Date:    Fri, 19 Jun 1998 23:49:02 -0500
<br>From:    Dan Goodman <dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VISI.COM>
<br>Subject: conversos (was:  Melungeons)
<br>
<br>Before this, I've only seen converso/conversos applied to people of
<br>Iberian ancestry whose ancestors converted from Judaism.  (Publicly,
<br>at least.)
<br>
<br>Now I see it apparently used for people whose ancestors converted from
<br>Islam.  There are probably many such people; but I've never heard of
<br>families retaining any non-Christian traditions, let alone continuing
<br>to practice the faith in secret.
<br>
<br>And it just occurred to me that for Hispanics in the Southwest,
<br>converso ancestry might be valued because it's proof of not being
<br>Indian.
<br>
<br>Dan Goodman
<br>dsgood[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]visi.com
<br>http://www.visi.com/~dsgood/index.html
<br>Whatever you wish for me, may you have twice as much.
<br>