FUNERAL PATTERNS AND COLONIAL ENCROACHMENT IN THE BIOBÍO REGION: THE CASE OF THE SAN JOSÉ DE LA MOCHA MISSION IN CONCEPCIÓN FROM THE SEVENTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURY

Abstract

Th e arrival of Spanish conquerors and the imposition of Catholic doctrine produced profound changes in the cosmovisions of America’s indigenous cultures. Focusing on the discovery of the San José de la Mocha Mission in Concepción, this article reflects on the impact of the Catholic faith on Mapuche culture through the analysis of pre-Hispanic funerary patterns found in the southern-central region of Chile. As a result, this study identifies two situations: on one hand, contexts where territorial and spiritual domination is manifest through the arbitrariness of a homogenizing treatment of death; and, on the other hand, the emergence of a funerary syncretism in the area to the south of the limit of Spanish dominion, where Mapuche funerary rites, although incorporating foreign elements, exhibit a continuity with traditional practices.