Appropriation and heritage: the church for the community of San Antonio de Heras

Abstract

The church San Antonio de Heras has had a special meaning and distinctive from other "holy people" located in the "black coast " of Lake Maracaibo. The need to ensure a place for religious worship led the community to take collective initiatives promoted more by values and norms shared by formal regulations. The study of the black community has favored historical analysis in the length of a group that took over the religious process in view of the absence of the priest who was always Resides in Santa Maria or Bobures. This appropriation was manifested in the ongoing efforts to preserve the church a community symbol of dignity and influence over their ritual spaces of greater significance. A proper interpretation of this process requires consideration of local historical uniqueness understood in regional and national dynamics. The micro Valley region of San Pedro and Santa Maria , consisting of lake ports of San Pedro, Santa Maria, San Antonio and San Jose and growing areas, were energized by the fisheries, agricultural and port . The process of ethnic and cultural miscegenation defined to present a society with particular characteristics depth local singularities in the twentieth century by geographical isolation, changes in regional dynamics and impact of the construction of the Pan American Highway. In this context takes on a greater range the redefinition of religious worship around the chapel -five saints, each with its own butler.