communicating the gospel effectively using relevance theory … draft.pdf · 2009-07-17 ·...

COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL EFFECTIVELY USING

RELEVANCE THEORY AND THE CORPUS CHRISTI

FESTIVAL: A CASE STUDY IN EL-TINGO, ECUADOR

By

Alan D. Gordon

A Dissertation Presented to the

Faculty of the School of Intercultural Studies

FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

March 2009

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ ii

LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................v

LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1 Methodology of this dissertation ..............................................................1

1. Define the issue.........................................................................1 2. Develop a theoretical framework..............................................1 3. Narrow the context....................................................................2 4. Apply the theory to the issue in the context..............................2 5. Discuss the results.....................................................................2 6. Propose a model of the process.................................................2

Definition of the issue..............................................................................3

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................................................5 Communication Theory ............................................................................5

Code Theory..................................................................................6 Relevance Theory .........................................................................9

So what exactly is “relevance theory?” ..........................10 Cognitive Environment...................................................11 Context............................................................................13 Intention ..........................................................................13

The Communication Process ......................................................14 The Missiological Bias ...................................................17 Shaw and Van Engen ......................................................18 Cross-Cultural Communication ......................................18 God Accommodates to Communicate ............................20 Missiological Communication ........................................22 Conclusion ......................................................................26

An Ethnomusicological Model ...............................................................27 Introduction.................................................................................27 Overview.....................................................................................29 The Development of the Model ..................................................31

The Music-Worship-Ritual .............................................31

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The Music-Worship-Ritual as a Window into Culture ...34 Cross Cultural Evangelism through Music-Worship-

Ritual......................................................................35 My Proposal of Evangelism............................................36

Contextualization ........................................................................39 Epistemological biases............................................................................39

Bernard........................................................................................40 Guba 41 Hiebert.........................................................................................42 Researcher’s Choice....................................................................43

Conclusion ..............................................................................................44

CHAPTER 3 THE CONTEXT.............................................................................45 The “Chillo Valley” and the town of “El-Tingo” ...................................45 The Corpus Christi Festival ....................................................................47

CHAPTER 4 THE DISCOVERY PROCESS ......................................................49 Indigenous Festivals................................................................................49

Alangasí ......................................................................................49 The Patron Festival of Alangasí......................................50 The Evangelical Church near Alangasí...........................52

La Armenia .................................................................................54 The “Pase del Niño” Festival ..........................................55 Interview with Nelson Morales.......................................58

Festivals in El-Tingo...................................................................59 Holy Week ......................................................................59 Group Interview in El-Tingo ..........................................63 Corpus Christi 2006 ........................................................64

Evangelical Worship...............................................................................69 Gonzalo Logacho and his church................................................69 Conocoto and Alangasí ...............................................................71 Santa Teresa ................................................................................73 La Comuna..................................................................................74

The Final Workshop ...............................................................................76 Comparison of Events.................................................................81

Differences ......................................................................81 Similarities ......................................................................84

Meaning ......................................................................................84 Conclusions of Cycle #1, Year 2006 ......................................................86 The Corpus Christi Festival 2007 ...........................................................87

Friday night.................................................................................88 Saturday ......................................................................................90

The Meaning of Corpus ..........................................................................93 Outsiders .....................................................................................93 Evangelicals ................................................................................94 Insiders........................................................................................96

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Background .....................................................................97 Carlos and Ana................................................................98 Neighbors........................................................................99 Patricio ..........................................................................100 The Priest ......................................................................101

Preparation for the Discussion Group...................................................102 The History of El-Tingo............................................................102 Marco and the Cross .................................................................105 The Priest ..................................................................................107 Marco Again .............................................................................108

The Discussion Group...........................................................................109 Preliminary Thoughts............................................................................114 Conclusions of Cycle #2, Year 2007 ....................................................116 The Process of Discovering Meaning ...................................................117 My Reflection .......................................................................................120

CHAPTER 5 REFLECTING ON THE WHOLE PROCESS ............................123 Worldview: Modernity versus Post-Modernity ....................................123

Kallenberg’s analysis of conversion .........................................123 Evangelicals versus rural folk: doctrine versus identity ...........126

Personal Reflection ...............................................................................128 Latin American Theology.........................................................130 Changing mentality...................................................................132 Learning to play “El Pingullo” .................................................133

New Evaluation of the Model ...............................................................138 Worldviews ...............................................................................138 Types of cultures.......................................................................138

Conclusions of Cycle #3, Year 2008 ....................................................140 The Process as a Spiral/Funnel .............................................................141 Conclusion ............................................................................................142

CHAPTER 6 A THEOLOGY BASED ON IDENTITY ....................................143 Theologizing Locally ............................................................................143 A Proposal for Theologizing.................................................................146

REFERENCES CITED........................................................................................148

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Guba’s comparison of Research Strategies ........................................................42

Table 2: Indigenous Festivals and the Evangelical Service...............................................82

Table 3: Analysis of the Meaning of Music Worship........................................................85

Table 4: Results of Cycle #1 of research. ..........................................................................87

Table 5: Results of Cycle #2 of research. ........................................................................116

Table 6: Summary of time spent in the investigation ......................................................119

Table 7: Kallenberg’s analysis of modernity ...................................................................124

Table 8: Kallenberg’s analysis of conversion..................................................................125

Table 9: An application of Kallenberg to music-worship-ritual ......................................126

Table 10: Results of Cycle #3 of research. ......................................................................140

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The Communication Model of Shannon and Weaver ..........................................6

Figure 2: A Basic Communication Model ...........................................................................7

Figure 3: Hiebert’s Model of Interaction .............................................................................8

Figure 4: Message without communication.......................................................................14

Figure 5: Ineffective communication.................................................................................16

Figure 6: Effective communication ...................................................................................17

Figure 7: Communication and Cultures.............................................................................19

Figure 8: Accommodation in Relevance Theory ...............................................................20

Figure 9: Accommodating to another culture ....................................................................21

Figure 10: The Missionary as a Communicator.................................................................23

Figure 11: The Missionary as a Facilitator ........................................................................25

Figure 12: Role of Music and Culture ...............................................................................29

Figure 13: A Theoretical Model ........................................................................................30

Figure 14: Merriam’s theory of music ...............................................................................32

Figure 15: Titon’s theory of the music event.....................................................................33

Figure 16: My synthesis and adaptation of Merriam and Titon.........................................33

Figure 17: Music rituals as a window into beliefs .............................................................34

Figure 18: The first and second steps in cross-cultural evangelism through music. .........36

Figure 19: The third step in cross-cultural evangelism through music..............................37

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Figure 20: The fourth step in cross-cultural evangelism through music ...........................38

Figure 21: The fifth step in cross-cultural evangelism through music ..............................38

Figure 22: Map of the Chillo Valley..................................................................................46

Figure 23: A summary of the process of discovering meaning .......................................118

Figure 24: An hypothesis for future research ..................................................................121

Figure 25: Evangelicals versus rural folk ........................................................................128

Figure 26: My revised model...........................................................................................139

Figure 27: The Process as a Spiral ...................................................................................141

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Methodology of this dissertation

The methodology of this dissertation may be defined by describing six basic

steps.

1. Define the issue

First one must choose an issue to work with. This describes the general direction

of the investigation, and the different themes to be dealt with.

2. Develop a theoretical framework

The theoretical framework is the choice of a perspective from which to study the

issue. The researcher must also choose the biases from which the study will be

conducted. These choices will determine what types of conclusions will be reached and

the types of methodology needed for the study. Chapter two describes this step.

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3. Narrow the context

Part of the context has been chosen by defining the issue, but any investigation

must narrow its focus. One must choose the scope of the study within the resources of the

investigation so that the investigation can be accomplished within a certain time and

before the resources available to the researcher are depleted. In chapter three the context

of this study is defined.

4. Apply the theory to the issue in the context

This is the main part of the investigation. The issue within a context has been

chosen, as well as theoretical framework, the methodology, and the biases. In this step the

researcher is “doing” the investigation. Chapter four describes the main research process

of this investigation.

5. Discuss the results

This step does not necessarily take place only after step four is completed, but

really is an ongoing process during step four. Thus this step is included in chapter four,

and many reflections of the process are interwoven into the discussion.

6. Propose a model of the process

The idea here is to reflect on the whole process and summarize everything that

has been learned in a single model or framework that allows others to understand what

the researcher has learned. Chapter five does just this. Chapter six is an application of the

understanding acquired.

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Definition of the issue

Whereas in North American, the Indian was conquered by extermination, in South

American, the Indian was conquered by domination. The Spaniards enslaved the Indians,

drove them off the best lands, and forced them to become Christians.

In the Chillo Valley, where El-Tingo lies, lands were distributed by the Spanish

Crown to what are called “encomenderos” (“those in charge”). In the years 1551 to 1559,

the Chillo Valley was divided into “encomiendas” (districts) (Landázuri 1990:11). The

“encomenderos” were not given the land, as many believe, but were in charge of

collecting taxes from the Indians who worked those lands (Costales Samaniego 2007:65).

Even so, the Indians often rebelled against this treatment, and conflicts over lands

continue to this day.

The Ecuadorians Indians were treated as slaves, considered as less than human,

and excluded from the Eucharist (Cisneros Cisneros 1948:44); (Mackay 1933:44-45). As

a result, millions of them fled to the mountains and the jungle to escape (Cisneros

Cisneros 1948:46). And that’s why today, most of the concentrations of Indians are in the

mountains. The Spaniards took away the best lands in the valleys. Chillos is one of those

valleys, and ever since Colonial days was one of the most fertile and productive valleys

in Ecuador, providing the capital, Quito, with most of its food (Costales Samaniego

2007:92). The small town of El-Tingo is located at the foot of the mountain Ilaló, as are

the other nearby Indian towns of Guangopolo, Toglla, Angamarca, and La Merced.

From the Conquest, the Spaniards felt it their obligation to convert the Indians,

even if by force. “The Crown charged the colonists with the conversion of the Indians to

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the Holy Catholic Faith” (Mackay 1933:43). Along with each “encomendero,” a

“doctrinero” was assigned to teach the Indians the Christian doctrines. Both received

taxes from the Indians (Landázuri 1990:36). In the Chillo Valley, the Jesuits received

large portions of land, known as “El Colegio.” The Indians were forced off these lands,

and many conflicts resulted, one case being in Guangopolo (Costales Samaniego

2007:88-92). Even the lands left to the Indians on the mountain tops became objects of

dispute. Ilaló was no exception. In 1933, the government had to intervene to settle

disputes among the Indians in El-Tingo, Alangasí, and Angamarca about land rights on

Ilaló (Cisneros Cisneros 1948:190-191). Even today, the natives of El-Tingo are

nominally Catholic, and are extremely sensitive about land issues.

The problem with the Indians, or rural folk, in the Andes is that foreign systems

have been imposed on them for centuries. This includes religion. Although most rural

folk in the Andes consider themselves “Catholic” their annual festivities indicate that still

hold to their original religious beliefs. This syncretism has been a hindrance to the gospel,

because they consider themselves “Christian” when really they hold to pagan beliefs and

traditions.

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CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The first step in the investigation process is to define the theoretical framework

that will be used. This chapter discusses three parts of that framework: communication

theory, an ethnomusicological model, and epistemological biases.

Communication Theory

In general there are two fields of communication theory: code theory and

relevance theory. The difference between the two is the assumption of where the meaning

lies. Code theory holds that the meaning is in the message, whereas relevance theory

argues that meaning is not transferred, but inferred. The receptor makes that inference.

For missionaries, who are “communicators of the gospel,” each school derives a

different application. Using code theory, a missionary tries to make the gospel

presentation as “clear as possible.” Much effort is spent on preparing and executing the

message. But if a missionary uses relevance theory, he or she first strives to understand

the people’s mentality before trying to communicate the gospel to them.

In looking at syncretism in the Andes, the author assumes that most evangelistic

efforts have been based on code theory, and believes that a new look at evangelism from

a relevance theory perspective will be most beneficial to effectively communicate the

gospel in this setting.

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Code Theory

Code theory has been the traditional model for studying communication. Shannon

and Weaver are credited with developing the basic model used much even today

(Shannon 1949:5). They developed their model from a mathematical perspective applied

to the telegraph. Figure 1 illustrates their model. An “information source” transmits a

message through a channel to a receiver at a destination. A signal is sent and a signal is

received, and the channel may contain noise which distorts the message. It is interesting

to note that their model does not include encoding, nor feedback, which were soon to be

added.

FIGURE 1: THE COMMUNICATION MODEL OF SHANNON

AND WEAVER Since Shannon and Weaver, code theory has developed into a generally used

model, which may be described as follows. The central idea of code theory is the

transmission of a message. The message requires someone to send it, and another person

to receive it. The message must be encoded into some symbolic form, whether this be

spoken words, electric signals, gestures, or written words. The receiver must then decode

the symbols in order to understand the message. The message can be transmitted through

various channels, and its transmission can be affected by noise. The basic model is

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illustrated in Figure 2, and is often represented by the symbols: “S-M-R” which stand for

“sender,” “message,” and “receiver” (Schramm 1963:7); (Nida 1960:47).

S e n d e r R e c e i v e rM e s s a g eE n c o d e s D e c o d e s

C h a n n e lN o i s e

F e e d b a c k

FIGURE 2: A BASIC COMMUNICATION MODEL Others, such as King, have emphasized the aspect of feedback, since the receiver

can respond to the message by sending another message to the sender, especially in a

musical performance (King 1989:60). Others have proposed that each person is both a

sender and receiver simultaneously (Kraft 1978:82), creating a model of interactive

communication (Hiebert 1985:166). See figure 3.

Others have detailed the different channels through which the message may be

sent. Berlo details five channels, which correspond to the five human senses (Berlo

1960:32), but Smith expands the list to twelve signal systems: verbal, written, numeric,

pictorial, audio, artifactual, kinesic, optical, tactile, spatial, temporal, and olfactory

(Smith 1992:163).

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FIGURE 3: HIEBERT’S MODEL OF INTERACTION

The S-M-R model has been the basis of communication theory for many years.

Most would agree that communication takes place when a person says something,

someone else hears what is said, and a message has been sent from sender to receiver.

But the question is: “Is the meaning in the message, in the symbols that are sent?” The

answer has traditionally been “yes.” Therefore much effort has been spent on analyzing

language and how people use words to communicate with each other.

But this logic breaks down in the following scenario: Mike says to Bill, “Are you

going tonight?” Bill replies, “Yes.” But Bill thought Mike was referring to a concert,

when Mike was thinking about a ball game. Was a message sent and received? Yes. But

the received message does not match the sent message. What happened? A clear message

was sent, but Bill and Mike had different assumptions in their minds about that message.

So was the meaning in the message, or in the minds of the sender and receiver?

If we apply this same scenario to evangelism, we could ask ourselves: “When a

missionary takes the gospel to another culture and asks the people: ‘Do you want to be

saved?’ What is it that the people really understand?” The missionary has a whole set of

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assumptions in his or her mind that probably does NOT match the assumptions of the

people of another culture. Therefore, the people will attach a meaning to the missionary’s

message that the missionary had no intention of communicating. The result is a

misunderstanding of the gospel.

The problem with code theory is that it does NOT take into account the mental

assumptions of the sender and the receiver. Relevance theory begins with this issue.

Relevance Theory

We begin with the bias that the meaning is NOT found in the message. This is a

fundamental shift in communication theory where it was previously assumed that the

message carried the meaning.

Berlo, one of the early communication theorists, built on the model of Shannon

and Weaver, but with a new bias: meaning is not in the message, but in the person (Berlo

1960:175). When two persons share similar meanings they can communicate more easily.

What this means is that the same message may not communicate the same thing to two

persons. Each will give it their own interpretation and meaning.

Kraft follows this same train of thought: “Meaning is the creation of the receptor”

(Kraft 1991:77). This implies that meaning is not even transferred1, but people create

meaning themselves. Alaichamy states it well:

“In human communication, meaning is not transferred from one end to the other end as in telecommunication. Instead, meaning is created in the minds of the receptors during the process of communication. Human

1 “Messages can be transmitted from one person to another, but meanings cannot” (Gudykunst

2003:6).

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communication is a process of meaning creation, not meaning transference” (Alaichamy 1997:56).

This has significant implications for communication theory, especially for missionaries:

“The understanding that what messages mean is constructed by the receiver rather than inherent in the message is perhaps the single most threatening insight of contemporary communication theory for Christian communicators” (Kraft 1991:92).

And thus Kraft advocates that the communicator must take into account the receptor of

the message even more than the message itself.

So what exactly is “relevance theory?”

Grice planted the seed for relevance theory by proposing that the receptor of the

message must recognize the intent of the sender. His main thesis is “’A meant something

by x’ is (roughly) equivalent to ‘A intended the utterance of x to produce some effect in

an audience by means of the recognition of this intention’” (Grice 1957:385). This is

fundamentally different from “decoding a message.” Here Grice is emphasizing the

“intent” of the sender, rather than the message given by the sender.

Sperber developed this theory further by emphasizing the importance of

recognizing the intention of the sender. This recognition is done by inference, not by

decoding. He argues: “Communication is successful not when hearers recognize the

linguistic meaning of the utterance, but when they infer the speaker's 'meaning' of it"

(Sperber 1986:23).

Sperber asked the question of where the meaning lay in communication. Was the

meaning in the sender, the message, and/or the receiver? He begins by arguing that the

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encoding-decoding process has yet to be explained. What are the rules one uses for

decoding a message? Sperber states that there are no rules, but that the receiver uses a

completely different process in communication.2

Sperber argues that one can infer intention without using code. Therefore,

communication is possible without code (rules or conventions). Coding is part of the

evidence; only in inference is meaning created (Sperber 1986:25). The message is not the

vehicle for meaning transfer. The message is evidence of the intent of the communicator,

but meaning is created by the receiver through inference.

In other words, a message is presented from which the receiver derives meaning.

But the receiver does not derive the meaning ONLY from the message. The receiver also

infers meaning based on what he or she already knows. The receptor chooses some of

what he or she already knows to process new evidence and create meaning from it.

The thrust of Sperber’s argument is that meaning is not transferred, but that the

sender seeks to modify the “Cognitive Environment” of the receiver, and in the process

the cognitive environment of the sender is also modified. This needs to be explained in

more detail.

Cognitive Environment

Let us begin by talking about a person’s knowledge. What we know consists of all

of our experiences, plus our interpretation of those experiences. Sperber refers to this as

our “cognitive environment” which includes not only what we presently know, but all

2 This is similar to the argument between Goodenough and Geertz on cultures. Goodenough

argues that culture exists in the mind and consists of rules of what is acceptable or not (Goodenough

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that we could possibly come to know. Knowledge is not “facts,” but our beliefs and

assumptions about our experiences. We create our own perception of the world and our

beliefs about it. Berlo says we structure our reality into theories (Berlo 1960:25). When

someone says something to me, I have to “reconcile” that message with how I see my

world. I can reject it, accept it, or modify it, but sooner or later I have to relate it to my

perception of the world.

Sperber bases his model of communication on this concept of the cognitive

environment of every individual. Communication is an attempt to modify the cognitive

environment of another person (Sperber 1986:150). The previous example can illustrate

this.

Suppose Mike says to Bill, “Are you going tonight?” and Bill answers, “I’ve had a

long day.” What are some of the possible interpretations of this conversation? We do not

know to what Mike is referring. Nor it is clear if Bill’s reply is affirmative or negative. If

the meaning were totally in the message, we should be able to know where Mike is going,

and whether Bill will accompany him. But we are unable to decipher this from the

messages sent. Therefore, the meaning must lie elsewhere. Sperber proposes that

meaning lies in the context. This is a different connotation of the word “context” as used

by Kraft, who uses the word “context” to refer to the external circumstances (Kraft

1991:132). Sperber uses the word to describe a group of mental assumptions.

1957:167). Whereas Geertz argues that culture is public and does not consist of rules, but of meanings which must be uncovered by “thick description” (Geertz 1973:89).

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Context

What exactly is “context?” In simple terms, context is the set of assumptions or

beliefs that one uses to process a message and decide on a meaning. Sperber argues that

we cannot use all of our cognitive environment to analysis every message we receive.

That would be too laborious. We choose some of what we know in order to process the

message and make it meaningful. That “something we choose” is the “context.” Sperber

argues that we will choose the context that we feel is most relevant in order to process the

message (Sperber 1986:141). We will not use everything we know to process every

message.

Now let us return to the sender. According to Sperber’s view of communication,

the sender must know a possible context that the receiver will use to process the message

in order for the sender (her) to communicate with the receiver (him). (For the rest of this

paper, I will adopt Sperber’s convention of referring to the sender as “she,” and to the

receiver as “he.”) In order words, she must know what context he will use to process her

message in order to communicate effectively with him.

Intention

To complete this description, we must add one more concept, that of “intention.”

Sperber adds that communication only takes place when both the sender and the receiver

are conscious that she wants to communicate with him (Sperber 1986:61). It is not

enough for her send a message, but he must also realize that she is sending a message.

She must also establish that he realizes that she wants to send a message. If only the

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sender is conscious of the attempt to communicate, but not the receiver, Sperber refers to

this as “informing, but not communicating” (Sperber 1986:50).

The Communication Process

These concepts can be illustrated with a few diagrams. A circle will represent the

cognitive environment of an individual. For communication to take place, the cognitive

environments of two individuals must overlap at least to some degree. The message lies

in that overlap. Here we must change our vocabulary to that of Sperber. A message is not

sent, but “evidence is displayed.” It is the receivers task to make a conclusion from that

evidence.

The Process of Communication (Relevance Theory)

CognitiveEnvironment

RECEIVER


COMMUNICATOR

Evidence

Non-ostensive: no intent to communicate, although a message is present.

FIGURE 4: MESSAGE WITHOUT COMMUNICATION

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For communication to take place, the communicator must have an intent to

communicate, and the receiver must recognize that intent. This is Sperber’s emphasis. In

our daily lives, many messages are sent, both verbal and non-verbal, but communication

does not occur unless the intent is present and recognized. In figure 4, the communicator

has “sent a message” (evidence), and the receiver is conscious of the phenomenon, but

since he didn’t recognize any intent to communicate, he did not process the message.

This is non-ostensive communication. In a busy city street, one sees much movement,

and hears many sounds, but one does not (and cannot) process them all. A person will

only process those phenomena he or she perceives as “an intent to communicate.”

Now let us examine the communication process by adding the concept of

“context.” (In this case, the intent to communicate is recognized.) The communicator

produces “evidence” with a specific intention: that of modifying the receiver’s cognitive

environment. The receiver “infers” from the evidence, using the context most relevant in

order to process the evidence. (See figure 5.) If the context the communicator is intending

for the evidence is different from the context the receiver uses to process it,

communication is ineffective. Let us return to our example.

Mike asks Bill, “Are you going tonight?” The context Mike has in mind is a

concert, but Bill immediately thinks of a ballgame. Evidence was produced, both were

conscious of an attempt at communication, but Bill’s conclusion was very different from

Mike’s intention. We could call this “misinterpretation.”

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RECEIVER


COMMUNICATOR

Intent Meaning

Context Context

Evidence

Context

Context

Context

Context

Misinterpretation: different contexts are being used.

FIGURE 5: INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

On the other hand, if the two share similar contexts, communication is more

effective. If both of them enjoy concerts, frequently attend concerts, and never go to a

ballgame, the question “Are you going tonight?” is immediately processed in the context

of a concert. Bill would conclude that Mike is talking about a concert which is what Mike

intended to communicate. (See Figure 6.)

This is the most simple form of Sperber’s model. Communication is rarely so

simple. If we add Bill’s reply, “I’ve had a long day,” the receiver has become the

communicator and the communicator the receiver, who must now infer from what Bill

has said. Again, context plays the key role. “I’ve had a long day” could mean that Bill

wants to stay home to rest or it could mean that Bill wants to get out and relax. No

amount of decoding the message will distinguish the difference. Only context will. Even

17

though the receiver may not give the message the same meaning as the sender intended, it

is the chosen context of each person that determines the meaning, not the message itself.



RECEIVER


COMMUNICATORIntent

Mea

ning

Context Context

Evidence

Improved communication: the contexts are similar.

FIGURE 6: EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The Missiological Bias

So far, the discussion has treated the communication process as a sender and a

receiver sharing a message. This has carried two basic assumptions: first, the sender and

the receiver share much of the same culture, and second, the sender is the originator of

the message. The Christian bias changes both assumptions: first, we are called to

communicate to people with a culture different from ours, and second, we are

ambassadors of a message that originated with God, not with us.

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Shaw and Van Engen

The following is a discussion a Christian communication model based on

relevance theory (Shaw 2003:90). I will use different shapes to illustrate different

worldviews. The choice of each shape purely symbolic. The shape itself has nothing to do

with the superiority or inferiority of any culture.3 In my opinion, worldview is the same

as Sperber’s “cognitive environment.” Both are used to describe the assumptions one

uses to order his or her own world to be able to function in it.

Cross-Cultural Communication

Let us begin by simplifying communication to be a sender communicating a

message with a receiver. (See figure 7.) If the two share the same worldview or cognitive

environments, communication will be fairly effective. But if the sender and receiver have

very different worldviews, communication will be more difficult until they begin to

understand each others worldview and communicate accordingly. I illustrate this by

drawing the message in the shape of a circle. Cultures that think in a circle perspective

will readily send and receive such messages. But if a culture has a square perspective, the

message does not coincide with their way of thinking, and they will not readily

understand it.

Usually the missionary learns the language of the people in order to speak to

them. This is the basis of code theory: if one can use the same symbols as they do, one

will communicate effectively with them. But relevance theory points out that even if a

3 My use of geometric shapes for cultures and communication coincides with Nida (Nida

1960:47,222) and Kraft (Kraft 1978:98).

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missionary speaks the same language as the people, miscommunication will be frequent

if they are using very different contexts to process the message. In other words, a

missionary has to understand how people think, what contexts they choose, and what are

their past and present experiences that form their cognitive environments in order to be

able to communicate effectively with them.

Mono-Cultural Communication

Sender

Cross-Cultural Communication

Receiver

Sender Receiver

Message ?

Message

FIGURE 7: COMMUNICATION AND CULTURES

For a communicator to effectively modify the cognitive environment of a receiver

who holds a different worldview, she could first modify her own context to that of the

receiver’s before attempting the communication. This is illustrated in Figure 10, by the

communicator modifying a circular context to a square context within her own cognitive

20

environment. My emphasis here is that the communicator is modifying her own cognitive

environment without expecting the receiver to modify his. We can call this

“accommodation.”



COMMUNICATOR

Intent MeaningEvidence

Context

Context

Cross-cultural communication: the communicator uses the receiver’s context.

Cognitive Environment

RECEIVER

Context

ContextContextContext

Conversi

on

FIGURE 8: ACCOMMODATION IN RELEVANCE THEORY

God Accommodates to Communicate

In relevance theory terms, God entered our cognitive environment, before we

could ever enter his. As if God, as a “circle,” became a “square” to “fit into” our

mentality. Kraft refers to this as “accommodation” (Kraft 1989:123). God accommodated

to our way of thinking so he could communicate with us. “Whenever God decides to

connect with human beings God does so in their particularity, on human terms” (Shaw

2003:13). A missionary must do the same with the people to whom he or she goes. If he

21

or she does not accommodate to the people’s culture and worldview, the Gospel message

will not be accepted, because it is not seen as relevant. Figure 9 illustrates this.

God

MissionaryPeople

This step marks

the difference!

1

2

3a3b

?

?

!

!

?

!

FIGURE 9: ACCOMMODATING TO ANOTHER CULTURE Modify this ?

God, represented by a circle, accommodates himself to our worldview, illustrated

by a square (step 1). The missionary, who holds a square perspective, must try to

accommodate his or her worldview to another people’s perspective, which is illustrated

by a triangle (step 2). If the missionary communicates God from his or her perspective

(represented by a square), the people will learn that God is like a square. Since they see

things as a triangle, a square God makes no sense to them (step 3a). Therefore, the God of

the missionary is irrelevant to them. But if the missionary first accommodates his or her

way of seeing God as a square to seeing God as a triangle, the people will see God from a

22

triangle perspective, which is their way of seeing spiritual things, and they will see God

as relevant to them (step 3b).

Someone might ask at this point: “If the missionary sees God as a square, and the

people see God as a triangle, which is the correct perspective?” The answer is neither.

We see and understand God from our own worldview. But we must accept other cultural

perspectives of God as valid. This implies that each culture must develop their own

theology. If they import a theology from another culture, God will appear as irrelevant to

them.

The main argument here is that the missionary must be able to recognize his or

her own worldview, and as much as possible, not let it interfere with the Gospel message.

In other words, the missionary must accommodate the Gospel message to the worldview

of the people to whom he or she goes. This is not easy. Even in the previous example, the

missionary has to work with two worldviews, his or her own, and that of the people.

Missiological Communication

Shaw and Van Engen take this one step further. This will be illustrated by using

two diagrams. The first one is a stepping stone to the second. In the first, Shaw and Van

Engen base their model on three biases: 1) Communication is intercultural; 2) The

message did not originate with us; and 3) The process is must pass through the universal

level.

The “universal level” concept is based on the following: all humans share a basic

commonality of experience which they express in different ways through their cultures.

As Shaw and Van Engen state: “Humans were created to be creative and express that

23

creativity in a multiplicity of cultural perspectives” (Shaw 2003:13). Some examples are:

All humans communicate, but they do it through different languages and styles. All

humans organize themselves into societies, but the societies are very different. All

humans distinguish “right” from “wrong,” but what is acceptable in one culture may not

be acceptable in another.

God

MissionaryPeople

UniversalExperience

FIGURE 10: THE MISSIONARY AS A COMMUNICATOR

Observe Figure 10. Here the task of the missionary is to accommodate the

message to the worldview of the people. But he or she should not do this by “converting”

his or her worldview to theirs. He or she should try to understand basic human experience

and how a particular culture expresses those experiences in their way. Only then can the

missionary begin to communicate God’s message to them. In Sperber’s terms this means

understanding the contexts they process in their cognitive environment as a result of their

24

experience, and choosing which of their contexts is appropriate for communicating God’s

message. So the missionary does not “translate” his or her culture to another. The

missionary tries to understand how to accommodate God’s message into their cognitive

environment.

Yet the thrust of Shaw and Van Engen’s argument includes another factor: the

Biblical writers.4 Their argument is that the Biblical writers accommodated their message

to their audience. This is much like my illustration of the missionary task, but in reality it

is a bit more complicated than has been explained. Today, for a missionary to

communicate what the Biblical writers wanted to communicate, he or she must take into

account four perspectives: God’s, the Biblical writer’s, his or her own, and the people’s.

Just as our goal is to communicate God’s message without our bias, now we must

communicate the Biblical message without the Biblical writer’s bias, in order for the

people to understand God’s original message accommodated to their present bias. Figure

11 illustrates this.

Rather than illustrating the missionary as part of “the chain of communication,”

the missionary is placed at the center of the process as the “facilitator of the

communication.” The idea is that the fewer cultures through which the message passes,

the better will be the communication of the original message. The final goal is for a

people to know God directly from their own perspective and experience.

4 They refer to this as a “horizon” and divide them into two horizons: Old Testament and New

Testament (Shaw 2003:87).

25

God

BibleWriters

Missionary

UniversalExperience

People

Goal: a people to know God from their perspective.

Error: to see God from the missionary’s perspective.

Missionary’s task: to facilitate from what God spoke to the Biblical writers, accommodate it through universals to the people’s perspective.

Our missionary biases:1. God has spoken.2. God accommodates to culture.3. The biblical writers did the same.4. We too must follow the pattern.

U S U A L R O U T E

P R E F E R R E D R O U T E

FIGURE 11: THE MISSIONARY AS A FACILITATOR

In Figure 11, God has spoken to the Biblical writers within their perspective,

represented by a pentagram. The missionary, who has come to know God through the

message of the Biblical writers, wants to communicate the same message, but without his

or her personal perspective, represented by a square. If the people see God as a square,

they will reject him. So the missionary’s task is to help the people understand, not the

Biblical writers perspective, but how the intent of God’s message can be expressed in

their way of thinking, represented by a triangle. The missionary is not the channel of the

message, but a facilitator of the communication process.

The thesis of Shaw and Van Engen is that the Biblical writers accommodated

God’s message to the people’s mentality, and that we should do likewise.

26

“Contemporary communication of the biblical message can be modeled after the way the writers of Scripture utilized earlier texts and restructured them for their contemporary audience” (Shaw 2003:xiv).

Our task is to discern “God’s original intention.” This returns us to relevance

theory. It is not the Biblical text that contains the meaning of the message, but God’s

intention in that message, how the original recipients processed it, and how we should

also process it. We should not process the original recipients conclusions, but the intent

of the original message.

Conclusion

The previous discussion has applied relevance theory to cross-cultural

evangelism. It emphasizes that, following God’s example, the missionary must

accommodate his or her way of thinking to that of the people to whom he or she wishes

to communicate the gospel. This requires that the missionary understand the people’s

mentality of the new culture in which he or she now finds himself or herself. It also

requires that the missionary understand his or her own way of thinking so as not to

impose this on the people. Therefore the critical research issue of this investigation is to

understand the cognitive environment of the people and of the missionary.

27

An Ethnomusicological Model

Introduction

The focus of this study is how to go about discovering both cognitive

environments: that of the people, and that of the missionary as well. One way of doing

this is through music. This study proposes using music as a means to discover the

cognitive environments of a people. Since this study deals with cross-cultural

communication, we have to use music and culture. This is the field of ethnomusicology.

Most ethnomusicological theory has focused on the study of music in culture or as

culture (Blacking 1995; Merriam 1964; Nettl 1983). But other ethnomusicologists are

studying music as a means of communication (Corbitt 1998; King 1989; Scott 2000;

Stone 1982)).

Another emphasis ethnomusicologists have made is how music expresses a

person’s thoughts and worldview. Alan Merriam mentions how music has a symbolic

function: “Men everywhere assign certain symbolic roles to music which connect it with

other elements in their cultures” (Merriam 1964:246). John Blacking describes how

"Music can express social attitudes and cognitive processes" (Blacking 1973:54). A

Christian ethnomusicologist, Joyce Scott, says “Music is the way we express what is

deepest in our souls and we may fell there is no better way to do this than our own. It is

part of our identity" (Scott 2000:85). And finally, Bonnie Wade, in her most recent book,

says “One of the most significant uses to which people put music is to express an

identity" (Wade 2004:16). Geertz solidifies these thoughts by his idea that “religious

symbols synthesize a people’s ethnos and their worldview”

28

Geertz looks at culture as symbols that represent meaning. His definition of

culture is:

“an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (Geertz 1973:89).

If meanings are embodied in symbols, and music is one of those symbols, then

music is an expression of meaning.

Further on in his article, Geertz states the paradigm of his investigation:

“sacred symbols function to synthesize a people’s ethos—the tone, character, and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood—and their world view—the picture they have of the way things in sheer actuality are, their most comprehensive ideas of order” (ibid:89).

This paradigm can be adapted for the present research in the following way: Taking out

the added definitions, Geertz’s paradigm reads: “sacred symbols function to synthesize a

people’s ethos and their world view.” This implies that symbols can represent a people’s

mindset or their cognitive environment. Music is definitely one of those symbols.

The resulting paradigm implies a very different approach from traditional

ethnomusicology. Usually music is viewed as a part of culture, and how it interacts with

and functions within the rest of culture. But this paradigm works by viewing music as an

expression of culture. The implication is that music becomes a window through which to

see a people’s ethos and their world view. (See Figure 12.) Therefore studying music in

culture is a way of understanding a people’s cognitive environment.

29

Studying a culture through their music...

…as opposed to studying the music of a culture.

Culture

Music

Music

Culture

FIGURE 12: ROLE OF MUSIC AND CULTURE

Overview

Since the goal of this study is to facilitate the communication of the gospel, one

needs to understand better the how people think spiritually. As music is one way of

understanding this, the desirable music to study would be spiritual music. Titon suggests

it be not just the spiritual music, but the spiritual music event (Titon 2002:16). The unit of

investigation is “music-worship-ritual.” This refers to a regularly practiced musical event

that has a divinity as the object of worship. The theoretical model describes a process for

communicating biblical truth cross-culturally through music-worship-ritual. The process

will be briefly described, and then discussed in a detailed manner. (See figure 13.)

30

First note that this process is that of discovering cognitive environments,

particularly that of basic beliefs. The emphasis is illustrated by the three large, green

arrows. These represent the process of discovering beliefs through the music-worship-

ritual. The proposal is that of using the music-worship-ritual to discover deep-level

beliefs, and using that process for effective, cross-cultural communication of the gospel.

Music-Worship-Ritual

New forms

Traditions

Beliefs BeliefsExtract


New forms

Traditions

BeliefsBeliefs

Evangelicals Rural folk

1111

2222

3333

4444

5555

FIGURE 13: A THEORETICAL MODEL

A missionary must first go through steps one and two himself or herself in order

to extract his or her beliefs from tradition and ritual. Then, the missionary must walk with

those in the other culture to help them discover their deep-level beliefs. This is step three.

31

Then, at the deep-level, the missionary presents basic biblical truth to them and helps

them compare it with their beliefs (step four). And finally, new forms of ritual emerge as

a result of this process (step five). This investigation focuses on steps two and three.

The Development of the Model

This model comes from adapting and synthesizing theories from ethnomusicology

and anthropology. The idea of using the music event as the unit of investigation and

describing it with three circles comes from Alan Merriam and Jeff Titon. Using the music

event as window for discovering beliefs comes from Clifford Geertz. And the ideas of

extracting beliefs from one’s tradition, and communicating at the deep-level come from

Shaw and VanEngen. The epistemology comes from Jeff Titon, and Timothy Rice.

The Music-Worship-Ritual

The following describes the process used to create the model.

Alan Merriam

Merriam’s basic theory is that music comes from behavior which comes from

concepts.

"The music product is inseparable from the behavior that produces it; the behavior in turn can only in theory be distinguished from the concepts that underlie it; and all are tied together through the learning feedback from product to concept” (Merriam 1964:35).

32

His theory includes the dynamic process of the music reinforcing or changing one’s

concepts. (See figure 14.) For the new model, Merriam’s three levels will be used with

modifications: “beliefs” will replace “concepts,” and “tradition” will replace “behavior.”

Concepts Behavior Music

Feedback

FIGURE 14: MERRIAM’S THEORY OF MUSIC

Jeff Titon

Titon5 uses the idea of a “music event” and illustrates this with circles (Titon

2002:16). His theory illustrates the context of the music event. He places music at the

center. (See figure 15.) Here music will be placed in the outer circle, and beliefs in the

center. This illustrates how beliefs are the basis for music. This is a modification of

Merriam’s theory that is placed in Titon’s framework.

5 As well as Stone.

33

FIGURE 15: TITON’S THEORY OF THE MUSIC EVENT

My Synthesis

In figure 16, the synthesis and adaptation of Merriam’s and Titon’s models is

illustrated. Beliefs are the root of tradition, and from tradition, rituals develop. This is the

basic structure of the model.

Music-worship-rituals

Tradition

Beliefs

FIGURE 16: MY SYNTHESIS AND ADAPTATION OF MERRIAM

AND TITON

34

The Music-Worship-Ritual as a Window into Culture

In the following discussion, an important change in this diagram is suggested.

Clifford Geertz

The usual way is to see music coming from beliefs, but from Clifford Geertz one

can glean an idea to see the process in another way. Geertz suggests that “sacred symbols

function to synthesize a people’s ethos…and their world view” (Geertz 1973:89). This

can be modified to: “Music functions to synthesize a people’s identity and their

theology.” This implies that one way of gaining insight into a people’s beliefs is through

their music. Jennings also argues that ritual is “a means to gain epistemological access”

(Jennings 1982:111). Therefore in this model, the arrow is turned in the reverse direction.

This is not to illustrate cause and effect, but a means of access. (See figure 17.)

Music-worship-rituals

Tradition

Beliefs

FIGURE 17: MUSIC RITUALS AS A WINDOW INTO BELIEFS

35

Shaw & VanEngen

Shaw & VanEngen suggest that effective communication should take place at the

deep level (Shaw 2003:91-92). The music-worship-ritual is one way to reach that deep

level. Shaw & VanEngen also state that for effective cross-cultural communication to

take place, the missionary must be able to present the gospel exempt from his or her

cultural biases:

“The communicators' task is to understand the original intent as discerned in the text and pass that on to the receptors without inserting overly intrusive personal assumptions that emerge from cultural, ecclesiastical, and theological biases” (Shaw 2003:77).

Cross Cultural Evangelism through Music-Worship-Ritual

Here is where the model goes beyond mere contextualization of music-worship-

ritual. The missionary himself or herself must use their own music-worship-ritual to

“discover” their own beliefs about God’s revelation, and then extract those beliefs from

their own culture and tradition. These are the first and second steps toward effective

cross-cultural evangelism through music. (See figure 18.)

36

Tradition

Music-worship-ritual


1111

2222

FIGURE 18: THE FIRST AND SECOND STEPS IN CROSS-

CULTURAL EVANGELISM THROUGH MUSIC.

My Proposal of Evangelism

One way of communicating the gospel is through participation and dialogue in

music-worship-ritual in order to understand cognitive environments. As in the same

process explained in step one, the missionary must now repeat along side with the people

to whom he or she wants to communicate the gospel (step three): participate with the

people in their music-worship-ritual, and dialogue with them to reach and “discover”

their deep-level beliefs. (See figure 19.) Once a missionary reaches this level with the

people, then deep-level communication of the gospel begins as the missionary presents

biblical revelation to the people in their context and dialogues with them by comparing

beliefs. (See figure 20.)

37


Tradition

Beliefs

Missionary People

3333

FIGURE 19: THE THIRD STEP IN CROSS-CULTURAL

EVANGELISM THROUGH MUSIC Chibuko has a very interesting way of doing this. In Africa, he interacted with the

local Christians concerning God's word and their ancestral traditions, looking for overlap.

For example, about prayer he says,

“each local church has to find a way in which to relate to the tradition of the universal Church and to the one of its own ancestors. This means that, rather than bringing about the Christianization of the diverse manifestations of ancestral prayer, each church should discover whatever in ancestral prayer might be applicable to the Christian faith” (Chibuko 1997:230).

In his case, he is working with Christians on how to express their faith. In this

investigation, the author is working with non-Christians and how they can

discover a new faith in Christ. Yet his method is interesting to consider, adapt,

and apply to this investigation.

38


Tradition

Beliefs

Missionary People

Beliefs

4444

FIGURE 20: THE FOURTH STEP IN CROSS-CULTURAL

EVANGELISM THROUGH MUSIC

The fifth and final step would be that new forms of the music-worship-ritual

emerge as the dialogue continues. (See figure 21.) This is what many authors refer to

when they discuss “contextualization of liturgy.” (See Chibuko, Okazaki, Swain, and

Veilleux.)


Tradition

BeliefsBeliefs

New forms

5555

FIGURE 21: THE FIFTH STEP IN CROSS-CULTURAL

EVANGELISM THROUGH MUSIC

39

Contextualization

Is this a model of contextualization? The answer is both “yes” and “no,” and the

distinction is in “contextualization of what?” One answer is the contextualization of the

music-worship-ritual. Another answer is to use indigenous worship as a means to

evangelism. This study is not proposing the contextualization of music-worship-ritual,

although that is a result. But it does propose a method to contextualize the gospel, and not

only this, but doing so cross-culturally. The method is through the music-worship-ritual.

Most of the discussion in the literature of “contextualizing liturgy” is in a mono-

cultural context. The assumption is that once a culture has the gospel, they need to

express that faith using their own cultural traditions, especially in relation to liturgy

(Swain 2004:14). This model is missional in that it proposes communicating the gospel

from one culture to another. This is a cross-cultural or bi-cultural process. The music-

worship-ritual is the means, not the goal.

Epistemological biases

Any investigation must delineate its epistemological biases before beginning

(Guba 1994:116). These biases determine the types of conclusions that will be reached,

and the necessary methodology that will be used. Not ever bias is suitable for every

investigation. Yet a single investigation may be approached from different biases.

The researcher must choose from which bias he or she is going to approach the

investigation. The basic philosophical questions to be dealt with are: “What can be

known?” And “How can it be known?” Different authors have different ways of handling

this question. Here is only a summary of their main arguments. The reader can analyze

40

their arguments in full by consulting their works. Most of their discussions describe a

continuum between two extremes.

Bernard

Bernard begins by describing two different descriptions of reality. The first he

calls “constructivism” in which “reality is uniquely constructed by each person.” This he

contrasts with “there is an external reality to be discovered” which he calls “positivism”

(Bernard 2002:3). The difference can be generally seen as the first being “subjective” and

the second “objective.” Traditionally “objective” has been seen as the superior method,

but the real issue is the assumption it is based on. A “subjective” investigation looking at

the reality constructed by persons is just as valid as an “objective” study of a tree. Since

the tree is seen through the eyes of the researcher, pure “objectivity” is impossible, one

can only approximate reality (ibid).

Another way Bernard describes this is the difference between understanding the

beliefs of another person, and explaining what causes those beliefs6 (Bernard 2002:3).

Both studies are worthwhile, but the approach to each is extremely different.

Understanding the beliefs of another person implies that reality is being constructed by

that person, whereas explaining what causes those beliefs implies there is a reality outside

that person that is influencing him or her.

Historically, “rationalism” has been based on the assumption of “pre-existing

truths,” and “empiricism” begins by assuming that “truth is what one experiences”

(ibid:4). The well-known “positivism” which has been the standard for many years is

41

really based on the premise that “natural laws can be discovered by observation” (ibid),

but another field of investigation called “humanism” or “interpretivism” challenged that

premise and proposed another one: “people live within webs of meaning they themselves

have spun” (Geertz 1973:5).

Guba

These arguments give us a choice between two extremes in order to begin an

investigation. Guba describes the general difference between “positivism” and

“constructivism” (Guba 1994:112).7 Research based on “positivism” is considered to be

“objective” and usually takes the form of an experiment where an hypothesis is tested.

The researcher is considered “removed” from the experiment and concludes by

“explaining” what has been observed.

On the other hand “constructivism” is “subjective” and research takes the form of

dialogue and interaction rather than a variable-controlled experiment. The researcher is

an active participant in the investigation, and the goal is to understand what’s going on

through progressive reconstructions. Obviously the two positions differ greatly in their

premises, methods, and types of conclusions. (See Table 1.)

6 As well as what those beliefs cause 7 There are more than two options for investigation, but for clarity, it’s easier to show the contrast

between the extremes.

42

Goal is to understand phenomena through progressive reconstructions

Goal is to explain the observations

Researcher is an active participant

Researcher is removed

Dialogue and interaction

Controlled experiment and hypothesis testing

SubjectiveObjective

CONSTRUCTIVISMPOSITIVISM

TABLE 1: GUBA’S COMPARISON OF RESEARCH

STRATEGIES

Hiebert

Where does theology fit on this epistemological continuum? As a Christian who

believes in God and in the Bible, Hiebert tries to answer that question, and lays out

several different epistemological positions, which are not necessarily on a continuum

(Hiebert 1999:37-38). He uses the framework of the “world” to illustrate the differences.

For simplicity, four positions will be mentioned here: Idealism, Pragmatism, Positivism,

and Critical Realism. In “Idealism,” the world is unknown and unknowable. It is an

illusion. All reality is in the mind. This concept Hiebert rejects, because he believes God

is a reality outside the mind.

43

Pragmatism, as Hiebert sees it, assumes that the world is real, but truth is relative.

There are no morals. Whatever works is “right.” As a Christian, Hiebert cannot accept

this position either because the Bible gives us absolute morals.

Positivism, which holds that the world can be know “objectively,” has been the

norm even for Christians, argues Hiebert, but it lacks the ability to dictate morals

(ibid:35). So where does that leave room for Christians who believe in God, absolutes,

and morals?

Hiebert takes a position which he calls “critical realism.” This assumes that the

world is real, but our knowledge of it is partial. Everything that we know is through

progressive approximations of the real world. This is similar to arguments of Guba and

Bernard. But the point here is that Hiebert chose a position that satisfied his question. The

researcher must do the same, before beginning the investigation.

Researcher’s Choice

The issue of this investigation is the context of spiritual meaning. The researcher

must choose biases that are compatible with the issue, and clarify them so as to be

consistent throughout the study. Therefore, the epistemological biases of this study are

the following:

1. There is an objective truth that is subjectively apprehended. All our

observations of reality are approximations of the truth.

2. “Spiritual meaning” is not a single, objective truth, but a web of

interconnected experiences and ideas.

44

3. Spiritual knowledge is dynamic and much of it is created through personal

interaction.

And the methodology of this investigating is based on the following:

1. The goal is NOT to explain a phenomenon, but to understand a people.

2. Understanding is obtained through multi-experiential interaction and

dialogue over time.

3. Conclusions are reflections of a progressive understanding.

Conclusion

The theoretical framework for this study has been defined as understanding

cognitive environments as seen through relevance theory. The strategy has been defined

through a ethnomusicological model, and the biases have been clearly delineated. It is

hoped that the resulting understanding of the cognitive environments will facilitate

effective communication of the gospel in the Andes of Ecuador.

45

CHAPTER 3

THE CONTEXT

Religious syncretism is predominant in the whole Andes region. For this study

one particular valley just east of Quito was chosen. Within that valley, the study

eventually focused on just the one town called “El-Tingo,” and particularly their annual

festival of Corpus Christi.

The “Chillo Valley” and the town of “El-Tingo”

East of the capital city of Quito, Ecuador lies a lower plateau called “Chillo

Valley.” This valley consists of small country towns which all center around a park that

holds the Catholic Church as the center of community life. (The whole range of Andes

Mountains from Columbia to Peru is full of these small towns.) As the capital city can no

longer hold its more than one-million inhabitants, more and more urban folk are moving

out to the valley, most of them living in newly-built, residential neighborhoods. Thus the

Chillo Valley holds both indigenous folk and urban commuters.

Quito is city. But just on the other side of its east mountain ridge lies a valley

which holds an interesting mix of city folk escaping the crowd and smog, and indigenous

folk trying to hold onto their lands and traditions. The Chillo Valley is a mix of white,

46

middle-class urbanizations, and indigenous, lower-class “pueblos.”1 When I use the word

“pueblo,” which I will use throughout this paper, I refer to what Dr. Alfredo Costales, the

first anthropologist in Ecuador, refers to as “doctrines” (Costales 2006:107). The Catholic

church gathered the Indians into pueblos in order to indoctrinate them. As a result, the

whole Ecuadorian Andes region is dotted with pueblos from north to south. Every pueblo

has a central park with a catholic church where mass is held regularly as well as

baptisms, weddings, and many, many festivals. At first the catholic missionaries tried to

eliminate these pagan festivals, but were unsuccessful. The festivals eventually merged

with many catholic traditions (Moya 1995:18).

Mountain“Ilalo” El-Tingo

GuangopoloToglla

Alangasí

La Merced

San Carlos

Conocoto

Sangolquí

Pintag

Tolontag

San PedroAmaguaña

Eastern Mountain Range

Quito

San Juan

San José

ChecaQuinche

Location of the pueblos in the Chillo Valley

Yaruquí

Pifo

Tumbaco

Puembo

La Comuna

Santa Teresa

FIGURE 22: MAP OF THE CHILLO VALLEY

1 Many excellent ethnographies have been written about some of these pueblos: Conocoto

(Gallardo 1994); Sangolqui (Gomezjurado Zevallos 2003); Sangolqui (Hinojosa Figueroa 2002); Pintag (Sosa Freire 1996).

47

The Chillo Valley holds many pueblos. Originally five were selected in which to

study their festivals: El-Tingo, Alangasí, Sangolquí, Checa, and El Quinche. But in the

end, only the festivals in Alangasí, El-Tingo, and La Armenia were filmed. Seven

evangelical churches were studied in Alangasí, La Merced, Conocoto, La Comuna, San

José and Santa Teresa. (See Figure 22.)

The town of El-Tingo is sandwiched between a river and a mountain. Thus the

town consists of one main road that runs parallel to the river. “The Black Bridge” lies at

the east end of town where the river “San Pedro” runs under the main road. At the west

end of the town lies the main park where the Catholic Church stands. Here is where they

celebrate the Corpus Christi festival every year.

The Corpus Christi Festival

The Corpus Christi festival in El-Tingo is a mixture of historical traditions. The

Palla and rucos are symbolic of the harvest. The Inca figures date back to Inca sun

worship. And the Catholic procession traces its roots to Spain itself. Police and military

figures are a recent addition.

Before the arrival of the Incas, the inhabitants of Quito, who were called

“Quitus,” worshipped the sun and the moon, and had a temple for sun worship on the

mound in the center of Quito (Cisneros Cisneros 1948:18). The harvest festival is related

to sun worship, because the solar equinox marked the date between sowing and

harvesting (Friedemann 2002:93). In the Chillo Valley, the old crater of Ilaló was a

sacred place where Pachacamac, the Creator of the Andes world, was worshipped with

“yumbos” (holy men) and “sacharunas” (men dressed as weeds), directed by a priest

48

(Costales Samaniego 2007:92). I mention this, because at the foot of Ilaló the most

ancient evidences of human life in Ecuador have been found (ibid, :7-8). Therefore this

worship at the crater may have a long history.

The Corpus Christi festival came from Spain with the conquerors. In the fifteenth

century it became the principal ritual of the Catholic faith (Friedemann 2002:93). It was

superimposed upon the ritual of sun worship: Inti Raymi (Moya 1995:16). In fact, the

Indian race was never really Christianized (Mackay 1933:48), the festivals merely

became a means of celebrating old rituals (Moya 1995:15). This is the syncretism seen in

the Corpus Christi festival celebrated in El-Tingo: a nominal Catholic faith celebrated by

a mixture of historic rituals.

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CHAPTER 4

THE DISCOVERY PROCESS

This chapter discusses the process in which the researcher participated in order to

understand the cognitive environment of the people, particularly their spiritual cognitive

environment. The narrative will change to first person. The reader is invited to join the

author in sharing the story of the process of the investigation. One has to “walk with the

author” in this process in order to understand his conclusions.

Indigenous Festivals

Every pueblo in Ecuador celebrates festivals several times a year or more. The

festivals are varied and differ from pueblo to pueblo. My original goal was to stick to

Patron Festivals, but I found them too “commercialized.” Other festivals promised much

more hope of spiritual devotion.

Alangasí

Alangasí is the next town east of my home town of El-Tingo. It is also one of the

oldest towns in the Valley, dating at least 500 years (Landázuri N. 1990:28). Thus it has

been the administrative center for most of the nearby towns for many years. That implies

that it receives a significant budget from the government, and that it needs to maintain its

reputation as the “best” town around.

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The Patron Festival of Alangasí

Upon arrival in Quito, I had less than five days to prepare to film my first

indigenous festival in a pueblo called “Alangasí. When the day soon arrived, I wasn’t

surprised when the town marching band appeared, leading the Friday evening parade.

Nor was I surprised by the six-foot virgin figure, encased in glass, and carried on a very

decorated truck bed. What did surprise me was when they carried the virgin from the

truck to the church door, and began to prepare for what I thought was going to be a form

of worship of the virgin. Everyone crowded around the church door, leaving a ten-foot

circle of space in front of the virgin. Into this space entered a group of Mexican mariachis

who began to serenade the virgin with love songs a young boy would sing to his

girlfriend. I was totally disillusioned. I had expected something much more reverent and

spiritual. After all, four different bands had marched around the park following the virgin.

Following the bands were groups from different neighborhoods, each with an

“offering.” One group paraded an offering of bamboo castles, rigged with fireworks for

later in the evening. Another group carried offerings of “globes.” These globes are tissue

paper hot air balloons made to hold a candle at the bottom and rise when lit to disappear

into the darkened sky. Another group paraded in their pickup trucks, each loaded with dry

branches to feed the bonfire at the stadium. When the virgin was offered “love songs,” I

didn’t think it fit in with the theme of the evening.

Once the virgin was back in her place in the church, everyone trickled down to the

stadium, which is made of wooden poles tied together to enclose a large field with second

story viewing. Of course you have to pay one dollar to climb a wooden ladder and sit on

a plastic chair to view what’s going on. Business is business. Each marching band took

51

their place in one corner of the stadium, and played on, completely ignoring what the

other bands were doing. The trucks entered from one side and left their loads of branches.

The bamboo castles were set up and the bonfire lit to set off the fireworks. Personally, I

have seen this many times before, and I couldn’t see any spiritual worship going on here.

So I went home to return for the parade the next day.

Saturday was the big parade where every nearby neighborhood participates in one

way or another.1 Again, I have seen these many times before, but this time I came with

new eyes, looking for music and worship. It didn’t take me long to see that nothing

spiritual was going on here. You would expect to see a central theme throughout the

parade, especially since this whole weekend was supposed to be in honor of the patron

saint of Alangasí: the Virgin of the “Candelaria.” But I could quickly tell that no one was

thinking about the Virgin in this parade. The military band led the parade, followed by

the president of the town council who organized the whole thing. Various groups

followed, and the parade continued for about two hours. One group would represent a

typical indigenous tradition, such as faces painted black, men dressed in ponchos,

wielding machetes, and dancing to a drum. The next group was scantly dressed girls

dancing to reggae! Another group of indigenous folk was followed by cheerleaders!

Forget about the Virgin. This is a party! Later on, I would learn that the only part of the

whole weekend considered to be spiritual was the catholic mass.

I have rarely attended mass, since I grew up evangelical. But still I could tell that

this mass was more than normal. All the pews were full, and many were standing at the

back and in the doorway. Different groups had various participations. Again I was

1 See www.eltingo.org/1video.htm for a sample video.

52

surprised by Mexican mariachis serenading the virgin, and during mass itself! I was still

waiting for indigenous music, which never came. At the end of mass, two young men

played several wonderful duets on guitar and trumpet. They were obviously trained in the

music conservatory in Quito.

Talking with our friends from the Mejia family, who have lived in Alangasí for

two generations, I found out their opinion of the festival was that it’s just empty tradition.

No one knows how it started, nor gives it any spiritual meaning, nor really cares about

either.

The Evangelical Church near Alangasí

One of the Mejia family, Pablo, is the youngest of five brothers. I have known

him for eighteen years since he was single. During his younger years he lived in Quito,

but for the past twenty years he has lived in Alangasí. He is now married with four

children, and pastors a small church of about twenty members. The church meets in the

next town down the road, called “La Merced,” about three miles from Alangasí, but many

of its members are from Alangasí.

I attended one of their Sunday services and filmed the music worship. They met

in the living room of a small house. With three benches and a few chairs, the room was

full. Edwin, one of the youth, led with a guitar, and Jose, another young fellow, played

drums. The guitar was amplified, and both Pablo and Edwin used mikes during the

singing. The congregation sang enthusiastically, and all the songs were “modern.”2

2 See www.eltingo.org/2video.htm

53

For this paper, I will use three broad categories to group the songs: modern,

traditional, and national. No church I visited sang hymns. Twenty years ago, when I first

arrived in Ecuador, the churches had already switched from hymns to choruses. I refer to

these choruses as “traditional” evangelical music. In the past ten years, many Latin

American Christian artists have produced CD’s which spread over Latin America very

quickly. Within weeks of releasing a CD, many evangelical churches are using these

songs in their services. A few of these artists are: Marcos Witt, Jesus Adrian Romero, and

Danilo Montero. This is the music I call “modern,” using a term I have heard in the

evangelical churches in Quito. They often say, “We have modernized our music.”

“National” music, from an evangelical point of view, refers to a different style of

music that has survived for at least a couple of generations. Others call this music style

“indigenous.” It is usually pentatonic, does not follow the I, IV, V chord progression, and

has repetitive lines. The further one is removed from the city, the more one finds this

style of music in the evangelical churches. Personally, I find this style of music much

more suited to congregational singing than the modern songs that are dominating the

urban churches.

The following Saturday I met with Pablo and the musicians to watch the video I

had recorded and to talk about music worship. This was during the time they rehearse for

the service, but they were very eager to talk with me about music worship. I had two

questions in my mind: “What does the music worship mean to you?” and “Do you think

the festivals are worship?” But I learned quickly that people cannot verbalize deep

meaning very well, and I had to try to help them by asking similar questions from

different angles: What is the objective of singing? What are you trying to accomplish?

54

How do you know if the service was successful? From this group, I really didn’t get

much response beyond, “We sing on Sunday to praise God.” Part of the problem was my

lack of experience in this type of investigation.

When it came to commenting on the festival, the conversation became more

interesting. The initial response was that the festivals are just tradition. They are part of

the identity of the pueblo, and often bring in tourists. The only spiritual part is the

Catholic mass inside the church. But when I asked if they had participated in the

festivals, one youth, who had joined our meeting recently, said that the festivals are “art”

and that he enjoyed putting on a costume and dancing with them all day long. Then I

asked the group if Christians should participate or not. The answer was no. When I

proposed doing a festival as Christians, they were hesitant to answer. The first response

was that the pueblo would think we were making fun of them, but then Pablo commented

that we Christians need to give a public testimony and that parading around town might

help us be more bold in our testimony.

La Armenia

I had planned to film only certain festivals, but God gave me an opportunity I had

to take. Nelson Morales had often worked for us at our camp, doing repairs and minor

renovations. We have known him for several years now. He lives in a pueblo called “La

Armenia.” We have often had short conversations about traditions in his pueblo. He

claims that in “La Armenia” some of the traditions are disappearing because key people

have moved to the city or died. For example, the man who played the flute (“pingullo”)

55

during Corpus Christi had passed away, and since no one had learned to play it, they no

longer celebrated that occasion.

He mentioned that he was going to have a festival at his house. When I asked if I

could film it, he immediately said, “Please do.” For me it was a research opportunity. For

him, he was getting a free video of his party. Although I have seen many festivals in

these pueblos, (usually from the driver seat of my car, since their parades often block

traffic unexpectedly), I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I showed up on time with my

camera, ready for whatever.

The “Pase del Niño” Festival

A large group was already in the yard when I arrived. Most of them dressed up in

various costumes, with masks on their faces. We were ushered into Nelson’s house and

offered a large plate of ham, potatoes, and hominy corn. Tradition, of course! How can

you celebrate without food! Everyone has to eat. And it was only ten o’clock. I had eaten

breakfast a few hours earlier and wasn’t hungry, but you can’t offend the host. I began to

dig away at the food, but was spared from eating the whole thing when I heard the band

arriving. Since I was the photographer, I had to film them. Out I went, and the food

stayed behind. My next obstacle would be to avoid the “chicha,” a semi-alcoholic drink

being served to everyone everywhere. But with a camera in hand and busy filming, I

could politely refuse.

The band paraded in from the street. No costumes here, just uniforms of black

pants and white shirts. The band consisted mostly of brass and percussion instruments:

56

trumpets, trombones, saxophones, snare drum, bass drum, and cymbals. The music fell

under my category of “national.” Pentatonic and repetitive. Great for dancing.

On a sunny day, at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, I was comfortable. But these

dancers had on a costume, some a wool poncho, and their heads were wrapped in sheets.

Some even had hats on top of the sheets. Plus the masks. They had to be sweating

profusely under all that cloth! But on they went. They were organized in groups, and each

group had its own costume. In general, either they dressed as Indians with ponchos or as

clowns. I counted four groups, which pretty much stayed together during the dancing and

parading, although their lines would intertwine. One who was not part of any group was

the wolf. He had a small boy who held his leash, but I could tell the boy followed the

wolf and not vice versa. I was looking for some kind of idol or virgin as the center of the

occasion, but I saw none, at least not yet.3

I had imagined the festival to be only at the house, but soon the whole group

paraded down the road to another house, where they briefly repeated the music and

dance. Then off to another house, for more music and dancing. On the way, another

group of women, not in costume, but in uniform, joined us. They carried the flowers and

the fruit baskets. At the following house, two groups of children joined us, dressed as

Indians. Here the boys formed one group and the girls another. Then off to the “prioste’s”

house. (The “prioste” is the one who pays for all this! Turns out he was also baptizing his

baby that day.)

Here they had a three tents set up with chairs underneath. It looked like some sort

of a reception. One tent sheltered a long table. At the end of the table lay an adorned glass


57

case. Turned out the “baby Jesus” was in the case, and that this whole festival is centered

around this figure. (Okay, now I found an idol!) The festival is called “Pase del Niño”

(The Passing of the Baby Jesus). The music and dancing continued. I admire the

endurance of both the dancers and the band. And in a hot sun! No wonder they drink that

“chicha!”

At the time, I had no idea how long the festival would last, nor if and where they

would go next. So far, I was having no problem filming the festival. In fact, I was not

alone. Another man was filming the festival too. And no one was complaining. In fact,

they often danced a little extra just for the camera.

Then the whole group took to the street again. It seemed like the whole pueblo

was present. Not many spectators. All the groups of dancers stayed together, followed by

the prioste. Now the prioste was carrying the baby Jesus and just ahead of him were two

girls holding ropes which suspended burning incense between the two of them. Most

festivals I have seen include this type of incense. I assume it comes from the Catholic

tradition somewhere.4

After the prioste came the band, then a group of women carrying fruit baskets on

their heads, and another group carrying candles. It was a least a quarter of a mile walk to

the Catholic church in the hot sun. I sure hope they were enjoying it!

All the women filed into the church. Those with baskets set them up front. Then

they all sat in the plastic chairs and waited (for the priest to begin mass). We must have

waited for more than half an hour, and the priest sure did take his time in setting up! I

noticed that no costumed figure entered the church. They went off to a neighboring


58

house, and returned when mass was over. I assumed they felt it was improper to enter the

church dressed as clowns. Mass was ordinary. No special music. The main event was the

baptism of the prioste’s child. Very solemn. By the looks on most people faces, I would

say they were bored.

But the atmosphere changed dramatically once mass was over. The prioste exited

with the baby Jesus, and the women followed with their baskets and candles. The band

struck up their usual beat, and the dancers reappeared and moved with the rhythm. I

really wasn’t sure where I should be nor what I needed to film. Somewhere near the

prioste someone released several pigeons. As I moved toward them to see if I could film

something important, it began to rain bread! Baskets of bread had been brought from

somewhere, and the tradition was to throw the bread into the air for people to catch.

Wow!

Eventually they formed a parade line again to return to the prioste’s house. I know

enough to expect that most of these festivals end up with drinking and dancing. In order

to avoid being obligated to drink and dance (they had already picked out my wife for one

dance), I decided my filming adventure was over for that festival.

Interview with Nelson Morales

Due to circumstances, I wasn’t able to meet with Nelson to discuss the video until

three months later. He is reserved, and somewhat hard to locate, unless it’s about an

opportunity to earn some money. He finally came to the camp, because we happened to

meet on the road, and I told him his video was waiting for him.

59

Formal interviews are awkward, unless you know someone really well. So when

Nelson came, I had to keep it fairly informal. As we watched the video, he would briefly

response to my inquires, but nothing very deep. Plus we had kids around. Nelson told me

that about half of the groups in the festival were from outside the pueblo. They had been

invited and/or contracted to participate. To most of my questions he answered, “That’s

the tradition.” I really wanted to find out why they use costumes; why they wrap their

heads in sheets; what the significance is of the wolf; but those answers only come when

they really trust you, and that takes time and God’s grace to gain. Later a friend told me

that they don’t wash their costumes, but save them. It’s some kind of cleansing. But he

wasn’t sure, and I found no hint of it in my investigation.

Festivals in El-Tingo

My home town is El-Tingo. Having lived there for sixteen years, the local folk are

beginning to trust my wife and me. Yet it is only a beginning. I can intrude a little more

here than in La Armenia, but I am still far away from full confidence.

Two of the biggest annual festivals in El-Tingo are Holy Week and “Saint Peter

Saint Paul.” One week before the latter is a festival called “Corpus Christi” (the body of

Christ). In general, Holy Week follows the Catholic tradition. “Saint Peter Saint Paul” is

meshed with pagan traditions having to do with the solar equinox (June 23rd).

Holy Week

In El-Tingo, during Holy Week, they act out the last days in the life of Christ

from Thursday through Sunday. This is not on a stage, but throughout the pueblo. For

60

example, Roman soldiers actually go up the mountain to arrest Christ and bring him back

down for judgment. Our house is right on the park, but since it’s rented out, we now live

an hour drive away. So I was not able to be there to witness all of the events.

On Friday, they enacted the thirteen stations of the last hours in the life of Christ.

This is a Catholic tradition, coming down the ranks from the Pope. The first station lay on

the east side of town, and the last five are celebrated in the park, ending at the Catholic

church. At each station they have a prayer, a reading, and at some, a short drama or a

reflection. The whole program, including the readings and prayers, was written in a

pamphlet they were selling for fifty cents.

In this procession, only a few people were wearing costumes: the Roman soldiers,

Jesus, the thieves, a few select men and women who represented the disciples, and some

hooded figures, dressed in purple, not mentioned in the Bible. The latter must have been

part of their tradition. The rest of the people followed in regular dress. A few carried the

virgin Mary, followed by another virgin I couldn’t identify. The band was next, playing

solemn music. Two more idols brought up the rear: Christ crucified, and Saint Peter.

They processed to each station, and followed a routine of prayer, reading, drama

and/or reflection. I could tell that this year enthusiasm was lacking. The actors played

their parts very routinely without much energy or expression. At several stations the

protagonists were not sure what they were supposed to do. The priest was directing the

whole program.5

In talking with several people, I learned this year’s background: The priest is new

and this was his first Holy Week in El-Tingo. He wasn’t present until only two weeks


61

before the festival and so there wasn’t much time to prepare. The people don’t know him

that well, and are not sure what he expects. But they do it anyway. “Next year,” they say,

“we’ll improve it and correct the errors.”

From my point of view, this was all tradition. I would even say it was obligation. I

couldn’t see any voluntary worship here, except for one elderly women I saw who was

praying the rosary during one the stations.

Saturday everyone rested from the activities, since Saturday Christ spent the day

in the grave.

I had never witnessed the Sunday events, since I was always in the evangelical

church on Easter Sunday. So this year I skipped church and went to El-Tingo to see what

they do.

I arrived a little late. The procession had already left. So I ran after them to catch

up. This was going to be a two-mile parade in the hot sun! No wonder so few people

were participating.

This time the band led, and the music was no longer solemn, but up-beat. Behind

the band, four men carried the virgin Mary, who was dressed with a black cloak and veil.

About twenty people walked behind her. And then came Saint Peter, borne by four more,

and a women throwing flower petals on him. (You can always tell when a procession has

gone passed by the flower petals left on the road.) I counted only sixty people in the

video. Obviously a large part of the pueblo were not participating in this event.6


62

I followed them until they reached the furthest west side of the pueblo. Here, in a

field, stood a chapel. I noticed that, like in Alangasí, they brought the idols into the

church with the idol facing outside and its back to the door.

I decided not to stay for the mass for several reasons. First, they knew I was

evangelical, and my presence in mass would make them see me compromising my faith.

Second, I am looking for worship outside the Catholic church. Lastly, I wanted to make

sure I could return to the park in time for something I had never seen before, and didn’t

want to miss.

Having walked the two miles back to the park, I waited. This is one of the aspects

of research: waiting. Sometimes you never know what’s going to happen, nor how long it

will take. I had to wait almost three hours!

I was standing beside a fifteen foot high, square, wooden structure, with a six

diameter hole in the high platform and a dome covering the top. I had seen this structure

every year, but had never seen what happened here. I assumed they re-enacted Christ’s

ascension, and pulled him up with ropes. Now what was the ladder for?

To my surprise, Cristina Perez’s granddaughter was being dressed up as an angel.

When the band finally approached, with the virgin Mary, two men scrambled up the

ladder, and two others took the ladder away. Then the two men in the dome quickly

lowered a plastic chair with thick ropes onto the ground and others placed the little girl in

it. She was about to be hauled up before the band arrived at the spot, when someone

remembered to tie her into the chair. The white shawl was maybe the handiest thing

around, and she disappeared fifteen feet above the street into the dome structure.

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The band moved to one side to let the virgin Mary pass beneath the dome. The

next task was to place the idol in exactly the correct spot under the dome. It turns out that

the little girl descends and changes the virgin’s veil from morning (black) to joy (yellow).

That was a big surprise for me! I’ve since learned that although many of the same

festivals are celebrated in different pueblos, each pueblo has certain traditions distinct

from any other pueblo.

The angel descended, gave a little speech, and removed the virgin’s veil of

morning. She had some trouble because the virgin was a little too far her to reach. Good

thing she was tied into that chair! With help, she changed the veil, the band struck up a

merry tune, and everyone marched over to the church.7

Group Interview in El-Tingo

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in this investigation is how challenging it

is to get people to talk about their beliefs. First, you need time to develop the

conversation, and second, you have to have a pretty good friendship with them. I may

have lived in El-Tingo for sixteen years, but still, they’re Catholic and I’m Evangelical,

and that creates a huge barrier in their minds!

God works in wonderful ways. The town has a cultural center run by the City

Council of Quito. We met the new director, and she gave us permission to show my

videos of Holy Week there in the cultural center. Faby, my wife, has a fairly good

relation with some of the women in the pueblo, and she promoted this event through “the

grape-vine.”

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It poured rain one hour before the showing. Still, we had a few people come to see

the videos. I had made clips to reduce the whole filming to thirty minutes.8 In the end,

three women, two youth, and one man viewed the clips. I did what I could to stimulate

discussion. We stayed almost a half hour talking afterwards. Most of their comments

were on how to improve the festival: more time for preparation, better communication

with the priest, doing it like they do in other pueblos. These kinds of comments make me

think the festivals have more to do with identity than with worship.

Corpus Christi 2006

This festival was totally different from Holy Week! The main part had nothing to

do with the Catholic tradition. The part that did was clearly marked so. “Corpus Christi”

means “the body of Christ” and the name obviously comes from the Catholic tradition.

But I strongly doubt that flute players with drums, large mother-earth figures, and

costumed dancers have anything to do with “the body of Christ.” At last, here was a

festival that looked like its roots preceded the Spanish conquest.

They told me that the first event Friday would be night. Like I said before, you

never knew what’s going to happen, nor when. I arrived “on time” at six o’clock and

found the park empty. Now what? Wait.

Around seven o’clock some folks start setting up some chairs on the wide

sidewalk in front of the Catholic church. Time to see what’s going on. Some men brought

a dozen or so bamboo poles, eight feet long each. Since I knew some of them, I

7 See www.eltingo.org/7video.htm 8 See www.eltingo.org/a1.htm to view the clips.

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approached, asked a few polite questions, and began filming and watching. I realized that

they were constructing a mother figure called, “Mama Pacha” (mother earth) for the

festival. “Isn’t it kind of late to be doing this?” I asked. “We were at our jobs all day long,

and couldn’t start any earlier,” they replied. They didn’t seem to care if they were “late.”

I’ve learned that several groups were going to participate, each with their own

“pingullero,” “Mama Pacha,” and “rucos.” The pingullero is the person who plays a thin,

three-holed flute, and, at the same time, beats a one-foot diameter drum to which the

rucos dance. The rucos are dressed uniformly with a colorful poncho and two matching

cloths than hang out both back pockets of their black pants. They have white shirts on,

and around their knees they have bells tied which clang together as they dance to the beat

of the drum. From underneath their black hats long trails of hair drape down their backs.

They also wear masks, and hold something in one hand. The men had something that

resembled bull horns. The women held a corn cob in one hand.

I have to mention that for women to dress as rucos is something new. This is a

traditionally male role in the festivals. In El-Tingo, they told me that the women decided

to form their own group a couple of years ago, and they have since continued. Their

pingullero was male, but then pingulleros are hard to come by. Out of the four in this

festival, two were contracted from other pueblos.

While the men were putting together their “Mama Pacha,” I asked, “Where’s the

pingullero?” Someone said, “He’s inside.” Then someone else said, “Bring him out and

let him play!” I don’t know if they wanted to hear him or were doing me a favor since I

had a video camera. So he came out and began to play, and continued until they started to

dance with the Mama Pacha.

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The melody was very repetitive, but no one seemed to mind. He played the flute

with the left hand, while the right hand kept the beat with a stick on the drum. The back

of the drum had a string across it with a small stick in the middle for an extra sound

effect. When he took a break, I took advantage of the opportunity to talk to him. He was

from La Merced, two pueblos east of El-Tingo. They had contracted him for the festival.

(Maybe that’s why he “had” to come out and play.) The pingullo he bought from an

elderly ex-pingullero who could no longer play it. (Often a family will not sell the flute. It

remains part of the family inheritance.) The drum he had found somewhere in Sangolquí

(another pueblo).

Later I tried to find where I could purchase these instruments. I visited many a

music store which sold traditional instruments, but not these. The pingulleros had told me

that almost no one made them, and they were right. I even went to Otavalo, which is a

town north of Quito that sells everything “typical” you could imagine from Ecuador, but

no one had the instruments. I found a similar drum, but only one side was closed. No

wonder this art of playing pingullos is dying out!

As the men tried to tie the bamboo poles at one end and open the other to make a

large cone shape, I talked with the woman who was holding the face they would tie onto

the top. It was a women’s face made of wood. She said it was over a hundred and fifty

years old! As far as she was concerned it was the original “Mama Pacha.” The others

were imitations.

I was concerned that the men weren’t going to finish in time, but they seemed to

be enjoying the process more than being concerned about finishing on time. I heard a

flute and a drum approaching the park, with the rhythmic clanging of bells to a series a

67

shouts by women. This was the women’s group. The men didn’t seem to care. Of course,

I ran to film them as they danced around the park twice and then returned to where they

had come from.

Once the Mama Pacha was complete with face, hair, arms, hands, and a big white

sheet for a body, one man entered the cone and made the Mama Pacha dance. The rest of

the men put on their outfits and began to dance to the drum and flute of the pingullero.

Their feet moved in a unison “shuffle,” sort of like skipping without jumping. Every

minute or so they reversed direction around the Mama Pacha. Since I was filming, I

couldn’t tell who the leader was. Maybe they didn’t have one.

It was fascinating to watch, but not a good time to ask questions. Suddenly a

woman approached me and asked, “Do you speak English?” My first response was,

“Who told you?” Although I am North American, I don’t stand out as one. Turns out the

director of the cultural center was there, and her brother and sister-in-law were visiting

from Chicago. The sister-in-law had approached me so I could talk to her son in English.

She was Ecuadorian, but her son didn’t speak that much Spanish. Twenty years had

passed since she had visited Ecuador, and here she was in El-Tingo! Well, she proceeded

to explain to me what the festival “meant.” The Mama Pacha represented the earth, and

the rucos were adoring her so that their harvests would be good the following year. I

wondered if any of the participants would agree with her.

Then one of the rucos began to draw a three-foot circle on the cement. Someone

placed a small paper cup filled with beer in the middle. Then two rucos began dancing

around the circle. Eventually they spread their legs, placed their hands behind their backs,

and tried to pick up the cup with their lips. If they lost their balance, they left the circle. A

68

friend commented to me that it was very difficult to execute. You also had to put the cup

back in place if you managed to pick it up!

A small boy, in full costume, wanted to try. As he bent over his poncho draped in

front of his body. He seemed to be successful when someone lifted the poncho to

discover that he was leaning on his hands! Everyone laughed. But he tried again, this

time with his hands behind his back. I was witnessing tradition passing from one

generation to the next.9

The next day was the full “performance” at noon, when four different groups of

pingulleros paraded around the park, each with their Mama Pacha. You could hardly

distinguish the drums from each pingullero. I don’t know how each group of rucos could

hear there own pingullero’s beat. It was all preceded by mass, and a procession of the

“body of Christ.” But even the priest was out on the street afterwards filming the

dancing!10

I was impressed by the difference in the attitude of the people from when they

were dancing as rucos and when they were following the priest around the park after

mass. When they were with the priest, they were very solemn, serious, and quiet. The

priest led. They did sing “Alabaré,” a very well known chorus among evangelicals, but

when they were led by the pingullero, they were moving and dancing, and shouting, and

joyful. What a difference!11

Is this worship? I was much more impressed by what I saw Friday night than

Saturday morning, because the latter was more for show. Many people come from Quito

9 See www.eltingo.org/8video.htm 10 See www.eltingo.org/9video.htm 11 See www.eltingo.org/10video.htm

69

and elsewhere to see and to film the festivals. But the Friday night dance was not for

show. There was something else going on there. Just what, I do not know yet.

Evangelical Worship

Now I move to the evangelical worship. Why it is so different from the

indigenous festivals? Do evangelicals consider the festivals to be worship? Pablo Mejia’s

church members mentioned that it was mostly tradition, but had some element of

worship, and that evangelicals might take advantage of the style. But what do other

evangelical congregations think?

One of the first things I realized is that evangelical churches differ greatly in their

style of music worship. I have previously mentioned three categories of songs (modern,

traditional, and national), and in the five churches I visited and studied I found all three

styles used.

Gonzalo Logacho and his church

I have known Gonzalo for many years. He works in the telephone company and

on several occasions has been used by God to help us obtain telephone lines both for our

home and our camp. God has also used him to found a church which is now twenty years

old and has about one hundred members. The church serves a neighborhood called “San

José” which is part of a pueblo called “Conocoto.”

The Chillo Valley consists of “white” folk and “indigenous” folk. The indigenous

folk are the original inhabitants of the pueblos, and the white folk are those who are

moving out of the city and building housing complexes near these pueblos. The older

70

indigenous folk maintain some of their identity, but the youth, who are going for higher

education in the city, are caught between these two people groups and tend to lean toward

the urban culture. As a result, in many indigenous evangelical churches, the adults and

youth have different cultural tastes. This is especially manifest in their worship music.

Gonzalo’s church is no exception.

When I talked to Gonzalo about visiting them and filming their service, I asked

about the music. By my categories, he said that the youth want to sing the “modern”

songs, but the older generation prefers the traditional and national songs. (As one

member said, “I was converted by this song.”) “Who’s leading this Sunday?” I inquired.

“We are,” he replied. In all, I visited his church on three occasions. They have a full drum

set, electric bass, electric guitar, electric piano, and four large speakers. But whenever I

visited they only used a guitar and voices, with amplification. I was surprised that the

older men led and played the music. In every other church I visited, the youth directed

and played the music. Yet in Gonzalo’s church, I could hear the congregation singing. In

many other churches, I could hear only the band.12

My goal was to use focus groups as a method for discovering meaning. Now I

realize how difficult it is to set them up. In Gonzalo’s church, when I explained that I

wanted to meet with them and discuss what I had filmed on Sunday, they agreed

enthusiastically. The best time for them was after the Thursday night Bible study. I didn’t

realize the whole congregation would stay for the discussion! So much for limiting the

group to eight persons! So I worked with what they offered. (In twenty years of living in

Ecuador, I have learned to be flexible.)


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In response to my general question about the purpose of worship, I received the

usual responses of: “to praise and glorify God,” “to love Him,” “to be in His presence,”

and “to express what’s in the heart.” When I showed them a video of a church playing

“modern” music, they began to be apologetic: “We do it differently;” “Their music is

worship music. Our is praise music;” “You can’t hear the congregation in their church;”

and “All you can hear is noise.” I would say that this was one church that was content

with their style of music and didn’t want to become “modern.”

Then I showed them a video of a festival and began to probe to see if they saw

this as worship or not. At first they rejected the idea, and said the festivals were pagan

and not acceptable for Christians. I began to understand that they said this because most

of them had come out of that environment to become Christians. To go back would be to

deny their faith. But as I talked some about national music, they began to agree that the

festival music was part of who they are. When I proposed using the festival music for

Christian worship by first adapting it, they were open to the idea.

Conocoto and Alangasí

Whereas Gonzalo’s church has a stable history of twenty years, the church in

Conocoto has been in existence for only eight and is going through some changes. I

found it hard to study a church when it’s in a major transition.

The church in Conocoto is called “Jubileo.” It was founded by Pastor Miguel

Moreira, who also founded the evangelical church in Alangasí. The churches are fifteen

miles apart, but the same musicians lead the services in both. The Pastor has recently

taken on the responsibility of directing an orphanage, which also holds a Sunday service,

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and the musicians play there also. So this music group will play at eight o’clock in

Alangasí, and then move to Conocoto to play at nine thirty, while the pastor is preaching

in Alangasí. Then the pastor moves to Conocoto to preach while the musicians run to the

orphanage to play for the eleven o’clock service. If I noticed that the musicians were

already tired at the second service, they must have been worn out by the third.

Since the pastor accepted the position at the orphanage, church membership had

declined in both churches. When I was filming the services, they were in the process of

looking for more musicians so that each church would have its own group. Even so, I

filmed a service in Alangasí and another in Conocoto, and arranged to meet with the

group.

In both services, they played modern songs, and they played them very loud. They

used electric guitar and bass, keyboard, full drum set, and voices. It was difficult to hear

the congregation singing. When I showed them the videos they had the same opinion, and

blamed the sound setup for the noise. Their comments on the purpose of worship were:

“that the congregation participate;” “to praise God;” and “to express what’s inside the

heart.”13

I was surprised to learn that several of these youth had participated in festivals in

the pueblos. And that gave me some inside perspective on the festivals. When I asked

them to compare their service with a festival they commented, “We worship a living God,

and they worship an idol.” So they saw the festival clearly as worship of an idol. Then I

asked about the style of worship, and all agreed that the festivals were very expressive

and full of joy. One young man, who comes from a Christian family, commented that


73

evangelical worship services used to be that way, but now they are more like concerts.

People go to see the “show.” Then someone commented that many Christians participate

in the festivals. Why? Because it’s fun. They don’t see it as worship, but as a party. They

enjoy the music and the enthusiasm manifested there.

Santa Teresa

Santa Teresa was a church, further removed from the white folk urbanizations,

that still used “national” music. It wasn’t on my original list, but I had met one of the

elders at a conference, and we had visited his home near the church a few weeks before.

He had given me an open invitation to visit them one Sunday, so I took advantage of the

opportunity.

I called a few days earlier to let him know I was coming, but the phone number he

had given me was the wrong one. So Faby and I just showed up unexpectedly one

Sunday. The church was empty, but the doors were open. Across the way, many people

were watching a full-scale neighborhood soccer game with uniforms and referee. I began

to think of how similar the soccer game was to a worship service. But I’ll have to leave

that for another investigation.

Some church members finally showed up, and were surprised, but glad, to see us.

Of course, when a missionary shows up at a country church, they expect you to preach.

So I was not surprised when they asked me to do so.

As the service began, I was glad that I hadn’t announced our visit. If I had done

so, they probably would have put together a special service very different from the

normal routine. But now they had no other option but to do a regular service.

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A woman led the singing with voice and tambourine, while another member

played the guitar. How nice! No amplification. You could hear the congregation

beautifully! The songs were national style: pentatonic and repetitive. I began to realize

how suitable they are for singing.14

Before the sermon, the congregation asked Faby and I to sing a special. I always

prefer leading a song to singing alone, so I asked the congregation to choose a chorus. I

was amazed when an elderly woman stood and said, “Let’s sing ‘Open my eyes.’” Now I

know both a hymn and a modern song with that title, but I realized she was asking for the

modern one.

La Comuna

Ever since I arrived in Ecuador twenty years ago, I have been involved in the

Presbyterian Church and have known their leaders. The church in “La Comuna” is one of

those churches, although it was not included in the original plan. The goal of the mission

was to plant churches among the upper class, but God used Carlos Cevallos, a member of

one of their newly planted churches, to start a church among the lower class in “La

Comuna.” This neighborhood began with squatters, and now the city has recognized them

as part of Quito. Even though they are inside the city limits, the neighborhood functions

and looks like one of the pueblos in the Chillo Valley. Most of its inhabitants come from

such pueblos.

The church was named, “San Pablo” and the Cevallos family are its founders.

Years ago, when Faby and I led the music in the Presbyterian church in Quito, Carlos and


75

his son (also Carlos) began rehearsing with us. Carlos Jr. remembers that as his beginning

with music. He now has his own recording studio.

I have known Carlos for almost twenty years. Now married with three kids, I

knew it would be no problem to visit his church and meet with the musicians. And since

the church, its members, and the neighborhood are fairly similar to the pueblos, I decided

to include his church in my study.

Carlos uses a full set of instruments for the worship service. Besides the usual

electric guitar and bass, keyboard and drums, they also use two sets of conga drums. On

my first visit, all the music fell within my “modern” category. And the eco of the

octagonal church building raised the noise level to well above my singing level! I filmed

the service, and we set up a time to view the video.15

This was the most organized discussion group I had during my time in Ecuador.

We met in Carlos’ recording studio which is only about twelve square meters. There were

thirteen of us, but we were together and Carlos had a good understanding of what I

wanted to do. I could ask a question and get a response from each person present. We

were not pressured for time either.

With this group, I actually asked them directly what the worship music means to

them. Their answers included: “I enjoy it;” “It’s a gift God has given me;” “I feel closer

to God;” and “It’s a way to express myself.” When I asked them what they expected to

happen during a worship service, they said, “To be edified;” “To feel the peace and joy of

the Lord;” “To glorify God and to see the congregation doing the same;” and “To leave


76

my burdens with God.” All of their comments included a sense of feeling and emotion.

No one gave me a dry, doctrinally correct answer.

When I presented the video of the festivals, they really couldn’t respond to my

question of whether it was worship or not. They just said it was not, and the conversation

moved on to another topic about music and the Presbyterian church.

The Final Workshop

One of the most fruitful events was bringing together all of the churches I had

visited and filmed for a final workshop. “Final” in the sense that I was returning to the

US, but “initial” for them, because they want to continue when I return.

My original idea was to limit attendance to only three or four people from each of

the five churches. With only fifteen to twenty people I could divide them into discussion

groups and keep control. But in the end, sixty people came. So I had to be flexible and

improvise some by changing the format to more of a conference style.

I realized that those who came did so because of the friendship I had with their

leaders. They knew me and trusted me. Two churches did not attend: Conocoto and

Alangasí. I didn’t know their pastor very well, and only knew one person in the music

group. Yet two other churches came that I hadn’t even visited. Their pastor knew me very

well and I had invited them over the phone. I should have spent more time with them,

rather than with the other two churches.

I held the workshop in Gonzalo’s church for three reasons. First they were located

fairly central in the Valley. Second, because the church itself was fairly stable and

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mature, I could count on there being no last minute changes. And third, because they had

invited me to do so.

The final list of churches was: “La Comuna” from Quito, Pablo Mejia’s small

congregation, the church in a pueblo called “Pintag” who had invited another neighboring

church from “Ubillus;” and Gonzalo Logacho’s church who sponsored the whole thing.

We even had a few people from other churches who were invited by various church

members.

I had four main objectives: 1) to discuss the philosophy of worship; 2) to talk

about how to combine the instruments; 3) to learn about volume control; and 4) to

stimulate composition of new songs. It was organized as a workshop, not as a research

investigation. That’s because I feel the investigator is indebted to his or her informants.

So a major part of this workshop I designed to teach them what I had been learning about

worship music. I regret that I had to skip over the topic of the festivals because of time

constraints, but under the circumstances, God still allowed me to do quite a bit.

In order to get people to talk within a group they have to know each other. So I

began with an icebreaker. I wanted them to see each other’s music style. So I asked each

group to come up front and play one song they had used in their previous Sunday service.

The church at San José was equipped with an amplification system, electric guitar

and bass, drums, keyboard, microphones, and even conga drums. I told each group that

they could use as much or as little equipment as they wanted. I had intended this as an

introductory exercise, but later I realized that it was an excellent survey tool.

Out of the five churches, two played modern songs, one a traditional song, and

two national songs. That was quite a mix! Geographical location of the church had

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nothing to do with it. Nor did age. I think it had to do more with tradition. “La Comuna”

played a modern song with full instrumentation. They are all youth, and I could hardly

understand the words. (I also didn’t know the song.) Gonzalo’s church followed with a

national song. I admire them because they are older men who lead the music. That’s rare

in a church these days! Those from Pintag played the only traditional song, and the

church they invited, “Ubillus” used a national song. Later I realized it was 6/8 time!

That’s rare for an upbeat chorus! Pablo’s group played a very popular modern song.

When they stopped, everyone else kept going.16

This was a demonstration that all three styles continue current and popular in the

Chillo Valley. The whole group sang along with the songs they knew, whether they were

modern, traditional, or national. So it’s not just style, but familiarity, that makes a song

popular.

Stimulating conversation in such a large group was difficult, but I did receive

some answers to my questions. As far as the goal of worship, some of the answers were:

“to lead the people of God into the presence of God;” “to resolve personal conflicts and

take them to God;” “to feel God’s presence and leave our problems with Him;” and “to

get in the groove of praise.” The idea of resolving conflicts and problems was new to my

investigation. And the phrase “getting into the groove” (“meterse en la honda”) is hard to

translate and its meaning is vague even in Spanish.

I tried to stimulate more thought and discussion about worship by referring to

several books on the topic that I had found at the biggest Christian bookstore in Quito. To

my surprise no one at the workshop had ever seen the books, much less read them! I gave


79

them a summary of each author and their philosophy of worship. Marcos Witt is well-

known in all of Latin American for his worship music. His philosophy of worship is for

people to know God through the praise and worship (Witt 1993:13). Tony Perez lives in

the US, and his work has been translated from English, but the book was for sale in

Quito. His philosophy of worship is to enter into the Holy of Holies and thus please the

heart of God (Perez 1995:180). Lamar Boschman gives new ideas by suggesting that

worship is a time for God to manifest himself in new ways, even in giving a new song

spontaneously (Boschman 1993:14). I added the idea found in 1 Corinthians 14:25 that

worship is to testify to the world about God. Another view of worship is spiritual warfare.

I have seen this philosophy in worship services and also in a concert by Marcos Witt.

I had expected such thoughts to stimulate discussion at the workshop, but it didn’t

work. I began to assume that most folks had never considered so many options. So I tried

a different angle with some other authors. Eduardo Nelson says that our concept of God

determines how we worship God (Nelson 1986:21). Barreda notes that music worship

now holds a central part not only of the service but in the life of the whole church

(Barreda Toscano 2004:8). And Darino introduces the idea that we need to return to our

cultural roots for something more autochthonous and still true to Scripture (Darino

1993:12). I was hoping the last quote would stimulate some comments about using some

features from the festivals for evangelical worship. Nothing.

One of my hobbies has been to collect church hymnals and songbooks. I showed

them a “youth hymnal” from around forty years ago. It contained hymns with full clef

notation. Hard to believe it was a “youth” hymnal. Then I showed another hymnal with a

green cover. Many persons were familiar with it from ten to twenty years back. I also

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have a small twenty page pamphlet with short choruses having only guitar chords and no

musical notation. Many recognized this also. Then I showed them the chorus book I

compiled during my eight years as a pastor in Ecuador to illustrate how the worship

music style has changed over the past twenty years. Still no comments resulted from my

exposition.

During the first part of the workshop I was trying to elicit responses from the

participants, but since the response was very limited, I concentrated more during the

second half on “thinking out loud.” That means I was giving them a conference which I

had prepared, but God brought many new thoughts to my mind during my exposition.

I was talking about whether we are conscious or not about the reason behind some

of our traditions. I told the story of the girl who wanted to know why her mother would

cut a chicken in half and lay both halves flat in order to bake it. Her mom had learned

from her grandmother, but didn’t know why. The grandmother had learned it from the

great-grandmother, and also couldn’t tell why. The great-grandmother explained that in

her days the oven was so small she had to cut to chicken in half to get it in the oven.

Everyone at the workshop had a good laugh.

I commented on the location of the speakers in the room, and mentioned that we

put them up front because that’s the way they do it at concerts. Then I rhetorically asked

out loud, “In this church, why do you put the speakers up front?” Gonzalo’s answer

surprised me. I would have expected a very acoustically technical answer. Instead he

said, “Because that’s where we can bolt them to the wall so no one can steal them.” That

was the first answer I received that explained the reason behind a tradition.

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I only had another half hour before I had to stop, and I still had one more topic to

discuss: song composition. I started by inventing new words to an old song. I had used

one particular song before to do this. So I played that song, and made up a couple of lines

about how one might feel in the workplace. This produced a good laugh in from the

whole group. Then God illumined me! The national music was ideal for creating lyrics in

Spanish, and since the lines were always repeated, I could make up two lines and the

congregation could repeat them. I tried it. Even I was surprised at how well it worked. I

realized that their national music was composed for the purpose of singing, not

performing. A lot of the modern songs are written for a professional voice and a concert

atmosphere.17

Comparison of Events

My comparative analysis of the festivals and evangelical music worship is

summarized in Table 2. First I will discuss the many differences between the two and

then the sparse similarities. My brief discussion is limited to the participant observation

data, since I plan to continue the investigation of meaning in my next tutorial.

Differences

Looking back on my five months in Ecuador, I am amazed to realize that the

indigenous festivals and the evangelical music worship are vastly different! Let me begin

by noting that the festivals are held outdoors. They are public events for everyone to see.


82

Whereas the evangelicals meet behind four walls, and no one outside can see what

they’re doing.

For the first time in my life I have begun to realize how individualistic the

evangelicals services are. Look at the festivals which are community oriented. Here it’s

all or nothing. If everyone doesn’t do their part, the festival is a failure. Whereas in the

evangelical services, if half the congregation doesn’t show up, the service continues.

Now I have to note that the festivals are yearly, (although they have many festivals

during the year), and the evangelical services are weekly. If the pueblos did weekly

festivals all year long, either they would go broke or the festivals would become very

insignificant events.

Amplified electricallyAcoustic

StationaryMobile

No children allowedChildren can participate

No mealsMeals included

MonologueVery little speech

ClappingDancing

VoluntarySocial obligation

Short – 30-40 minutesLong hours

Only leaders participateEvery neighborhood participates

Weekly eventSeveral every year

Individual OrientedGroup Oriented

IndoorsOutdoors

EVANGELICALSFESTIVALS

Comparison of Events(Differences)

TABLE 2: INDIGENOUS FESTIVALS AND THE EVANGELICAL

SERVICE

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As a community oriented event, everyone participates in the festivals. In fact they

need everyone to participate. They often force participation either by social pressure or

by imposing a fine. Groups of leaders organize the event, but it is executed by the whole

community. Whereas the evangelical services are led by a selected few, and the rest do

not play a major role in the service. Their participation is voluntary.

Now look at the time involved. An evangelical service lasts only an hour and a

half. The members are “in and out.” No wonder it works so well in an urban setting!

Whereas in the pueblos, these festivals usually last the whole weekend. The evangelical

service is just a meeting, but the festival is a full-scale celebration.

I still wonder why I don’t see more dancing and movement at the evangelical

services. The festivals have lots of it. In fact, that is the festival. The evangelicals service

center around a monologue, but the festivals center around celebrating together. Which

includes food. You can’t have a festival without a lot of food and drink. Evangelicals

rarely eat together at the services. And I have yet to hear a speech at a festival.

At the festivals, I could observe children alongside the adults, doing the same

thing they were doing whenever possible. The adults were clearly the leaders. Whereas in

the evangelical church, small children do not participate in the service, and the music is

usually led by youth, and not by adults.

A festival will parade around the whole town, from one end to the other. The park

is central, but the participants don’t stay there. They will visit houses and other sites.

Evangelicals, on the other hand, spend the whole time in just one place, often in front of

the same seat.

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Evangelical are keen on amplification of sound. The few who participate need to

have lots of volume for their voices and instruments. Maybe it’s to compensate for the

lack of participation by the congregation. The pueblos use brass bands that don’t need

amplification. I was amazed that the flute and drum of the pingulleros could be heard a

block away without amplification.

Similarities

The more I think about the indigenous festivals and the evangelical services, the

less I see they have in common. They both use music, and both events have a religious

origin, but that’s about it. I had expected to find more similarities.

I will add an interesting note here. Many Pentecostals have a ritual during the

service which consists in the leader yelling, “¿quién vive?” (Who lives?) and the

congregation responding by yelling, “Cristo” (Christ). It continues: “y a su nombre” (and

to his name ), “Gloria” (glory), “y a su pueblo” (and for his people), “victoria” (victory).

This is amazingly similar to what I witnessed at one festival. Someone yelled, “Que viva

el prioste” (long live the host). And everyone yelled back, “Que viva” (may he live). The

same person continued to name other persons present, and everyone continued the same

response. I wonder if this evangelical ritual didn’t come from an indigenous festival?18

Meaning

Using a design from my methods paper, I can summarize my preliminary

conclusions on meaning in the following chart:

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TABLE 3: ANALYSIS OF THE MEANING OF MUSIC WORSHIP

So far, my preliminary conclusions are that the indigenous folk see their festivals

as long-time tradition that gives them their identity as a pueblo. Their participation in the

festivals is part of their commitment to each other.

Among evangelicals, they see their “music worship” as being “up-to-date” or

“modern.” They are “keeping with the times.” Since the evangelical church in Ecuador is

only one-hundred years old, and most of the churches I studied have existed for less than

ten years, they have no history of tradition. So they copy what other, bigger, churches are

doing. They have not yet reflected on who they are in their community. For these

evangelicals, participation is an obligation to “worship God.”

The most important part of this chart is the last column, where I begin to analyze

how evangelicals perceive the festivals. They see them as idolatry. Whereas the

indigenous folk themselves see it as tradition. But evangelicals do see the festivals as a

expression of culture, and even as their (Ecuadorian) culture. I see this difference as a

conflict in evangelicals in how to interpret the festivals. On the one hand, they see the


Category

Contextual Meaning of

Indigenous Festivals

Contextual Meaning

of Evangelical

Services

Meaning

Evangelicals give to

the Festivals

Reason Tradition “Modernization” Idolatry Content Identity Giving God worship Expression of culture Motive Obligation to the community Obligation to God Enjoyable

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festivals as idol worship, and, on the other, the festivals are closer to Ecuadorian culture

and identity than the evangelical worship service. Whenever I met a Christian who had

participated in the festivals, he or she would always say they enjoyed doing so.

Conclusions of Cycle #1, Year 2006

This ends the research done in 2006. The strategy was to discover the significance

of spiritual worship in both evangelicals and folk-Catholics in several rural towns in the

Andes. The principal method was to film the music-worship-rituals, show the recordings

to the participants in workshops and dialogue with them about it. The results gave no

clear statement about the meaning of the music-worship-ritual, but a clear difference was

observed between evangelical worship and folk-Catholic rituals. (See Table 4.)

2008

2007

No clear answers.

Significant difference between evangelical

worship and folk-Catholic rituals.

Film the events

Discuss the videos in workshops

Discuss the significance of worship:

In 5 evangelical churches

And in various festivals

2006

ReflectionInteractionStrategy

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TABLE 4: RESULTS OF CYCLE #1 OF RESEARCH.

The Corpus Christi Festival 2007

This is the second year in a row I have filmed this festival in El-Tingo.19 So I

have a much better idea this year of what to expect, but still there are always surprises.

The usual date for this annual festival is around the solar equinox (June 23rd), which this

year falls on a Saturday. They always celebrate Corpus on Saturday, so I figured this

would be the date for the festival.

We arrived in Quito on May 26th, and settled into our house in El-Tingo. Our first

matter of business was to check with some of the local women as to the details of the

planning for Corpus. Wow! They had moved the date from June 23rd to June 9th. That

was only two weeks away. In God’s time we had come early enough! According to their

account, the elders of the church (“Los Santos Varones” [The Holy Men]) were in charge

of planning the festival, and their brother, Patricio, was leader of the group.

I had to get my pick-up truck in shape for its annual registration. So I drove it to

one of the local mechanics in our town: Carlos. He’s great at welding, and the truck’s

frame needed some mending. I’ve known Carlos for many years, and this was not the

first time he had done some work on my truck. So while we looked at the truck to see

exactly what needed to be done, I pried him with questions about the coming festival.

By his account, “The Holy Men” were not in charge this year. They had planned

Corpus for the past fifteen years straight, but this year the “Central Neighborhood” was in

charge. I asked why the change had occurred, and he replied that since they had been in

19 See www.eltingo.org/c7a.htm for sample videos.

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charge for so long, others were complaining that “The Holy Men” we’re not letting

anybody else do it. So they had conceded.

By choosing to reside in El-Tingo this year, we could engage in casual

conversations constantly with the inhabitants of El-Tingo. Since we have lived in El-

Tingo for almost twenty years, most of the folk know us. Last year we had stayed in

Quito, and had to commute one hour to film the festivals. As a result, we were only there

for the festivals, and had no time for these “casual conversations” where one obtains a

huge amount of information!

Friday night

So on Friday night, June 8th, I was in the central park of the town, on the church

patio, watching “The Holy Men” put together a nine foot tall bamboo figure in the shape

of a cone. They place a wooden face at the top, two horizontal arms below it, and cover

the whole thing with a white sheet. It looks sort of like a stick figure, except that the body

is a cone, but the cone is big enough to accommodate an adult underneath, so that the

adult volunteer “makes the figure dance.”

It always interests me that the flute player, called the “Pingullero,” plays

continuously during the construction of this figure. His three-holed flute is called a

“pingullo” which he plays with one hand (in this case the left), and the other hand beats a

drum suspended by his left shoulder. The melody is pentatonic and very repetitive, but its

purpose is to “make the men dance,” not necessarily carry a melodious tune.

The cone figure is called the “Palla.” I had heard last year from an ex-patriot who

had returned for a visit, that it represents the harvest in some way, but I was anxious to

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hear it confirmed directly by the participants. I didn’t even have to ask, for they had

draped a ribbon over the Palla which said, “Queen of the Harvest.”

I was amused that the priest had come out to watch what was going on. I had

learned from the local women that he is relatively new here, having arrived only about

four months beforehand. He was also very young, maybe around thirty or so. But as he

was admiring the completed Palla, he asked, “What’s this?” “What do you do with it?”

“Do you burn it later tonight?” I imagine that only because he was their spiritual

authority, could he get away with asking such offending questions without being thrown

out of town. Usually the priest is the one who helps organize these festivities. I was

amazed that he didn’t even know what was going on!

Last year, once the Palla was put together, almost a dozen men joined in the dance

around the Palla to the tune and beat of the “Pingullero.” This year, four children, brought

by their parents, had begun dancing around the figure even before it was finished. Once it

was finished, the men were supposed to dance as well, but all of them hesitated. One

entered the Palla and began to make it dance. Since Patricio was head of “The Holy

Men,” he led the children around and showed them how to dance “correctly.” But the rest

just stood there looking at each other. Even the priest said, “Come on! At least dance

once around the park!” The children danced for about ten minutes, then the men stored

the Palla in the church and went home.

I was convinced that they didn’t want to dance because the priest was present, but

several days later, I talked to one of the men, Marco, and he told me that they didn’t

dance because he was upset with the rest. They had wanted him to do all the work, and he

had resented it. So they had to let things cool off for the next day.

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Actually, they didn’t go home right away. Just as they were storing the Palla,

another group, from the Central Neighborhood, came dancing into the park, with their

Palla, and “Pingullero.” The men were about to put on their costumes and dance, but it

was too late. The Palla was already in the church. The others danced a bit, and Patricio

served them some of their “chicha” (a beverage made from fermented corn), since he was

the host.

During some of the confusion of whether to dance or not, I took advantage of the

time to introduce myself to the priest. I had been wanting to get to know him, and see if

he was interested in discussing the meaning of this folklore. He was very eager to talk,

and he was also very interesting in discussing the festival. I proposed showing my videos

at a future date. He accepted the idea, and even offered the church meeting room for the

event!

Saturday

The main celebration takes place on Saturday. I had learned that four different

groups of dancers were going to participate. They were to gather at “The Black Bridge”

and parade down the main road to the park. Here I need to describe a little bit of the

geography of the town.

El-Tingo is sandwiched between a river and a mountain. Thus the town consists of

one main road that runs parallel to the river. “The Black Bridge” lies at the east end of

town where the river “San Pedro” runs under the main road. At the west end of the town

lies the main park where the Catholic Church stands. The idea is to march/dance from

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one end of town to the other. So the four groups were to meet at “The Black Bridge” and

from there process to the park where Mass would be held in the church at noon.

A “dancing group” consists of fifteen to twenty dancers called “rucos,” a flute

player, called the “Pingullero,” and the Palla, with someone inside to make it dance with

the rucos. The “Pingullero” is dressed in normal clothes, but the “rucos” wear a colorful

costume. They all have on black pants and a white shirt. Draped over their shoulders they

bear a colorful silk-looking poncho. Hanging out of each back pants pocket is a matching

cloth. They wear black hats, long hair, and screen masks over their faces. In their right

hand they hold some kind of figure, usually a corn husk, or small bull horns, held by a

white handkerchief. The left hand is held at the waistline. Some tuck their left thumb into

their pants.

Each group has its own color uniform. Tied around each knee is a string of metals

bells. (In the US, I would refer to these as “sleigh bells.”) They dance a light shuffle to

the beat of the drum and the tune of the “pingullo” (flute). The bells match the rhythm of

the drum. Every minute or so, they shout repeatedly a word, which is hard to distinguish.

Everyone tells me that the function of the “Pingullero” is to make the “rucos” dance. But

I noticed that the “Pingullero” does not lead the group. Both he and the Palla follow the

group which is led by the person at the front of the line. Often there are two lines, which

will double-back on each other. When they arrive at the park, the group will often form a

dancing circle around the Palla. I assume that it’s easier to parade in a line, and upon

arriving at the park, they’re in one place, and so can dance in a circle.

Now, one of my main informants is Marco, with whom I have had several

excellent conversations about the Corpus Christi festival. He tells me that what I have

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just described are the original and authentic participants of this festival. I did not describe

in the preceding paragraphs the other groups who are also participating in the Corpus

Christi festival in recent years. These include what I call “Inca figures,” since they are

quite similar to figures in the Inca Sun worship, which, incidentally, takes place annually

on the solar equinox (June 23rd). Also present, and dancing as well, are military figures,

police, and persons dressed as “weeds” from head to toe. These are called “sacharunas,”

(which is from the Quichua language). This year also included a “prioste” who finances

the festival. He was carrying a three-foot “baton,” holding it in both hands with two white

handkerchiefs. After the festivity is over, the baton is passed to another person, who

becomes the “prioste” for next year.

At noon, the atmosphere changes. The church bells clang and everyone is

supposed to enter the church to celebrate mass. This year, the priest actually stood at the

church door and said, “I won’t start mass until everyone is inside!” He had a good

attendance that day.

Now, here’s the interesting part of the Corpus Christi festival: after mass the

priest exits holding the “Holy Chalice” (“La Custodia”) which contains the body of

Christ (“El Santisimo”). Four women held poles which suspended a cloth canopy over the

priest and the Chalice. They were to process from the church to the hot water pools

(about three blocks) and back. Along the way there were three or four altars where they

stopped to pray.

The procession is solemn. Whereas the rest of the Corpus Christi festival is joyful.

Everyone follows the Chalice in a straight line, four or five persons wide. The first part of

the procession sings a slow, meditative song. The rest follow in silence, except for the

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bells which continue to clang as the “rucos” walk, only now they’re not in unison. The

dancers are in full costume, except for the hats and masks which have been removed.

They pray at each altar, led by the priest, and return to the church, where the

Chalice re-enters the church. Then the “Pingulleros” begin their music, and the groups

once again form and dance around the Pallas for most of the afternoon.

The Meaning of Corpus

Let us now work our way into the meaning of the Corpus Christi festival,

beginning with the outsider’s point of view, moving to the opinion of the Evangelicals,

and then delving into talking to the participants themselves.

Outsiders

Moya has written about all the various festivals in general in Ecuador. So many

festivals are celebrated in Ecuador that no one book can cover them all. But here, we are

beginning with festivals in general, including Corpus Christi. Moya sees the festivals as a

expression of how a people see themselves in relation to their environment, and how they

perceive their spiritual identity (Moya 1995:21). This is a good starting point, but doesn’t

really give us much insight into any festival in particular, nor any specific town.

Campaña has studied a specific town and a specific festival. This festival was not

Corpus Christi, but a “passing of the Jesus child.” His investigation is worth noting,

because it is a thorough investigation of a specific festival. Therefore his insights are

profound. His main theory is that the festival is celebrated partly because of traditional

beliefs, but also that the festival also allows certain persons to maintain control over their

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meat business (Campaña 2000:113). So he sees this particular festival as not having only

spiritual meaning, but monetary and social interests. This could apply to the Corpus

Christi festival as well.

Cuvi delves into the meaning of the festivals in Ecuador as well. He has a good

description of the Corpus Christi festival, but his discussion of meaning is in the

introduction which covers all the festivals in general. Yet his insights are worth noting.

He has three main ideas (Cuvi 2002:11-13): The first is that the festivities reinforce

identity and community spirit. Many emigrants return from the countries where they are

residing to participate in these festivals, out of their need to belong to a group. Second,

Cuvi believes the drinking of alcohol and dawning of masks is a way to escape reality

and enter into the imaginary. Third, along social lines, the “prioste” who finances the

festival, is re-distributing the wealth he has accumulated. These are all general

observations which may or may not apply to the Corpus Christi festival in El-Tingo.

Evangelicals

Moving closer to the actual location of the festivals, I held several discussion

groups last year among evangelical churches that reside within these small towns in the

Chillo Valley. Along with asking them about their own musical worship, I also

questioned them about their view of the festivals.

The evangelicals see the festivals as pagan worship, but upon further discussion,

they will admit that the festival is enjoyable. I held discussion groups in five churches. In

three of them, I was able to do it twice.

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San Pablo is a church on the edge of Quito, but its inhabitants hold a small town

mentality, and continue the traditions of the festivals. At first the church group said that

the festivals were not worship, but on my second visit they made the comment that they

were worshipping an idol. Yet the rest of their comments were positive: “They’re united.

They’re lots of participation, expression, and movement. And they’re not ashamed of

what they’re doing.”

The congregation in La Merced is very small, but they’re right in the middle of

one of the towns next to the Ilaló mountain. They immediately commented that the

festival was idol worship, but “it’s tradition, and it’s enjoyable.” A couple of them had

actually participated in the festivities, and confirmed that they really enjoyed doing so.

The church in Conocoto, one of the older towns in the Chillo valley, said almost

the same thing: “the festival is enjoyable and very expressive.” They saw it as idol

worship, but much more as a festival than as spiritual worship.

The two churches in Pintag and Ubillus are much further removed from the city,

and lie at the foot of the mountains on the east side of Chillo Valley. Their members are

much more closely connected to the reality of the festivals. Those in Ubillus immediately

said, “We came out of that! It’s paganism and idol worship. We could never go back.”

Those in Pintag said, “We have been told that the festivals are sin.” Yet those in Pintag

have been Christians for much longer than those in Ubillus, and could make some other

comments: “The festival attracts people and is enjoyable.”

Most of these Christians are not able to see the festivals except from a “Christian

point of view.” They see them only as pagan worship of idols, and as something to be

avoided. Yet they are close enough to the festivals to know that the participants enjoy

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what they’re doing. Of course the main motivation may be to get drunk, but my personal

opinion is that there has to be another reason. Otherwise they could just go to the local

store, buy liquor, and get drunk anytime.

The Evangelical point of view has been biased by the Church’s teaching, which is

mostly doctrinal. The Church does not see things from a sociological nor anthropological

point of view. Therefore they miss the value of community, identity, and a sense of

belonging.

Insiders

Now let’s consider what the insiders think. To get that information I could not

simply “set up a meeting” as I could with the Evangelicals, who know me well. The

social dynamics of a small town are totally different. People don’t trust outsiders, and

setting up a meeting has to be done by someone recognized in town as a leader.

It’s Wednesday night, July 18th, 2007. I am in the Catholic Church of our small

town in El-Tingo, Ecuador. The priest is present, along with 20 members of the town.

Many of them are leaders in the community and in the church. Using a laptop computer

and a digital projector, I am presenting to them some of the history of the town, followed

by a fifteen minute video clip of their annual folk festival called, “Corpus Christi.” When

the video ends, the priest leads a discussion about the spiritual significance of the

festivals and why there’s such a difference between the folklore and the formal

procession with the Holy Chalice.

So how did an Evangelical Pastor like me, gain entrance into the Catholic

Church, and convince the priest not only to lead the discussion about spiritual

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significance, but also to personally invite the town folk to attend? The process that led to

this meeting is just as important as the results of the discussion itself.

Here’s a running account of all the encounters that led up to that meeting

Wednesday night in the Catholic Church with the priest. By reading this abbreviated

journal, you, the reader, will begin to appreciate the whole process of “digging for

meaning.” Like digging for gold, you never know when you will hit a “strike.” Only by

God’s grace does one ever find a “real nugget.” And the more “nuggets” you find, the

greater your understanding of what’s really going on. It’s a pain-staking and fascinating

process.

Background

My wife and I have lived in this small town of El-Tingo for some twenty years.

Back in 1994 we decided to get involved in the community, and worked to get the

government to build a Health Center for the town. It took three years of pushing papers

and visiting governmental offices, but the Health Center was finally built. Yet we ended

up as enemies of most of the town’s inhabitants, and they even tried to kick us out of the

country! The details are beyond this paper. My point is that the town did not trust us. We

got discouraged, put up our house for sale, and limited our involvement with the town.

The house never sold. We returned a little over a year ago to film the Holy Week

Festivals, and to our surprise received a welcome by many people of the town. I’d be

standing on the sidewalk with the video camera pointed at the procession, when someone

would come up and say, “You’re back. How nice to have you in town again!” These folks

are unpredictable (at least until you begin to understand their mentality).

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Carlos and Ana

There’s a mechanic in town to whom I’ve gone many times for repairs on my

1981 pickup. He used to live next to us. We’d never exchange more than a causal

greeting, but since I’ve been visiting his shop, he calls me “neighbor,” which means he

recognizes me as someone he knows. So rather than call him by his name, Carlos, I also

call him “neighbor.” He’s an average mechanic, but when it comes to welding, he’s an

expert! My truck didn’t pass yearly inspection, and it needed some welding on the frame.

So I thought I could use this as an excuse to talk to him about the upcoming festivals.

As he was looking over my truck, I asked him if he was going to dance in Corpus

Christi this year. “I don’t think so,” was his reply. He was still a little reserved. But his

son was going to dance. “He loves to dance,” he told me, “They even came from

Alangasí to recruit him to dance on Sunday too.”

Carlos’ wife came out, and since my wife, Faby, was with me, they got to talking.

Now that in itself is remarkable! Years ago when our church had held a worship service

in the central park of the town, it was this woman, Ana, who had raised her voice in

protest among the whole town. Now we were her friends. Word had gone around that we

had gotten the Health Center built with much effort and without any personal benefit.

Now people believed in us.

Anyway, Faby told me later that they were discussing the situation about the local

priest. A group in town had gotten the last one removed (Jonatan). The present one

(Mario) was new, and had only been there a few months. Her comment was that Jonatan

was a fine person, and had taught them the Bible, but the Guamán family had gone to the

Cardinal to have him removed. It was probably because Jonatan was strict and was telling

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folks the things they were doing wrong. In the end, I didn’t find out much about the

meaning of Corpus, but I did learn about what’s going on in town.

A week later, we met Ana as we were walking around town. Faby convinced her

to present us to the priest, since she knows him well. Her son is the priest’s helper

(“sacristan”). We had no idea of what the priest thought about evangelicals, and so it was

better to have someone in town make the introductions. She rang the doorbell at the

church, but the priest wasn’t in.

Neighbors

We had hired a local workman, Jaime, to make a kitchen cabinet for us so we

could cook in our small quarters in El-Tingo. He came over with his wife, Silvia, to

measure the space for the cabinet. We got to talking about my investigation, so I thought

I’d ask their opinion about the festivals. They have lived here several years, but have

never participated in the festivals. In their opinion, the festivals used to have a spiritual

significance, but it has since been lost.

It turns out that Jaime’s workshop lies in the same lot as Carlos’ mechanical shop.

(Carlos rents to Jaime.) So I decided to walk back with Jaime and see if Carlos was in a

talking mood. When we arrived, Carlos was taking apart an engine, his hands filled with

grease, too busy to talk. But he did say that he would be at the park tonight to help

construct the “Palla.”

On the way back to our house, we stopped in at a friend Linda’s, house. She

couldn’t dance last year in Corpus Christi because of a bad knee. Her husband, Mateo,

appeared while we were talking. He informed us that the women’s group was going to

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meet at the Dentist’s house tomorrow and from there dance to the park. We didn’t get

much else of a conversation going. He was busy.

Closer to home, we had to drop in on two sisters (Laura and Mery) who always

tell us the latest of what’s going on in town. The Cultural Center was the first piece of

conversation. From there we moved on to other matters. The priest is new, and was

trained by the priest Juan, who had served before Jonathan. Jonathan had only lasted a

year. As for the festival, the Town Council plans the civic part: the election of the queen,

the town dance, and the fireworks; and the priest plans the spiritual part: Corpus Christi.

These visits are all preparatory. I am building relationships, gaining people’s

confidence, and letting people know what I’m doing.

Patricio

This year, the first day we drove into town, Laura and Mery had seen us and made

us stop to greet us. I had transferred some of my video recordings of their festivals I had

filmed last year to my pocket pc. So as we talked I showed them some of the videos.

They watched. I expected some comments, but they really didn’t say anything special

except, “That’s nice.” I guess it wasn’t a good time for a discussion.

Their brother, Patricio, came by as we were talking. I showed him some of the

video. He was impressed, “ We don’t have anything like this.” I offered to show the

videos on a big screen at our house. He was interested, but we never set any date or time.

At least they got an idea of what I wanted to do with the video recordings.

That night, Friday, was when the men put together the “Palla.” I showed up with

my cameras, and waited a bit before filming. Not all of the men knew me. I made sure

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Patricio was there before I took any photos. As soon as I shot the first photo, which came

with flash, Marco, who was tying the face to the bamboo poles of the Palla, looked at me

and said, “That photo costs!” I had never talked before to Marco, although he lives right

across the street from our house, so I wasn’t sure how to react. Patricio saved me. He

said, “No! He’s got films from last year too!” However Marcos interpreted that comment,

he went back to work. A few minutes later, I saw my opportunity, pulled out my pocket

pc and showed Marco some of the video from last year. He said, “Please give me a

copy.” “No problem,” I answered. I had crossed an important obstacle toward future

conversations.

The Priest

The priest came out. Not hard to recognize, since he wears the priestly collar. I

had wanted someone to present me to him, the best way to do introductions in Ecuador,

but since no one was thinking about such a thing at such a time, I decided to take the risk

and make the most of the opportunity. The priest was standing alone and the men were

occupied with their Palla. My introductory line was, “I live in that house right over there

with the green roof. My wife and I have been living here for the past twenty years.” Since

the priest’s job is to know folk in town, he had to take an interest in me. It worked. The

result of that conversation was an invitation to project my videos in the Catholic Church

at a later date. I could hardly believe it!

During that conversation, I got a quick glimpse of how the priest views the

Corpus Christi festival: He said the festival was pagan. He explained that the festival was

related to the volcano Ilaló, and that the Palla as a feminine figure appeases the volcano. I

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don’t know where he got those ideas. He also noted that it was ironic that men, in a

machista culture, were dressing a woman (the “Palla”).

At this point I conceived the festival as a celebration of the harvest, and that it

could probably date to before the Inca Conquest. But the question in my mind was:

“Supposing that it at least began as a harvest festival, are these men still celebrating the

harvest? Or something else?” I still had yet to discover the meaning the locals give to it.

Preparation for the Discussion Group

Once I had filmed the Corpus Christi festival, my next task was to show the film

to the local folk and get their opinions. Easier said than done. Last year I had projected

some video clips of previous festivals in the local community center. Four people came,

all from the same family. This year, the invitation would come from the local priest. I

was depending on him for a good discussion group. But in the meantime, I sought out

some conversations.

I had four men in mind. All four are part of the “Holy Men” group who are

traditionally in charge of planning the Corpus Christi festival every year. (I assume they

coordinate with the local priest.) German and Patricio are brothers. Carlos is the

mechanic, and I’ve heard that Marco is one of the old timers in this town.

The History of El-Tingo

I had a strategy for these conversations. For several years I have been researching

the history of El-Tingo. It began as a curiosity, not as part of my tutorials. Our apartment

in Quito is only six blocks from the best Anthropological library in Ecuador: a Jesuit

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Monastery. I had visited this library with the desire to know when El-Tingo had been

founded. The town is known for its thermal springs, and I was curious to know if the

town had existed before the springs or because of the springs.

My first visits in 2005 turned out a few documents, one describing a plague that

had wiped out a large percentage of the Indians in the Chillo Valley in 1931, and another

that showed a plan to move the town after the big earthquake in 1938. I also found a book

about how the lands in the Chillo Valley were distributed during the Conquest. It wasn’t

much. So I left it for a time.

The previous year, I had learned that Quito’s Municipal archives are held at an

old mansion estate in the middle of Quito. Here I began to learn the ropes to doing

documental research in Quito. After a couple of visits, and getting to know the folks who

ran the place, I was going page by page through the minutes of the City Council from

1900 to 1940. El-Tingo’s fame was definitely the hot springs. The City Council had taken

over the pools in 1932, placed an administrator, and had developed a plan for expansion,

including expropriating two and a half acres for hotels, cabins, and a medical clinic. I

found maps, once of my best sources of information, showing the families who owned

parcels of land in El-Tingo. My information file began to grow.

The next step was to visit the National Archives in downtown Quito. You would

expect to see some historical building like a museum with fancy signs. In this case, it was

an old building on the corner that looked abandoned. I had to ascend three flights of stairs

without hardly seeing a soul to arrive at a small room with ten desks. One attendant sat at

the front desk with a handful of indexes. It took a while to learn the filing system, but I

ended up tracing the previous owners of our house in El-Tingo back to 1916 to “Marcelo

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Loachamín.” Since I had a copy of our neighbor’s land title, I traced her history back to

1945 to “Gerónimo Pilaquinga.” At least two families owned land in El-Tingo early in

the 20th Century.

While filming the Corpus Christi festival in Alangasí, I met a researcher from

Minnesota. She suggested I look for maps at the National Archives. I didn’t know they

had maps. Using their index I found over 30 maps that named El-Tingo, but only one

really showed El-Tingo. But that map was “gold.” It showed the mountain of Ilaló in

1792 with the “Chapel of Saint Peter of El-Tingo” at the foot of the mountain, exactly

where the Church stands today!

I printed the photos I had taken of all these documents and put them in a folder.

When I would go for a “conversation” in El-Tingo, really just a visit, I would take this

folder with me and show it to the person I was talking to. This opened all kinds of

conversations!

I began to collect more documents. At the Jesuit library I found the newspaper

describing the earthquake on August 10th, 1938, whose epicenter was in El-Tingo, plus

photos of houses and churches affected. I also found books on the history of the nearby

small towns of Pintag, Sangolquí, and Conocoto.

As I would show people my document collection on the history of El-Tingo, they

would take a great interest in it. Inevitably this would spark a conversation on what they

knew about the history of El-Tingo. This opened up a deeper level of conversation. Often

they would recommend I talk to a certain person, who knew a lot more.

Word started spreading around that I was researching the history of the town. In

fact, one day, a woman from Quito knocked on our door, and wanted to see me. She

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needed some information on the town, and the neighbors had sent her to me! As if I were

the expert! Well, I did have some material nobody else had.

Marco and the Cross

Only in this way did I reach a level of confidence with Marco. My first visit was

with my wife. In the usual way, we talked about a lot of other things before turning the

conversation toward the Corpus Christi festival. One great topic is “The Cross.” Not the

cross of Calvary, but a forty-foot high, metal structure cross that stands at the top of the

Ilaló mountain, visible from the town of El-Tingo.

I had known from hearing years before in El-Tingo, from Mr. Rodriguez, that a

man named Leopoldo Mercado had built the Cross. I had found some documents showing

that he was the owner of the tobacco company nearby, and that he had owned land in El-

Tingo, but now Marco told me more of the story. His father had helped Leopoldo

Mercado build the Cross. Leopoldo had made a promise to God, that if the hot thermal

waters of El-Tingo (which were just a muddy spring then) healed him, he would build a

cross on top of Ilaló. He was healed, and contracted workers to haul the materials up the

mountain. One of those workers was Marco’s father. They built the Cross, and to

dedicate it to God, they celebrated the first Corpus Christi festival here in El-Tingo.

When the dancers (rucos) were at the Cross celebrating the ritual, an earthquake began. A

few years ago, Marco suggested that they celebrate Corpus Christi at the Cross. But many

folks said that it would cause another earthquake, and rejected the idea.

I was fascinated to see the connection he made between the Cross, Corpus Christi,

and the mountain Ilaló. The Cross is definitely a part of the town. Is it a sacred site? They

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do celebrate mass there once a year, the week before Palm Sunday, but I have yet to hear

someone suggest that the site is sacred. Technically, that part of the mountain still

belongs to the “Commune” (a land sharing cooperative, at least fifty years old).

Marco has organized the Corpus Christi festival in El-Tingo for the past eighteen

years. In his group of rucos, he prohibits them from drinking alcohol until they’re

finished dancing. Then Marco began to tell me what I wanted to hear: “The purpose of

Corpus is to celebrate the harvest. It is spiritual. It is a celebration toward God who gives

the harvest. Very few understand this meaning. To them it's just festival and tradition.” I

have yet to hear anyone else give such a clear, voluntary, spontaneous statement about

the meaning of the Corpus Christi festival. It must be because he’s the founder and

organizer, so he’s thought about it more.

He couldn’t remember the year they build the Cross, but he told me that the date

was inscribed at the bottom of the cross. Since he had told me the story about the

earthquake during the inauguration of the Cross, I had to see if the date coincided with

the quake of 1938. The next day I set out at six am to climb the mountain and find out.

They say the older folks still remember a lot, but I could never find the right

situation to talk to one of them. (Rather, the right person to introduce me.) To my

surprise, on the hike up to the top of Ilaló, I met an elderly man on his way down! “Good

morning!” “Good morning!” “I’m on my way up to find out when the Cross was built.

Would you happen to know?” I asked. Without hesitation, he replied, “the 15th of

September of 1935.” He also told me that when they inaugurated the Cross, the ground

shook. Then he went on his way. I don’t think I could have met him nor asked that

question in any other circumstance. That’s the wonder of research.

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I still had to see the date for myself. As I continued climbing I met an elderly

woman, also on her way down! She was seventy-seven years old! That meant she might

remember the earthquake, and she did. She confirmed that when they built the Cross,

there was an earthquake, but she placed it on August 10th, which coincides with the

newspaper’s account.

At the Cross itself, I could still read at the base: “September 1935.” The day was

illegible. That would confirm that the earthquake was three years after they built the

Cross. Maybe they had gone up for a late inauguration. The information doesn’t quite

match, but the legend persists: when they were celebrating Corpus Christi, the earthquake

hit.

The Priest

I had to confirm with the priest the idea of showing the videos in the church

conference room. He was at the church when I rang the doorbell, about four pm one

afternoon. He was quite hospitable, but it took about an hour of conversation, I think,

before he really trusted me and what I was doing. After all, I had clearly said I was an

Evangelical pastor. He looked through every page I had in my folder of El-Tingo’s

history, and he wanted a copy of a letter of 1964, in which someone from El-Tingo was

asking the priest in Alangasí to come and bless the new cemetery. But he did give me his

commentary on the festivals: “The Festivals are pagan. At Corpus Christi, it’s the

procession of the Holy Chalice that’s the sacred part. The folklore part should point and

lead into the sacred part.”

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We settled on a date and time for the showing of the videos: July 18th. I said I

would reduce all my filming to about twenty minutes, so there would be time for a

discussion afterwards. I asked him to lead the discussion, since he is seen as the spiritual

authority of the town.

Marco Again

I went back to visit Marco, with the excuse that the year of the earthquake didn’t

coincide with the year of inaugurating the Cross. He agreed there was only one

earthquake, but couldn’t explain the dates.

Now I could talk to Marco as a friend. We would stand on the sidewalk in front of

his house, and he would greet various folks as they passed by. He’s one of the old-timers

here, and I take him as one of my main informants.

In this conversation, Marco told me a lot more about his view of Corpus Christi. It

isn’t what it used to be. People have added so many “foreign elements.” But nobody

complains, because they don’t want to cause problems. (I’m beginning to see how

important the community spirit is here. There’s no place here for radical individualism.)

He clearly stated that the Harvest Festival and Corpus Christi have been

integrated. “They have nothing to do with each other, but that’s just the way it is now.”

“The Palla is the mother of the Valley. The rucos protect her.” “These are the traditions

we’ve been celebrating for years.”

It seems to me that the Corpus Christi festival is losing its original meaning. It has

become a meaning in itself. But that’s needs to be confirmed by the people themselves.

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The Discussion Group

To prepare for this discussion group, I had not only reduced several hours of

video to nineteen minutes, but I also put together a short presentation in Power Point of

some of the history of El-Tingo.20 I visited the priest again to let him know what I had

prepared, and to make sure we were in agreement about what we were going to do. I

would present some historical documents, then the videos, and afterwards he would lead

the discussion.

Briefly, this is how the meeting went. The priest had done all the inviting, and

twenty people showed up. Most of them were active members in the community. He had

expected more people, but we still had a sizeable group for our small town.

As I presented various documents of the history of El-Tingo, people began to

speak up and share their stories. When I presented the book about Ilaló, German started

off on a story that his father had told him about a man and his mule who found a cave in

Ilaló with bricks of gold inside. I had to stop him, because he would have gone on and on,

but someday I should record and transcribe the story. 21 When I talked about the hot

springs, German said, “They belong to the town, not the government.”

I received a lot of extra information about the history of El-Tingo. In a map that

showed some lands that the Municipal Government was going to expropriate, one owner

was Joaquin Paucar. Doña Piedad said, “Joaquin Paucar was my grandfather.” When I

showed the document that founded the Commune, someone asked, “Did Guangopolo and

Alangasí exist?” As for the Cross, I immediately received comments that it used to have

mirrors, and that “when they built the Cross, the ground shook, and a huge thunderstorm

20 See www.eltingo.org/historytingo.htm to view the presentation.

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came.” “When the Priest Vaca suggested we celebrate mass at the Cross, no one wanted

to.” “There’s a site on the mountain where you can see volcanic rock, with all different

colors.”

They continued to tell me about the hot springs, the house of the administrator,

where the Colegio Ranch lay, where the old road used to be, and even about other hot

springs that the government took over. But my point here is that they talked. And they

would have talked on and on, but they also wanted to see the videos. So I had to cut short

their conversations.

Once I started projecting the videos on the screen up front, with a sound system to

give the full effect of volume, I moved to the back of the group. My participation was

over. The priest would lead the discussion after the videos. I stood leaning against a

column behind the last row of chairs. Marco was sitting right in front of me.

A few minutes into the first video, Marco got up and stood beside me. Then he

began to give me his commentary on the videos! If I had not visited him beforehand, and

gained his confidence by explaining who I was and what I was doing; and if I had not

developed a friendship before this moment, he would never have told me anything. But

now he was giving me all kinds of comments. We began a dialogue of questions and

answers during the video.

His first comment was that much of what we were seeing was not “original” to

the Corpus Christi festival. “The police and military figures have nothing to do with this.

The original figures are the Palla, the rucos, and the Pingullero.” I asked what they hold

in their hands. He said, “a corn cob or bull horns.” “What do bull horns have to do with

21 I found a similar story in the history of Conocoto (Gallardo 1994:278).

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the harvest?” I asked. “They represent the bulls that grazed on the mountain,” he replied.

It was hard to ask more questions with the video going.

He continued to make comments to me: “The circle dance is original to El-

Tingo.” “The real folklore does not have uniforms.” “In Alangasí the procession is joyful,

not solemn. The idols are part of their procession.” “We don’t use the Pallo” [male

counterpart of the Palla].

The videos ended and the priest began the discussion. I had prepared one slide in

Power Point with the question, “What are we celebrating?” It had four questions below it:

The harvest? The worship of the sun? The presence of Christ among his people?

Something else? Just before we started the meeting I had checked with the priest to see if

this would be appropriate and to let him know that I had the slide prepared. So he began

the discussion from this point of view.

When the priest asked the question, “What does the Palla mean to you all?” One

person said, “Mother Earth.” Another said, “She’s the Queen of the Harvest.” Others

confirmed that the Palla represents the Harvest.

The priest was curious as to why the men would dress a woman, especially in a

“machista” culture. And he asked directly, “What does this mean to you all?” The

immediate answer was, “This is the culture we have inherited from our fathers.”

Followed by some comments that the Palla is dressed and worshipped by her children.

The priest did most of the talking. He was trying to enter into a discussion about

how to integrate the dancing around the Palla with the procession of the Holy Chalice.

Many of his questions were met by silence. After one question, German said, “Father, I

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don’t understand you!” I could see that the whole idea of theological integration didn’t

register with them.

The discussion turned toward the history of whether the dancers and others who

were dressed in costume should enter the church or not for the noon mass. Previous

priests had made them enter. They didn’t really want to, but the priest had said that this

was part of honoring God.

The present priest, Mario, kept trying to get a discussion going. “The children

dance with the Palla.” “Of whom are we children?” “Whom should we accompany?”

“You dance around in a circle, what does that mean?” “We need to keep our traditions,

but transcend beyond them.” There was no comment from the group.

Finally, a man said, “This is what the priests have taught us. That’s why we do it.”

He had broken the silence. German added, “We didn’t used to do it the way we’re doing

it now. Those who participated in the dance, never entered the church before, but now

they do. Padre Christopher taught us to do this. We didn’t participate in the procession

either, but now we do.”

The priest continued about why the procession is done in silence and why the

dancing is with music and shouting. I asked the priest why the procession was so short,

while the dancing lasted all day. Before he could respond, Marco spoke up. This was the

only time Marco spoke during the whole meeting. He stated that a previous priest, Juan,

wanted the procession to be done in complete silence, in respect for the Holy Chalice.

Then Marco asked the priest Mario, “What is the truth?” (What he was asking was,

“Who’s right?”)

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Priest Mario responded with a ten minute answer that I don’t think anybody

understood, because no one said anything. Finally Patricio spoke up, but continued where

Marco had left off: “Our forefathers didn’t celebrate to worship God or anything like that.

It was a tradition, a dance that they performed. They never entered the church. Since

Padre Christopher taught us to enter the church, we’ve been doing it since then.” He

added the first comment so far about their children, “Perhaps this generation is changing,

and our children don’t want to participate in the festival.” The priest commented that

children are part of the culture. “We shouldn’t change the culture, but make them of part

of it, a part of who they are.” He went on for a while longer.

An hour of discussion had passed. It was about nine fifteen at night, and some

people were beginning to dose off. Finally German said, “I think we need to talk more

about this, but more people should be here. We’re only a few.” The priest insisted that

you start with those who are interested, even if they’re only a few. Patricio added that the

priest should convoke another meeting and teach them from the Word of God how to

celebrate the festival. It was time to end.

As people got up and left, Patricio and German approached me and wanted to see

the books I had on the history of El-Tingo. I showed them more documents that I had not

shown in the Power Point presentation. They were very interested. We talked some about

the volcanic rock on Ilaló. Then they helped me move my six foot screen and left.

These are my initial thoughts: They are not sure what the meaning of Corpus

Christi is. The Palla represents the Harvest and the Rucos her children, but that’s as far as

their meaning goes. Most of their reasoning is that this is the tradition of their fathers.

They feel obligated to listen to the priest, but their traditions hold much more weight than

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what the priest says. Yet they are fascinated by their own history, and love to see

themselves on video.

Just by looking at the contrast between the amount of interaction during my

presentation and the videos and during the priest’s discussion, I can tell that the former

was much more interesting to them. Yet what have I discovered about the meaning of the

Corpus Christi festival? Almost nothing?

Preliminary Thoughts

At first, I would say two things. One, because of their interest in their history and

their traditions, I would say that their identity is very important to them. My conclusion

would be that the meaning lies in preserving their identity through celebrating their

traditions. The spiritual implications of the festival are not important to them.

Second, if this is so, and if the harvest festival pre-dates the Inca conquest, I could

speculate that this festival is a means of resisting conquest and oppression, and is really a

statement of rebellion: “You can take away our lands and make us slaves, but you can’t

change who we are.” This is reflected in the festivity when the parade fills the road and

blocks all traffic. For a moment, the Indians are owners of the road, and dominate all

traffic flow. Since they have masks on, you can’t tell who they are. They are no longer

Indians dominated by the white folk. They are now supernatural figures who dominate

their dominators.

If I follow this line of thinking, the idea of contextualizing the gospel becomes

one of taking on a new identity as the people of God, but it must be their own renewed

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indigenous identity, not a foreign one. They would need to develop a ritual similar to

Corpus Christi, but one that expresses what it’s like to be “an El-Tingo Christian.”

But there’s something else going on here. Something I didn’t see until writing this

paper. When I re-listen to the recording of the discussion group, it makes more sense to

hear it from a different bias. The thoughts I have already written are from a bias toward

“looking for meaning.” I didn’t find much. Why? Because I was looking for it from MY

bias, not THEIRS. The whole idea of “meaning” is an abstract idea. We in the academic

community are used to examining things analytically, as abstract ideas, universal laws,

and general tendencies. These people in El-Tingo (I’m talking about the adult generation)

don’t think that way! So I’m never going to find an answer to a question they’re not

asking.

I re-listened to the tape using a different bias. Their interest is in HOW to

celebrate Corpus, not WHY. Their thinking is concrete and visual, not analytical and

abstract. That’s why Marco’s comments were all focused on: “That’s not the way to

celebrate Corpus. That’s not original.” And some of the others were focused on whether

to enter the church or not. Or if the procession should be done as a solemn procession or

as a joyful dance. The answer to my question of meaning will be found in their deciding

the “how” and my guessing as to the “why.”

This implies that any further research should be done by discussing how to

celebrate the Corpus Christi festival next year, and not by asking what the festival means

to them. And not by just discussing it, but by participating in it, in the planning and the

execution. This process will produce meaning.

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This second cycle of research in 2007 focused on just one festival and only the

folk-Catholic group. Video recordings were used, but an added technique of historical

research was employed. The resulting workshop led by the local priest was an unexpected

surprise that added must to the investigation. The most important discover was the

importance of switching from an abstract mentality to a concrete mentality of inquiry.

(See table 5.)

2008

Identity is important to them.

“How?” is more important than “Why?”

Record and view the festival. Informal conversations with

people.

Research their history, and talk with the people about it.

Workshop with local priest.

Focus on the folk-Catholic people and their Corpus

Christi festival in El-Tingo

2007

No clear answers.



Film the events





2006



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The Process of Discovering Meaning

In reading my experience, you can follow some of the processes I used in this

investigation. In this discussion, I would like to summarize those processes. I do this in

Figure 23. This figure contains three concentric circles. The second circle is divided into

six parts. The arrows illustrate a spiraling process that goes closer and deeper with each

cycle.

The second circle illustrates the most obvious in my investigation. I did archival

research, video recordings and viewings, conversations, visitation of historic sites, and

reflection. But I did not do them only once, nor in any particular order. I would use all of

them repeatedly as one led to another. I used some much more than others. Conversations

and reflection were very important. The point is that with each activity I would gain a

deeper understanding of the people, their festival, their context, and their mentality. The

more time I spend in these activities, the greater my understanding.

I place “participation” in the center because that is my future goal: to participate

in the festival itself alongside the folk from El-Tingo. I believe that the process of

participating with them would lead to a deeper understanding of the festival than the

other activities could provide. But if I had participated in the festival without first doing

these, I would not gain as deep an understanding. The activities are a preliminary

necessity.

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Physical Presence

Relationships

Archival research

Video recordings

Conversations

Video viewing

Reflection

Visit historic sitesParticipation

FIGURE 23: A SUMMARY OF THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERING

MEANING

The outer circle represents two essential factors to doing this kind of research

among small towns in the Andes. First, you have to be there. Living there is essential.

You can’t just drop-in, do your investigation, and leave. You’ll never understand

anything that way. Second, you have to build relationships with the people. Otherwise,

they will not tell you the truth. They will just tell you superficial answers. It’s only when

they trust you that they will tell you what they really think. These two factors take time to

develop.

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The time I have spent on this particular investigation is summarized in the

following table:

Time lived in El-Tingo 20 years Time of participant observation Six months Time to develop relationship with informants From one month to ten years Time spent in archival research Three years on and off Festivals filmed in 2006, 2007, and 2008 Five, four, and one respectively Time spent in reflection Incalculable

TABLE 6: SUMMARY OF TIME SPENT IN THE

INVESTIGATION The process I have illustrated here is not mechanical. I have illustrated my

concept of this process, but the process itself is one that you develop as you go along,

using these guidelines. You have to be open to opportunities that God gives at the

moment. You can’t force it. And the longer you work at it, the more you gain from it.

That is why I draw the process of investigation as a spiral, not as a line or sequence of

steps.

In his investigation of a festival in Riobamba, Ecuador, Campaña did an

investigation similar to this one. His methods were similar, although he doesn’t describe

it as a circular, spiraling process. He did his observations during different periods from

April 1988 to April 1990. He did visits, long interviews, and received personal invitations

to the festivities. For extra information he had to visit the slaughter house, the markets,

the police station, and meat venders. The bulk of his information came from interviews

and observation. He has kept his audio and video recordings as evidence for his

discussion and analysis. (Campaña 2000:13)

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My Reflection

The result of this investigation is NOT that I now know the meaning the people of

El-Tingo give to the Corpus Christi festival, but now I have a method of how to go about

understanding it. If I had the time to spend with them to discuss how to celebrate the

Corpus Christi festival next year with some changes, and then actually do it with them, I

would gain a greater understanding of what the festival means to them.

The plan would be the following: Find and buy a pingullo and a drum. Ask Marco

for the cassettes he has of the melodies for the pingullo. Learn them well. Then I would

go to the group of “Holy Men” and propose my being the Pingullero for the Corpus

Christi festival next year. I would discuss some things I would like to do, and see what

changes they accept and which they reject. The whole time of interaction, discussion, and

planning would reveal more than the event itself.

Now even at this point I could propose an hypothesis. This would be one area to

test through an analytical approach. So far, my understanding of the meaning the folks

give to the Corpus Christi festival is NOT spiritual worship. I understand it to be more of

an identity issue. Many of their comments were along the lines of: “This is part of our

traditions. This is what our fathers used to do.”

I would approach such a study by testing the hypothesis illustrated in Figure 24.

From this framework, I would develop a questionnaire to use to confirm if these concepts

hold true or not.

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The festival has layered meaning

Enjoyment

Tradition

Identity

Worship

And a layered development

Harvest ritual

Sun worship

Catholic Corpus

Improvisations

(Inca)

(Cristianity)

(Military dictators)

(Indian)

FIGURE 24: AN HYPOTHESIS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

At this point, my understanding is that the festival has developed over time from

one festival superimposed over another. The Incas placed their sun worship on the same

date as the “original” harvest festival. Then the Catholic missionaries imposed the Corpus

Christi festival from Spain on the same date. I can see more additions in the festivals:

police and military figures, which could represent the military dictators who free the

country from oppression. I have also seen bears, men with their faces painted black, and

the yearly elected queens who represent the town.

My exploratory research begins to indicate that the festival is enjoyable and a part

of tradition. It’s very likely that identity lies at a deeper level. The spiritual level of

worship I have only seen hints of. It’s probable that it was originally spiritual worship,

but that meaning has since disappeared. Analytical research could confirm or negate the

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first three levels, but I think the fourth level still needs to be initially investigated by the

type of exploratory research I have done in this study.

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CHAPTER 5

REFLECTING ON THE WHOLE PROCESS

This chapter is the third cycle of the investigation process. What follows is a

reconsideration of the whole process up to this point. At the end a discussion will

summarize the whole process and put it into a new format.

Worldview: Modernity versus Post-Modernity

Using “worldview” as a synonym for “cognitive environment,” the author now

reflects on his understanding of the worldviews of both the folk-Catholics and himself.

Kallenberg’s analysis of conversion

Kallenberg suggests a structure in which to view modernism versus post-

modernism. In his article, Kallenberg uses a structured distinction (from Murphy and

McClendon) between the two world views mentioned and applies it to the doctrine of

conversion.

"In an article entitled 'Distinguishing Modern and Postmodern Theologies' authors Nancey Murphy and James Wm. McClendon, Jr. suggest three axes along which theologians, whose ideas are sympathetic with the philosophical agenda of 1650-1950, can be mapped. It does not require much reflection to see that the metaphysical reductionism, linguistic reductionism, and epistemological absolutism which I labored to illustrate in Berkhof's thought, are simply another way of describing the individualism, representationalism-expressivism, and foundationalism which defines the 'space' in which all modern thought can be located.” (Kallenberg 1995:345)

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These three categories can be used as a discussion point for comparing modernism and

post-modernism and then be applied to this research.

Web of beliefsIsolated propositions

Knowledge

Language shapes experience

Language represents reality

Function of Language

Whole is a dynamic reality in itself

Whole is the sum of its parts

Relation of parts and whole

Post-Modern Thought

Modern Thought

3-axis of modernity

TABLE 7: KALLENBERG’S ANALYSIS OF MODERNITY

The three axis of modernity as detailed by Kallenberg are summarized and their

differences are illustrated with post-modernity in Table 7. Modern thought uses

metaphysical reductionism, which is seeing the whole as a sum of its parts. It does not

recognize that the whole can have a dynamic all its own, nor that the whole can actually

influence the parts. Likewise modernity sees language as representing a reality, and

cannot recognize that language itself has the power to shape experience. The Post-

modern view of knowledge is that it is a network of beliefs that are interconnected.

Whereas in modernity, knowledge consists of isolated propositions.

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How these views result in different concepts of conversion is summarized in

Table 8. If the whole consists of its parts, then individual conversion is the basis for a

Christian community. But if the whole is more than the sum of its parts, then the

Christian community is actually the breeding ground as well as the agent for conversion.

Kallenberg doesn’t discuss communal conversions, but it can follow from his argument.

Paradigm change

Accept certain propositions

Epistemology

DialogueCognitiveLanguage

Communal Living

Individual Decision

Metaphysics

Post-Modern Conversion

Modern Conversion

3-axis

TABLE 8: KALLENBERG’S ANALYSIS OF CONVERSION In Modernity, since language represents concepts, conversion is a matter of

understanding those concepts. Whereas from the post-modern view, one learns the

concepts by learning the language of the community. The epistemology follows suit: a

modern conversion consists of accepting certain propositions as true, but the post-modern

view sees that conversion is a matter of a complete paradigm change in one’s web of

beliefs. The former can accept certain biblical truths and not others; the latter takes on a

whole new way of looking at the world.

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Evangelicals versus rural folk: doctrine versus identity

This article provides a new framework from which to reconsider the data of this

investigation. Table 9 is a summary of applying Kallenberg’s structure to this research.

For this analysis, Evangelical worship is considered “modern,” and the Corpus Christi

festival is considered “post-modern.” With that assumption, a lot of things become

clearer.

IdentityDoctrineEpistemology

ShoutingSingingLanguage

Community Participation

Individual Communion with God

Metaphysics

Corpus ChristiEvangelical Worship

3-axis

TABLE 9: AN APPLICATION OF KALLENBERG TO MUSIC-

WORSHIP-RITUAL

This explains why the evangelical worship is so individualistic. It comes from the modern

view that the part makes up the whole, and therefore the person is more important than

the group. In Corpus Christi, it’s obvious that either everyone participates or it doesn’t

happen. Community participation is extremely important. One could say that they are

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“post-modern” but it may be more accurate to say that they are “pre-modern” in the sense

that modernity never reached their thinking.

Now with the language, evangelicals sing, and in Corpus the folk only shout a

word or two. Using Kallenberg’s analysis, the evangelicals are using words to describe

their feelings or to remember certain concepts. In Corpus, the folk are actually using the

words to create an experience. Yet the distinction is not black and white. In evangelical

singing, the song can be used to create an experience. Thus the indigenous heritage is still

at work in the evangelical, although it may be somewhat suppressed.

As far as epistemology, the evangelicals have been taught that doctrine is the

foundation of the Christian faith. Their worship is supposed to express what they believe.

On the contrary, in my talking to folk about the Corpus Christi festival, no one expresses

interest in a cognitive reason for what they do. Most folk in El-Tingo are interested in

preserving the tradition, and maintaining their identity.

Using my model, the discussion can be illustrated as in figure 25. Note that the

evangelical rituals are modern and doctrine based, and rural folk rituals are post-modern

and identity based.

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POST-MODERN


Traditions

Doctrine


Traditions

Identity


MODERN

FIGURE 25: EVANGELICALS VERSUS RURAL FOLK

Personal Reflection

What is the real issue for the folks in El-Tingo? The evangelicals see the Corpus

Christi festival as pagan worship. But now that I have spent some time with the rural folk,

and filmed the event three years in a row, I realize that’s not the issue for them. They are

concerned about preserving the tradition. We evangelicals deal with the issue from a

“doctrinal” point of view: they are worshipping an idol. But if I view it from a “oral-

culture” and “community” point of view, I see it totally differently: they are celebrating

together their identity.

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In my model, I assumed that evangelicals and rural folk share the same culture,

but I now realize they don’t. Evangelicals hold a modern worldview, and the rural folk

were never affected by it.

I’ve found several authors who also see the festivals as playing an important role

in identity. Moreau talks about ritual in general:

"Rituals...establish or affirm the social and history identity of the participants, reminding them of who they are and how they relate to others. They help people change social status. They portray elements of the history, values, and beliefs that people feel are important" (Moreau 2006:333).

But the other authors are all referring to festivals in Latin America:

"The fiesta is vital to the emergent regional identity of the province, the folkloric 'jewel' of Quillacollo, without which, as many people insist, the town itself would disappear" (Albro 1988:135);

"Indeed, for rural Aymara people, the fiesta often serves to constitute the in-group culturally and religiously" (Hurteau 2006:210);

"My hypothesis is that a dynamic interplay between constructed identity, ritual, and community justice is the basis of spirituality for the mestiza" (Rodriguez 2004:319)

Segura actually talks about using ritual for evangelism, because ritual is so important

to Costa Rican identity. He proposes that evangelicals adapt Catholic rituals for the

purpose of communicating the gospel to tradition Catholics in Costa Rica. His motive is

that without ritual, a person loses his or her identity as a Costa Rican when he or she

becomes Christian.

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"When we stopped participating in these communal rituals, we lost a part of what it means to be Costa Rican. To this day I wonder if becoming an evangelical really had to mean losing this part of our cultural identity" (Segura Guzmán 2006:180).

So he proposes giving the rituals new meaning, so that Christians can still celebrate them

without compromising their faith. He also sees conversion as communal rather than

individual.

"In this article, instead of considering conversion in terms of cognitive stages, we will instead pay attention to conversion as a communal experience because Costa Rican folk-Catholics value community highly. From this communal perspective, one definition of conversion can be seen as a re-socialization that the individual or group experiences into a new community, acquiring its story and its language” (Segura Guzmán 2006:184-5).

My only critic of Segura is that we are still asking the Catholics to come to us

rather than us going to them. Yet maybe he doesn’t include this because he is writing in a

mono-cultural environment. He is Costa Rican himself. In my case, I am not Ecuadorian,

and so I have to enter into the Ecuadorian culture in order to understand how they think.

Latin American Theology

Just as the Corpus Christi festival is a mixture of historical traditions, so Latin

American theology is a mixture of theological traditions and influences. In dealing with

worship, Nelson comes from a Western tradition, although he’s writing in Spanish.

Darino attempts to deal with Latin culture and history in looking at worship. Perez builds

his whole case on David’s life of worship, and Witt doesn’t really have theological

consistency. And these all look at worship theology from a systematic point of view.

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In contrast, here I want to describe briefly Andean theology as discussed by

Irrarazaval. I see his writing as an attempt to enter into the indigenous mentality. He

discusses three aspects of Andean theology (Irarrazaval 1999:16-136).

First, Andean theology is concrete. They think in terms of the mountains and the

land. The mountains are a symbol of divinity and the land is the mother of humanity.

Where I live there are legends about “Ilaló” (the mountain beside our small town) flirting

with Cotopaxi (a tall, snow-covered volcano visible from our town). Land is extremely

important to the rural folk. It is their means of livelihood. To lose their land is like losing

a part of themselves.

Second, Andean theology is syncretistic. “The rituals and beliefs…continued to

develop, but were intermixed with Christian elements, and that is how it still is today”

(Irarrazaval 1999:37) In my fifth tutorial, I identified Catholic, Inca, pre-Inca, and

liberation elements in the Corpus Christi festival.

Third, Andean theology is holistic. Their theology is a set of relationships

between all dimensions. This fits in well with post-modern epistemology where

knowledge is not a set of propositions, but a web of beliefs. Rodriguez says it this way:

“In Latino/a culture, everything is interrelated, interconnected, and interdependent, and

people identify themselves through their relationships to others” (Rodriguez 2004:335).

So as I try to understand the Corpus Christi festival, it is much easier through this

theological framework. They can’t explain the festival, but obviously the central statue-

figure represents the harvest and the land. They mix all kinds of tradition into the festival,

but that’s no problem for them. And the festival is not just a “religious ritual,” but is part

of their community life.

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Changing mentality

One of the requirements for entering the program at Fuller was to take Dr. Shaw’s

course on “Folk Religion.” For that course I spent two months among the Mormon’s in

Quito, Ecuador, understanding their faith from their point of view by participation in all

their weekly and special activities. Years later, as I reflect on that experience, I realize

that the questions I had AFTER spending time with them, were very different from the

questions I had BEFORE I spent time with them. This is why Step #3 in my model is a

prerequisite to Step #4. You can’t dialogue with other faiths, until you’re talking to them

from within their perspective.

If I had talked to a Mormon before that course, I would have focused on the issue

of Divinity and Humanity. I had read that they believe they are gods, and God was once a

man. Yet after I had spent two months with them, these were my final conclusions I told

to the young missionaries who visited us weekly:

1. Joseph’s Smith translation of the Bible is very close to the King James’ version

written 200 years earlier. Therefore, he plagiarized; 2. I can’t accept “Progressive Revelation” because a future revelation can negate a

past one. Therefore the Mormon faith could be completely changed into something else in the future;

3. Once a person is dead, there’s nothing we can do for him here.

Without going into these issues, I note how different these statements are from my

original one! Once I was “on the inside” I realized that my “divinity issue” wasn’t really

important to them. And yet, when I told the missionaries my three final points, they

understood exactly what I was saying. Now I was speaking “their” language.

In learning to play the pingullo (an indigenous flute), I passed through the same

process as with the Mormons.

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Learning to play “El Pingullo”

Now this “pingullo” as its called, is an interesting instrument. The mouthpiece is

just like the recorder, all you have to do is blow to make it sound. It’s about six inches

long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter. It only has three holes, two above and one

below, and is played with just one hand.

Trying to obtain one of these is a story in itself. At first I heard that these

instruments are passed on from generation to generation and become family patrimony.

But since the younger generation isn’t very interested in this art, and the older folks who

played them are dying off, many pingullos probably end up being thrown away or lost in

a box in the attic.

“So where can I obtain one of these?” I asked several people, usually older folk

who knew what a pingullo was. The most obvious place was Otavalo, where these Indian

folk sell all kinds of indigenous wares, including musical instruments. It’s a two-hour

drive north of Quito. In the central market square, I asked around, and everyone pointed

me to a store on the corner where a man crafted all kinds of typical Ecuadorian

instruments: charangos, guitars, pan flutes, drums, etc. Did he have a pingullo? No. But

he could make me one. I’d have to come back after a week. Now I wanted one already

made, otherwise I felt he’d just make a cheap one for this North American tourist, and it

wouldn’t be authentic. So I returned to Quito empty-handed.

A few folk in El-Tingo said I could find a pingullo in Sangolquí, a town only ten

minutes away. In a small store of musical instruments in the central park they told me of

an elderly woman a few blocks away who sold hats, and also had pingullos. It took me a

while to find her store, because it was just a wooden door in a corner house. The room

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wasn’t any bigger than a walk-in closet, but she had hats, dolls, and other traditional

costumes. Did she have any pingullos? She produced a bunch of six, held together by a

rubber band. “Where do these come from?” I asked. She replied, “An elderly man brings

them to me to sell. He’s from somewhere south of here.” I tried blowing a few of the

pingullos. Only two made any sound, and a couple were cracked. I wasn’t sure which was

older, the woman or the pingullos. I decided to keep looking for a decent pingullo.

The young fellow who played in Corpus in El-Tingo told me that I could find

pingullos in Latacunga on Saturdays or in Saquisilí on Thursdays. These days are market

days in each town. Both towns are about an hour and a half south of Quito. So Saturday,

Faby (my wife) and I drove to Latacunga. Wandering around the market square, we asked

if anyone knew where to find a pingullo. People would direct us to various music stores

in town, but I knew by now that I needed to find some elderly street vender who

personally crafted instruments. Music stores don’t sell pingullos.

In one corner of the market square we found a couple of booths were they sold

hats. One seller told us he remembers an elderly man who came on Saturdays and sold

various instruments that he crafted himself. He sold pingullos, but he no longer comes to

market. We’d have to try going to Saquisilí on Thursday. (Although we did stop by on

our way back to Quito, just to see where it was.)

Thursday I made the trip alone. Saquisilí is a smaller town than Latacunga, but it

has quite a market square, three to be exact! In one they mainly sold fruit, vegetables, and

meat, but the next resembled a Flea Market in Mississippi. Sellers sold everything from

used clothes, to tools, to old shoes and electronic gadgets. At the back the Otavaleños had

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their booths. It seemed so ironic to find the same folk one and a half hours south of Quito,

that I had driven two hours north to visit.

I scouted around, but didn’t see any pingullos. I began asking the sellers. They

pointed me to a table where a man sold hats and musical instruments. (Interesting to note

that the same folk sell hats and musical instruments. This was the third place were they

sold both.) “Any pingullos?” No. He had sampoñas and kenas, but no pingullos. I began

to think that I wasn’t going to find a pingullo, unless I went back to Otavalo and had

them make me one.

That same afternoon I was in Sangolquí for another matter, but I decided to stop

by the place where the elderly lady had those six pingullos. This time I saw them from a

different perspective. Maybe they were real pingullos? I tried them all. I could make a

decent sound on two of them. The woman noted that I was a musician: “That one sounds

better doesn’t it?” she commented. I bought it.

Back at home, I tried to play the thing. How frustrating! The first instrument I

ever learned was the recorder when I was eight. Then in High School, I took three years

of private lessons on the flute. These I can play, but that pingullo was something else! It

only has four notes! How can you even play a melody with only four notes? Even a

pentatonic scale has five notes. Our Western scale has twelve tones. It was time for me to

change my mentality.

I can compare this process to step #3 and step #4 in my model. You have to

change your mentality completely if you’re going to understand and dialogue with

another culture. So I tried a different approach to playing this pingullo: think of the

indigenous melodies that I’ve heard in the festivities, and try to imitate them on the

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pingullo. It worked! Now I could play something interesting: more or less something like

a melody.

Then came the big discovery: octaves! I could get four octaves on this thing! A

recorder has two octaves; the flute has three, but this has four! Wow! By changing the air

flow, and how much the thumb covers the bottom hole, a whole new world of music

opened up for me on this pingullo. Now I could play melodies. I even made up a few.

I took my pingullo to the young fellow in town who plays the pingullo. I wanted

to know what he thought of my new instrument. Was it authentic? Did it play like a real

pingullo?

It turned out to be a wonderful conversation piece. He played it briefly, and gave

me his comment: “It plays well, although it’s a little hard to blow. If you play this one in

Corpus, your cheeks are going to get awfully tired after four hours of playing.” I never

thought about that! He told me that his pingullo required less effort, probably because the

hole in the mouthpiece was a little bigger. Every pingullo is unique. He had three

different ones, and he was still interested in trying others. We talked about having the guy

in Otavalo making us a couple of pingullos.

Then we talked about the drum that is played with a pingullo. Again, each one is

unique. He had looked for one with a full sound, before purchasing his. He told me he

wanted to go out to the jungle and find one made out of a special type of wood. Now we

were really talking! We talked about melodies. He has been doing his own investigation,

trying to collect the most “original” melodies he could find. His grandfather was the

original pingullo player in El-Tingo, and had taught the other well-known fellow in town

how to play. He is now quite elderly, and considered the “best” and most original player

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in El-Tingo today. Although because of his age, he no longer has the stamina to play in

Corpus.

This was the first conversation I had had in El-Tingo where we reached the depth

and confidence to ask my burning question: “Do you think Corpus is religious or social?”

(Now that’s a big change from my original question of “What does Corpus mean?”)

Maybe since he’s from the younger generation he understood my question. His reply was,

“A little of both.” I’m beginning to see that the real interest is not in the meaning of

Corpus, but in preserving the tradition, and trying to go back to the “authentic” event.

A few weeks later, I ran into one of my friends in El-Tingo and told him that I

finally found a pingullo. “Can you play it?” he asked me. “How can I,” I replied, “if I

don’t know the melodies. You have the melodies on tape.” He offered to copy them for

my on another cassette, but then he said, “I have some melodies, but the ‘real’ ones are

the ones the elderly man knows. Why don’t you go to him and record him playing?”

“How can I,” I replied, “if he doesn’t know me. He knows you. You’re good friends,

right?”

Now here I am using everything I know about the culture. Relationship are very

important. If I want an “authentic” performance, I need an insider to take me there. I have

gained the confidence of my friend; now he needs to take me to this pingullo player for

me to develop the same confidence with him.

He said he’d talk to him on Sunday to see if he would do play for us, (and how

much he would charge for it!) And that’s as far as I’ve gotten to this point. To be

continued...1

1 Two weeks later, the elderly man didn’t want to record, even for my friend.

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In conclusion, obtaining a pingullo has taken me into a deeper understanding of

this festival, and has opened doors for more conversations. I continue to change my

mentality to try to see things from their point of view. Music has enabled me to do this.

New Evaluation of the Model

After considering various perspectives on worship, I now have three

modifications for my model. These are in the areas of: worldviews, types of cultures, and

the role of Scripture.

Worldviews

I have considered two different worldviews: modernism and post-modernism.2 In

my own modern worldview, I was assuming that the evangelicals and the rural folk hold

the same worldview, but now I see differently. The evangelical tradition comes from a

modern worldview, and the tradition of rural folk comes from a post-modern worldview.

Therefore in communicating the gospel to the rural folk, a missionary like me has to

make the transition from modernity to post-modernity. I illustrate this by placing each

group and its music-worship-ritual in different boxes. (See figure 26.)

Types of cultures

The next addition to my model is the difference in the mentality of each culture. I

am viewing the evangelicals and their modernity as a literate culture who think in abstract

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terms. Thus the basis of their music-worship-ritual is doctrine. On the other hand, the

rural folk I see as an oral culture who think in concrete terms. Their music-worship-ritual

is based on identity. So not only does the missionary like me have to change from

modernity to post-modernity, but from an literate, abstract culture that emphasizes

doctrine to an oral, concrete culture that emphasizes identity. In figure 26, I am trying to

illustrate the change in culture as step three, and the change in mentality in step four.

These two steps are almost one in the same. I have separated them mostly for illustrative

purposes.

POST-MODERN


New forms

Traditions



New forms

Traditions

Beliefs Beliefs


1111

2222

3333

4444

5555

6666

MODERN

Scripture

Abstract/LiterateDoctrine

Concrete/OralIdentity

FIGURE 26: MY REVISED MODEL

2 In this discussion I will use the term “post-modern” to describe the rural folk, although a better

term may be “pre-modern” or “amodern.”

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At this point a table summarizing the whole process can be completed. In 2008,

the author completed cycle #3 of the investigation. This was to reconsider everything

done up to that point, and look at it from a new perspective. The result was a clear

contrast in the worldviews of the author and the folk in El-Tingo. Those in El-Tingo

clearly have a concrete and communal worldview, whereas the author has an abstract and

individualistic worldview. (See Table 10.)

Contrast in worldviews:

Folk: concrete and communal.

Mine: Abstract and individualistic.

Interact with the literature.Review the data and the process and re-consider

and reflect.

2008

Identity is important to them.

“How?” is more important than “Why?”

Record and view the festival. Informal

conversations with people.

Research their history, and talk with the people about it.

Workshop with local priest.

Focus on the folk-Catholic people and their Corpus

Christi festival in El-Tingo

2007

No clear answers.



Film the events





2006


1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9


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The Process as a Spiral/Funnel

At first glance, table 10 appears to be a straightforward investigation over a three

year period. But the format of a table hinders a much better concept of the process. Based

on the epistemological biases expounded in chapter two, understanding is obtained

through multi-experiential interaction and dialogue over time. A table cannot illustrate

this. Therefore, the table needs to be illustrated in a different format. That format will be

a spiral. Note that each box in the table is marked with a number. Rather than put the

boxes in rows and columns, it is much more illustrative to put the boxes into a spiral as

illustrated in figure 27.

1

8

7

6

9

32

5

4

STRATEGY

INTERACTION REFLECTION

FIGURE 27: THE PROCESS AS A SPIRAL

The whole process is not just cyclic, but progressive. Each cycle is more focused

than the previous. Also with each cycle, the understanding of the researcher is greater

than before. That is why with each cycle the strategy changes, the interaction is more

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meaningful, and the reflection is progressive. This also illustrates that research never

ends. One never reaches the center, but draws closer over time.

Conclusion

Based on the critical research issue stated at the end of chapter two, the

difference between the spiritual cognitive environments of the author and the folk in El-

Tingo have been discovered through active participation in the community with the

dialogue focusing on the Corpus Christi ritual. At this point in the investigation, the

author understands the spiritual cognitive environment of the folk in El-Tingo to be

concrete, communal, and identity based. He also now understands his own spiritual

cognitive environment to be abstract, individualistic, and doctrine based. The two are

very different. According to relevance theory, the two need to be similar in order for

effective communication to take place between the two parties.

Using relevance theory as the theoretical framework for applying this knowledge

to communicating the gospel, it is the author who must accommodate his spiritual

cognitive environment to that of the folk in El-Tingo, and not vice-versa. Thus remains

the challenge for the missionary to change his way of looking at spiritual issues in order

to communicate more effectively with the folk in El-Tingo. The remaining question is to

suggest how this might be done. The following chapter deals with this question.

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CHAPTER 6

A THEOLOGY BASED ON IDENTITY

The whole argument of this dissertation is to understand a people’s cognitive

environment in order to communicate the gospel to them. Having identified the spiritual

worldview of the people of El-Tingo as concrete and communal, and based on identity,

rather than on doctrine, one has to conclude by suggesting a theology that accommodates

to that worldview. First, the parameters of theologizing need to be delineated as

suggested by Bevans. Second, the author will propose a process for theologizing with the

people of El-Tingo.

Theologizing Locally

According to Bevans, “The contextualization of theology… is really a theological

imperative” (Bevans 1992:1). Every culture has to contextualize its theology, because not

even the Bible has a single theology: “there is no one theology of the Hebrew or Christian

scriptures” (ibid:3). Bevans is talking strictly about each culture doing its own theology.

The investigation here is more complicated, because the missionary has to be involved in

that process, and even more so, when the people are not yet Christians. Yet does the

missionary have to wait until the people are Christians in order to help them contextualize

their own theology. The author believes not. The missionary is part of that process even

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before the people know God. The missionary begins the process in order to communicate

to them who God is. Once they know God, then the role of the missionary changes to that

of working alongside them.

Bevans states six reasons for the necessity of contextualizing theology (Bevans

1992:5-9):

1. Classic theology doesn’t cover everyone’s reality;

2. Classic theology has an oppressive element toward other races, women, and poor

folk;

3. Classic theology is Western and holds Western values and Western history;

4. God accommodated himself to the Jewish culture;

5. Most people understand abstract ideas through concrete manifestations;

6. People need to have a relationship with God, and not just propositional

knowledge about God.

Not one these deals directly with communicating the gospel. He assumes that the people

are already Christians. If Christians in each culture need to do their own theology, how

much more does a missionary have to accommodate his or her theology to the people’s

mentality in order to communicate the gospel to them!

Next Bevans gives some very useful suggestions about how to go about “doing

theology.” But first of all, it must be mentioned that just as this investigation is an

ongoing process of understand, so also, “theology is not so much a content to be

understood as a process to be entered into” (Bevans 2005:69). That is why the author

145

cannot suggest a theology for the folk in El-Tingo, but a process by which to do theology

in their context.

The first question that Bevans considers is “What form should theology take?”

and “Who should do the theology?” (Bevans 1992:12). Theology can be done in three

different forms: academically, conversationally, or in ritual. It can be done by trained

theologians, by the people themselves, or a combination of the two in dialogue. From this

investigation, the author proposes doing theology in dialogue with the people in the form

of participating in the Corpus Christi ritual.

The second question Bevans discusses is “What will be the basic theological

orientation?” (ibid:16). One can begin with a culture-oriented approach, or a scripture-

centered approach. The first allows for more contextualization, but can result in pure

relativism. The second stays closer to scripture, but doesn’t allow much room for

contextualization. In the case in El-Tingo, the author has proposed a model that starts

with a culture-oriented approach, but later moves toward a scripture-centered approach.

The two can be used together to form a total process.

Bevans also expounds five different models for doing theology: translation,

anthropological, praxis, synthetic, and transcendental. Again, what the author proposes

doing in El-Tingo begins with the anthropological model: using the Corpus Christi

festival as a means of doing theology.

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A Proposal for Theologizing

In this case in El-Tingo, the theologizing needs to be done in the following

manner. The author proposes a culture-centered approach using dialogue with the local

people by participating in the Corpus Christi festival. Already he has obtained a

“pingullo” and a drum, and the local leaders know that he is learning to play the pingullo.

A few weeks ago, he was asked by one of them if he was going to play the pingullo this

year (2009). Last year, he did play briefly for the Friday night ritual (one time around the

park).

Since the people’s mentality is concrete, the Corpus Christi festival is one way

they express their theology. They don’t sit down and “talk” about theology, but the do

talk about the “way to celebrate” Corpus Christi. The best way to talk about how to

celebrate Corpus is by participating in the festival itself, not only in the execution of the

festival but in the planning of it.

The author is an accepted member of the community, and has the potential of

being the “pingullero” in the next Corpus Christi festival in El-Tingo for one of the

groups of dancers. By participating with the folk in the festival and dialoging over what is

“original” to the festival and what is not, the author can begin to understand what is part

of their identity and what is not. If the author can reach the point to suggest changes in

the festival, such as using a cross instead of a “pailla” figure, he is suggesting changes in

their theology, and their identity. By doing this with them in dialogue, he is also adapting

to their way of thinking: doing things (like theologizing) as a community and not as an

individual.

147

This is a continuing process: the author adapting his mentality to that of the

people, and continuing to participate and dialogue with them about spiritual matters, with

the hope that one day he will be able to communicate the gospel to them in a way that

modifies their cognitive environment effectively.

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