Witchcraft in Early North America - Alison Games [19]
because, to them, the uprising was otherwise inexplicable, and with no logical material explanation, they turned to a logical supernatural one: The revolt was the work of the Devil.69 One reason the Tepehuan revolt was so hard for Spaniards to fathom was that it arose after many years of Spanish activity in the region. Missionary activity had commenced with two Franciscans in 1555, and the Jesuits began their own work in 1596.70 This interpretation of the uprising as diabolically inspired was useful not only in making sense of its unexpected nature and of the Tepehuanes’ assault on churches, missionaries, and religious symbols; it also helped to inspire and justify a counterattack, since those who punished the Tepehuanes were striking at Satan himself.71
This link between resistance and witchcraft was especially charged during the Pueblo revolt six decades later because of the character of Spanish expansion in New Mexico. The Spanish had started exploring the region in the early sixteenth century, soon after their conquest of the Mexica in the Valley of Mexico. But concerted settlement efforts did not get underway in New Mexico until the early seventeenth century. Even then, the Spanish presence—in numbers—was sparse. Important features distinguished New Mexico’s early decades and shaped the context in which the Pueblo Revolt emerged and was understood by priests and secular officials. The Franciscans who traveled to New Mexico experienced some rapid successes in their conversion efforts—at least as they measured success and as they understood the fragile faith of the neophytes. By 1608, ten years after the first mission was established, several thousand Indians had converted to Christianity. As had been the case with the rapid success of evangelical efforts in the Valley of Mexico in the sixteenth century, these new converts to Catholicism were useful weapons in Europeans’ religious conflicts, offering living symbols of the vitality and expansion of the Catholic Church at a time when it endured attacks and retrenchment in Europe.
Because of the missionaries’ apparent success, the Spanish crown was loath to abandon the territory despite the absence of any obvious sources of wealth. And also because of their missionary accomplishments, the priests gained a powerful sense of their importance to the fate of the colony. They challenged the authority of the state, and there was regular friction between the colony’s governors and the priests. The Indians often emerged as pawns in these struggles. Missionaries required access to Indians to justify their presence in New Mexico, but if there were to be any sort of viable and profitable colonial state in the region, colonial officials needed to find ways to benefit from Indian labor and resources. Thus, governors had to ensure the cooperation of Indians and were not always willing to enforce the Church’s decrees against concubinage or ceremonial dances. This latitude permitted many indigenous practices to endure, but only if they were tolerated by governors.72
The 1670s were a difficult time for the Pueblos, especially during the rule of Governor Juan Francisco Treviño (1675–1677), who prohibited many
important religious practices. He even ordered the unprecedented destruction of the kivas, which are sacred ceremonial underground chambers. Famine in 1670 was followed by death and pestilence and by Apache and Navajo raids in 1672. Sandwiched between raids by nomadic tribes, demands on their labor by Spanish officials and settlers, and violent assaults on their rituals by whip-wielding Franciscans, distraught and angry Pueblos turned to their ancient gods in time-honored ceremonies to ask for rain and fertility, while their religious practitioners used their magic to curse Christians and steal their hearts (a traditional form of Pueblo witchcraft).73 In response, the governor launched a massive witch hunt.74 In 1675, Trevi