Resumen

HAR-PELED, Misgav. Jews, Indians and the Myth of Ritual Crime: The Case of Chamula, Chiapas, 1868. LiminaR [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.1, pp.122-136. ISSN 2007-8900.

Between 1867 and 1869 in the Chiapas Highlands of Mexico, indigenous people of the Tsotsil Mayan municipality of Chamula rebelled against the mixed-blood "ladinos" of the town of San Cristobal de Las Casas. According to "official history", the indigenous people were accused of crucifying a child from Chamula on Holy Friday, 1868. This accusation may be compared with the "blood libel," which was blamed on the Jews. In both cases, a child was said to be sacrificed through a ritual crime imitating the Passion of Christ, in which the spilled blood was consumed. The transference of the blood libel against the Jews to the indigenous people of Mexico begs us to ask whether the latter event as an isolated occurrence or a response to a more elaborate system of thought linking the "savage Indian" with the Jew, assassin of the Son of God.

Palabras llave : Caste War (Chiapas); Jews; Blood libel; Holy Child of La Guardia.