A specific Christianity
Christianity was introduced to Guyana by the first Europeans. The numerous churches, even in the smallest villages in the heart of the jungle, testify to its spread and presence. The Sunday meeting as well as the celebration of all the main feasts of the Christian calendar are essential moments in the course of the year in Guyana. Sunday mass in particular is a key moment in the practice of religion: men, women and children prepare themselves in great numbers for the weekly ceremony, devoting themselves collectively and fervently to the service, sometimes for several hours, with a great deal of liturgical chanting. If in recent years a certain progression of Protestantism, but also of Adventists, Evangelists, Baptists or Pentecostals has been noted, undeniably, the Catholic religion remains very largely the majority in the department. Today, unlike in neighbouring Suriname, Muslims and Hindus are very little represented in Guyana.
A creolised Catholicism. The Creole community, the majority group (approximately 40% of the population) and also the most practising in the department, has integrated Catholic precepts and developed them in a very specific way. This Catholicism is in fact today the product, as in most Latin American countries, of a unique mixture between Christian beliefs coming from Europe, animist beliefs brought by the black slaves deported from Africa and those already present on the American continent, carried by the numerous Amerindian ethnic groups since time immemorial. This meeting of heterogeneous peoples favored the emergence of a religion operating a fusion between Christianity and animism, a syncretism that was, all in all, less frankly affirmed than the Brazilian Candomblé or the Cuban Santerίa. The colonial history of French Guiana records some decisive episodes in the imposition of Catholicism as the majority religion, beginning with the foundation of the religious colony led by Sister Anne-Marie Javouhey in the early 19th century, on the side of Mana, in the north of the department. Relying on her religious legitimacy, the holy woman developed this region of the territory and worked for the emancipation of oppressed peoples
A particular secularity. Another singular fact that it seems important to note here, Guyana is subject to a particular regime in terms of secularism. The famous law of 1905 establishing the strict separation between the Church and the State, between religious and political power, is not applied. The story goes back to 1911, when the French metropolis decided to extend the application of this law to the West Indies and Reunion Island, a segment of the Guyanese political class opposed any legal modification on this point. So much so that, even after becoming a department, French Guyana remains under the regime of the royal order of 27 August 1828. Only the Catholic religion is recognized in Guyana, and the ministers of the Cult are directly paid by the Departmental Council, that is to say a bishop and about thirty priests. While at the end of April 2014 this same Council decided to freeze the salaries of the Catholic clergy, it was forced by the Guyanese administrative court on June 2, 2017 to backtrack, the remuneration of the men of the Church having been declared in conformity with the Constitution by the Constitutional Council.
Persistence of many representations of the world
Beyond this close connection between Christianity and animism, this creolised Catholicism, and despite the efforts of colonisation and influence, many beliefs remain within the various communities that make up French Guyana. It must be said that more than 80 countries are represented throughout the territory. The population, mainly grouped in a few coastal communities or settled along the rivers and estuaries, is a multiple effect: if the Creoles Guyanese, Catholics, represent 40% of the total, the Black Maroons, the six Amerindian ethnic groups and the Hmongs of Laos are also numerous. In addition to these, there is a patchwork of other populations representing 40% of Guyana's population: Chinese, Lebanese, Haitians, Brazilians, Surinamese and Javanese in the lead. These diverse communities perpetuate their own beliefs, continue to bring their particular representations of the world to life. Guyana, like its peoples, is a mosaic of representations. And indeed, it is important to point out that all these traditional beliefs, practices and rites also play an eminently structuring role in the daily lives of the Guyanese. Each community offers great credit to the spirits, magic, sorcerers and other shamans. The latter are in fact highly respected and often consulted: before taking an important decision, to escape the evil eye, to cure oneself of diseases, making an appointment with the local shaman is almost a must.
Among the Amerindians, the shaman is the guardian of traditions and can be considered, in a way, as the spiritual leader. We are not talking about religion, but about a system of symbolic representation of the world. This translates, for example, into the practice of many rites or the recognition of spirits, more or less clever, in all forms of life. Each Amerindian community therefore has its own characteristics both in its representations and in its practices.
Through their specific history, the Bushinengé have built an original culture, originating in African traditions and to which Amerindian traditions have been added over the centuries. At home, it is the Grand Man who holds the position of political and religious leader. The Bushinengé give a predominant role to the cult of ancestors and the presence of spirits among the living. In practice, this translates into the consultation of oracles and trance. In facts and representations, the communities of Black Maroons each have their own specificities.
