Feathered Conch and Tlaloc in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica: A Comparative Approach with the Northwest Amazon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2016.116914Keywords:
Pre-Hispanic iconography, Mesoamerica, Teotihuacan, Tlaloc, Northwest Amazon, ritual flutes and trumpsAbstract
When the ritual flutes from the Northwest amazon are played during initiation, they symbolically bring the adolescents to “die” and “reborn” them as adult men. The ritual scenography grasps into insects’ metamorphosis the analogy of the social “skin-changing” that the initiates are going to undergo and construct one of the flutes or trumps giving it the shape of the butterfly’s chrysalis as a model. Seen as larvae themselves, the adolescents are parasitized by adult men to become warriors and identify themselves to the wasps that take possession of this transforming chamber. This article, by examining these contemporary ritual developments, propose to analyze the conch shell-horn in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, an artifact represented in images on the walls of the temples of Teotihuacan and that appears to be linked as much to Quetzalcoatl as to the Tempest and RainGod Tlaloc. By presenting that the civilizations of this cultural area use the same images as in the Northwest Amazon, it is possible to build an analysis of various enigmatic figures to show that the same reference to parasitism occurs in MesoamericaDownloads
References
ANDERSON , Kasper Wrem e HELMKE, Christophe. 2013. The Personifications of Celestial Water: the Many Guises of the Storm God in the Pantheon and Cosmology of Teotihuacan, Contributions in New World Archaeology 5, 165-196.
BEUTELSPACHER, Carlos R. 1988. Las mariposas entre los antiguos Mexicanos. Tezontle, MØxico, Fondo de Cultura Econ mica.
BUNGE , O. D. E. 1936. Les Pages des abeilles du Codex Tro . Journal de la SociØtØ des AmØricaniste v. 28-2: 305-322.
CASO, Alfonso. 1942. El para so terrenal en Teotihuacan . Cuadernos Americanos 6(6): 127 -136.
CASO, Alfonso. 1966. Dioses y signos teotihuacanos . Teotihuacan, Onceava Mesa Redonda. MØxico, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropolog a, pp. 249-279.
HEADRICK, Annabeth. 2003. Butterfly War at Teotihuacan . InRBOWN , M. Kathryn e STANTON , Travis
W. (orgs.), Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare. Oxford, Rowman & AltaMira Press, pp. 149-170.
HERN`NDEZ S`NCHEZ , Gilda. 2008. Feasting, Community, and Codex Style Ceramics . InAMARTEN, E.R.; JANSEN, G.N.; e VAN BROEKHOVEN , Laura N.K. (orgs.), Mixtec Writing and Society, Escritura de uu Dzaui. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, pp. 287-305.
KARADIMAS, Dimitri. 2008. La MØtamorphose de Yurupari: flßtes, trompes et reproduction rituelle dans le Nord-Ouest amazonien . Journal de la SociØtØ des AmØricanistes, 94(1): 127-169
KARADIMAS, Dimitri. 2012. Historia de diablos, mitos de avispas: acercamiento iconogrÆfico a una
unificaci n regional . In URBIO, Fran ois Correa; CHAUMEIL, Jean-Pierre; e CAMACHO, Roberto Pineda (orgs.), El Aliento de la memoria: Antropolog a e historia en la Amazonia andina. BogotÆ, Universidad Nacional de ColombCiaN,RS, IFEA, pp. 68-86.
KARADIMAS, Dimitri. 2014. Voir une chenille, dessiner un serpen plumes: analyse iconographique des serpents fantastiques dans la MØsoamØrique prØcolombienne . Journal de la SociØtØ des AmØricanistes, 100(1): 7-43.
KLEIN, Cecelia F. 1980. Who Was Tlaloc? . Journal of Latin American Lore, 6(2): 155-204.
LOPEZ AUSTIN, Alfredo. 1997. Les Paradis de brume . Mythes et pensØes religieuses chez les anciens Mexicain Paris, Iheal - Maisonneuve & Larose.
NU EZ ORTEGA, A. 1887. Apuntes hist ricos sobre el cultivo de la seda en MØxico: Reunidos por
A. Nuæez Ortega, Ministro residente de los E. U. Mexicanos, ante S. M. el Rey de los Belgas . La Naturaleza, 51, tomVoII, Aæos de 1885-1886.
KUBLER, Georges. 1967. The Iconography of the Art of Teotihuacan . Dumbarton Oaks Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, WashingtDo.nC., Dumbarton Oaks, n. 4.
NAGAO, Debra. 1985. The Planting of Sustenance: Symbolism of the Two Horned God in Offerings from the Templo Mayor . Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 10: 5-27.
MILBRATH, Susan. 1999. Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars. The Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies. Austin, University of Texas Press.
MILBRATH, Susan. 1995. Gender and Roles of Lunar Deities in Postclassic Central Mexico and Their Correlations with the Maya Area . Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl, 25: 45-93.
OLIVIER, Guilhem. 1997. Moqueries et mØtamorphoses d’un dieu aztŁque: Tezcatlipoca, le Seigneur au miroir fumant . Paris, Institut d ethnologie, MusØe de l homme.
PASZTORY, Esther. 1974. The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc . Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, n.15: 1-22.
PITROU, Perig. 2012. Figuration des processus vitaux et co-activitØ dans la Sierra Mixe de Oaxaca (Mexique) . L’Homme, Paris, v. 202, n. 2: 77-111.
RAMOS-ELORDUY, Julieta et al. 2011. Edible Lepidoptera in Mexico: Geographic Distribution, Ethnicity, Economic and Nutritional Importance for Rural People . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 7(2).
SAHAG N, Fray Bernardino de. 1950-1982. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. In ANDERSON , Arthur J. O. e DIBBLE, Charles E. (orgs.), School of American Research and the University of Utah, Santa Fe. Dispon vel em http://www.wdl.org/fr/item/10622/.
SCHLAK, Arthur. 1996. Venus, Mercury, and the Sun:GI, GII, and GIII of the Palenque Triad . Res: Anthropology and aestethics, n. 29 e 30: 180-203.
SJOURN , Laurette. 1962. El universo de Quetzalc atl. MØxico, Fondo de Cultura Econ mica.
SU`REZ DIEZ, Lourdes. 1993. Algunas implicaciones religiosas del material conquiologicIIoI C.oloquio de Historia de la Religi n en MesoamØrica y Areas Afines, Barbro Dahlgren de JordÆn.
TAUBE, Karl. 2000. The Turquoise Hearth: Fire, Self-Sacrifice, and the Central Mexican Cult of War , In CARRASCO, Dav d; JONES, Lindsay; e SESSIONS, Scott (orgs.), Mesoamerica s Classic Heritage: TeotihuacÆn to the Aztecs. Niwot, University Press o Colorado, pp. 269-340.
URIARTE, Maria Teresa. 2009. La Peinture murale Teotihuacan . Catalogue de l exposition Teotihuacan. CitØ des Dieux, Paris, MusØe du Quai Branly, Somogy Ødition d art, pp. 118-126.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Revista de Antropologia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who intend to publish in this journal must agree with the following terms:
- a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows the work to be shared as long as the author and the initial publication in this journal are appropriately credited.
- b) Authors are authorized to sign additional contracts for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., to publish it as a book chapter), as long as the author and the initial publication in this journal are appropriately credited.
- c) Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. on their personal webpage) after the editorial process, for this can generate productive changes as well as increase the impact and citation of the work. See The Effect of Open Access Publications.
