ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one transnational space and some of the religious movements and practices found therein. The nurturing and tragic image of Virgin Mary has served as a particularly powerful figure in translating Catholicism into other cultures. Catholic priests call on people to abandon Umbanda, claiming that it has nothing to do with Catholicism, and some practitioners consider themselves to be followers of Umbanda and not, or no longer, Catholics. The story of Mary in the Americas exemplifies the logic of religious syncretism, or the blending of two or more traditions. On the plane of politics, the Mary, in the specific form of the Virgin of Guadalupe, is associated with the struggle against Spanish military and religious colonization. The Brazilians developed a notion of religious purity that was absent from the Yoruba side of the Atlantic. Garifuna in Honduras and in New York engage in religious practices that draw in varying mixtures from Africa and the Caribbean.
