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CASTING MAIZE SEEDS IN AN AYÖÖK COMMUNITY: AN APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF DIVINATION IN MESOAMERICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Araceli Rojas
Araceli Rojas*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 2, 2333 CC Leiden, Netherlands
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

Recent investigation among the Ayöök (Mixe) people of Oaxaca showed that the on-going use of a 260-day calendar complements the divinatory technique of casting maize seeds. This paper offers a detailed description of this mantic practice as a means to approach and better understand precolonial divinatory practices and the people who practiced them, such as the tonalopouhque among the Nahua. In particular, this new data will also serve to shed light on the use of the pictorial manuscripts that portray the 260-day calendar, such as the so-called Borgia Group Codices. Along these lines, historical and colonial accounts, origin narratives, visual culture, and the archaeology surrounding divination will also be re-examined. This article will show that, similar to the Ayöök contemporary daykeepers and diviners, those that lived in the past were also wise women and men who were specialized in managing the complicated system of symbolism surrounding prognostication and prescription set out over 260 days. Furthermore, they employed divination for medical purposes and aided people with afflictions, curing them of sickness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Fall 2016 , pp. 461 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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