SYNCRETISM CARIBBEAN AND LATINOS EXPERIENCE

Syncretism: Its Effect on Caribbean and Latinos Experience

Syncretism: Its Effect on Caribbean and Latinos Experience

Syncretism is defined as any attempt to reconcile disparate—and sometimes opposite—beliefs and practices. It represents a blending of schools of thought and is often associated with establishing analogies between two or more discrete or formerly separate traditions.

In practice, most observers require some language-internal evidence that a particular morphosyntactic distinction is morphologically relevant in order to identify syncretism. For example, a value which is syncretic in one morphosyntactic context may be distinct in another, as with nominative and accusative in Old Irish, which are syncretic in the singular and dual but not in the plural. Or they may be syncretic in one lexeme but not in another; thus, nominative and accusative are syncretic in the singular of fer, but distinct for some other Old Irish nouns, e.g., tuath 'nation.nom.sg,' tuaith 'nation.acc.sg.'

Contemporary celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Halloween offer examples of syncretism in practice. The effects of Syncretism on Caribbean and Latinos are not a new phenomenon. The ancient Romans adopted pagan Yule traditions that eventually made it into Christmas celebrations (Christmas trees, Yule logs, and the like), and Roman Catholics in Central and South America integrated elements from indigenous Latin Latino and North Latino religious traditions.

Thus, the syncretism that one finds in the Latino area is a result of the convergence of Islam with the traditions. Among the traditions is the Caribbean. All religion of the Latino is directly linked to the initiation societies (Lawson, 2006).

A person who becomes an initiate moves through the six societies, much like six stages or levels, until he or she completes the ritualized form of maturity. One learns the essential elements of Latino culture from the societies. These Caribbean societies teach the initiate moral and ethical behavior, social traditions, etiquette and common manners, festival days and their meaning, and the nature of divinity.

Nothing contributes as effects of Syncretism on Caribbean and Latinos does to the quality of life in the Latino community (Greenfield, 2007). By learning the importance of knowledge, sharing, and secrecy, the initiate can become a teacher of the system of life himself. Thus, this method of education might be called a challenge to all forms of ignorance, fear, and miseducation. Sorcery is challenged by the accurate and correct knowledge presented by the teachers of the initiate. One learns about the duality of humans, the necessity for unity and consistency in the production of food, and the realities of daily living, including the value of human relations (Lawson, 2006).

Throughout the 19th century, overt syncretism in folk beliefs was seen as a strong indication of the cultural acceptance of alien or earlier traditions. By the end of the 19th century, however, identities were no longer predicated on the existence of continuous and immutable cultures, and the concept of syncretism came to the forefront largely because it blurred local distinctions—a characteristic that made it useful for the rulers of multicultural ...