Popular Religion or Lived Religion? Exploring Indigenous Religious Festival Practice in Mexico

Abstract This article investigates the practice of lived religion in two contemporary indigenous communities in Mexico (San Juan Mixtepec, Oaxaca and El Espíritu, Hidalgo) by examining some of their unique religious festive traditions to analyze the ways in which human and non-human social actors interact with one another to create networks of symbolic meaning and senses of belonging. Specific examples of embodied practices and materiality in the festive cycle of each community are analyzed as the basis for their religious identities which also, the author suggests, create dynamic senses of community and self through the mutual sharing of symbolically significant cultural discourses. By analyzing different elements of traditional religious festivals in these two communities from the perspective of actor-network theory, the article reveals how the concept of “lived religion” can be used to express the realities of indigenous religious life in Mexico and as an alternative to “popular religion,” which typically resonates more frequently throughout the literature.