Essay Sample about Aspects of the Spaniards' Religion and Impact during the Indigenous Texas Period

Native Americans in Texas had their religion and customs that would be impacted by the arrival of Europeans. Native American customs would influence the interpretations that the Spaniards would get from their actions. The Spaniards' religious beliefs and idols would also impact the Native Americans' views of them. Based on what the Spaniards interpreted of the Native American actions,  they would try to convert Native Americans to Christianity by building missionaries. This essay will be exploring aspects of the Spaniards' religion and impact during the indigenous Texas period.

Spaniards would have success in showing their peaceful intentions with tribes like the Caddo when they began carrying the images of the Virgin Mary. The Spaniards believed it was because of the holiness of the Virgin Mary on their banners that protected them on their travels. In the accounts of Europeans they would often account their success to the power of God and other religious figures such as when it states, “In 1691, Domingo Terán de los Rios wrote that ‘the great power of our Lady of Guadalupe, the North Star and Protector of this undertaking, carried our weak efforts in this task to a successful ending’(Barr, p. 38).” When the Spaniards, carrying the image of the Virgin Mary, came into contact with the Caddos the Spaniards believed that the Caddos were peaceful because of her religious meaning. However, based on more research into tribe customs, it wasn’t because of the religious significance of the Virgin that the Caddo were peaceful.

The Caddo didn’t recognize the Virgin Mary as a religious icon but as an image of a woman. They thus saw the Virgin as a symbol of the Spaniards coming in peace due to her being a woman. Among the Caddo, a visitor would demonstrate peaceful intent, “By presenting women and children, caddís acknowledged the visitors’ peaceful intent and conferred honor on them by conveying the leaders’ faith that the vulnerable or noncombatant members of their communities would be safe in the visitors’ company(Barr, p. 34).” Caddo could have thought that the Spaniards were trying to make up for the lack of women in their traveling parties by displaying the image of one. Due to the Caddo celebrating their visitors, they would also praise and give their respects to the Virgin Mary which would lead to misunderstandings between them and the Spaniards.

The Spaniards would interpret the Caddos’ praise to the Virgin Mary as a form of religious adoration for her. They would then form missionaries to convert the Native Americans. However, because the Caddo praised the Virgin Mary as a sign of peace the most missionaries would fail as Barr states, “Missionaries later endeavored, unsuccessfully, to build upon what they saw as signs of native interest in Christianity; their failure to convert gave further proof that these gestures were indeed the Caddos’ efforts to recognize ceremonially a female presence among the Spaniards(Barr, p.42).” Other problems with missionaries included that there would be disease outbreaks, an unstable number of Native Americans in the missions, and some tribes would refuse to give up their way of life. While conversion was a goal of the Spaniards it wasn’t very successful in the missionaries of Texas.