Religious Ferment among the Indians of British Guiana at the Turn of the 19th Century

Abstract

This article is a the historical overview of local socio-religious syncretic movements in Guiana. Both protestant Christianization and the complex colonization process that resulted in Dutch and British presence were crucial to the emergence of these new ideas. First syncretic beliefs linked the figure of Christ with a local mythical being called Makunaima. This kind of belief appears to start in 1840's with the Awakaipu, a native man who was able to gather some followers. By the end of the 19th Century roots of a new religious movement, named the Hallelujah, started to develop independently.

English abstract/description written by Michał Gilewski