Mesoamerican Rituals and the Solar Cycle

Élodie Dupey García is a tenured Professor and Researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She holds a PhD in History of Religions from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (France). She has received a fellowship in Pre-Columbian Studies from Dumbarton Oaks and a Scholar Grant from the Getty Research Institute. She is the editor of Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl and the volume Painting the Skin. Pigments on Bodies and Codices in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (2018). Elena Mazzetto is Adjunct Lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), where she previously held a postdoctoral position. She also received a two-year postdoctoral grant from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and holds a PhD in History from the Universidad Ca’Foscari de Venecia (Italy) and the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (France). She is the author of Lieux de culte et parcours cérémoniels dans les fêtes des vingtaines à Mexico-Tenochtitlan (2014).

Elena Mazzetto and Élodie Dupey García : Introduction – Rites and Myths in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica – Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos: Tezcatlipoca and the Maya Gods of Abundance: The Feast of Toxcatl and the Question of Homologies in Mesoamerican Religion – Guilhem Olivier: The Re-enactment of the Birth of the Gods in Mexica Veintena Celebrations: Some Observations – Élodie Dupey García: Quetzalcoatl in Nahua Myths and Rituals: Discreet or Omnipresent Protagonist? – Johannes Neurath: Beyond Nature and Mythology: Relational Complexity in Contemporary and Ancient Mesoamerican Rituals – Ritual Actors and Activities in the Veintena Festivals – Gabrielle Vail: Haab’ Festivals among the Postclassic Maya: Evidence from Ethnohistoric Sources and the Madrid Codex – Elena Mazzetto: Maize and Flaying in Aztec Rituals – John F.Schwaller: The Toxcatl and Panquetzaliztli Figurines – Sylvie Peperstraete: Myths, Rites, and the Agricultural Cycle: The Huixtotin Priests and the Veintenas – Pre-Columbian Categories, Colonial Interpretations – Mirjana Danilović: Dance and Sacrificial Rituals in the Veintena Ceremonies – Andrea B.Rodríguez Figueroa, Mario Cortina Borja, and Leopoldo Valiñas Coalla: Ritual and Religious Practices Described in the Florentine Codex: Ritual Unit as a Structural Concept – Sergio Botta: An Augustinian Political Theology in New Spain: Towards a Franciscan Interpretation of the Veintenas – Rossend Rovira-Morgado: Bright Plumages, Teary Children, and Blessed Rains: Possible Reminiscences of Atlcahualo during the Indigenous Ceremonial Pomp of Saint Francis in Post-Conquest Mexico City – Danièle Dehouve: Epilogue – Notes on Contributors – Index.

"This insightful and innovative volume probes and thus recovers more fully some of the meanings and functions of Mesoamerican month festivals. It should be of interest to all Mesoamericanists as well as scholars interested in the role of indigenous ritual in general."
—Cecelia Klein, Professor Emerita, Department of Art History, UCLA

"This timely volume pays tribute to the Belgian scholar Michel Graulich (1944–2015), who revolutionized our knowledge of the religious life of Tenochtitlan and its neighboring cities by interpreting the great collective rituals in light of mythology. Inspired by his work, researchers from a variety of disciplines provide novel interpretations of the eighteen 20-day festivals of the Mesoamerican solar calendar. This innovative collection includes essays that focus on Central Mexican communities during the Late Postclassic period, while others draw lucid comparisons with societies such as the Maya and analyze transformations resulting from the Spanish Conquest."
—Dr. Leonardo López Luján, Director, Proyecto Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia