to enter into a trance state which often leads them to speak in tongues or harming themselves. The shamans and the Marialionceros employ blessings, cursing, drum playing, cigar smoking, tobacco chewing, and local liquors during the yearly rituals. Various sources have reported sightings of shamans, sometimes wearing horned helmets, claiming to have contacted the legendary Viking Eric the Red, the first Norse explorer to discover Greenland. Many members from other religions native to Latin America and Venezuela are present, primarily Santeros (a syncretism between African Yoruba beliefs and Catholicism, known for sacrificing animals to pay homage to Orishas) and Paleros (a syncretic Afro-Cuban religion centered on communicating with the dead). Monument in Caracas One of the most iconic portrayals of María Lionza is the 1951 monument in the Francisco Fajardo Highway in Caracas by Venezuelan sculptor Alejandro Colina. It portrays María Lionza as a muscular naked woman, riding a large tapir which is standing on a snake. Lionza holds a female pelvis, representing fertility, high above her head. The statue was made for the 1951 Bolivarian Games, to sit outside the Central University of Venezuela (UCV)'s Olympic Stadium, and the Olympic flame was held in the pelvis at the top of the statue during this event. The statue had been commissioned by the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who wanted to make María Lionza a symbol of Venezuela. The statue was moved to the highway in 1953, after the university and Pérez Jiménez became concerned that the accessible campus location would allow María Lionza's devotees to gather and spread indigenous religion in Venezuela. In 2004 the original statue was moved to a university warehouse and a new casting was put in its place. In popular culture Rubén Blades and Willie Colón's salsa song "María Lionza", from their 1978 album Siembra, is dedicated to the Venezuelan deity. Former Miss Venezuela Ruddy Rodríguez was the protagonist of María Lionza, a 2006 Venezuelan TV film. In 2007 film director John Petrizzelli made a documentary entitled Maria Lionza, Breath of Orchids. In 2009, the New Weird America musician Devendra Banhart composed "María Lionza", published in his album What Will We Be, as an "evocation to the goddess." The Venezuelan singer Arca paid homage to the goddess in her music video Prada / Rakata released in 2021. Nick Hakim paid tribute in his music video Cuffed in 2017. Notes References South American deities Religion in Venezuela