Religion in Peru and Bolivia is very unique because it is defined by colonialism and syncretic because of that history. The way Catholicism was used in this part of South America and may be the case for many other parts of South America allowed for a unique Christian lens for the sacred. This is a sense of the sacred that appealed to the local people and to the colonizers, it adopted parts of both worlds to the religion in order to fit in this specific environment. Because of the way Peruvians (or the people that later became Peruvians) viewed nature, the Catholicism that merged out of this conversion had many more nature-based elements than other forms of Catholicism in the world. The Franciscan monastic order came to Peru (Saint Francis of Assisi) and flourished because of it already nature based ideology. This religion would had never worked in an environment like Peru's without the natural elements. People here rely heavily on saints and virgins that embody elements that take from the previous religions. There are saints and virgins for every town and for different purposes. There is a famous virgin in Copacabana, Bolivia, is called the Black Madonna. It is said to have performed miracles in the past and it is so treasured by the local people because it looks like them. It has dark skin. When the statue was 1st made, it was shunned by the catholic church for looking so 'native' or 'savage', for bringing the holy 'down to their level', when in reality, creating this virgin allowed for the people to relate to her, to put faith in her. After she was decked out in gold and elaboration, it satisfied the catholic church, made up for the supposed 'flaws', in a sense 'divinified' her. So it still stands now in a beautiful Mediterranean style(odd for this region) cathedral.
People here set up alters where they perform various forms of witchcraft, but since that term is so loaded with bias, we can call it material divinations towards God through the form of amulets, spells, potions, etc. People here believe in The God of the Catholic church but they put that energy towards God through worship of the Pachamama or mother earth. These alters are dedicated to the Pachamama, because to them the world revolved around reciprocity. The Pachamama provides them with food, shelter, life, and they owe her gifts and charms, coca leaves, llama fetuses, condor carcases. these are offerings, sacrifices of llamas is common on occasion. These things NEED to be done because of the harsh conditions present in Peru both socially and environmentally. though they believe in God, they still practice these rituals of giving back to the earth, with the hopes of getting something back in return. they feel as though they can steer what they receive in the direction of something specific by purchasing amulets or offerings to set at altars in churches or homes. virgins in each town are often decorated with expensive offerings in hopes of getting what the offering symbolizes. A frog for example, can come in the form of a wax amulet, carefully carved and sold in witch markets (a famous one located in La Paz, Bolivia) which symbolizes good luck. There are symbols for food, money, shelter, love, healing as well as numerous others.
(this is a picture of an altar in the witch market in La Paz, Bolivia. You can see charms, coca leaves and a llama fetus on the left hand corner) Coca leaves are especially important because they are seen as sacred. Why is that so? In the Andes mountains, the climate is harsh. the oxygen low, the sun bright, the lifestyle hard. Many people in this area live an agricultural lifestyle where they work seven days a week on little food because they cannot afford food. Coca leaves provide a source of relief for the altitude(drinking coca tea is a common remedy for altitude sickness), and it also suppresses hunger. They put coca leaves on their altars, give offerings to the Pachamama through the form of coca leaves, thanking her for giving them the leaves to help them through life. Something you can't help but to notice in the churches in Peru and Bolivia is the use of art to portray ideas(most people here are illiterate). Many traditional images such as the last supper are heavily altered to appeal to the local people. In one example of the Last supper, the dinner was a guinea pig(common dish of Peru) and the disciples mostly dark skinned. The chakana(mentioned in previous post) is also seen in the churches.
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