Page - 95 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Using Latinx Theology’s Lo Cotidiano | 95www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 87–106 spent for these rich hacendados, and a cosmopolitan identity was emerging. Bakinés were but one example of the backward “superstition” of “country people”.24 For this so-called elite, the solution was more political autono- my. And since Spanish Catholic and monarchic powers were deeply aligned, greater religious autonomy was needed as well. One also cannot forget that the United States was already a major global power by the late 19th century and had its eye set on the Caribbean as the staging site for its hegemonic control of this hemisphere, supported by the Monroe Doctrine and Mani- fest Destiny with its connection of militarism and Protestantism. Soon after Oller finished El Velorio, Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory – unfortunately, the dream of either political or religious autonomy did not come to pass. This burgeoning Puerto Rican identity and its relationship to empire and Western religion is the social background and agenda of El Velorio. Given his “position” (in Hall’s sense), it is unsurprising that Oller envi- sioned the painting as social commentary on Puerto Rican everyday reality. The wake is represented as chaotic, a sign of the socio-political upheaval in the Puerto Rico of his time. While the funerary practice itself is not scan- dalous (that is, a wake at home was fairly common then), the undisciplined behavior of almost all attendees during a funeral is beyond inappropriate for Oller, exemplified best by the aforementioned lusting couple. There are other not-so-subtle hints of Oller’s displeasure with the island’s religio-po- litical situation expressed in El Velorio: the incoming lechón asao (“roast pig”) is impaled and together with a rafter, it forms a cross-shape, turning the pig into a sort of Christ idol, and the priest sins by attending more to the pig than to the dead child or the family. The hacendado seems to further provoke the idolatrous priest; here Oller seems to hint at the unsavory (unholy?) alliance between the Catholic Church and Spanish empire. The pig stick also seems to stab the child’s body, which is nonetheless bathed in an incoming ray of light, ultimately transforming the child into a redeeming Christ icon and the house into Golgotha in the middle of chaos. Darker-skinned folk are much less pres- ent in the painting than light-skinned ones, with the notable exception of the centrally placed old ex-slave, who ironically is the only one behaving appro- priately (at least for Oller), even when his skin marks him as less-welcome and unworthy of much attention by either the powerless jíbare or the pow- erful clergy and landed men – a clear commentary on race and class.25 For 24 See Oller’s quote below for these specific words. 25 In fact, Osiris Delgado emphasizes the centrality and significance of the old dark-skinned