XIII Encuentro de la Red de Investigadores del Fenómeno Religioso en México (RIFREM) Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mayo 26-28 Mesa No. 5 “Transnacionalización de Prácticas Religiosas”

Presentation created by Yolanda Zamarripa Antonio Noé Zavaleta, Ph.D. Associate Provost For Academic Affairs Director of the Texas Center for Border and Transnational Studies and Professor of Anthropology The University of Texas at Brownsville Presentation created by Yolanda Zamarripa antonio.zavaleta@utb.edu albertos@sc2000.net

de la Religion Popular: Practica y Renovación de Creencias “La Transmigración de la Religion Popular: Practica y Renovación de Creencias Sincréticas a travez de la Frontera México-Americana” “The Transmigration of Popular Religion: Praxis and Renewal of Syncretic Faiths across the U.S.-Mexico Border”

The Transmigration of Mexican Nationals across the Rio Bravo pre-dates 1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexicanos and others followed Los Caminos Reales North and South, to and from, California, Nuevo México y Texas. By 1900 there was a three hundred year tradition of Transmigration between Mexico and the U.S.

“Transmigration can be seen as the opposite to the notion of assimilation as a gradual but irreversible process of the integration of migrants to the receiving society.” Instead, Transnationalism recalls the image of a continuous round-trip movement between countries of origin and reception, allowing migrants to be present in both societies and cultures and to exploit economic and political opportunities created by such dual lives” Alejandro Portes, “Un diálogo Norte-Sur: El progreso de la teoría en el estudio de la migracion internacional y sus implicaciones, “2005

When people migrate they carry their religious beliefs with them When people migrate they carry their religious beliefs with them . Their belief system provides them with an operational system while abroad. When they return home they give thanks, renew and reinforce their beliefs and as such are ready to migrate again.

“Crossing the border forces them (Mexicanos) neither to adopt a new code of values nor to develop attachments to a single nation, as if it were a zero-sum game where loyalties, or the sense of belonging to one society or another, were mutually exclusive.” “Many of them fit the paradigm of transnational migrants: people able to work, participate politically, and develop community or religious bonds in several cultural contexts, regardless of the political borders that divide their countries of origin or adoption” Carlos González Gutiérrez The Institute of Mexicans Abroad 2009

Notable Examples of Religious practice and Transmigration include but are not limited to: Cubans and Puerto Ricans and the practice of Santeria and Palo Mayombe (Cuba to Miami and Puerto Rico to New York) Brazileños and the practice of Condomble (Brazil to Houston) Haitians and the practice of Vodou (Haiti to New York) Mexicanos and the practice of Fidencismo (Exported to all US)

The Home of El Niño Fidencio and one of the Primary Pilgrimage Sites TEXAS Coahuila ESPINAZO Nuevo Leon Republica Mexicana Espinazo N.L/Coah. The Home of El Niño Fidencio and one of the Primary Pilgrimage Sites in Mexico Today.

Primera Etapa de Misiones de Fundadoras Fidencistas 1925-1950 Chihuahua Coahuila Nuevo Leon Durango Zacatecas TEXAS Cuidad Acuña Nueva Rosita Las Esperanzas Palau Nuevo Laredo Frontera Monclova Castaños Gomez Palacios Espinazo Hidalgo Reynosa Saltillo Monterrey Progreso Matamoros Cuidad Victoria Primera Etapa de Misiones de Fundadoras Fidencistas 1925-1950

Primera Etapa De Misiones de Fundadoras Fidencistas 1925-1950 During his time in Espinazo El Niño Fidencio developed a very loyal group of assistants and followers They came from the towns and pueblitos nearby: First from Castaños; Frontera; Palau; Nueva Rosita; then from Saltillo; Monterrey; Cuidad Victoria; Gomez Palacio; Cuidad Acuña, Reynosa These are the founding Fidencista misiones outside of Espinazo but in Mexico The Niño predicted his death and prepared his closest associates to become trance mediums capable of receiving spiritual messages from him The first and most important were Damiana Martinez and Victor Zapata(father of Panita)

El Movimiento Fidencista se Mueve a la Frontera 1940s-1960s Texas Piedras Negras Del Rio San Antonio Nuevo Laredo El Valle del Rio Grande Reynosa Gomez Palacios Matamoros Espinazo Monterrey Cd. Victoria Republica de México La Segunda Etapa, El Movimiento Fidencista se Mueve a la Frontera 1940s-1960s

La Segunda Etapa Establecer Misiones en la Frontera 1940s-1960s During the 1940s and through the 1960s there was a huge movement of Mexican farm laborers to the border with the U.S. called the “Bracero Era” I first heard of the Niño Fidencio as a child in my Grandmother’s cotton fields near Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas Many thousands of Mexican workers established semi-permanent residence along the border during this time in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and beyond As Espinazo developed as a pilgrimage site and as the March and October fiestas were established the followers of Fidencio developed the tradition of returning to Mexico for renewal During this period the first misiones were established in the American Midwest

Texas Oklahoma New Mexico Mexico La Tercera Etapa Amarillo Oklahoma New Mexico Lubbock Fort Worth Dallas Midland Texas El Paso Odessa Waco San Angelo Austin Del Rio Houston Carrizo Springs San Antonio Pearsall Robstown Corpus Christi Mexico Laredo Espinazo Rio Grande Edinburg Brownsville La Tercera Etapa El Fidencismo se Extiende a todo Tejas 1960s – 1980s

La Tercera Etapa El Fidencismo se Extiende a todo Tejas 1960s – 1980s During the 1960s-1980s second and third generation Mexican families established permanent residence through out Texas Now called migrant farm workers they followed the migrant stream into the American Midwest and throughout the rest of the country Their children and grandchildren did not know Mexico as a country of origin except for their annual trips and pilgrimages to Espinazo These newer generations who had not known Fidencio in life or by reputation developed a fervent passion for his rites and practices Many went on to become trance mediums or materias also called cajas or spiritual “boxes”

La Migracion Fidencista a Centros Urbanos de Norte America 1950-2010 WA ND MT MN OR ID WI SD MI WY NE IA OH NV UT IL IN CO KS MO CA KY NC AZ Ok NM TN AR SC GA MS AL Texas LA Mexico FL Espinazo,NL La Cuarta Etapa La Migracion Fidencista a Centros Urbanos de Norte America 1950-2010

La Cuarta Etapa La Migracion-Transmigracion Fidencista por toda los Estados Unidos 1950-2010 Fidencista healing misiones have been established in the United States wherever Northern Mexican origin populations are located They have a long history of the promotion of popular religious belief as well as transmigration They are generally very pious populations who also practice Roman Catholicism They take their children with them as they make the pilgrimage from Ohio and Indiana and many other states each year home to Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas

Fidencistas Transmigran a México Canada WA MT ND MN OR ID SD WI WY MI NE IA NV IN OH UT IL CO KS VA MO KY CA NC TN AZ Ok AR NM SC AL MS GA TX LA Mexico FL Espinazo, NL Fiestas en Espinazo Marzo y Octubre de cada año Fidencistas Transmigran a México para las Fiestas Religiosas y Familiares mas Importantes Hoy en Dia

Fidencistas Transmigran a México para las Fiestas Religiosas y Familiares mas Importantes Hoy en Dia What sustains these Mexican populations and their belief in Fidencio? They come together regularly in their remote location to pray, sing, to receive blessings and most importantly to receive healings They are sustained by the original scriptures or Escrituras left to them by Fidencio and by his Revisadores In the early days the faithful were visited annually by Damiana Martinez and or Victor Zapata who would test their catechism and approve their practices Their practices were validated during annual trips to Espinazo and by witnessing what other groups were doing, by learning and then returning home Lifelong bonds were created and exist to this day

The Role and Importance of Fidencista Misiones for Mexicanos Abroad (IME) They provide a place to meet and renew friendships They provide an opportunity to keep Mexican cultural traditions alive and active while abroad They provides an opportunity to plan return trips to Mexico for family and pilgrimage purposes They provide a place where the younger generation may learn and practice important Mexican cultural traditions, especially for family bonding and religious practice They provide a place for physical and emotional networking, support and healing in the absence of other services

CONCLUSIONS Fidencismo has extended throughout the US The numbers of Fidencistas continues to grow Fidencistas are religiously devout and avid practitioners of Fidencismo Fidencistas have enculturated their children to Mexican culture and traditions while abroad Fidencistas have set up a functioning mental and physical health care net for Mexicans abroad throughout the U.S. Fidencistas are united by a common scripture left to them by Fidencio In 2010 Fidencismo is stronger than ever but border violence has decreased movement across the border temporarily

at The University of Texas at Brownsville http://vpea.utb.edu/elnino/fidencio.html The El Niño Fidencio and Curanderismo Research Project at The University of Texas at Brownsville

Bandera de la Mision de Robstown, Texas Fundada en 1961

Estandarte de la Mision de Nueva Rosita, Coah. Fundada en 1946

† Madre Ciprianita Zapata de Robles Lider de Fidencistas Independientes y el Dr. Zavaleta en Espinazo 2008 20th Aniversario del Estudio

1988-2008 en Espinazo El 20th Aniversario del Estudio