Michael Luna
American Immigrant Literature
Professor White
November 20, 2003

Religious Assimilation

            There are many different topics related to the word assimilation and immigrants. Usually the culture is the first thought that comes to mind with the word assimilation.  Immigrants that come to America will most often change many of their habits in order to belong to the “land of milk and honey”. But this is not the end of the assimilation. Along with their culture, something that is perhaps more of importance to these immigrants was lost. That is their religion.

To better understand what this means, let us take a deeper look into what religion is predominant in the American society. In America, the predominant religious belief is that of Christianity. To be more exact it is the systems of Catholicism and Protestantism. Contrary to some beliefs, religious assimilation began long before the Pilgrims and Puritans arrived in the “New World.” It actually started when the Spanish arrived to the native soil of the Americas. There is some evidence of this from a Mayan book called The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. In this book is a Mayan chant that speaks of the way things changed after the Spanish arrived. “They came from the east when they arrived. Then Christianity also began. The fulfillment of its prophecy is ascribed to the east […] Then with the true God, the true Dios, came the beginning of our misery” (Lauter p. 5). This is an excellent example of how the future dominant religion of America would come to be one to assimilate other religions. Even after the successful assimilation of the Native beliefs, the assimilation continued with the introduction of the slaves from Africa. All of these Africans were followers of a non Christian religion and tried to stay that way even after they arrived on the plantations of the south. It was in America that these people had to forgo their original beliefs of voodoo and especially the belief in Yoruba. Of course these people combined their traditional beliefs into the Christian beliefs that their masters held and still kept some of their original beliefs. This is a practice known as Syncretism or the mixing of two or more systems of belief.

Although these two cultures were not immigrants to America in the sense that we think of when we hear the word immigrant they were still subject to the type of assimilation that people from European countries experienced. The same is also true of people from Mexico and other Central and South American countries. These people were followers and believers of Mayan, Aztec, and other indigenous systems of belief. It was not only the Spanish that instilled a sort of religious assimilation on these people, but they also experienced this when they migrated to the U.S. Those who did hold on to their indigenous beliefs quickly found out that in order to “fit in” with the rest of the American society, they had to act and believe like them. There are beliefs such as Dia de los Muertos that are celebrated in the United States still that originally began solely as an indigenous belief of the Aztec. But as stated earlier, this was one of the beliefs that underwent the process of Syncretism with the Christian religion. To be more exact, the Catholic religion first incorporated Day of the Dead with All Saints Day in an effort to diminish the use of indigenous beliefs. With the advent of the Christian religion as the dominant one, two cultures that originally thrived on this land were made to turn their backs on their own ways and accept that of the dominating culture. This is not something that stopped with the natives and the slaves. This sort of religious assimilation continued on when immigrants began arriving.

Perhaps one of the most known cases of religious assimilation and immigrants is that of the Jews. The Jewish religion is one that is very similar to Christianity, but it does have differences. The most notable differences are that followers of this religion participate in religious ceremonies that Christians do not. They also do not see Jesus Christ as the Savior like Christians but do acknowledge his existence. The assimilation of the Jewish religion did not begin immediately in America. This was a process that did take time and a couple of generations to happen. First immigrants still followed in their beliefs and had no problems over this. But, as they had children and grandchildren, this all began to change. The assimilation that occurred was not like the initial onslaught where people were immediately told they were heathens and that they need to worship the one true god. This came about as a means of trying to belong to the dominant culture.   A good example of this can be found in Glaser’s “Preparations for Seder”. “The echo of my father’s voice calls out warnings of carcinogens in the fat of animals and I wonder what I am doing to myself, my children” (177). This line shows a reference as to how far removed the more modern Jews have become from their ancestors when it comes to the ceremonies they hold. Within the traditional ceremony, there is not to be any impurities in the meats that are to be eaten. But coming to America and being exposed to the way the dominant society behaved has changed many of the old beliefs. Jews now thought that they had to “modernize” their way of thinking so they would not be shunned by the mainstream in America. It used to be that when Jewish families were preparing a meal, everything had to be pure. But, as time passed and more generations grew up in the Americanized style, this changed as well. No longer were meats being consumed in their pure forms as they used to be. This is illustrated in Naqvi’s “Thank God for the Jews” when Samina states “They recite God’s name before slaughtering the animal and bleed the animal afterward” (235).

Of course Jews were not the only people whose religion underwent the process of assimilation. This also occurs with those of Muslim beliefs. Even to this day, Muslims have a hard time keeping their religion in this country. Again, this has to do with generations growing up in a society that has a dominant culture and religion about it. Another thing that happens is that followers of this faith begin to follow less strictly as they did before they came to America. This is something that was also seen in the Jews previously. For an example of this sort of action, I return to Naqvi’s “Thank God for the Jews” again. While Fatima is trying to figure a way to prepare a meal that is by the Muslim standard, she realizes that she does not have time to get the proper meat that she needs. Her friend Samina suggests “What about Kosher” (235)? When this is pushed further, Fatima wonders if all her Muslim friends do this and the reply is “Of course. We all do…Thank God for the Jews” (235). This quick discussion about preparing foods shows that the behavior concerning religion has lessened since these immigrants have been in the dominant American society. Instead of trying to adhere to their original doctrine in food preparation, these Muslims are willing to partake in what a different religion does. Just to save time and effort it would seem. The reason this plays on the assimilation of religion is that the dominant culture is very relaxed on the strictness of religious practices. This appears to have rubbed off on a culture that has been historically known to be very strict when it comes to their beliefs. Something else that happens the longer these people are exposed to the dominant culture is an embarrassment about their origin and their ancestor’s ways. In Hamod’s poem “After the Funeral of Assam Hamady”, the speaker shows this type of embarrassment about his native ways. While his father, grandfather, and father’s friend are partaking in the Muslim prayer, the speaker prefers to stand and watch over them. He even goes as far to say “I’m embarrassed to be with them” (290). The speaker though does seem to realize his desertion of his religion when he states “but they have surely passed me as I am standing here now trying so hard to join them” (291). This occurrence seems all too common though among immigrants as they have more and more generations in America. Sure, the culture is slowly taken away from these people when they move from their homeland to the “promised land”, but what is perhaps more important is the loss of religious identity.

This has been something that has been seen among the Native Americans, Africans, Jews, and Muslims. But what other religions are and people fall into this sort of trap? This has happened to people of Asian descent as well. Traditionally, people of Asian descent practice various beliefs that involve Karma, Buddha, and other ancient ways of thinking. But once again, the journey to the United States changes this. In a way, once people have lived in the United States long enough they become what the dominant culture wants them to be. Karma has now been meshed into many other religions and aspects of religion. Whereas Christianity has been rooted with the belief in Dogma, or the philosophy that everything you do is determined by God, there have sprung up new churches that embrace the concept of Karma and “Christianize” it. This is perhaps a reflection of what happened to the old Aztec and Mayan beliefs before Catholicism embraced them and changed it. An excellent example of this is indicated in a book by Anne Fadiman. The book is entitled “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”. This is a story about a group of Hmong refugees who came to the United States from the country of Laos. Their belief system revolved around Shamans and many different spirits that inhabited different aspects of life. They even had medicine men that cared for the sick or injured called Tvix Neebs. Of course in America, this is something that is not normal by any standard and it was frowned upon. With the Hmong, “Tvix Neebs was a person who could render an immediate diagnosis; doctors often demanded samples of blood (or even urine or feces, which they liked to keep in little bottles), took X rays, and waited for days for the results to come back from the laboratory – and then, after al that, sometimes they were unable to identify the cause of the problem” (33). This shows how religion even becomes a factor when it comes to the welfare of people. While the Hmong are used to dealing with spiritual healing techniques, the doctors of the dominant culture insists that this is barbaric and should not be done. In some ways this is very reminiscent of what happened to the Native Americans when the Pioneers moved westward and practically eradicated the ways of the different tribes.

Are these practices just something that is part of coming to a country which has a dominating culture to it? Or is this a subtle way of slowly changing people completely? There have been many writings that chronicle the assimilation of a person’s cultural ways, and now there is evidence of the religious assimilation that also occurs. This is something that brings on the question of whether or not it is the religion itself or if it is just the fact that this certain religion has been inserted as the dominant one that causes these changes. There are also other ways in which this religious assimilation has occurred. Many of the holidays have been changed to meet with the dominant culture’s need. Some examples are the ancient Pagan festivals. “Imbolc became Candlemas and Lughnasadh became Lammas” (Buckland 61).  Another example of how religious assimilation has occurred over time. Of course here in America, one of the most dangerous documentaries of religious assimilation happened during the Salem Witch Trials. During this time Puritans thought that many of the immigrants arriving on the land were practitioners of witchcraft and usually burned or hung them.

But, from what it seems, everything has worked out for the better. Those who still wish to practice their original religion can do so, but most often they do so behind closed doors. Some religions have been on a steady incline as far as being known such as Judaism and Muslim, but there are still other religions that remain buried underneath the religion that has dominated America for hundreds of years. For the time being, Syncretism is the answer to keeping in touch with an old religion. It may not have the pureness of what was originally taught, but there still remains shreds of the old world in a world that has been dominated by a certain culture.

Works Cited

Brown, Wesley, and Amy Ling, eds. Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land. New York: Persea Books, 2002.

Brown, Wesley, and Amy Ling, eds. Visions of America: Personal Narratives from the Promised Land. New York: Persea Books, 1993.

Buckland, Raymond. Complete Book of Witchcraft. Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 1997.

Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1997.

Gillan, Maria Mazziotti, and Jennifer Gillan, eds. Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.

Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.