Maria Lionza: An Indigenous Goddess of Venezuela

by Gary R. Varner

María Lionza is at once a native girl, born in the 16th century to an Indian chief in the Venezuelan region of Yaracuy, and a goddess of nature, peace and harmony to over eight million Venezuelans in the 21st century. Her name means “Mary of the boar,” taken from her full name “Santa María de la Onza Talavera del Prato de Nivar”—a title given by the Catholic Church in the attempt to Christianize her cult. This book is María’s story, as much as can be told. Other than a few scholarly articles, the existence of María Lionza and her following is unknown in Western literature. Gabriel Ernesto Andrade of La Universidad del Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela wrote “If I would have to find one word to describe the María Lionza religion, it would be ‘mysterious’.” And so María, as well as her origins and how she became regarded as the goddess of the people of Venezuela, remains a mystery in many ways. And that is as it should be.

84 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2011

Reviews

[Clay]

Having lived in the state of Yaracuy in Venezuela for a while in the early 2000s, I have been occupied by a deep sense of wonder and interest for Maria Lionza.
Varner does a good job giving an overview - I particularly like the section on symbolism and the section the discussed candidates for who the historical Maria Lionza may have been.

[eloise]

i learned very little about maria lionza, but i sure did learn a lot about hugo chavez, his mistress, and an entire worldwide comparative mythology of unrelated snake trivia for some reason. why is the entire back half of this book ostensibly about an indigenous goddess cult in venezuela devoted to random snippets of ancient egyptian, slavic, and native american thoughts on snakes?