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It's more cultural colonization than syncretism. For example, America was culturally colonized by forcibly converting its inhabitants to Catholicism. Their temp

It's more cultural colonization than syncretism. For example, America was culturally colonized by forcibly converting its inhabitants to Catholicism. Their temples were destroyed, the stones used to build churches, and while celebrations were still observed, the deities were replaced with Catholic ones. Even the folklore was rewritten with Catholic characters. It wasn't syncretism, it was systematic eradication. Syncretism is more akin to reconciliation of different views.

pstuart 1mo ago
Another appropriate word for the colonization of America is genocide. I'm old enough to remember being taught how America was settled by expanding into the vast wilderness of the continent, and that sometimes they had skirmishes with natives but they found them new places to live. It turns out it wasn't quite as neat and tidy as suggested.
- philipallstar 1mo ago
  "It's not neat and tidy so it must be genocide" - not sure that's quite right.
  - dsr_ 1mo ago
    In this case, it was genocide.
    - amanaplanacanal 1mo ago
      It definitely was. There were at least sometimes extenuating circumstances though. My sense is that in the US and Canada settlers found a great deal of "apparently" uninhabited land, largely a result of the diseases that had swept through because of earlier contact, decimating the existing population. My guess is that had disease not done its work, the European settlers would have found it much harder to displace the existing inhabitants.
      - pstuart 1mo ago
        I have yet to read 1491, but yes I imagine that it would have been much more challenging without that first strike. But the weapons capabilities of the europeans were also going to make it happen one way or another.
- kspacewalk2 1mo ago
  America is a big place, populated by a lot of different people. Some of those were in fact victims of a genocide by European colonists. Others were allied to the European colonists from day one, and were instrumental in defeating/exterminating their indigenous enemies (see e.g. Tlaxcallans). Most of the victims were decimated by Eurasian diseases well before seeing any European with their own eyes. So presenting colonization of America as a "genocide" is every bit as selective and simplistic as what you're old enough to remember being taught, just in the opposite direction. The history of Americas is much more interesting and complex than all that.
asdff 1mo ago
Basically how christians have always operated since they first emerged and started doing the same throughout the hellenic world. Most (all?) christian traditions are pagan in origin. The main goal was not necessarily replacement but a sort of corporate ownership takeover of the littany of existing traditions, such that these cultures might be ingrained into a unified fold of christian power/influence/customs/laws/expectations and not see themselves as some distinct independent people. And boy that model worked to tame europe and much of the known world under the whip of the pope in a way the roman emperors never could, at least until Martin Luther screwed up a bit of that unity. Mexico is interesting because it is a certainly a different catholicism than what is practiced elsewhere. Tell a devout old world European catholic about say Day of the Dead traditions and they will probably think its blasphemy. There is a lot of what amounts to local diety worship still as well, although they just label them as some patron saint of somesuch to preserve the veil of monotheism.
- ASalazarMX 1mo ago
  > Tell a devout old world European catholic about say Day of the Dead traditions and they will probably think its blasphemy. Want to make a Catholic mad? Tell them saints are just minor gods of the Christian pantheon.
  - asdff 1mo ago
    Yeah the protestants think the saint stuff is absurd and even creepy when you get into the relics. I'm not sure where it came from but I'm guessing some weird roman religion origin.
    - andrewflnr 1mo ago
      There's no reason the Catholics couldn't have invented it independently. I think that's just the human instinctive approach to religion. Lots of little per-concept semi-spiritual entities, sacred and profane objects, etc.
      - notahacker 1mo ago
BirAdam 1mo ago
If by “America” you mean Meso and South America, sure. The USA, however, was Protestant, not Catholic.
- tracerbulletx 1mo ago
  The Spanish were colonizing the land that is now the United States for 100 years before the English even got here and the french were colonizing it for 100 years before the Louisiana purchase. The catholic church/Jesuits also ran a lot of the infamous indian boarding schools of the 1800s and early to mid 1900s though not exclusively.
- _--__--__ 1mo ago
  Generally true, but it is quite funny that by pure chance Squanto was a baptized Catholic.
michaelsbradley 1mo ago
The missing term and concept is Inculturation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inculturation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inculturation

pstuart 1mo ago

Another appropriate word for the colonization of America is genocide. I'm old enough to remember being taught how America was settled by expanding into the vast wilderness of the continent, and that sometimes they had skirmishes with natives but they found them new places to live. It turns out it wasn't quite as neat and tidy as suggested.

philipallstar 1mo ago
"It's not neat and tidy so it must be genocide" - not sure that's quite right.
- dsr_ 1mo ago
  In this case, it was genocide.
  - amanaplanacanal 1mo ago
    It definitely was. There were at least sometimes extenuating circumstances though. My sense is that in the US and Canada settlers found a great deal of "apparently" uninhabited land, largely a result of the diseases that had swept through because of earlier contact, decimating the existing population. My guess is that had disease not done its work, the European settlers would have found it much harder to displace the existing inhabitants.
    - pstuart 1mo ago
      I have yet to read 1491, but yes I imagine that it would have been much more challenging without that first strike. But the weapons capabilities of the europeans were also going to make it happen one way or another.
kspacewalk2 1mo ago
America is a big place, populated by a lot of different people. Some of those were in fact victims of a genocide by European colonists. Others were allied to the European colonists from day one, and were instrumental in defeating/exterminating their indigenous enemies (see e.g. Tlaxcallans). Most of the victims were decimated by Eurasian diseases well before seeing any European with their own eyes. So presenting colonization of America as a "genocide" is every bit as selective and simplistic as what you're old enough to remember being taught, just in the opposite direction. The history of Americas is much more interesting and complex than all that.

asdff 1mo ago

Basically how christians have always operated since they first emerged and started doing the same throughout the hellenic world. Most (all?) christian traditions are pagan in origin. The main goal was not necessarily replacement but a sort of corporate ownership takeover of the littany of existing traditions, such that these cultures might be ingrained into a unified fold of christian power/influence/customs/laws/expectations and not see themselves as some distinct independent people. And boy that model worked to tame europe and much of the known world under the whip of the pope in a way the roman emperors never could, at least until Martin Luther screwed up a bit of that unity. Mexico is interesting because it is a certainly a different catholicism than what is practiced elsewhere. Tell a devout old world European catholic about say Day of the Dead traditions and they will probably think its blasphemy. There is a lot of what amounts to local diety worship still as well, although they just label them as some patron saint of somesuch to preserve the veil of monotheism.

ASalazarMX 1mo ago
> Tell a devout old world European catholic about say Day of the Dead traditions and they will probably think its blasphemy. Want to make a Catholic mad? Tell them saints are just minor gods of the Christian pantheon.
- asdff 1mo ago
  Yeah the protestants think the saint stuff is absurd and even creepy when you get into the relics. I'm not sure where it came from but I'm guessing some weird roman religion origin.
  - andrewflnr 1mo ago
    There's no reason the Catholics couldn't have invented it independently. I think that's just the human instinctive approach to religion. Lots of little per-concept semi-spiritual entities, sacred and profane objects, etc.
    - notahacker 1mo ago

BirAdam 1mo ago

If by “America” you mean Meso and South America, sure. The USA, however, was Protestant, not Catholic.

tracerbulletx 1mo ago
The Spanish were colonizing the land that is now the United States for 100 years before the English even got here and the french were colonizing it for 100 years before the Louisiana purchase. The catholic church/Jesuits also ran a lot of the infamous indian boarding schools of the 1800s and early to mid 1900s though not exclusively.
_--__--__ 1mo ago
Generally true, but it is quite funny that by pure chance Squanto was a baptized Catholic.

michaelsbradley 1mo ago

The missing term and concept is Inculturation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inculturation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inculturation