Many religions have existed throughout history and, in fact, many of them still exist today. As they have grown, these religions have not been able to avoid establishing contact with others and, far from imposing themselves, they have combined some of their rites, creating a whole new faith or belief.
There are many examples of religious syncretism and, in fact, we could say that practically all current religions are the result of uniting, combining and modifying their ancestral rituals. Let’s look at a few examples.
10 examples of religious syncretism, and its influences
Before looking at examples of religious syncretism, we must first understand what it refers to. Syncretism comes from the Greek “synkretismos” (“syn”, “with”; “kriti”, “Cretan”; and “ismos”, “doctrine”) and is the phenomenon in which traits typical of two or more cultures are combined, societies, ideologies or creeds. This word has its origin in a story told by Plutarch who said that, in times of war, the inhabitants of the island of Crete put aside their differences in order to join forces and expel the invader.
Syncretism usually occurs in conflict situations in which the union of two ways of understanding the world results in a new one that is respectful of the original beliefs, even though they may be contradictory in many ways. Instead of imposing one culture over the other, both contribute to creating a new one. In the field of religion, what happens is that two religious faiths change and create similarities, uniting their followers.
1. Saint Thomas of Chichicastenango
In Guatemala there is the Church of Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango, one of the few Catholic temples in the world where rites from another religion are allowed both inside and outside: the ancient Mayan religion Legend has it that in the mid-18th century, Father Francisco Ximénez found inside the temple a very valuable manuscript, very important in the history of the Quiche language: the Popol Vuh, the Mayan “Bible.”
Father Ximénez read the manuscript inside the church and, from that moment on, indigenous people of Mayan descent can practice a religion that combines aspects of Catholic worship with those of the Mayan, being a clear example of religious syncretism. Colored candles, incense smoke, flower petals and brandy cannot be missing from their services.
2. God Serapis
The ancient Greeks established contact with Ancient Egypt and, since both cultures were polytheistic, they could not help but compare the Hellenic gods with those of North Africa. Over time Ancient Greece conquered Egypt and the conquerors under the command of Ptolemy I made the decision to combine the Greek religion with the Egyptian religion
Thus, the conquerors decided to link the Egyptian god Osiris with the Greek ox Apis, knowing the Egyptian tradition of praying to gods with animal faces. From this combination emerged the Greek-Egyptian deity of Serapis, who became an official god in both cultures. The image that the Greeks created served both Greeks and Egyptians, since he was a deity with a double face: human and ox.
3. Protestant Reformation
Syncretism was not a very frequent phenomenon in Christianity until the Protestant Reformation. It is at that time that we can mention some attempts to combine specifically Christian features with those of other religions and classical cultures, as was the case of Erasmus of Rotterdam when reading about Plutarch. Syncretism was also a very important aspect for the Neoplatonists like Marsilio Ficino, who tried to reform the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
4. African American religions
Catholicism in the Caribbean and Central and South America has integrated many elements from both pre-Columbian indigenous people and slaves of African origin. Some of these religious currents are included within the Catholic Church, this institution showing a certain tolerance towards the symbols and traditions of ancient indigenous and African belief systems.
However, also There are religions that, although Christian-based, have not been accepted by official Catholicism, such as voodoo and Santeria, openly condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. Both rites are the product of combining Christian mysticism, African rites and Caribbean beliefs, resulting in a kind of black magic that, no matter how rejected it is by the most generic Christianity, has become the symbol of Caribbean identity.
The Lacandón people are a Mayan culture that lives in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Within this culture there is the word “Äkyantho’”, a term that means “the god of foreigners”. This god is actually the Christian God, and the Lacandon worldview also includes his son Jesus, whom they call Hesuklistos
This culture recognizes Hesuklistos as a god, but he is not part of their main pantheon nor can the Lacandons be said to be Christians since Jesus is a minor deity for them. Still, it is clear that the incorporation of Jesus into his ancestral religion is an example of religious syncretism.
6. Asian Catholicism
In the same way that in the West there are more and more people who follow Buddhism, Confucianism and Shintoism for the simple reason of being exotic and typical of a distant region, in Asia the same thing happens but with the Western: each time they are more the Asians who decide to become Christians.
However, they have not simply acquired Christianity. Given the cultural differences between the West and countries like Korea or Japan, teaching lifelong Catholicism is something that would be doomed to failure. For this reason, especially in South Korea, a syncretized version of Catholicism with Buddhist and Confucian traditions has been adopted. So, Koreans do not give up their traditional ceremonies, but adapt them with the teachings of Jesus
7. Benedicaria
In the South of Italy and in Sicily we can find a popular Catholicism called Benedicaria. This religion combines the ancestral traditions of southern Italy with the official practices of Roman Catholicism. It is said that its origins date back to the times of Magna Graecia, since there are many Hellenic cultural features that can be identified in this peculiar local rite, in addition to later Norman influences.
Bahá’ís follow Bahá’u’lláh, a prophet who they believe was the successor of Muhammad, Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Zarathustra, Krishna and Abraham The fact that they accept that their chief prophet came after so many other founders of very popular religions has given rise to the idea that the Bahá’i religion is actually a purely syncretic faith.
Despite this, these people consider that Bahá’u’lláh’ was revealed to them completely independently as a revelation from God, although it could be related to the doctrines of other religions. Even so, the similarity between this prophet and the Bahá’i god with that of Jesus and the Christian God has also raised the possibility that this religion is an alternative version of the most primitive Christian creed.
9. Rastafarian movement
Syncretism is a common phenomenon in the Caribbean. Given the contact with the original indigenous cultures such as black slaves and settlers from Spain, France, England and Holland, in the region it was practically inevitable that a creed would emerge that tried to unite many elements to increase social cohesion, making everyone felt comfortable believing in the same thing.
In addition to voodoo and branches of Catholicism in the Caribbean, there is an important movement that has become very famous worldwide: the Rastafarian movement Originally from Jamaica, he syncretizes many elements from the Bible, the Pan-African movement of Marcus Garvey, European traditions, the sixth and seventh books of Moses, Hinduism and Caribbean culture.
10. Moonism
The Unification Church or Moonism is considered a syncretic organization that was founded by the Korean Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012). This religion It aims to transcend the great universal religions, unite Korean messianism and unite the philosophy of Christianity with that of the Far East
This religious proposal is so syncretic that its members have had no qualms about participating in official rites and ceremonies of other religions, such as Christianity or Islam, despite there being theological differences.
