Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:1; I:20)

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Spanish Culture ----- Religion: La Religión

In the U.S., there is a distinct separation between church and state. Often it gets to the point where people just avoid talking about religion altogether. In Latin America, this is very different. I have experienced this first hand because I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, during two years, in a few Latin American countries. I lived among the native people and didn't have any full English conversations for all but two months that I lived there. This is one of the main reasons I have come to love the Latin people, culture, and the Spanish language so much.

With regards to religion in Latin America, I would say in my experience that about 90 to 95% of Latin Americans are Catholic. In Latin America, they take their religion very seriously. Many are devout church-goers (I would guess a lot more than in the US) but there are still many who claim to be religious who only go to church a few times a year. Many of them claim to have dreams and visions about the Virgin Mary and other Catholic saints.

Unlike the United States, in Latin America the Catholic Church is very involved in the government, the schools, and civic organizations. There isn't a clear separation of church and state like in the U.S.

Something that surprised me is that in some Latin American countries, they celebrate "mes morado" [mes more-daw-though], or in English -- "purple month". Every year in October, many of them dress in their purple "habits" (robes) and wear them during the whole month as a sign of their religious devotion. Not many of the population do this; I would say maybe 5 to 10% of the people wore them. Basically, enough people wore them to attract the attention of a foreigner like me.

Another interesting cultural note is that some of the most religiously dedicated people go on "campañas" [com-pawn-yaws] maybe once a year with their religious groups. A "campaña" is a type of religious trek they take. I talked to a few people personally who had been involved with "campañas". They said they would hike for a few days with a large group of people usually up into a mountain to some type of religious shrine and then they would pray and worship.

To change the topic a little, I saw on the news about a month ago a story about a Latin American family living in the U.S. and mixed in with the story was a Latin girl who claimed to have a vision about the Virgin Mary. To people not familiar with the Latin culture, the story may have sounded very unusual. But, knowing the Latin culture, you would now realize that this is a very common occurrence.

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¡Adiós! (Good bye!)


David S. Clark -- President
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@spanishprograms.com
http://www.spanishprograms.com