San Sebastián de Las Ovejas: pureza perdida y revitalización en el norte neuquino (Argentina)

In this article we trace the changes undergone by the cult and festival of San Sebastian in Las Ovejas, Neuquén, near the Chilean border, over recent years. There have been a series of transformations intimately related to institutional changes in the Catholic Church, to Argentine political and economic life and to local and regional processes. The democratic reopening since 1983 and the almost simultaneous economic integration project for the Southern Cone, called Mercosur, meant the opening of two relatively closed national economies and their gradual integration into a single market, aimin...