Religions of Mesoamerica, Second Edition, Will Cover Specific Exa1nples of This Interweaving

Introduction

In 1943 a Gern1an anthropologist living in Mexico nan1ed Paul Kirchhoff synthesized years of research and formulated the vie\V that a unique cultural and social system had spread across a huge range of Mex- ico and Central America start ing several thousand years ago. He called this geographical and cultural area "Mesoamerica" or Middle America. Working with the scholarship of several generations of researchers, he sho\ved that the cultural traits and practices shared by peoples in ancient Mesoan1erica included writing, intensive agriculture, stepped pyrarnids, obsidian-edged tools and \veapons, elaborate pottery crafts, solar calendars, long-distance trade, ritualized human sacrifice, bark paper, and a wide range of languages. His education in Be rlin and Leipzig encouraged him to focus on the nagging question of the evolution of kinship systen1s into class systerns and the first city-states in the An1ericas. Kirchhoff noticed in his research that there were profow1d social and cultural dif- ferences between the "high cultures" of central Mexico and the societies of its northern neighbors including the hw1ters, fanners, and gatherers in the southwestern United States. His groundbreaking article of 1943 des- ignated Mesoa1nerica as a distinctive area lin1ited to the southern two- thirds of mainland Mexico, Guaten1ala, Belize, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras , N icaragua, and Costa Rica \vhere \Vhat other scholars called "the urban revolution" took place. 1 Soon after this article appeared, one of Kirchhoff's followers, a Span- ish archaeologist living in Mexico named Pedro Armillas, helped a new generation of Mexican students apply Kirchhoffs evolutionary nlodel to the rise and developn1ent of urban centers and agricultural abundance that led to the magnificent achieven1ents of the Maya and the Aztec civ-

1 2 Introduction ilizations. One central archetype throughout Mesoamerica was 1naize and its regenerative cycle celebrated in 1nany religious practices and world- views. Subsequent studies by multidisciplinary tean1S of archaeologists, h istorians of religions, ethnobotanists, and iconographers revealed that pre-Hispanic Mesoan1erica was a highly diverse ecological \Vorld \Vid1 fluctuating social frontiers, dyna1n ic cultural exchange systems, and robust com1nunication nenvorks often dominated by \vhat Richard Blan- ton calls "higher-order central places." Great city centers \vith names like Tikal, Palenque, Copan, Monte Alban, Mitla, Quirigua, Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Cholula, El Tajfn , T zintzunczan, and Tenochtitlan served as regional and son1etin1es in1perial cores of long-standing states that both dominated large geographical areas and competed n1ilitarily, ceremoni- ally, and economically \vitl1 rival and allied communities. Mesoan1erican societies suffered a n1assive shock when Hernan Cor- tes led an i11Satiable Spanish army across Maya coastal territories and into

View of A2tec capital Tenochtitlan. Die.go Rivera's painting shows the imperial marketplace ofTlatelolco in the foreground where artisans and traders gather. A causeway leads to the Great Temple with its two shrines. The snow-capped vol- canoes Lxtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl rise in the background. Introduction 3 the Valley of Mexico in 1519 \Vhere they eventually starved and slaugh- tered the Aztecs into submission. The Spaniards, even \Vith the help of n1any thousands of allied indigenous warriors, ca1ne \Vithin a hairline of being crushed by the Aztecs on nvo occasions, one that the Spaniards and Mexicans still refer ro a "La Noche Triste" (the Night of Sadness). Bur by the early fall of 1521 it appeared rhar they had conquered the great capital of the etnpire of Moctezuma II and \Vou ld have their way n1ilirarily, econon1ically, and spiritually \Vith Mesoamerican peoples. Yer, during the long process of several centuries of colonization that turned ancient Mesoamerica into Ne\v Spain, a prolonged series of physical, cultural, and religious conflicts and exchanges took place an1ong the con- querors, indigenous survivors, mestizos , priests, parishioners, and ne\v kinds of "racially" mixed fan1ilies, son1etimes called castas. What actually happened to Mesoainerican cultures and institutions after the European invasion?2 One view, still popular today, is that the Spaniards were the great agents of obliteration and change while the Indians (a colonial category of indigenous subjects to the Spanish cro\vn) were victims and beaten into sub1nission spiritually, bodily, and culrur- a lly. As we learn later in this book, the surviving Mexicas, Maya, Totonac, Huastec, and scores of other ethnic groups \Vere sometin1es rap- idly, son1etimes gradually, traumatized and changed. Yet, it is impossible to identify a con1n1on colonial history for all of Mesoan1erica, ai1d there is ahnost every,vhere evidence that Indian com1nuniries appropriated both the ne\v Spanish culture and institutions while also reviving pre-His- panic religious and cultural ideas and practices. In the words of the art historian Elizabeth Wilder Wisen1an about the new co1nplexities and exchanges that n1ade the new Mesoan1erica after 1521, "T\vo (or more) different kinds of life absorbed each other and produced things ne\v and different from anything else in the \Vorld. "3 Often \Vhen \Ve turn to the religions, cuisines, fan1i ly histories, and cultural practices of Mexicai1s, Guatemalans, Salvadorians, and other Latino/as fro1n Mesoa1nerica today, \Ve see elements of the living legacy of these exchanges and the ne\V productions. The term "Mesoamerica" is used in this book in nvo \vays-as a pre- Hispanic world characterized by a heterogeneity of cultures organized by city-states that 1nanaged periods of agricultural abundance, con1plex eco- no1nic exchange systen1S, and n1ilitary i11Stitutions and also as a \vorld of complex social ai1d cultural co1nbinar.ions of European and indigenous 4 Introduction

This page from rhe Florentine Codex depicrs rhe suffering and medical care of smallpox victims. The Spanish brough r to Mexico a number of foreign diseases that devastared the indigenous population. ideas and practices developed in colonial and up to contemporary times. In the first usage, which will be the focus of 1nost of this book, Mesoamer- ica is valued as one of the six areas of primary urban generation, 1nean- ing where urban society \Vas invented "sui generis," that is, \Vithout outside influences, leading to the flourishing of great ceren1onial-civic centers, city-states, and long-range social networks. Many scholars see parallels benveen cultural traits and developn1ents in Mesomnerica and China, Egypt, the Indus Valley, Peru, and Mesopotamia. Questions of ancient cultural contact benveen these great civilizations were explored, and scho lars wondered if ancient mariners had come to Mexico across the Atlantic or the Pacific, or both. Today, after extensive m1alysis and debate the great majority of scholars have rejected the idea tl1at Meso- american civilizations developed out of direct or indirect influence fron1 Old W orld civilizations, in spite of the si milarities. TI1e strongest evidence shows that Mesoamerican cultures, city-states, and en1pires were developed independently of foreign influences until the time of the Spanish military conquest of parts ofMesoan1erica beginning in 1519. Introduction 5

In the second usage, Mesoamerican cultures include the inter.veaving of these legacies \vith European and to a lesser extent African traditions fron1 the Spanish conquest to the present day. The first and final chapter of Religions of Mesoamerica, Second Edition, will cover specific exa1nples of this interweaving. One central idea for understanding the paradox of radical change and long-term continuities of Mesoamerica's h istory and religion is the "hard nucleus" or a set of ancient and long-standing pre-Hispanic ideas d1ar \Vere eventually uni red \vi th Spanish Christian ideas ro fonn a new cos- n1ovision present an1ong Mesoamerican peoples today. This hard nucleus of Maya and Aztec religious ideas \Viii be discussed in chapters 2, 3, and 4, and \ve \vi ii see ho\v they combined \vith Spanish Catholic conceptions of the hun1an and divine in d1e final chapter of this book.4 Son1e historical co1n- n1enrs belo\v \vill prepare readers for both usages of Mesoan1erica. Spaniards introduced at least four decisive institutions into colonial Mesoamerica; (1) the Spanish language; (2) the Ron1an Catholic Church attempting to carry our a "spiritual conquest" of all native peoples; (3) an enormous royal bureaucracy administering ne\v landholdings, local gov- en1ments, animals, and mines; and ( 4) ne\v technology, tools, and crafts. The don1inating itnpact of soldiers, C hurch, and governmental bureaucracy \vas greatly enhanced by an i nm1ense biological catastrophe that reduced the indigenous population fron1 around 25 million in 1520 to one million in 1620. This incredible loss of life \Vas caused by either direct mur- der in warfare, cruelty in the n1ines, fields, and to\vns, or "microbe shock," that is, diseases. The majority of those who died during the si.xteenth century were d1e victin1s of diseases transmitted by d1e "lethal handshake"- d1e physical contact with Europeans including baptis1n by Catholic priests who sometimes used their o\vn saliva to bless their native parishioners. These diseases turned into epidemics fueled by malnutrition, fatigue, and the destruction of the indigenous social relations and medical practices. People in Mesoainerica had had their O\Vn diseases and epide1nics, \Vh ich pe.riodically caused crises prior ro the arrival of European colonists. But d1eir immune systems \vere in no way prepared to resist the ne\v diseases d1ar crossed the oceans \Vith European invaders and settlers. The religions of Mesoamerican peoples in the posrconquesr period dre\v on both indigenous and European medical practices ro deal \vith disease and health. Spaniards had a very different approach ro the natives ofMesoa1nerica d1an the English had to d1e natives in North America. While the English sa\v the natives of Massachusetts and New England as savage "others" to 6 Introduction be exploited, avoided, killed, or pushed back into the wilderness, the Spaniards, who initially can1e largely without \vomen, sought the natives for labor, domestic order, and sexual pleasure and to help then1 usher in the Second Coming of Christ. Within a few decades of their arrival, Span- iards had fonned ne\v fam ilies with Indian \VOtnen and children (also \vith Africans), producing peoples \vho \Vere called mestizos and mulatws and whose racial mixtures strained the bounds of Spanish social categories. The recently arrived Europeans also constructed huge "theatres of conver- sion," that is, church-n1onastery con1pounds that served as the ne\v sacred centers for the indoctrination of native leaders and the general population. The Viceroyalty of Ne\v Spain \Vas ruled fro1n three ne\v capitals- Mexico City in the center, Guadalajara in the north, and Guatemala City in the south. Also key for this Ne\v World's stab ility \Vas the brutal but productive enconiienda systen1 of forced Indian labor and taxation, and the mining to\vns-all yielding great wealth for the new colonists. Despite the aggressive establishment of the Church, encomiendas, and the royal bureaucracy, Spaniards realized by the end of the sixteenth century that neither a spiritual nor a cultural conquest had taken place. Pre-His- panic \vorldvie\vs and some patterns of \Vorsh ip continued to inspire the surviving native peoples. Spaniards were forced to ad mit that the changes they had instituted \Vere gradual and inco1nplete even \vhile natives \Vere themselves making new religious, cultural, and political co1nbinations-so1ne of \vhich have continued today. Three important developments in Indian-Mestizo-Spanish relations took place during the seventeenth century, including a ne\V religious Mesoamerican parrern- miracle shrines and images that contained Catholic sai nts \Vorsh iped \Vith indigenous fervor and styles of devotion. Above all, Mexicanized cults of the Virgin Mary began to sho\v a shared religious devotion benveen Indians, Spaniards, and Mestizos in shrines dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos, Our Lady of Soledad, and n1ore. Local and regional pilgrimage traditions gre\v up around these sites, and in the case of the Virgin of Guadalupe near Mexico City at Tepeyac (a site \vhere Aztecs had \Vorshiped their goddess Tonantzin), a significant business in n1iracle paintings, souvenir ribbons cut to the exact height of t!1e sacred i1nage of Guadalupe, as \veil as printed stories of apparitions and miracles were sold. Second, even \vh ile Indians \Vere feeling hope and protection at these shrines, a "peasantization" of some native peoples took place as Introduction 7

Spanish-run haciendas 1vere strategically located near pueblos de indios (Indian settlements) that still held the sacred prestige of native ancestral lands. Many natives became seasonal laborers and learned Spanish cultural 1vays while n1aintaining strong ties to fan1ily sites. This flow back and forth contributed to the decline in 1vealth of Indian nobles, a decline brought about in part by the con1mercialization of maize production. Third, some other areas of Mesoamerica such as Oaxaca saw a resur- gence of Indian identity as certain ethnic groups reclaimed several pre- Hispanic patterns of community organization. The Latin American historian William B. Taylor 1vrites that following the "disintergration" in the sixteenth century, son1e ethnic identities 1vere reclain1ed in a center- periphery pattern similar to the pre-Hispanic order. There developed

an ordering of space that adapted colonial forms to a traditional, hierarchical spirit in ways that created model territories with a com- pact civil and commercial center, variously outlying hamlets, a ceremonial precinct, and community lands for farming and gathering.5 These social spaces-part Spanish and part indigenous-included Indian tnarkets, today still called tianguiz. 1vhich were revived in public spaces in more remote areas of Oaxaca 1vhere native peoples still held local sway. Further, Indian revolts, including the Mixton War in 1541- 42, the Yucatan insurrection in 1546-47, the Tipu Maya revolt in 1638, the Tehuantepec rebellion in 1660, the Cajones rebellion in 1700, and the Chiapas rebellion in 1712, signaled to Spaniards and Indians alike that Spanish don1ination 1vas far fro1n con1plete. Today, we ki101v that everyone, Spaniards, native Mesoan1ericans, Africans, and the ethnic n1ixrures of all three, changed in the new and dynan1ic Mesoan1erica. In the eighteenth century the Spanish Bourbon n1onarchy instituted new programs to control Indian communities and n1ake then1 rich sources for economic production and tax payments even as it worked to undermine the Catholic Church's control of native peoples. Re1narkably, even though epidemics and droughts challenged the ne1v 1vealthy class, Indian populations significantly increased throughout Mesoamerica 1vith many n1ore indigenous people alive in the eighteenth century than had been alive at the end of the sixteenth. The Catholic Church, even as it 1veakened in so1ne ways, supported the growing Indian devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe who was seen by native peoples as one of their own- and as their great divine protector who had miraculously appeared 8 Introduction at d1e si te of a pre-Hispanic shrine. She \Vas officially promoted as patroness of the viceroyalty, and her naine, Guadalupe, was adopted by men1bers of all levels of society at baptisn1. These patterns of lndiai1 oppression and resistance, destruction and recovery, negotiation and adaptation \Vere part of a pervasive trend as Mesoan1erica's Indian co1nn1unities became more fluid social entities \Vid1 native peoples coming and going bet\veen ho1ne ai1d locations far- ther a\vay. This resulted in tnore 1noven1ent up and do\vn the social ranks of New Spain, as \Veil as increased social and cultural n1ixrures. As \Ve shall see in this book, this same fluidity is true for some of Mesoamerica's n1ai1y religious practices, \vorldvie\vs, and shrines. Paul Kirchhoffs intellectual discovery of me Mesoamericai1 cultural and geographical area did not give sufficient attention to d1e dynainic religions at the heart of d1e urban revolution in d1is part of the A1nericas. We no\V know mat religious ideas, sytnbols, and images \Vere imprinted and acted out, before and after the conquest, in me n1ai1y ceremonial centers,

A reconstructed model of the Aztec ceremonial center in Tenochtitlan. The twin pyramid complex in the background was dedicated to two principal Aztec deities-Tlaloc, representing water and ferti lity, and Huitzilopochdi, representing war and tribute. The circular temple in the foreground was dedicated to cre- ator deity Quetzalcoatl Ehecatl, as lord of the wind. Introduction 9 churches, con1pow1ds, pilgrin1age pathways, and n1iracle shrines that set the style and gave meaning ro daily life. The Second Ed ition of Religions of Mesoamerica cotnes at a turning point in the study of the Americas and the religious and cultural histories of the New World. The First Edition '"as first published in 1990 on the eve of the SOOth anniversary of Columbus's landfall. In the years since, there have been n1ajor discoveries and breakthroughs in understanding about almost every region and culture in Mesoatnerica's pre-Hispanic, colonial, and contemporary eras. Ne\v knowledge about the Aztec capital, Maya rituals, Teotihuacan burials, colonial-era documents, Mexican identity, 1nigrations, and transculturation have con1e from excavations, archives, fieldwork, publications, spectacular and \Veil-attended museum exhibitions, and ne\V curricula taught at 1nany universities. Further, \Vithin the next decade there will be nutnerous celebrations of the SOOrh anniversary of the first "Grear Encuenrro" \vhen Spanish expeditions to Mesoan1erica began in 1517 and the first n1utual discoveries and exchanges benveen European and indigenous peoples took place. Also, as Mexicans, Guaten1alans, Hondurans, and others from Larin A1nerica migrate into the United Stares, they bring local knov.rledge about Maya calendars and cuisine, spaces of the afterlife, Aztec myths of n1igrarion, beliefs in ancestors reborn fron1 sacred trees and mountains, indigenous goddesses, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus, \vhose brother \Vas a Maya trickster. Biologists, erhnoboranists, anthropologists, and lin- guisrs-1nany working with native and mestizo peoples--are reaching us just hov,r profound and long lasting the exchanges benveen indigenous, European, and African cultures and peoples within the An1ericas have been. Related to this is our ongoing a\\•areness of ho\v contemporary native peoples in parts of Mesoan1erica and the United Stares continue ro face relentless social and syn1bo lic attacks on their sacred traditions and everyday survival. We are no\v undergoing a second great encuenr:ro-,vhere Larin A1nerican and Latino cultures are meeting and reshaping \Vith new force the Anglo- and African-American-dominated society in the United Stares. Mesoamerica will be one of the many cultural areas \vhere our national and global future will be revitalized, challenged, and shaped. As this book shows, the religious imagination was and continues to be cru- cial to the survival and creativity of Mesomnerica and its descendants \vho are part of this future. CE 1600 1500 AzrK t 1325-152 1 CE 1400 1300 1200 1100 1000 900 800 700 600 CLASSIC M AYA 500 200- 900 CE 400 300 MoNn ALllAN 500 BCE-800 CE 200 i Moxnc KAMINAUUYO 1350SCE- 1521 CE CE 100 ----- BCE 100 -t--_------1000BCE-l000cr------200 300 l zA•A 600 BCE-100 CE 400 500 600 l 700 800 900 O\.ac: 1400-400 BCE '-TIVIMAYA 1000 1800-200aa 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700

BCE 1800 Timeline of so1ne ancienc Mesoamerican civilizacions. - - - ret1e10Ns oF MesoaMer1ca

S8COND 8DITION l\ reLIGIONS oF MesoaMer1ca

seCOND 8DITION

Davfd Carrasco Harvard University

WAVEIAND

Long Grove, Illinois For informac ion abouc this book, concacc: Waveland Press, Inc. 4180 IL Route 83, Suice 101 Long Grove, IL 6004 7-9580 (847) 634-0081 info@\vaveland.con1 \V\V\V. \Vaveland.com

Frontispiece: This stylized map of the founding of the Aztec capital, Tenochtit- lan, shows the patron god Huitzilopochtli in the form of an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus in the center of the four quadrants. Below, warriors with shields and flint-studded clubs are shown next to two conquered communities, represented by smoking temples and tilted and thatched roofs. Surrounding the scene are year dates. From the Codex Mendoza, a postconquest manuscript pre- p-ared by the first viceroy of New Spain around 1542.

10-digic ISBN 1-4786-07 40-8 13-digic ISBN 978-1-4 786-07 40-3

Printed in the United States of A1nerica

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents

Ackno\vledgn1ents 1x Author's Note x1

Introduction 1

1 Mesoamerica and R eligions: 11 Shock of the New and Differen t Fantasies and Inventions of Mesoan1erica 15 How Can We Kno,v? The Ensemble Approach to Evidence 26 Religion as World1naking, Worldcentering, and Worldrene\ving 37

2 Mesoamerican Religions: 41 Origins, Ancestors, and H isto ries Plants and the Sacred Dead 44 The Olmec World: A Mother Culture? 47 Astrono1ny and the Sacred Ball Gan1e 52 The Classic Maya: Kings and Cosmic Trees 55 T eotihuacan: The ln1perial Capital 57 T ollan: C ity of the Plumed Serpent 61 Aztec War, Cosn1ic Conflict 64 The Mesoamerican Cosn1ovision 69

VII v1u Contents

3 The Religion of the Aztecs: 75 Ways of the Warrior, Words of the Sage My Aztec Moment 75 Quetzalcoatl's Return? 78 The Sacred Career of T opiltzin Quetzalcoatl 79 Cosmovision and the Human Body 85 Serpent Mountain: The Great Aztec Temple 89 Speech as a Ceremony benveen Humans 98 Rites ofRene\val and Hu1nan Sacrifice 105

4 Maya Religion: Cosmic Trees, Sacred Kings, 11 3 and the Underworld The Lost Civilization of the Maya 116 TheCosmicTree 121 Sacred Kingship 126 TI1e Calendar and the Regeneration of Time 136 Archaeoastronomy and the Maya 139 TI1e Ordeals of Xibalba 140 TI1e Maya Collapse 145

5 Mesoamerica as a New Borderlands: 147 Colonialism and Religious Creativity La Malinche and Hybrid Mesoamerica 14 7 Destruction of People and the Invention of New Religious Patterns 151 When Christ Was Crucified 156 The Virgin of Guadalupe 159 The Peyote Hunt of the Huichol Indians 164 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) 168 The Fiesta of Santiago among the Tzutuj il Maya 174 Conclusions 181

Chronology of Mesoamerican Religions 189 Endnotes 193 Glossary 199 Selected Reading List 205 Index 211 ..... •'"1"=-··· ······· ...... ·. .' . N .... '•.. ·· •. . '."; '\.., . • ... " . . or ...... ""· . f.I " . Gulf of Mexico "·" ·. ' ,, ...... •·. ·, . " ...... "·... chlctlln .,, ...... · BT4" Q "2'.l • u.,,... • Tula (T- ) ·. .... ; 0 .· . MEXICO .: r ...... \ ...... ' . _.oo U*:• oll#rleo1"$1, lliuCllll "- fF: ...... : 0 Chol•"'...... - • A Ch.. C*lztngO A • ••• , •• ,_, •..•.-<' .. , • ··.. .._ Tres z.pot• r ' •••• .,.... l • 1.avent.1 ,-· -·- - · --·v . ' "· / 4 • Xoc ., I . : "-...... • Oll'lotlttan • , . _ TIQI • BELIZE !1 : ,...,.Jil..1..-- •. ... · • San Lorenzo ..,._.,. i c:> • 1 • ...... '· . 1 : .... , ' ,1 .: S.• ...... Monti Albliln 0 Bontmpall; e'f! Y•• Chl•n : ...... • • •• • El Mir9dc:w ' ' :• ••• . J • ·ti "··., r ·- ·- · " _...... ,. ., .. .,.,:...... · .------, ...... i; GUATEMALA / ·' \, • Mi•c •11• ..., •," j() Upe ·" ·•• • Me'fl • ltn ... "' . A OltNC tltts ...... D "-., 0 Othof •ll" ...... "·. ···.... •·m1••i.• · , .' HONDURAS \ Mocl9m lnt... n1tlonel boundlf'lff " -...... "'" ·-,,.yu f") •..,, ....._, ••• . M&lllmum ••t.nt Of IM MtSOl lNflCtn bOund•ry .... ' !" .... \ • ...... · ,,,,,,, EL '' ... .• ., "·.. SALVADOR Paciffc Ocean ...... " --4 ...... ta. '/......

Map I. Mesoamerica.