Escravidão, liberdade e devoção religiosa em Popayán. O santo Ecce Homo e o mundo da vida de Juan Antonio de Velasco, 1650-1700

Abstract

This article analyzes the genesis and consolidation of devotion to the holy Ecce Homo in the city of Popayán — located in the New Kingdom of Granada— during the second half of the 17th century. It explores the influence of this mystical experience in crystalizing the city’s religious feasts and the cultural nuances that permeated this particular invocation. It also describes the relationship of interdependence between the liberty of the free black man Juan Antonio de Velasco and other merchants, slaves, artisans, and the devout public in stabilizing this particular form of worship of the holy one. At the same time that it specifically traces the “life world” of the founder and confrere of the tradition, it calls attention to the imprint he made on this religious ritual in Popayán, “the white city.” In addition to these social factors, it also shows the influence that the generalized natural crisis of the 17th century had on the emergence of new brotherhoods, rogation days and forms of devotion.