Bolivianos y paraguayos en San Carlos de Bariloche

Abstract

The Marian cult, emblematic manifestation of the Catholic practices of "religiosity" or "popular piety", is part of the religious beliefs and practices collective of different social groups. In San Carlos de Bariloche Bolivian devotion to the Virgin of Urkupiña and Paraguayan devotion to the Virgin of Caacupé, constitute two significant cases of transfer, refoundation and resignification of the Marian cult in a target space. This article analyzes the pieties of the Bolivian and Paraguayan migrants from a comparative approach, emphasizing how the Marian cult is used as mechanisms of cohesion and integration inside and outside of the collective migrant and how those mechanisms have operated and operate in the symbolic appropriation of the space. The methodology that has been used, due to the scarce presence of written records, is oral history, oral interviews and participant observation from the cult.