Roman Catholicism dominates Peru accounting for 81% of the population. While the Church’s power in Peru has diminished since the time of the Viceroyalty, catholic traditions, morals, values, and ceremonies remain strongly embedded in Peruvian culture. This is evidenced by the fact that every village and town in Peru has an official church or Cathedral, patron saint, and specific religious holidays.

Incan traditions, beliefs and practices have shaped the unique expression of Catholicism in the rural areas of Peru, especially where native cultural traditions are strong. This is largely due to the methods used by the Spaniards in converting natives to Catholicism, following the strategy of syncretism used throughout the Americas. This strategy involved substituting Christian saints for local deities by building churches directly on temple sites and holding celebrations of these patron saints on harvest days as clear reinterpretations of Incan harvest rituals. These Christian saints essentially replaced the local deities in the minds of the natives, but not without acquiring something of the deities in the process. As such, the native population still holds animistic notions regarding spirits and forces found in natural settings, and many rituals practiced before the conquest remain in practice today, such as the sacrifice of llamas and spillage of alcohol on sacred ground.

Peru has produced two saints: Santa Rosa de Lima, and Santo Martín de Porres.

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Last edited Oct 11, 07 12:24 PM.