1. Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima (1972)
Indohispano &
religious syncretism

2. Bildungsroman (novel of education & development)
1) secular & social quest
2) spiritual quest
Religion in Bless Me, Ultima: indohispano spirituality & religious syncretism
Cosmic conflicts within the sacred:
1) God’s split personality (God–the-destroyer vs. God-the-creator)
2) Syncretism: indohispano = mestizo blending of indigenous pantheism & Hispanic Catholicism (rival deities)
Antonio
= not torn btw Anglo vs Mexican, but btw 2 ways of being Mexican American!
COLONIAL HISPANIC HERITAGE vs TRACES OF INDIGENOUS CULTURE
(Márez) (Luna)
Indohispano: exploration of the survival of indigenous pantheism within the folk Catholicism of Mexican Americans (the Golden Carp; the “presence” of the river).

3. Dream 6 (173-76) Apocalypse
(prophetic) narrative about the coming destruction of the world (divine plan), and (often) creation of new heaven & earth
What is the sacred source?
Catholic?  Revelation of John
Mesoamerican: creation of the cosmos in series of ages  Nahua (Aztec) version
4 ages (“Suns”) = all destroyed  creation of “the Fifth Sun” (“Quinto Sol”) (the age the Nahua lived in)
“The aboriginal culture of Mesoamerica—the region stretching from Mexico to Nicaragua—carried a set of beliefs in which the idea that the world had been created not once but several times was absolutely essential. [It was] developed by the Aztecs as the legend of the five suns The fourth [sun was destroyed] by the waters of the great flood. The people were now living under the fifth sun, which was born of the sacrifice of the gods and which could continue only through the sacrifice of their creatures, men and women.”
--Carlos Fuentes, “The Rise and Fall of the Indian World,” 95
“The fourth age, 4-Water, existed for 676 years before being destroyed by a huge flood in the year 1-House, on the day 4-Water. During this age, the nobles ate 4-Flower, and turned themselves into fish to escape certain death when the flood poured in.”
--“Nahua History,” Mesoamerican Mythology, ed. Read and González, 91-92

4. Cupola
Church of
Santa Maria
Tonantzintla
(1690 – 1730)
State of Puebla,
Mexico

5. “The marvelous chapel at Tonantzintla, is one of the most startling confirmations of syncretism as the dynamic basis of postconquest culture. What happened here happened throughout Latin America. The Indian artisans were given engravings of the saints and other religious motifs by the Christian evangelizers and asked to reproduce them inside the churches. But the artisans and masons of the temples had something more than a copy in mind. They wished to celebrate their old gods as well as the new ones, but they had to mask this intention by blending a praise of nature with a praise of heaven and making them indistinguishable. Tonantzintla is in effect a re-creation of the Indian paradise. White and gold, it overflows with plenty as all the fruits and flowers of the tropics climb up to its dome, a dream of infinite abundance. Religious syncretism triumphed as, somehow, the conquerors were conquered.”
--Carlos Fuentes, The Buried Mirror:
Reflections on Spain and the New World,

7. Who is Ultima?
Hybrid being: part-natural, part-supernatural
Ultima’s owl  Nahual (Mesoamerican mythology):
animal form of human spirit; animal double; protective spirit (dog, jaguar, serpent, etc.)
to harm another person’s nahual = to harm the person that belongs to nahual
one can send nahual o perform tasks or turn into its shape (~ shamanism)
Frida Kahlo, The Little Deer (1947)
(Kahlo’s animal self)
Mask from
State of
Guerrero,
Mexico

9. Think about, make notes on; find textual examples & evidence to support your argument:
1) Who is Ultima? What aspects of Ultima are natural?
When does her supernatural self appear: what is the source and extent of her powers? What miracles does she perform?
What evidence is there that she is a witch? What is her relation to Catholicism?
Ultima becomes Antonio’s spiritual guide: what does she teach him?
2) Antonio’s visionary dreams: Antonio has a series of dreams (8 total), in which he appears to connect with a reality and knowledge much deeper than is normal for a boy his age. In psychological terms, Antonio dream life is Jungian more than Freudian, sacred (rather than secular), old/archetypal (rather than new/personal dreams) that serve to initiate Antonio into the cosmovision and mythological archetypes of his mestizo (part-Hispanic/Catholic, part-indigenous) Mexican American culture:
Discuss Antonio’s dreams that you have read so far:
Dream 1 (5-6); Dream 2 (26-27); Dream 3 (61); Dream 4 (70-71); Dream 5 (120-21); Dream 6 (173-76).
What revelations are given to him in these dreams? Like John in Bible! What does he learn?