Mesoamerican rituals and the solar cycle : new perspectives on the Veintena festivals / edited by Élodie Dupey García and Elena Mazzetto.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dupey García, Elodie, editor.

Mazzetto, Elena, editor.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Indigenous cultures of Latin America ; v. 1.

Indigenous cultures of Latin America : past and present ; vol. 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aztecs--Rites and ceremonies.

Aztecs.

Aztec calendar.

Physical Description:

xx, 334 pages : illlustrations (some color) ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., [2021]

Summary:

"This book explores a seminal topic concerning the Mesoamerican past: the religious festivals that took place during the eighteen periods of twenty days, or veintenas, into which the solar year was divided. Pre-Columbian societies celebrated these festivals through complex rituals, involving the priests and gods themselves, embodied in diverse beings and artifacts. Specific sectors of society also participated in the festivals, while city inhabitants usually attended public ceremonies. As a consequence, this ritual cycle played a significant role in Mesoamerican religious life; at the same time, it informs us about social relations in pre-Columbian societies. Both religious and social aspects of the solar cycle festivals are tackled in the twelve contributions in this book, which aims to address the entire veintena sequence and as much of the territory and history of Mesoamerica as possible. Specifically, the book revisits long-standing discussions of the solar cycle festivals, but also explores these religious practices in original ways, in particular through investigating understudied rituals and offering new interpretations of rites that have previously been extensively analyzed. Other chapters consider the entire veintena sequence through the prism of specific topics, providing multiple though often complementary analyses." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction / Elena Mazzetto and Elodie Dupey Garcia

Part I: Rites and myths in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Tezcatlipoca and the Maya Gods of abundance: The feast of Toxcatl and the question of Homologies in Mesoamerican religion / Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

The re-enactment of the birth of the Gods in Mexica: Veintena celebrations: Some observations / Guilhem Olivier

Quetzalcoatl in Nahua myths and rituals: Discreet or omnipresent protagonist? / Elodie Dupey Garcia

Beyond nature and mythology: Relational complexity in contemporary and ancient Mesoamerican rituals / Johannes Neurath

Part II: Ritual actors and activities in the veintena festivals

Haab' festivals among the Postclassic Maya: Evidence from ethnohistoric sources and the Madrid Codex / Gabriella Vail

Maize and flaying in Aztec rituals / Elena Mazzetto

The Toxcatl and Panquetzaliztli figurines / John F. Schwaller

Myths, rites, and the agricultural cycle: The Huixtotin priests and the Veintenas / Sylvie Peperstraete

Part III: Pre-Columbian categories, colonial interpretations

Dance and sacrificial rituals in the Veintena ceremonies / Mirjana Danilovic

Ritual and religious practices described in the Florentine Codex: Ritual unit as a structural concept / Andrea B. Rodriguez Figueroa, Mario Cortina Borja, and Leopoldo Valinas Coalla

An Augustinian political theology in New Spain: Towards a Franciscan interpretation of the Veintenas / Sergio Botta

Bright plumages, teary children, and the blessed rains: Possible reminiscences of Atlcahualo during the Indigenous ceremonial pomp of Saint Francis in post-conquest Mexico City / Rossend Rovira-Morgado

Epilogue / Daniele Dehouve.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781433175442

1433175444

9781433175404

1433175401

OCLC:

1140353651