of “Wild Woman of the Forest”. This missionary was taken to the jungle to see the statue of this woman that they claimed to have. He than ordered the statue to be cut down and brought back to the convent. A few times, the statue of her disappeared only to be found in the jungle again until finally a chapel was built to shrine the statue by itself. She was reputed to work miracles for the white Europeans and her name was changed to “Our Lady of Remedies”. Today, her statue is surrounded by figures of semi-naked Indians. (Taussig, 188-189). Tying Christian mythology to South American indigenous mythology and therefore changing the course of remembered history symbolizes an attempt of both cultures to integrate or assimilate certain aspects of one culture into the other. More than anything it serves an ideological basis for the culture’s reciprocity and unity. “This seems tantamount to saying that the historical function of the Virgin is the political one of accommodating the pagan to the conqueror’s god and thereby, in this case, establishing the divine legitimacy of the white man’s rule”(Taussig, 196). It seems that the colonists often were more concerned with showing a respect to natives, but only in the defined inferior role. It is also ironic to note that in most of the mythic stories, it is the Indian who happens to discover the Catholic saint. “It is the Indian who is chosen by history to provide the civilized and conquering race with a miraculous icon figure. As a slave attends the need of the master, so the conquered redeem their conquerors”(Taussig, 189). These stories help to keep social relations through positive memories of historical myth. By labeling many of the natives as icons of myth, it provides the necessary means of friendly ties in order to use them as their pawn. The view of the Indians as “wild savages” was not truthful ...
