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Folk Healing In The Tradition Of The Fidencista Movement, Katherine Brittain

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Fidencista Movement is a religion in process . Like in many other medico-religions whose primary ministry is healing, women hold the highest positions of authority. The shamanic channeling of the spirit of the folk saint, Niño Fidencio , plies Fidencistas' belief in the spirit world and ameliorates physical and emotional healing. Fidencistas are concentrated in the Texas/Mexico borderland region where they are facing a passing of traditionalism, the social matrix in which folk healing thrives. However, the signature of the Movement, the penitential trek up the Vía de Dolores in Espinazo, is a cohering bi-annual ritual that fortifies devotion …