Abstract

MORO ROMERO, Raffaele. ¿A practice little visible? The demand for 'indigenous' alms in the 18^th century New Spain (Archdiocese of Mexico). Estud. hist. novohisp [online]. 2012, n.46, pp.115-172. ISSN 2448-6922.

Made through some copies of the "original" images, the demand for alms was one of the means used by indigenous communities to finance the worship of their images and to organize community festivals. Documented in a piecemeal way since the early 17^th century this practice leaves significant marks at the end of the 18^th century due to the enlightened campaign against all forms of traditional religion. The kidnapping of the licenses granted by the archbishop of Mexico, as a result of the severe limitations imposed on the collection of alms since 1790, allows reconstruct the routes of some tours of the plaintiffs and, thus, the extent of its mobility and its different forms. The practice of the itinerant demand testifies the different meanings (symbolic, economic and cultural) of the geographic mobility for indigenous communities during that century.

Keywords : sacred images; alms; geographical mobility; indigenous communities; 18^th century.