Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Carvajal Women and Other CryptoJews In Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Mexico

This dissertation focuses on the Inquisition trials of cryptoJews in New Spain. In 1589, Francisca de Carvajal, her son Luis and daughters Catalina, Leonor and Ysabel, were arrested in Mexico City for keeping Jewish traditions. On Sunday, December 8, 1596, they were burnt at the stake in the city market. Francisca de Carvajal was a descendant of Portuguese Jews that converted to Christianity in 1496. While it is true that convert identities were diverse, I claim that Francisca, her family and friends were cryptoJewish (secretly Jewish) because they passed on a Jewish memory. In the medieval period, this was done through liturgy (prayers, songs and texts) and rituals (holidays and extra fast days). By examining the minutes of the hearings, and the comments of the inquisitors on the margins, the confessions of converts and accusations of their friends and family, I study with great detail the cultural and identity features of this persecuted minority group in New Spain. Chapter one examines the Jewish holidays of the Sabbath, Passover, and Yom Kippur that conversos observed, and the extra fast days they also identified as Jewish. Examples of the liturgy include Luis’ cryptoJewish siddur (prayerbook) based on Jewish texts extracted from a Christian bible, and Leonor’s recital of the Song of Moses before inquisitors. Chapter two looks at the abstention from pork and pork products (when possible), food preparation for the Sabbath, and knowledge of ritual slaughter as cryptoJewish identifiers. For example, Francisca defatted and bled her meat. Chapter three analyzes the secret languages, prayers, texts, and songs that Francisca, her family and friends used as part of their liturgy. While some of the prayers and songs were Sephardic in origin, others were cryptoJewish renditions composed by Luis de Carvajal, appropriated from Christian texts. Chapter four identifies the moment conversos learned about their secretly Jewish identity and began to receive instruction as their Bar/Bat Mitzvah event (which differed greatly from the celebration in normative Judaism). They not only waited —for example— for the Messiah but believed that the Messiah would come and free them from their captivity in the lands of idolatry. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that conversos preserved some Jewish liturgy and rituals, created new ones, and utilized Christian sources for a true cryptoJewish experience