Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize

Abstract

It is widely held that Christianity came to Belize as an extension of the conquest of Yucatan and that adherence to Christian belief and practice was abandoned in the absence of enduring Spanish authority. An alternative view comes from the excavations of Maya churches at Tipu and Lamanai in Belize, where the dead were buried in Christian churchyards long after the churches themselves fell into disuse, and pre-Columbian ritual objects were cached in Christian sacred spaces both during and after Spanish occupation. Viewing historical and archaeological data through the lens of her personal experience of Roman Catholicism, and informed by feminist approaches, Graham assesses the concept of religion, the significance of doctrine, the empowerment of the individual, and the process of conversion by examining the meanings attributed to ideas, objects and images by the Maya, by Iberian Christians, and by archaeologists. Graham's study also makes the case that the impact of Christianity in Belize was a phenomenon that uniquely shaped the development of the modern nation.

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