Women of the Pimería Alta-Symbolic Figures

Credit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Women as Symbolic Figures

Virgen de Guadalupe

In O’odham society, the presence of women and children in a group indicated a peaceful demeanor. Customarily, O’odham women were not included in warring or raiding parties. Therefore, O’odham welcoming committees generally relied upon the presence of women and children to signal non-hostile intentions. Though the Spanish came with no women, they luckily discovered female symbolism that got them through the metaphorical door of O’odham diplomacy. The Spanish discovered that religious images of the Virgin Mary, depicted as the Virgen de Guadalupe, did the trick.

While traveling through the Pimería Alta, Fransican Missionary Pedro Font wrote that “the chief patroness of the entire expedition during the journey would be the Most Holy Virgin Our Lady of Guadalupe, chosen, with special acclaim and good feeling on everyone’s part, by unanimous agreement of myself and our commander, both of us having shared the thought even before speaking to each other concerning it, concurring that our patron must be the sovereign Virgin Mary, Mother of God, under the style of Guadalupe as being mother and protectress of the Indians and of this America.”

Missionary expeditions’ use of the image of the Virgin suggests the importance of women and their symbolism as a signal of peace. A female presence was important to establish initial relationships between Europeans and native groups, since the female sign of peace was what paved the path for further negotiation. Women were key facilitators, both symbolically and literally, in this way.

María de Jesús de Agreda

The O’odham and Yoeme had complex, long-distance trade networks. Their range of contact with other tribes, nations, and cultures stretched across thousands of miles to the north, south, east, and west. Undoubtedly, the O’odham and Yoeme knew from their trading ventures with other groups about the stories of María de Jesús de Agreda, the “Lady in Blue.”

María Jesús de Agreda was considered by many to be the first Spanish missionary to the peoples of Texas and New Mexico. Reportedly, the Spanish crown had received news about a Franciscan nun who lived in Agreda, Spain whose spirit had visited the New World to instruct native people in Christianity. Agreda’s first appearances were reported in New Mexico and Texas in the 1630s. The sprawling trade networks between the Tejas, Pueblos, O’odham, and Yoeme spread the story of the “Lady in Blue'' across hundreds of miles. By the time missionaries arrived in the Pimería Alta in the 1690s, native communities across the region knew her story. ” When the O'odham requested or accepted the establishment of missions, it may have been in part due to the "Lady in Blue."

The figure of María de Jesús de Agreda likely felt familiar to the Yoeme. In fact, they had their own narratives of women as intermediaries of change. The “Lady in Blue” resembles Yoeme narratives about a woman who came from unknown parts of the Sonoran Desert to act as an intermediary and communicator for the Yoeme people. In the Yoeme story, she explains a message from a divine Creator that their lives would experience great change, new ways of living, and, in some versions of the story, new people—white people. Perhaps the Yoeme and O’odham responded affirmatively to European and Spanish missionaries because of the familiarity of shared symbolism of women as intermediaries of change and new ways of life.

These common symbols highlight the importance of women, both symbolically and literally. Women’s meaningful roles helped indigenous communities find commonalities between European and native women figures. The role of these female figures extended a promise of peace, protection, and the kind of female presence necessary for the missionaries to establish their communities.

The Spanish were able to “market” their own female characters through the use of the Virgin Mary and the “Lady in Blue.” These symbols were used to appeal to indigenous cultural and social values, highlighting the important role of women in interactions between missionaries and native communities.