Mesoamerica (Anthropology)

Daily life in a Mayan kingdom was a complex, multi-faceted -- and often times difficult -- way of life.  Their geographic area encompassed a portion of Mesoamerica, from Southeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula down into Northern Central America.  Mayan territory included Pacific coastline, mountainous highlands, and forested lowlands.  Scholars today believe the total area covered approximately 125,000 square miles.  Each area had its own unique challenges, from the fertile Pacific side, with warm, tropical conditions, to the highlands, with cooler, more temperate-like zones.  Volcanoes, rivers, mountains and forests fill Mayan Mesoamerica, each with its own sub-zone and micro climate.  Unlike North American tribal societies, where large animals were followed seasonally, the food sources of the Maya -- fish, small animals, deer, and birds -- remained mostly stationary, permitting earlier members of Mayan society to establish deep roots in particular locales.

In 2007 I conducted fieldwork among the present-day Maya People of the Yucatan Peninsula in South Mexico. For six month I stayed in Loldzonot 1 , a small village of about 1.500 inhabitants in the district of Chemax. The purpose of this fieldwork was to investigate the notion of so called wáay-beings. In Yucatec Maya Society, the wáay is believed to be a person, who posesses the ability to transform himself into an animal at will.

En este artículo se sostiene que el nombre original del Nevado de Toluca es Chicnauhtécatl, el autor lo sustenta presentado un estudio etnohistórico y arqueológico. Chicnauhtécatl, es un vocablo náhuatl que se traduce al español como "Señor Nueve", lo cual lo asocia a complejos simbolismo mesoamericanos.

One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. This article is an excerpt of pages 98-99 from the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson with a numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depicting the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Mural photograph: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

El tiburón conocido en el área maya como ah xok e identificado como Carcharhinus leucas jugó un papel importante en la mitología y cosmovisión de los habitantes de gran parte de la antigua Mesoamérica. El presente artículo pretende buscar el significado de este animal acuático en el área maya desde los tiempos preclásicos hasta los tiempos coloniales y desde la costa del Golfo de México hasta la Selva Lacandona de Chiapas donde todavía podemos encontrar su influencia mitológica. Verificando su origen olmeca y atravesado el mundo maya clásico encontramos al final un mito lacandón en que podemos identificar algunos elementos importantes para completar nuestros conocimientos sobre el papel extraordinario de sus atributos. Sobre la base de los elementos identificados se propone una hipótesis sobre el sol nocturno y el inframundo acuático donde el dios-tiburón originalmente habitó, su evolución en uno de los atributos del dios solar y su transformación final en la mujer-pez de las lagunas lacandonas contemporáneas.

Nota importante: se recomienda revisar la versión original, titulada "Deidades  Mesoamericanas  de  los  Mantenimientos  en  la  Cultura  Bolaños (Norte  de  Jalisco)" pues el texto publicado en el libro fue modificado, alterando sensiblemente los planteamientos originalmente propuestos.
En un texto publicado en el año 2016 por la doctora María Teresa Cabrero García se realiza un estudio breve acerca de figurillas descubiertas en la cultura Bolaños de la región norte de Jalisco. Estas piezas de carácter antropomorfo destacan por su abstracción y simpleza y, además, por la ausencia de elementos visuales que permitan clasificarlas detalladamente. Ante esta situación, Cabrero (2016) repara en otros atributos como los materiales de los que están hechos y señala, además, que su uso fue generalizado entre los distintos niveles sociales, tanto en el Piñón, como en Pochotitán y la Mezquitera (p. 97). No obstante, en sus tablas de distribución se nota que las figurillas elaboradas en roca tienen una distribución preferencial en contextos religiosos (p. 98).
El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si estas figuras pudieran denotar
el culto específico a una deidad, con base en los mínimos detalles glíficos que presentan y considerando un modelo teórico metodológico ya desarrollado y contrastado para el análisis de la imagen en sociedades prehispánicas mesoamericanas, en el cual son considerados aspectos no solo sociales e históricos, sino en relación con el bricoleur, en los cuales se conjugan muchos aspectos que permiten explicar la diversidad de formas y variantes de
determinados glifos (Márquez 2009, 2012a, 2012b, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2017, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020).

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

This paper began as a review of Aztec sacrifice from a taphonomic and bioarchaeological stance, but since has developed into a paper covering the taphonomy of human sacrifice throughout Mesoamerica, since the subject has a long developed history in the region, and the role the Aztecs play in its history is one more near its end. In this paper I will begin by discussing the methods, markers, and ways of interpreting osteological evidence that lead researchers to declare a skeleton as one having belonged to a sacrificial victim. I will also discuss the connection between human sacrifice and anthropophagy; a topic that seems to be intertwined throughout Mesoamerican history. I will cover some of the major sites in Mesoamerica, and for purpose of leading into further research will explore some of the sites in the American Southwest (the ancestral Puebloan region) that exhibit similar osteological markers and may indicate a cultural/religious link between the two areas. Finally I will discuss why it is important to identify sacrificial victims and victims of anthropophagy, especially from a point of understanding who the victims were in relation to who those people were who were performing the sacrifices.

One of the major accomplishments of cave archaeology has been to champion a new view of Maya religion and cosmology. This has been accomplished to no small degree by embracing the explicit use of ethnographic analogy. Ethnographers have long recognized the fundamental role that caves, mountains, and springs play in social reproduction in communities across Mesoamerica, as well as the pervasiveness of religious specialists who engage indigenous deities in Maya social and political life and have long agreed that many types of religious expression have pre-Columbian antecedents Holland 1964; Vogt 1964). Ethnohistoric sources indicated that caves were fundamental features in Maya religious organization at the dawn of Spanish colonialism. Although Maya archaeologists have generally been hesitant in their explicit acceptance of analogy as a method, they often acknowledge similarities between the ethnographic present and the archaeological past (Culbert 1988; Gossen and

Cumplidos sesenta años, "Flor de Piña", el bailable que representa al municipio de San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec en La Guelaguetza^ continúa presentándose. Si decir esto fuera poco, deberé añadir que, a lo largo de todo ese tiempo, se ha convertido en uno de los números estelares en la llamada "fiesta más grande de los oaxaqueños", de los más esperados, de los más aplaudidos y ovacionados. Su éxito es innegable y eso lo confirman los textos reunidos en este libro. Es un fenómeno cultural que ha trascendido no solo a nivel regional, sino estatal, nacional e incluso internacional. No obstante, desde sus inicios estuvo acompañado de una polémica difícil de evitar, sin duda necesaria, sobre su autenticidad y especialmente sobre su tradicionalidad, tal y como Tomás García Hernández lo expone en su capítulo. Esto sucede cuando hay quienes señalan que "Flor de Piña" es una tradición inventada, una imposición o que no representa fielmente el carácter cultural de la región, la cual debería considerarse más como parte de la tradición sotaventina y por tanto jarocha. ¿Es "Flor de Piña" una tradición? ¿En verdad representa a los pueblos de la región Cuenca del Papaloapan en el estado de Oaxaca? Respuestas an-

In this article, see pages 164, 166-168 for Stuart's discussion of the Grolier Codex.  It is highly significant that the Mexican State of Chiapas and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas chose to include the Grolier Codex as an authentic ancient Maya book in 1985 and make a fine color facsimile available along with the Dresden, Paris, and Madrid codices for further research. 

This review and essay of "Los Codices Mayas" is being posted as a personal tribute to my friend and colleague, the late George E. Stuart, Ph.D. (1935 - 2014) for his great generosity and many extraordinary contributions promoting world archaeology over several generations.

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The volume provides new data, analysis, and ideas that will be a welcome addition to the literature. There is currently nothing comparable out there." -Robert M. Rosenswig, associate professor of anthropology, University at Albany-SUNY "This volume finally brings the discussion of identity within the context of 21st-century anthropology with the support of hard evidence resulting from decades of sound scientific research. As such, this book will be a solid starting point for all readers interested in the art, architecture and ethnohistory of the people of southern Mesoamerica." -Francisco Estrada-Belli, Tulane University 288 pp., 7 x 10 50 illustrations, 19 maps Cloth 978-1-60781-504-4 $60.00 TO ORDER: phone 800-621-2736 fax 800-621-8476

"Selected proceedings of the “First International Conference on Ethnoastronomy: Indigenous Astronomical and Cosmological Traditions of the World”held at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 5-9 September 1983."

Available on Amazon.com  - see link in listing. Ships internationally from the USA.

El presente artículo tiene como propósito rastrear histórica y etnográficamente un gabán de uso exclusivamente masculino, tejido en telar de cintura en varias comunidades zapotecas del sur de Oaxaca, cuyo nombre es una derivación de la palabra nahua quechquémitl, con la forma españolizada " casqueme " y la zapotequización " kaxkem ". En su manufactura se empleaban originalmente fibra de lana y chichicastle, tintes naturales como grana cochinilla y añil, así como los colores naturales de ambas fibras. Además del abordaje histórico y etnográfico, en el artículo se plantea una hipótesis sobre la reutilización del nombre nahua de una prenda femenina usada en el centro y norte del país, como es el quechquémitl, para denominar al gabán masculino en la región zapoteca del sur. palabras clave Gabán, tradición textil, telar de cintura, lana, chichicastle. absTracT This article aims to track the history and ethnography behind an overcoat designed only for men known as " casqueme ". The garment is made with a backstrap loom in different Zapotec 1 El presente trabajo forma parte de una investigación mucho más amplia que versa sobre la tradición textil en la región zapoteca del sur de Oaxaca, en particular en comunidades de los distritos de Miahuatlán, Loxi-cha y Yautepec, la cual se realiza como parte de una estancia posdoctoral en el Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Para la preparación de este texto, agradezco a Alejandro de Ávila por compartir diversas consideraciones respecto a los gabanes producidos en la región zapoteca del sur y de su tradición textil en general, así como la mención de algunas referencias bibliográfi-cas en las que se registra dicha prenda, en particular, mediante el calificativo de casqueme o kaxkem.

The site of Dainzú, Oaxaca is known for its corpus of apparently unique iconography. In the past, several authors saw a representation of a type of ballgame in this corpus. In this paper, it is argued that this analysis seems to be based solely on the depiction of balls in the hands of the human figures depicted. Additionally, it is argued that no ballgame comparable to the presumed Dainzú ballgame is evidenced in other regions of Mesoamerica. Consequently, an alternative is proposed, considering the possibility that the figures depicted in the Dainzú corpus represent warriors, rather than ballplayers.

Panorámica de los usos del agua y la tecnología hidráulica en Mesoamérica prehispánica (México antiguo), desde sus orígenes hasta el siglo XVI. Contiene descripciones de los sistemas hidráulicos conocidos por medio de la arqueología y las fuentes históricas (códices, crónicas, documentos de archivo, fotografías históricas de estructuras). Se abordan las obras y sistemas para usos domésticos, para irrigación agrícola, para conducción, control y drenaje de aguas pluviales y para el control de los niveles del agua en humedales con fines agrícolas y habitacionales.

Por ser el juguete un objeto capaz de arrancarnos del trajín cotidiano para insertarnos en un tiempo y en un espacio distintos, hay quien ha dicho que su existencia está a medio camino entre la vida diaria y el ritual. Y los juguetes tradicionales mexicanos no son la excepción. Como veremos en estas páginas, en algunas piezas con movimiento, como los llamados chintetes, pueden aún mirarse los trazos de este mundo intermedio lleno de significados.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

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This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex, the only one discovered in the twentieth century, was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the  Grolier Codex is half of a 20-page, 104-year divinatory hybrid-style Mesoamerican Venus Almanac, probably the physically oldest surviving pre-Columbian book, and with new radiocarbon dates that place it in the thirteenth century CE. It is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research, it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure, as it has never been officially recognized. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare, the goal of which was to obtain captives for sacrifice, their blood shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The  Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus, greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions. The present study offers a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; presents a documented photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the Codex Mayano-Mexicanus is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.


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This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Esta investigación es un acercamiento etnográfico a temas etnoastronómicos, se analizarán posturas cosmológicas y actividades prácticas (siembra y poda) relacionadas a la luna de los habitantes de las comunidades ubicadas a los alrededores de Nahuizalco, Sonsonate, El Salvador. La investigación se llevó a cabo durante los meses de Marzo a Junio de 2007.

Esta tesis propone una serie de conceptos y definiciones necesarios para diseñar proyectos de conservación integral para edificios arqueológicos situados en la ciudad. El ambiente urbano contiene agentes de deterioro diferentes a los del área rural que requieren una atención especial.  Se revisan y proponen nuevos conceptos de patrimonio arqueológico, de Conservación y Restauración. Se analiza la significación cultural y valores del patrimonio arqueológico, así como su integración a la dinámica social, como garantía de su conservación. Se expone la aplicación de éste modelo, tomando como caso la Pirámide de las Flores, en la Ciudad de Tampico, Tamaulipas.

From the analysis of the mural paintings at Cacaxtla, it was determined that the painters shared a system of measurement with the builders of this site and those of the Puuc area. In the Maya area, the basic unit was divided into subunits that measured its ninth and sixteenth parts but the division system found in Cacaxtla corroborates this information and shows that it derived from working in situ with a string that is folded in half or in thirds in a repetitive manner. Study of the composition of the paintings shows the use of a grid, a resource widely used in Mesoamerica. Furthermore, the use of units of measurement found in Teotihuacan and Nahua culture in combination with the zapal system open the discussion about measurement as a resource for creating meaning. This expression must be contextualized in the multicultural expressions found in the paintings and this period of political reconfiguration, the Epiclassic (a.d. 650-950). The systems used to measure distances, time, liquids, and weights come from concepts and knowledge developed over centuries. Progressively, these systems were incorporated into shared customary systems among specific populations, thus integrating a series of factors specific to the culture of the social group that generated them (Morley and Renfrew 2010; Renfrew and Morley 2010). Different features stand out in this collective social construction, mainly regarding what is measured (sometimes in reference to something physical and sometimes a concept), the type of reference measurements used (for example, with or without relation to the human body), the way of relating what is large with that which is small, and the way in which the measurement is applied to the object.

This study explores the multifaceted Maya Deluge Myth, from its pre-Columbian origins to current fantasies about a great world-destroying flood at the 13 Baktun period ending of the Maya Long Count on 21 (or 23) December 2012. No such flood is prophesied in any Maya records for this date, and the famous scene on Dresden Codex page 74 is discussed in its context as a symbolic depiction of the annual world-renewing downpours at the onset of the rainy season in springtime in the Maya world. The presiding gods of warfare and blood sacrifice were the agents of fertility and the regeneration of nature, and not the agents for the destruction of the Maya in a world-ending deluge. The misinterpretation of Dresden page 74 has propagated, unchallenged, for over a century of Maya scholarship and found its way into “new age,” fringe, and popular culture. This research helps to set the record straight along with providing a history of the meme.

This paper compares the Central Mexican and Maya myths about the world creation, and deals in particular with the creation of two parallel Suns, one of which was redundant. This mythological motif is subsequently analysed by the author through Maya narratives over time, and specifically among Lacandons, a Maya group with the best preserved original mythological sources. In the myths and their fragments that he collected from Lacandons he identifies and classifies various versions, in the background of which he observes the same motif which has survived thousands of years. The reason for such survival, as noted by the author in the conclusion, is its ability to absorb social antagonisms, explain them and accept them on the basis of a traditional cosmological model.

Resumen: El objetivo de este artículo es complementar la información etnográfica y lingüís-tica sobre la zona zapoteca del sur de Oaxaca a partir de la documentación de una serie de 42 términos asociados con la tradición textil, los cuales se presentan en español y se acompañan de equivalentes en algunas variantes lingüísticas, así como notas etnográficas. Las entradas del vocabulario corresponden a utensilios del tejido en telar de cintura, elementos de la indumen-taria, fibras, tintes, acciones del tejido en telar y algunos diseños. Palabras clave: telar de cintura; vocabulario textil; zapoteco; tejido tradicional; Oaxaca; México; siglo xxi. Abstract: The aim of this paper is to complement the ethnographic and linguistic information about the Zapotec area of southern Oaxaca with the documentation of a series of 42 terms associated with the textile tradition, which are presented in Spanish and accompanied by their equivalent in several linguistic variants and ethnographic notes. The entries of the vocabulary correspond to parts of the backstrap loom, elements of the clothing, fibers, dyes, weaving actions and some designs.

Resumen: Dentro de la perspectiva etnohistórica Cocijo, deidad zapoteca del Rayo y la lluvia, estuvo estrechamente vinculado con el culto al agua, al maíz e incluso a la tierra. Tanto en la iconografía arqueológica como en referencias en fuentes coloniales es posible identifi car su continuidad como dios regente de los fenómenos pluviales y la agricultura. En el presente, dentro de la ritualidad agrícola de muchas comunidades zapotecas de la parte sur de Oaxaca, al Rayo se le concibe aún como la entidad sagrada generadora de la lluvia, la fertilidad y el crecimiento del maíz y los demás cultivos. Las peticiones y ofrendas que se hacían en los momentos importantes del ciclo ritual agrícola –petición de lluvia, siembra, bendición de la milpa y cosecha– eran dirigidas a esta entidad. Por tanto, en el presente artículo intento hacer una revisión del complejo del culto agrícola, partiendo de un enfoque etnohistórico, para entender la vigencia del Rayo en el contexto de la vida ritual de los zapotecos del sur de Oaxaca, México, tomando como referencia, sobre todo, los casos de las comunidades de Santiago Xanica y Buenavista Loxicha. En ambas comunidades esta ritualidad agrícola desapareció en algún momento del siglo XX, junto con el cultivo de maíz, debido a la implantación de un monocultivo de café. Palabras clave: ritos agrícolas, culto al Rayo, zapotecos del sur, cosmovisión zapoteca Abstract: Within the ethnohistorical perspective, Cocijo, the Zapotec deity of lightning and rain, was closely related to the worship of water, maize, and the earth. Just as in archeological iconography, also in colonial sources it is possible to identify the continuity of Cocijo as the regent of pluvial

Huichol religion and cultural standards are explored, with an analysis of the role and importance of the shaman within the community.  A full explanation of the Peyote Hunt is provided, along with a full bibliography for further research and study of this profound culture.

Tal vez una de las mejores maneras de nombrar a la región zapoteca del sur de Oaxaca sea como "la tierra del Rayo", cuyo personaje condensa, al mismo tiempo, el fenómeno físico aludido de manera inmediata, pero también a una de las entidades sagradas predominantes dentro de la visión del mundo y la religiosidad de los habitantes de comunidades como Santiago Xanica, Suchixtepec, los Ozolotepec, San Mateo Piñas, Santa Catarina Xanaguía, los Mixtepec, los Loxicha, Santa Catarina Quioquitani, los Querí, Cuixtla, San Bartolo Yautepec, Xitla y otras de la Sierra Sur y la Costa, e incluso de los Valles Centrales. Desde la perspectiva del autor, entre los zapotecos sureños el Rayo es una entidad múltiple, polisémica; regente de la lluvia y encargada de fecundar la tierra; dueña del monte, de los animales y de las plantas. El Rayo o Cocijo, como se le ha registrado desde principios del periodo novohispano, al igual que otras deidades de la lluvia mesoamericanas, es a la vez benevolente y colérico, hídrico y telúrico, tempestivo e intempestivo, acuático e ígneo. Siendo la región zapoteca del sur una de las menos conocidas dentro del ámbito de los estudios antropológicos de Oaxaca y de México, este libro documenta la cosmovisión de los habitantes de esas comunidades en torno al Rayo.