The Secret Society: Descendants of Crypto-Jews in the San Antonio ...

Introduction
Everyone has an identity. This should come as no surprise; identity is an intricate
and multilayered part of any person. It helps define who a person is, where a person has
come from, and sometimes dictates a person’s actions. Some people even have a
mysterious secret identity, intentionally hidden from the world, while fewer have a secret
identity hidden even to themselves. The latter is a characteristic of the descendants of
converso Jews, or crypto-Jews, living in present day San Antonio. Since the majority is
Catholics, these conversos are unaware, or just recently aware, that they are practicing
Jewish traditions that were passed down through their family from the time of the
Spanish Inquisition. Some of these customs of the converso Jews have even become
incorporated into the Hispanic culture of South Texas. The conversos are often unaware
of the secret life that they lead, so it is important that their story be told.
The history of the converso Jews began in medieval Catholic Spain, which was
constantly wracked with anti-Semitism that, many times, led to mass conversions or
massacres of the Jewish population. In a final act against the Jewish community, the
Catholic Monarchy, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, produced the 1492 Edict of
Expulsion which decreed that the Jews of Spain were to convert to Catholicism, leave the
kingdom, or die. To ensure the conversion of the Jewish population, the court system of
the modern Inquisition was instated in mainland Spain in 1478 to terrorize and remove
the Jewish culture from Catholic Spanish society. In resistance, many Jews left Spain
and relocated to other countries stretching across Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia, but
those who decided to stay in the Spanish Empire had to completely accept Christianity or
risk death. Life was hard for the conversos in mainland Old World Spain; the Inquisition
was on the constant watch for any Jewish activity and the Old Christians of upper society
constantly resented the New Christian community. For instance, a common derogatory
name used by the Old Christians for their new Christian brethren was marrano, which
means “pig” in Spanish. After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus
in 1492, many conversos attempted to escape the harsh world of Spain by making the
dangerous trip across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. In a specific event in the late
16 th century, over a hundred suspected New Christian families followed Governor Luis
Caravajal to the area of Nuevo Reino de Leon, or current day Southwest Texas and
Northern Mexico. 1 This was the only land grant in New Spain that did not require
certification of pure Catholic heritage, so it became a breeding ground for the secret
converso Jewish society. 2
Many new Christians were reluctant to give up their beliefs and the identity of
their ancestors’ Jewish heritage. They risked torture and possible death if convicted by
the Inquisition for continuing Jewish practices, but they still continued in secret. Coded
or altered Jewish traditions were practiced by these converso families; in some cases only
one female member of the family knew the true origin of the customs and why they were
practiced. 3 The conversos from the Southwest United States are unique because the
secret traditions have survived the passage of five centuries and are still being practiced
1 Stanley M. Hordes, To the End of the Earth, (New York, Columbia University Press, 2005), 72.
2 Ibid, 81.
3 R. D Barnett. The Sephari Heritage: Essays on the history and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain
and Portugal. (London: Jerusalem Academic Press, 1971), 448.
2