Hostile Spiritual Takeover: Thug Saints in the Cult of Maria Lionza

September 22, 2013

http://disinfo.com/2013/09/hostile-spiritual-takeover-thug-saints-cult-maria-lionza/
In less than a month, tens of thousands of devotees
to the cigar-smoking and liquor-swilling Venezuelan
religious cult, El Espiritismo Marialioncero, will
make their yearly pilgrimage to Sorte Mountain.
Located there is their most important spiritual site: a
shrine to Maria Lionza, their highest deity, the spirit
of a departed native chiefs daughter.
It is impossible to pin down exactly who Maria
Lionza was, the differing accounts of her history
being numerous and varied. Whether or not she was
an actual historical figure is still argued. Few hints
can be gathered from the many disassociated images
of her, some showing a crowned, green-eyed girl
surrounded by the forest and animals, and some, like
the famous statue by Alejandro Colina standing
beside the Francisco Fajardo Highway in Caracas, depicting a warrior woman, astride a tapir, holding a
female pelvis above her head.
One of the more common stories places her birth sometime during the 16th century, among the native
Nivar tribe. Her birth name was Yara, which, in an attempt by the Spanish to Christianize her story,
would later be changed to Maria. It is said that the tribes shaman prophesied the coming of a greeneyed girl who would have to be sacrificed to the Great Anaconda to divert the destruction of the tribe.
Yaras father, upon seeing her eyes, decided to save the baby from her would-be killers, and hid her in a
cave. She grew up there, watched over by twenty-two warriors, until the day she sneaked away and
visited the nearby lagoon. There, the Great Anaconda caught sight of her, and, falling in love with her,
demanded she come away with him. Yara refused, and in retaliation, he swallowed her whole. But
immediately, the Great Anaconda began to swell, displacing the waters of the lagoon, and flooding the
village, destroying the tribe. He continued to swell until he burst, and the unscathed Yara emerged.
The tale explains her title, Protector of Waters, but as other stories were added to the legend, she
gained more honorifics, such as Goddess of Harvests and Protector of the Animals. When the
Spanish tried to Christianize her, she became known as Santa Maria de la Onza (Saint Mary of the
Jaguar), which was later shortened to Maria Lionza. Her followers refer to her simply as La Reina (the
Queen).
Although she is the principal power worshiped by the cult, Maria Lionza is part of a trinity. Alongside
her are Guaicaipuro and Negro Felipe, an indigenous chief and a black slave who were both murdered
by Spanish colonists. Together, they make up las Tres Potencias (the three powers).

Las Tres Potencias oversee a number of minor deities, grouped

together according to race, occupation, or class. These groups of
spirits are called the courts, which include the Indian Court, the
African Court, the Celestial Court, as well as others.
The history of the religion is as hard to pin down as the history of
Maria, herself. Some say it has been practiced since the fifteenth
century, while some, like Angelina Pollok-Etz (former Professor of
Anthropology at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas),
say it only goes as far back as 1920. From all accounts, it began as
a nature cult, with Maria being a spirit of waters, forests, and
animals, but it quickly began to incorporate elements of Santeria,
Palo, Catholicism, and nineteenth century European Spiritualism.
One of the basic teachings of the cult is that the spirits of the dead
have the ability to intervene in the world of the living. Sorcerers
and mediums (known as boncos and materias) work together to
contact spirits for guidance or magic. The materia will be possessed
by a spirit while the bonco converses with it.
Beliefs of the group are constantly evolving, with new deities and practices being adopted every day.
One of the stranger additions have been the inclusion of the Viking Court, a group of spirits seemingly
inspired by comic books and heavy metal. Those under the influence of the vikings have been known
to commit acts of self-mutilation during certain rites, showcasing the mediums ability to withstand
physical pain.
The most recent and somewhat troubling addition to the courts has been the Malandros Court, literally,
the thug or delinquent court. This court is made up of the spirits of dead bandits and gang
members, which make up a significant portion of the population in
Venezuela. The Venezuelan Violence Observatory reported 21,692
murders in the country during 2012, mostly due to gang violence,
and the cult itself acts as a mirror of Venezuelan culture and
society, according to Wade Glenn, an anthropologist at Tulane
University.
The spirits of the Malandros Court are usually depicted as Robin
Hood types, sharing their spoils with the community, but the truth
about these saints is probably less benign. The most popular of
these is the spirit of Ismael Sanchez, whose shrines are inhabited by
plaster idols of a youth wearing sunglasses, a sideways cap, and a
gun in his waistband. The stories associated with Ismael are also
numerous and conflicting, but he is most commonly said to have
been an honorable thug who was shot in the back by a crooked cop
in the 1950s or 60s.
Some materias though have shown concern for the influx of these
Santos Malandros, saying that the thug spirits arent following the
rules set forth by Maria Lionza, herself, concerning spiritual etiquette
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in the afterlife. The rule is that a spirit must wait for at least ten years before being allowed to come
forward as an authentic source of power within the courts, most waiting thirty years, or more. But
some of these thugs are shoving to the front of the line, interrupting rituals meant to be calling other
spirits, and showing up uninvited, sometimes only a year after their death. It appears that these spirits
have as little regard for regulations as they did in
life, and not all mediums are happy with this turn.
But the cult of Maria Lionza is said to be the fastest
growing religion in Venezuela, with followers
possibly representing over a third of the nations
total population, and it seems to derive its strength
from its flexibility and willingness to change. The
hurdle created by naysayers seems a small one,
judging by the overwhelming popularity of the thug
saints. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see
what develops next for this budding cult.