The Yucatán Case of María de la Candelaria

Record summary

María de la Candelaria is associated with an eighteenth-century Yucatecan episode involving Indigenous religious authority, accusations of sorcery, and the Cisteil rebellion of 1761. The case appears in colonial accounts and later historical discussions of Maya resistance, conversion, and the criminalization of ritual specialists. It may help compare witchcraft accusations with anti-colonial politics rather than treating them as isolated occult incidents. Details are contested: later narratives can merge distinct people and events, so the original Spanish reports and local historiography need careful comparison.