[expand]The Church attempted redirecting symbolic carving:
The Christian motifs were promoted—crosses and religious imagery were encouraged, the theological content was substituted for traditional patterns, the iconographic replacement was cultural conversion. The substitution was symbolic conquest.
The folk resistance maintained traditional forms—despite Church pressure, traditional patterns continued appearing, the covert preservation sustained ancestral knowledge, the resistance was cultural defense. The persistence was ideological stubbornness.
The hybrid approaches combined traditions—some carving integrated Christian and traditional elements, the syncretism was adaptation strategy, the combination allowed preserving meanings beneath acceptable exterior. The hybrids were survival forms.
The reinterpretation changed official meanings—traditional patterns received Christian explanations, the semantic violence erased ancestral understandings, the meaning theft was cultural colonialism. The reinterpretation was imposed comprehension.
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