That was the first time I have ever been to South America. It was a very precious experience, Latin America is really unlike any of the places I have visited. I went there to see Machu Picchu, Amazon and various different touristy places, but then I also ended up experiencing a culture that is very different from what I have ever seen before.
Latin America Christianity is very different from "Christianity" that I know of.
I thought I could accept different kinds of Christianity, I can accept icons, statues, rituals we commonly seen in Orthodox or Catholic Christianity, but the Catholicism in Latin America seems to be beyond my limit of acceptance. Some of these people here act no different from those in Wong Tai Sin Temple...
I was shocked when I first saw Virgin Mary pictures hanging in mirrors in cars, some even with bells, (I could only take this picture, since it was difficult to get a good pic in moving cars). I don't know exactly why they put the pic up, I don't think it's there to remind them to pray. =P It's like those we see in taxis in Hong Kong or China... just that the picture is different with a different idol...
You can also see these everywhere, this picture is taken in a restaurant. I don't think these look any different from idol worshipping we see in Hong Kong or China...
Take a look at the dress of Virgin Mary. It was deliberately made into the shape of a mountain, so that the people can worship the mountain when they worship the Virgin Mary...
The Jesuit church we visited in Arequipa, The various symbols used like suns, seashells are all from the Incan culture. Where's the limit here? In merging local culture with Christianity to gain acceptance of local people?
Our Christianity is already influenced a lot by various culture, we may not even realize it, for example, Jesus' birthday- Christmas is the birthday of Apollos. What if this merging makes it easier for local people to accept it? What should we choose? Preserving our version (which may not even be the original version of Christianity), or introducing local people to a form of Christianity that is easier for them to accept?
I've been reading about Christianity in Latin America since I came back, I don't think there is any answer for this. Different people have different concepts regarding what "Christianity" really is. Even older people in our churches don't worship Jesus the way we do, they have their own preconceptions about Jesus from their previous religions.
How do we define if something is "acceptable" and not??
In Pucara, a stop on the way from to Puno to Cusco. I saw this elderly lady wearing really shabby clothes, since she was the only beggar, we decided to give her 2 soles (equivalent to HKD 5), she looked so grateful to us, bowing and thanking us (even though we didn't know what she was saying). I think she must have really needed that money. The money we splurge on this trip may be equivalent to 10 years of income for people living here, for this old lady, maybe what she can't earn even in her whole life.
I saw so many beggars, some are sick, apparently with no money to get treated.
What can we do to help?
4 comments:
not much from our ability. no need look at Latin america, but just looking at our home country, there are too many ppl in need. maybe education can do a bit? i also have no clues.
I'm not just talking about Latin America, but the world... and of course, our own country, so many people living below the poverty line, what can we do to help?
Education may be of help. However, there're just too many problems with the system itself.
Too many injustices in the world, no matter how hard poor people work, they cannot overcome.
In India, one farmer kills himself every minute because he owes the landlord too much money.
In Afghanistan, one in 5 (forgot exact figure, it's a single digit number...) women was raped
Even in China, schoolchildren got raped by corrupted officials, farmers' land was taken from them without reasonable compensation...
I don't know what can be done, only that we need to do something...
Your Peru trip reminded me of mine, where i semi "adopted" 2 street children to be my tour guide. Here's my blog site with some pictures of Cuzco...
http://godventurez.blogspot.com/search?q=peru
Did you do Machu Picchu?
rln, yes, I did go to Machu Picchu
I posted the photos on my other blog
http://booksntravel.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/peru-trip-09-part-3-whats-there-in-peru-ancient-stuff/
u can see a list of the posts I have on Peru here
http://booksntravel.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/peru-trip-%E2%80%9809-part-8-what%E2%80%99s-there-in-peru-miscellaneous/
I have been to ur blog, ur experience does sound similar :)
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