The wild hermeneutics of two reputedly Christian rites (the Andres, Peru, and La Mancha, Spain)

Abstract

Two Corpus Christi rituals in La Mancha (Spain) and the Andes(Peru) are compared with respect to the dualisms that characterize their structures, the nature of mediation between their ceremonial moieties and native interpretations. Whereas the versions of the two Andean moieties are complementary, those of the Spanish moieties are incompatible. An analysis of this contrast between the relations that a ritual has with its native interpretations is presented here. It sheds light on different conceptions of Otherness.