History - Peru - page 1016

CHAVÍN HORIZON
Lasting roughly from 1000 BC to 300 BC, and named after the site of Chavín de Huántar (
Click here ) , this was a rich period of development for Andean culture - when artistic and
religious phenomena appeared, perhaps independently, over a broad swath of the central
and northern highlands, as well as the coast. The salient feature of this era is the repeated
representation of a stylized feline deity, perhaps symbolizing spiritual transformations ex-
perienced under the influence of hallucinogenic plants. One of the most famous depictions
of this many-headed figure can be found on the Raimondi Stela, a bas relief carving which
resides at the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia del Perú in Lima (
Click here ) .
Chavín's feline also figures prominently in ceramics of the era, particularly the stark,
black-clay specimens referred to as Cupisnique, a style that flourished on the northern
coast.
Methods of working with gold, silver and copper were also developed during this time,
and there were important advances in weaving and architecture. In short, this was a period
when culture truly began to blossom in the Andes.
For more on Chavín, Click here .
THE MAKING OF PERU'S SAINTS
The first century of the Peruvian colony produced an unusual number of Catholic saints - five in all. There was the
highly venerated Santa Rosa of Lima (1556-1617), a devout criolla (Spaniard born in Peru) who took a vow of
chastity and practiced physical mortification. (She wore a cilice and slept on a bed of broken glass and pottery.) In
addition, there was San Juan Macías (1585-1645), who counseled the needy, and San Martín de Porres
(1579-1639), the New World's first black saint.
Why so many? A lot of it had to do with the Spanish program to systematically replace the old indigenous order
with its own traditions. Catholic authorities, through a process known as the Extirpation, aimed to eradicate indi-
genous religious belief by prohibiting ancestor worship and holding ceremonies in which pre-Columbian religious
idols were burned. The whole process gave rise to a crop of holy figures that Catholic officials could hold up as ex-
amples of piousness. Priests preached the wonders of everyday people who rejected worldly possessions and dis-
played extreme humility - qualities that the Church was eager to cultivate in its newfound flock. Countless figures
were canonized during this time, and those that attained sainthood remain an integral part of Peruvian spiritual cul-
ture to this day.
You can see relics from these saints at the Iglesia de Santo Domingo in Lima, Click here .