From ........ THE ECONOMIST

February 14, 1987

One of the most remarkable things about the Maya is that theirs is the only ancient civilization to survive in some kind of recognizable form. Some modern Greeks might not agree with that judgment, but neither the religious beliefs nor even the physical appearance of Mr Andreas Papandreou's countrymen have much in common with Pericles's contemporaries. In Mexico and Guatemala, on the other hand, a sense of distinctive "Indianness" is alive and kicking. Mexico has a National Indian Institute; its director was jailed in1983 for taking bribes, though the real reason may have been that he had become too close to the Indian groups for the comfort of local political bosses.

Indian Catholicism is like no other. Worshippers say Hail Marys to the Moon Goddess; and around the sides of the churches (which have no pews or altars) are statues of saints of whom few European Catholics will have heard; offerings of Coca-Cola stand in front of the statues.

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