THE CUSTOMS OF OUR ANCESTORS - CORA RELIGIOUS CONVERSION AND MILLENNIALISM, 2000-1722

An analogy is drawn between conquest-period (ca. 1722) and contemporar y political and religious institutions among the Cora (nayari) people of the Sierra del Nayar in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. Base d on the analogy, an inference is extended from contemporary attitudes of Cora people in the town of Santa Teresa toward the political and r eligious customs that mediate their relationships with their deceased ancestors to the possible attitudes of Cora people toward their religi ous customs at the time of the Spanish conquest of the region. Millenn ial fear is inferred to have been a motivating factor in the Cora's ac ceptance of Catholic religious customs during the colonial period of t heir history.