“Spirit against Religión”: The Secularization of the Public Festivity in Concepción (1860-1890)

Abstract

This article will review the major changes that have occurred in religious and civic festivities, in the city of Concepcion during the period 1860 to 1890. The sources used correspond to the ideological press, mainly associated with the elite liberal and conservative, as well as publications from the worker sector and the Police Inspectorate volumes belonging to the Municipal Archives of Concepción. It is assumed that the primary responsibility of the transformations in the public festivities has been the secularization, a process that represented the change in 19th century culture, focused to relegate the religious element into the background, with the objective of position the citizen in all areas, as center of the principal concerns of the State.