Civil Society, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America

RELIGION-MEXICO: Authorities Go Up In Flames

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Apr 6 2007 (IPS) - Mexican President Felipe Calderón and other authorities will be burned in effigy on Saturday as part of the traditional custom of “burning Judas”, who is viewed by Christians as the arch-traitor.

In several parts of the capital city and in some Mexican states, residents will gather to insult, beat, and finally burn dummy figures personifying Judas. The custom dates from the time of the Spanish conquest and symbolises the punishment of Judas, the apostle who, according to the Bible, betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver.

The symbolic repudiation, which is carried out with variations as to dates and details by certain communities in Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and other Latin American countries as well as Mexico, has become in most of those countries a festival for pouring scorn and taking collective revenge on public personalities.

This year in Mexico, effigies of the conservative Calderón, the leftwing mayor of Mexico City Marcelo Ebrard, and other local personalities will be going up in flames. There will also be plenty of effigies representing the devil. The dummy figures are usually made of paper and reeds, and are brightly coloured and larger than life.

In Toluca, the capital of Mexico state which borders the federal district of Mexico City, museum curators have organised competitions with prizes for the best dummy.

In some districts of Mexico City, theatrical performances and people’s trials will precede the bonfires.

Margarita García Luna, the curator of the Nishizawa Workshop Museum in Toluca, told IPS that the custom of burning Judas had fallen into oblivion in Toluca during the 1960s. But 14 years ago it was revived, she said, when the museum decided to hold the competitions.

She said it was a very Mexican tradition and should be kept up, because it brought the community together and strengthened their sense of belonging.

At this time of year, street vendors in several places in the capital offer for sale dummy figures caricaturing different personalities. The most common ones are still representations of the devil.

Catholic Church authorities look down on Judas burning as a somewhat pagan practice with little orthodox religious content. However, it neither forbids nor openly criticises it.

In the Bible, Judas is portrayed as the betrayer of Jesus’ whereabouts to the guards who arrested him. As a result, Jesus suffered and died on the cross. The Scriptures say that Judas committed suicide because he could not stand the guilt of what he had done.

These biblical passages are read in the context of Holy Week, when Christians call to mind the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.

National Geographic, which publishes a well-known magazine and produces documentary films, published articles and released a television programme about an ancient text, identified as the “Gospel of Judas,” in April 2006.

The Coptic manuscript, a 26-page papyrus, says that Judas was only following Jesus’ instructions in turning him over to the authorities.

According to the translators, Jesus told Judas: “You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” And Jesus told Judas that if he does what Jesus asks (that is, hand him over to those who will kill him), “you shall be cursed for generations.”

National Geographic said that the papyrus had passed five authentication tests: radiocarbon dating, ink analysis, multispectral imaging, contextual analysis and handwriting analysis. The results of all five tests confirmed its authenticity.

However, Catholic Church leaders rejected as invalid the ideas in the text, and said that there would be no change in its belief that Judas betrayed Jesus. It pointed out that this was not the first time that ancient documents had emerged, communicating versions of the life of Jesus Christ that differ from those accepted by church authorities.

The archbishop of Mexico, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said that the National Geographic reports were “sensationalist and lacking in credibility.”

The debate, which has not apparently dented the beliefs of most Catholics, did not seem to matter either to those who on Saturday, in accordance with folk tradition, plan to burn their painted reed and paper dummies representing Judas and government personalities in Mexico.