Rich indigenous traditions dating back centuries before European priests arrived in the New World are on display throughout South America.
As Pope Francis tours Ecuador, the government has recruited indigenous people to greet the pontiff at many events. Church officials say he’ll make remarks in native tongues including Aymara, Quechua and Guarani during his South American tour, which also includes stops in Bolivia and Paraguay.
In this June 14, 2015 photo, a woman dressed as Our Lady of Sorrows takes part in a procession marking Ecuador’s identity as a Catholic nation with its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Quito. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
While most of the region’s native peoples identify themselves as Roman Catholic, some practice syncretic rituals that blend the church’s traditional beliefs with native customs. Many Andean people see no contradiction in it, including President Evo Morales of Bolivia.
A recent Corpus Christi festival in the Ecuadorean city of Pujili featured joyous dances and ceremonial acts of thanks to the ancient native gods Inti, or Father Sun, and Pachamama, or Mother Earth. Dressed in brightly colored costumes and tall headdresses decorated with beads, coins, crosses and mirrors, the performers danced to the indigenous deities.
They then moved into the community’s Catholic church to dance in honor of the feast day of the Holy Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
In this June 4, 2015 photo, a boy representing a steward or prioste, carrying a staff or guion, takes part in a Corpus Christi festival, in Pujili, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Other rituals are overwhelmingly Catholic, like a recent procession in Quito honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus. But the participants themselves were overwhelmingly indigenous: from the man carrying the big framed painting of a blond Jesus, to the women dressed as Our Lady of Sorrows in long robes and spiky metal headdresses, to the little girls wearing white angel costumes with wings of real feathers.
In Bolivia, ceremonies to make offerings to Pachamama include the Andean priests reciting the Our Father, while mountain shrines to Mother Earth also have Christian crosses.
The 2009 U.N. Sociolinguist Atlas of Latin America said 71 percent of the people in Ecuador’s highlands are indigenous while 90 percent are in Bolivia.
Click on any image below to launch the gallery.
In this June 4, 2015 photo, a group of dancers enter the church, beginning the start of the Corpus Christi festival, in Pujili, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 4, 2015 photo, a Pujili dancer wears a headdress decorated with Catholic and indigenous symbols, as he performs in the streets of Pujili, Ecuador, during the Corpus Christi celebrations, jointly honoring the Holy Communion, or Eucharist, and Inti, the ancient Inca sun god. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 4, 2015 photo, a group of dancers perform on the main altar of the Catholic church in Pujili, Ecuador, showing gratitude to the Inca Sun God, Inti, the harvest, as well as celebrating the Holy Communion. While most of the region’s native peoples identify themselves as Roman Catholic, some practice syncretic rituals that blend the church’s traditional beliefs with native customs. Many Andean people see no contradiction in it. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 4, 2015 photo, a group of dancers enter the church, marking the start of the Corpus Christi festival, in Pujili, Ecuador. The priest authorizes the entry of the dancers who then perform dancers in honor of the Christian God. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 4, 2015 photo, after the indigenous dancers are long gone, Catholic priests take part in a procession through the streets of PujilÌ, Ecuador, continuing with the the Catholic ritual of the Corpus Christi festivities. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 7, 2015 photo, women walk past an altar dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, as they enter a market in Pujili, Ecuador. Pope Francis will encounter rich indigenous traditions on his South America trip that date back centuries to even before European priests brought Christianity to the New World. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 7, 2015 photo, a dancer wearing a folkloric mesh mask representing a Spaniard and an ornamental headdress decorated with a prayer card of Jesus of Great Power and doll heads, performs in the “Danzante de Pujili” in a mix of Indian ancestral traditions of the harvest and Catholic Corpus Christi in Pujili, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 7, 2015 photo, the steward or prioste, accompanied by his family, leads the way for the dancers during the Corpus Christi celebrations Danzante de PujilÌ, in Pujili, Ecuador. Dressed in brightly colored costumes and tall headdresses decorated with beads, coins, crosses and mirrors, the performers danced to the indigenous deities. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
This June 7, 2015 photo shows an embroidered collage of Catholic and indigenous symbols that intermingle on a dancer’s costume, in Pujili, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 14, 2015 photo, a man parades with a framed image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during a procession marking Ecuador’s identity as a Catholic nation with its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1874, in Quito. Although eight of 10 people in Ecuador say they are Catholic, many take part in festivals that feature joyous dances and ceremonial acts of thanks to the ancient native gods. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 14, 2015 photo, a girl dressed as angel parades with her hands folded in prayer during a procession marking Ecuador’s identity as a Catholic nation with its 1874 consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Quito. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
This June 14, 2015 photo shows framed images of Catholic icons on a street in downtown Quito, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 24, 2015 photo, two musicians walk past a religious mural in Peguche, Ecuador, during the celebrations of the Catholic feast day for St. John the Baptist and the Indian celebration Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In this June 24, 2015 photo, an elderly Quichua Catholic Indian man wears a strand of rosary beads around his neck, in Piaba Chupa, Ecuador. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
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