African slaves. This blending of cultures may be most obvious when looking at Native American and African influences on Christianity. The Virgin of Guadalupe, for instance, was still called Tenatzin, the indigenous earth goddess, by Indians, and the profusion of blood in Mexican iconography recalls the Aztec use of blood in ritual. But transculturation pervaded Latin American life, from food to secular music to fashion. Somewhat related, Latin America had a great deal of racial diversity and a rigid social hierarchy to match. There were four basic racial categories, white, black, mestizo, a mix of white and American Indian, and mulatto, a mix of white and black. We try not to use that word anymore because it's offensive, but that's the word they used.