534 
Christine 
A-Ki»? 
obliges groups of people to come together, to coor 
dinate their movements and their goods at regular 
points in time, and to perform submission, hier 
archy, opposition, community, and gender. Alter 
natively, it may require people to act as isolable 
individuals, to act independently of others, to focus 
inward, to establish relationships directly with the 
sacred. Rappaport (1979: 200) hints at a practice 
approach in his example of how kneeling not only 
communicates submission but also creates a sub 
missive person: “the use of the body defines the 
self of the performer for himself and for others. In 
kneeling, for instance, he is not merely sending a 
message to the effect that he submits in ephemeral 
words that flutter away from his mouth. He iden 
tifies his inseparable, indispensable, and enduring 
body with his subordination.” Bell adds that rit 
ual “does not send messages but creates situations” 
(1992: 111). She suggests that “ritual systems do 
not function to regulate or control the systems of 
social relations; they are the system ... In other 
words, the more or less practical organization of 
ritual activities neither acts upon nor reflects the 
social system; rather, these loosely coordinated ac 
tivities are constantly differentiating and integrat 
ing, establishing and subverting the field of social 
relations” (1992: 130; emphasis in the original). 
In Yucatán, folk Catholic ritual puts into prac 
tice - creates - a social world. It does so through 
obliging people to coordinate and pool their goods 
and labors at frequent and regular points in the 
calendar year to orchestrate enormous festivities 
that bring families and villagers together and feed 
everyone. Certainly, symbols and indices in these 
ritual performances represent conventional social 
relationships, but Catholic rituals in Yucatán also 
enact these social relationships; they oblige peo 
ple to act as members of a community. Because 
these rituals occur frequently, overlap, and are not 
sharply delimited from “profane time,” the relation 
ships forged are not easily abandoned after the rit 
ual period ends. Further, because so much of the 
calendar year is taken up with preparation for and 
participation in Catholic rituals, Catholic worship 
instantiates and reproduces a social world charac 
terized by community relations. Rather than simply 
representing the social world, ritual is the network 
through which community relations take place. To 
demonstrate this, I will describe first how Catholic 
discourses configure the person as inextricably 
tied to others in this social world and then show 
how Catholic ritual activities actually orchestrate 
cooperation at the community level continuously 
throughout the calendar year. The relationality of 
Catholic action is made clearer through compari 
son with the Pentecostal Church, which obliges the 
person to act as an individual. To emphasize tn 
I am describing local patterns rather than claims 
patterns true of Catholic or Protestant practice ev 
erywhere, I use local terminology: católicos (Ca 
olics) attend the iglesia (Catholic Church) and № r 
manos (Protestants) attend the templo (Protesta 
Church). 3 Reflecting Yucatán’s past as a Sp arl1 ^ 
colony, 92% of the village is Catholic; the 7% ^ ^ 
are Pentecostals are members of the Church ot ^ 
of the Prophecy and have all converted from 
tholicism within the past fifteen years (see ha " 
2001). This schism has created a great deal of ra ^ 
cor, as Catholics are disturbed by the disruption 1 
village unity. Since Catholic action requires coll ^ 
live action, the very existence of a separate botty.^j 
worshippers is taken as both a religious and a sod 
affront. 
Discursive Relationality 
lesia 
In general, the discourses and rituals of the ig ^ g 
project a “corporate” personhood, in both se ^ 
of the word. The person is configured as ‘ co F 
rate” as in corporal, material, physical, 
“corporate” as in relational, sociocentric, 
and al s0 
coll eC ' 
al 
five, and communal. Iglesia discourse and finu 
place greater emphasis on the physical body 
an interior, spiritual element. Similarly, iglesia 
course and ritual valorize connections to social o ^ 
ers versus a sense of individuality, isolation» al1 ^ 
disjuncture. The ideal person is necessarily lin Q 
to the social world of family and community» 
the body is the necessary vehicle for salvation» ^ 
bodies labor, produce offerings, and genufl ect 
community rituals. Salvation of the individual 
ultimately dependent upon one’s postures and % 
tures within the social and physical world, 
than a mental, spiritual, direct relationship ^ , g 
God. Rather than faith, what is stressed are °n 
actions within the social world and one’s P aI )> 
pation in embodied collective rituals, rather 
individualized prayer. The iglesia does not w ^ 
the body, but rather celebrates the carnal as P? C a pd 
God in the example of Christ who became flesh 
whose body and blood are ingested in the Euc ^ 
The iglesia does not reject society as an cvi ^ 
corrupt “world,” but desires for a true comm 
of a unified church on this earth in this lifetime 
3 This article is based on a total of two years of et ^. n °f 0 iJo"'' 
fieldwork in the 1990s (spanning 1990-1997) and a 
up visit in 2004. 
bi c 
Anthropos