When God became Lenca: the Lord of Intibucá (Señor de Intibucá) and the syncretism of a devotion

Abstract

This article delves into the heart of the Lenca idiosyncrasy of the region of Intibucá, in the department of the same name, in Honduras, to unravel the foundational myth of Nuestro Señor de Intibucá (Our Lord of Intibucá), a dark-skinned crucifix erected in the region since 1728. Through a mythocritical analysis based on the theories of Durand (2013), the research demonstrates that the Lenca oral tradition is not a simple historical account, but a dynamic symbolic system that predates language and transcends history itself. The figure of Christ, which skin color reflects to the skin of his native devotees, not only consolidates faith but is also the axis of a profoundly active cultural and religious syncretism. By breaking down the myth into key mythemes—such as historical consciousness, the "actantial" placements of the icon, and the mysterious role of the bells as a divine voice—the study reveals a process of conscious adoption of the European God by the Lenca tradition. This interaction does not translate into passive submission, but rather into a bold cultural negotiation. The natives reconfigure the crucifix as an explicit and visible representation of God, facilitating evangelization and making the object of faith the materialized metaphor of their syncretic identity. The result is a unique faith where myth becomes sculpture, ritual, and living tradition.