduras. As elsewhere, syncretism in Black Carib culture is most noticeable in the religion, which combines the Catholic liturgy, saints, and the afterworld with African ritual, theology, and spirits. Syncretism is also found in the economic system, in the diet, in kinship, and in politics.

The Black Carib diet, for example, includes cassava bread and chili peppers (Carib Indian), fish stews and cooking in oil (African), and the growing of crops for sale (European) as well as for their own consumption.

Syncretism is a poorly understood phenomenon, and little is known about how cultural elements become integrated or why some elements of culture, such as religion, are more open to syncretization than are other elements, such as the kinship system, which is more likely to simply change, with the traditional replaced by the new. Additionally, the study of the development of syncretic cultures or cultural institutions is one of historical and ethno-historical reconstruction, the findings of which are open to various interpretations.

To some extent, interest in New World syncretism has waned in recent years; interest has shifted to the unique features—both past and present—of indigenous and diaspora cultures in the New World. One factor that does seem to affect syncretism is the extent to which new elements fit with the old. An ongoing worldwide syncretic phenomenon is the attraction of many Gypsy peoples (most of whom are Roman Catholic) to Pentecostalism (both religions merged with some uniquely Gypsy beliefs and practices) due to the fit between aspects of Pentecostalism and the Gypsy ethos.

For example, the Piemontese Sinti of northern Italy have been drawn to Pentecostalism by its use of miracle cures and divine revelation, which fit Sinti interests; the ease of becoming a minister (celibacy is not required); the ease of ministering (which is allowed in the Sinti language); and the communal nature of the rites, which bring different communities together.

By David Levinson in "Ethnic Relations - A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia", ABC-CLIO, USA, 1994, excerpts 225-226. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.