Requesting and thanksgiving. The public religiosity of Buenos Aires between two reforms, 1771-1821

Abstract

With the historiographical renewal initiated in Argentina in the 1980s, the interest in studies on collective manifestations was strengthened. One of the aspects analyzed with greater intensity was the one of the public ceremonies, due, in particular, to the conflicts that they exposed or induced. In this paper we continue this line of work, but we circumscribe the treatment to two specific types of Catholic celebration: the requesting or novenas, and the thanksgivings. In spite of their evident religious anchoring, none of them was organized from the confessional sphere alone. On the contrary, both, in the colonial stage and during the revolutionary years, represented a considerable part of the political ceremonies carried out. The period considered begins in the context of the Bourbon transformations and ends, abruptly, with the Rivadavian reforms. During those 51 years, Buenos Aires became the viceroyalty capital, underwent a strong process of militarization and crossed the convulsive first revolutionary decade. Precisely, the purpose of this article is to observe the incidence of these, and other events, on the carrying out of both types of ceremony; we propose, finally, some explanations to the observed changes that operated both in the crossed conjunctures as well as in the of medium-term tendency.