Pueblos indígenas y religiosidad en México frente a la pandemia por COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic shows adverse effects around the world, not only in the socio-economic aspect but also in religious practices, which are fundamental for the cohesion and affirmation of the identity of indigenous peoples. In Mexico, the forms that Catholicism has adopted to adapt to the health contingency stand out for the use of information and communication technologies. However, in indigenous (rural) communities, there is not enough infrastructure to transfer religious practices to these formats. Consequently, some villages suspended these activities, while others continued autonomously, despite the health contingency, that is because religion is fundamental to protect themselves and face events such as the pandemic. This article describes – through the application of telephone interviews and monitoring of the communication spaces of the Catholic communities and missions – how the religious experience of some Tojolabal peoples in Chiapas and an Ixcatecan village in Oaxaca. Likewise, how indigenous communities follow their spiritual practices or not and how religion plays a fundamental role in Mexican indigenous communities despite confinement and social distance in the context of the pandemic.