The Metaphor of the Day in Ancient Mexican Myth and Ritual [and Comments and Reply]
The myths of the pre-Columbian Mesoamericans follow a pattern that is well known to historians of religion. At the time of creation, all created beings, whether people or gods, lived together with the Supreme Couple in a paradise in which death was unknown. As a result of a sin-usually the first sex...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
1981
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| In: |
Current anthropology
Year: 1981, Volume: 22, Issue: 1, Pages: 45-60 |
| Further subjects: | B
Girard, René (1923-2015)
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The myths of the pre-Columbian Mesoamericans follow a pattern that is well known to historians of religion. At the time of creation, all created beings, whether people or gods, lived together with the Supreme Couple in a paradise in which death was unknown. As a result of a sin-usually the first sexual relations-the creatures were exiled to earth and darkness, and death made its appearance. The sacrifice of a hero became necessary-one who, like the sun, would perish and rise again and triumph over death and darkness so that contact would be reestablished with the Supreme Couple, light would return to the world, and creatures would have the possibility of an after life. This cyclically repeated pattern corresponds to the pattern of the day: the original paradise is the afternoon; the sin is the penetration and fertilization of the earth by the setting sun; the consequence is night; the sacrifice of the hero causes the sun to rise again. The "historical" accounts reveal again and again the same story and the same methaphor. The "history" of the Toltecs and that of the Aztec Mexicas are only variations on this same mythic theme, which is common to all of Mesoamerica. Finally, the different episodes of the myth are reenacted in festivals for the various "months" of the solar year, which itself resembles a day-the rainy season representing the night and the dry season day. The structure of the ritual year is only revealed, however, when an adjustment has been made in the calendar. Contrary to what is generally thought, the Mesoamericans never added days in order to adjust their 365-day year to the actual length of the tropical year. Thus their festivals gradually shifted over the course of the years. It is appropriate to interpret them, not as they appeared in the 16th century, but according to their original positions around A.D. 680-83, when the rites and the seasons of the year were in exact correspondence with each other. |
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| ISSN: | 1537-5382 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Current anthropology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/202602 |