According to Jonathan Z. Smith there are dozens of ways in which the term “religion” has been defined (Nye 2008, 17). However, as Malory Nye points out, stating what religion is ahead of time limits our perspective, and may prevent us from seeing how it really functions in different communities (Nye 2008, 18). Given their appearance on statues, posters, and in the main ritual that I witnessed, blankets seem to be a key part of understanding what it means to be a member of the “Shrine of the Holy Iguana.” If “religion is what people do” (Nye 2008, 19), then in an important way “religion” for the people of this tradition is covering themselves in a blanket. Doing so not only connects them to the Holy Iguana itself, but to one another. At that
