Ancestral Spondylus: Power, Fertility, and Mysticism. Symbolic Persistences in the Spirituality of Santa Elena, Ecuador

Abstract

In the province of Santa Elena, Spondylus plays a diverse and complex role within sociocultural, ritual, and symbolic practices, intertwining elements of fertility, power, and mysticism. This marine mollusk is valued for its rarity and oceanic origin, forming part of a network of meanings that position it as a mediator between the human world and intangible forces. The objective of this study was to analyze the ritual uses and symbolic significance of Spondylus in ancestral communities and to contrast these with its current reinterpretations. A qualitative methodology with an ethnographic-hermeneutic orientation was employed, based on interviews with ritual leaders and participant observation during contemporary ceremonies held in the peninsula. The results show that Spondylus continues to be an object of exclusive use in ritual contexts, regulated by spiritual hierarchies and knowledge transmitted across generations. Its presence in these ceremonies reaffirms its multifunctional nature and centrality in the local symbolic system. The study concludes that its current use reflects a resilient and adaptive spiritual logic that seeks to preserve ancestral knowledge in the face of commodification and the loss of meaning.