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Conversos
Conversos lived complicated lives due to their dual identity.
Suspect in the eyes of the Church and Christian society and also ostracized by the Jews,
these Jewish converts were given the derogatory name of Marranos, which in Spanish means swine.
Outwardly, they converted to and embraced Christianity,
but in secret continued to practice Jewish customs.
Because men worked outside the home, it was primarily the women who assumed responsibility for preserving Jewish traditions.
The number of conversos who lived in Sepharad is not known
and it is reasonable to assume that many of their descendants assimilated in Christian society.
Some of them did, however, return to Judaism, even if centuries later.
The Sephardi Jewish communities in Bordeaux, Amsterdam and Latin America are just a few that can trace their roots to them.
