Long Middle Ages and Shamanism in Colonial Spanish America: The Case of the Toad kururu in the Jesuit Guaraní Missions

Throughout colonial Spanish America, the missionaries recreated a moralized bestiary drawn from medieval referents and applied to the fauna of the New World. This was the case of the cane toad, kururu (Rhinella diptycha), which was assimilated with the European common toad (Bufo bufo) in the Jesuit missions of Paraguay. In this context, it was used to speed up Lent confessions, embody the Christian concept of lust, and counteract the influence of shamans. This exemplary use of the toad was applied throughout the continent and triggered a paradoxical revival of shamanism, as demonstrated by sources in Guaraní, Nahuatl, and Quechua studied in a long-term perspective.