Gender diversity, resistance and ritual transvestism in Venezuela's sacred cult
Originally published in Global Voices in Spanish
Portrait of Wander Rodríguez, part of the community of María Dolores Rodríguez Caravan and its powers, and the LGBTIQ + community. Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
In Venezuela, Spiritism as religion is part of collective imagination, identity; popular beliefs and ritual practices that lead back to the ancestors of colonial times. Over the years, Spiritism has evolved into a vibrant and contemporary national cult focused on the figure of Maria Lionza as the main protector of the waters and amulets of nature, figure that faces the notions of the patriarchal state and opposes monotheistic religions.
This religious system has been studied in depth by anthropologists in Venezuela (Daisy Barreto, Angelina Pollak-Eltz, Michelle Asencio, Francisco Ferrádiz, Cesar Escalone, among others), about what I read and found interesting at the time, but then I saw for the first time in their most important sites, like Quibayo and Sorte, in the state of Yaracuy, Venezuela.
Altar a María Lionza en Quibayo (Yaracuy, Venezuela), 11 October. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
These sites are part of the National monument Cerro María Lionza, popularly known as the Sorte Mountain, and they represent the most outstanding expressions of this cult at the national level, so they receive year-round visits from practitioners or "caravans" (as these groups are often called).
But a few days are as important as October 11 and 12, when thousands will celebrate Indigenous Resistance Day in Venezuela.
These dates offer an opportunity for ethnographic and cultural observation, specifically in how oral stories and our ethnic origins, including those of indigenous peoples, which include warriors who fought against Spanish colonization, and African populations - enslaved and cimaroni- as we can understand through the figure of the Three Powers: Queen Mary Lionza as the central figure of the cult, the leader, accompanied by the Indian Guaicaipuro and black Felipe.
Altar a la reina María Lionza en Quibayo (Yaracuy, Venezuela), 11 October. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
For this celebration, families gather around the trees and along the banks of the Yaracuy River, which runs across the mountain, and make luxurious altars of the various deities of Venezuelan spiritualism, which embodies the sacred rituals characteristic of the marialioncero cult.
The figure of Mary Lionza is deep, and I think it is risky to simplify her, as she is considered queen, goddess, mother and guardian, but there are also aspects linked to her sensuality, as evidenced by her iconographic representations that have emerged, naked or dressed, for example.
In this regard, I used the writings of Francisco Ferrándiz and César Escalona from the perspective of Venezuelan anthropology, combined them with my observations and field interviews, to address problems related to gender and sexual diversity that are essential to the fascinating debate within the cult in their various cutssuch as the black court, the Viking court, the Malandra court, the chamarra court, the medical court, among others, in addition to entities.
Detail of flowers and bottles from the glass dance in Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
Gender diversity, gender discrimination
The Sorte Mountain is an environment in which gender stereotypes are questioned, and I believe they undermine the androcentric and rigid notions of masculinity and femininity that are found in Christianity, as the entities pose a challenge for the wide spectrum in terms of strength, height, voice, clothing and other details of the mediums that embody them, and also the particular characteristics of each spirit.
Forces between banks and the entity of the Viking court. Glass dance in Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
In his ethnographies and writings, Ferrandíz offers interesting reflections on the body and masculinity in this religion, and how men mediums (from a position of stigmatized masculinity) resisted the possession of women's spirits, something that so often occurred among women's spiritualists.
Therefore, my meeting in Sorte with the caravan of María Dolores Rodríguez and his Powers - led by Osmer Padron and his godchildren - also allowed me to explore these aspects.
Osmer Padron embodies the spirit of Maria Dolores. Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
Osmer Padron, Wander Rodríguez and Jhonaiker Díaz are mediums who belong to the LGBTQ + community, and are part of this caravan that channels women's entities of the Black cut, like María Dolores Rodríguez, Francisca Martínez, Rita Encarnación and La Negra Tomasa. But in the case of Osmer, he also channels Mister Piter, a male entity of the Viking court, a warrior and a healer.
Wander tells me that in the spirit community LGBTQ +, "there is a lot of discrimination, inside and outside the mountain [of Sorte], but Queen Mary Lionza is love and love, and as many spiritual beings have said, she greatly esteem everyone. We are here first of all to carry out a mandate from God and our Majesty Mary Lionza. Nothing else matters."
Portraits of Jhonaiker Díaz (who works with the spirit of Black Tomasa) and José Rojas. They are part of the LGBTIQ + community. Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
With regard to the practice of channelling women's entities from the black court, Rodríguez tells me:
Most of us spiritualists in the LGBTQ + community dress up in dresses - or find ourselves transported into that state - not because we want to... Right now, there's a lot of talk from people saying that men who want to be women channel Black Court entities just to wear dreams, but that's not the case. When a spiritual entity is a woman or was a woman, she always seeks to be fully covered, to cover her breasts, and why? Because she feels exposed; she feels alive. There are many spiritual entities, such as the Negra I work with - who is Rita Encarnación Martínez Chávez - as well as María Dolores Rodríguez Rodríguez, Francisca Martínez Martínez, and Negra Tomasa, who have their dreams made for them. It's not because we want to wear dreams; if they were our own bodies, we'd walk around shy, but no, they always... Spirituality always seeks to feel alive; that's why they put on their dress, their turban, and some even seek out a flower.
Many of the spiritualists in the LGBTQ + community wear dresses - or find us transported in that state - not because we want to... Now, many say that men who want to be women who channel black court entities just to wear dress, but that's not the case. When a spiritual entity is a woman or was a woman, it always seeks to be fully covered, cover her chest, and why? Because she feels exposed, she feels alive. There are many spiritual entities, such as the Negra with which I work - which is Rita Encarnación Martínez Chávez - and also María Dolores Rodríguez Rodríguez, Francisca Martínez and the Negra Tomasa, who have custom-made dresses. It is not because we want to wear dresses; if they were our bodies we would go without a shirt, but not, always... spirituality always seeks to feel alive. That's why they wear their dress, their turban and some even look for a flower.
Dress for women's entities of the black court: Francisca Martínez, Francisca Palacios, María Dolores Rodríguez, Negra Tomasa and Rita Encarnación. Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
There are curious details about which entities ask their "banks" - people who also care for physical forms of entities - such as tobacco and spirits; but in the case of black women: just when they ask for their dresses, they also ask for makeup and make gestures as if they were looking in a mirror.
Wander tells me that, in the case of Rita Encarnación, "his favorite flower is the cayenne, for it is the flower with which he learned to do his magic, and qualifies" other flowers as hypocrites, for those other flowers are still alive many days after they are removed from nature, while the cayenne is removed immediately after they start from nature. "
Altar to the Three Powers, in Quibayo (Yaracuy, Venezuela), 11 October. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
All this shows that Venezuelan Spiritism must be examined through the gender lens, from a feminist perspective, which is reflected in the power dynamics established between men and women, the presence of ritual transvestitism during the trance and the rituals of possession, and other aspects that enrich our understanding of this important Venezuelan religion.
Wander Rodríguez enters into a trance to receive the spirit of Rita Encarnación. Sorte (Yaracuy, Venezuela), October 12. Freisy González Portales. Used with permission.
