Abstract

GAMEZ ESPINOSA, Alejandra. The Sanctuary and “Bajadas” of Our Lady of Remedies in the Configuration of a Devotional Territory in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2023, n.51, pp.103-129.  Epub May 10, 2023. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda51.2023.05.

Interest and reflection on the incidence of culture in the construction and reconfiguration of territories is currently growing. Within this field of analysis, religious manifestations and specifically pilgrimages and sacred places have played a central role in the anthropological investigation of the territorial phenomenon. This phenomenon has been the focus of my work in the last five years, a period in which I have conducted research with different socio-cultural groups in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The objective of this text is to ethnographically analyze a particular type of pilgrimage called the “bajadas” of the Virgin, as forms of symbolic appropriation that motivate the configuration and re-foundation of a devotional territory, around the Our Lady of Remedies Sanctuary, in the dual city of Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. This is a place whose historical, cultural, and religious significance has led to its designation as a sacred city. The bajadas are ritual marches on which the towns, neighborhoods and colonies of the Cholula region take the image of the venerated Virgin to their respective places of origin, to spread her power and protection. Methodologically, this research was based on ethnographic fieldwork. The text addresses the historical processes that gave rise to the re-sacralization of the sanctuary, the re-foundation of the territory resulting from the enthronement of the Virgin in a site of pre-Hispanic indigenous worship, and the courses of such pilgrimages as ritual practices that shape the territory. There is little research on pilgrimages and the Our Lady of Remedies Sanctuary in Cholula as devices that trace a historical and cultural territory, which is called devotional. This research is intended to provide elements of analysis for the ethnography of sanctuaries with a territorial approach in Latin America and particularly in Mexico.

Keywords : Ethnography; devotional territory; Our Lady of Remedies; pilgrimage; sanctuary; worldview.

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