Ancestral Ceremony: El Salvador, La Matanza of 1932, and Monseñor Romero

In January of 1932, the military government of El Salvador systematically killed around 30,000 people, mainly Nahua-Pipil, in the Western region of the country over several weeks in massacre called “La Matanza”, or “The Killing/Slaughter.” As El Salvador reckons with violences past and present, Nahua-Pipil communities resist state oppression and call attention to ancestral meanings of justice and dignity for Indigenous communities. In this paper, I highlight the connections between decades of state-sponsored violence including the 1980 assassination of Monseñor Romero. I will also discuss ceremony as an embodied and sacred memory praxis for both liberation theologists and Nahua-Pipil communities in honoring ancestors in the aftermath of massacre, and across space and time. What will be shared about La Matanza of 1932 in this talk details a public commemoration ceremony in Izalco, El Salvador as well as observations from the beatification and canonization of Monseñor Romero.