De caballos voladores y formidables tempestades: Experiencias religiosas del paisaje misional en Esteco (s. XVI-XVIII) y Tierra del Fuego (s. XIX-XX)

Abstract

En este trabajo proponemos analizar la experiencia religiosa del paisaje de dos grupos misioneros en contextos coloniales históricamente diferentes. El primero de ellos coincide con los jesuitas que recorrieron, habitaron y fundaron reducciones en la jurisdicción de la ciudad de Esteco (norte de Argentina), desde fines del siglo XVI a principios del XVIII. El segundo corresponde con los misioneros salesianos que exploraron y establecieron misiones en Tierra del Fuego (sur de Argentina y Chile), desde fines del siglo XIX a mediados del siglo XX. En el desarrollo de su labor, ambas órdenes dejaron registro de diferentes eventos, usualmente percibidos como coyunturales para sus vidas: “visiones” del paisaje antes de llegar al territorio, fenómenos naturales considerados catastróficos (como tempestades y terremotos de magnitud), situaciones de riesgo personal (por perderse o encontrarse sin recursos), epidemias y muertes, etc.

In this text we analyze the religious nature of the experiences that two different Christian missionary groups had with the physical landscapes in which they worked. These distinct experiences occurred within historically different colonial contexts. The first example is the experience of Jesuits that founded the reductions within the city of Esteco in northern Argentina,which functioned from the 16thto the 18thcenturies. The second example deals with the Salesian missionaries that explored and established missions in Tierra del Fuego, in the south of Argentina and Chile, from the late 19th century to mid-20th century. Throughout their work these religious orders produced a series of testimonies of events generally conceived of being crucial to their history: imaginary visions of landscapes before arrival, natural phenomena considered to be of catastrophic nature such as storms and powerful earthquakes, situations of personaldanger such as lack of resources or becoming lost in the wilderness, epidemic diseases, etc. Taking these references into account, we examine the materiality of these landscapes and the religious experiences of these orders. Most specifically, we focus on the manner in which these landscapes, previously unknown to the missionaries, came to shift in their religious qualities through the evangelization of the indigenous population.