The Cosmovision of the Mesoamericans

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The Cosmovision of the Mesoamericans
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General Ideas of the Mesoamerican Cosmovision

• Mesoamericans were not united linguistically or
  politically.
• There were many elements of spiritual belief that
  were a common throughout the area.
• Mesoamerican is often defined as people in
  North and Central America that used a 260 day
  ritual calendar.
• Some commonly repeated sacred symbols jaguars,
  birds, snakes, bats, copal, jade, rubber.
• We use the word cosmovision instead of
  cosmology because the Mesoamericans viewed the
  world in both spatial and temporal aspects.

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Some Spatial Aspects

• The 3 levels of the universe
• Sky/celestial space
• Earth
• Underworld (inframundo)
• The 4 corners of the world
• East (dawn)
• North (region of the underworld)
• West (region of women)
• South (region of thorns)
• And also a fifth -- Center

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Some Temporal Aspects

• 365 day solar/agricultural calendar
• 260 day ritual calendar
• Imagine layers of time calculations, and imagine
  the points that these two calendars meet.

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260 day Ritual Calendar

• In Nahual, called the Tonalpohualli
• Shares the spatial worldview of 4s and 5s
• 1 month is 20 days 5 days x 4 weeks
• A deity reigns over each week
• Each week is attributed to a direction
• 13 months in the 260 day calendar
• Ceremonial days in the 260 day calendar are
  called moveable feasts

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Counting the Days

• Counting the days was an important spiritual
  practice.
• In the Popul Vuh, the deities make varied
  attempts at creating beings, none of which is
  successful.
• The deities lament What is there for us to make
  that would turn out well, that would success in
  keeping our days and praying for us?

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Reciprocal Relationship

• The gods create humans, who are therefore in
  their debt. The ongoing existence of human life
  depends on the generous gifts of life, which the
  gods continue to dispense through children,
  germination, rain, sunshine, the supply of
  animals, and the objects of power. But the gods
  are dependent beings, at least in the Maya world.
  They depend on humans to care, nurture,
  acknowledge, and renew their powers. (Carrasco
  107)

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Ancestor Reverence

• Still practiced in Mexico today with Day of the
  Dead ceremonies.
• Common worldwide.
• Ancestors were considered allies for the living
• Altars are made to entice the dead to return

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Reciprocity between humans and plants

• The domestication of maize (corn) has been
  mythologized in many creation stories.
• The maize plant is not well-developed for
  self-propogation. Domesticated maize either needs
  to either grow in a dense field or rely on human
  pollination.

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Areas and time-periods

• Tlatilco Central Mexico, 1500-500 BCE
• Olmecs Eastern coastal Mexico, 1200 BCE 600
  ce
• Maya Chiapas, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras,
  Belize and other areas, 1800 BCE
• Totonac Eastern coastal Mexico, 900 1250 CE
• Aztec Central Mexico, 1300 1500 CE

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Tlatilco (Where things are hidden)

• 1500 500 bce
• Located south of present day Mexico City
• Small villages with Neolithic characteristics
• Evidence of Olmec style statues in burials
• Abundance of female figurines

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Burials from Tlatilco
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Burials from Tlatilco
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Olmecs

• Indigenous to the Veracruz Coast
• Art is distinctive and influential
• Civilization at its peak from 1200 bce 600 ce
• Noted for large ceremonial centers and Colossal
  Head sculptures
• May have invented ball game
• May have invented 260 day ritual calendar

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• Note how head was originally tilted to look up to
  sky
• Note negroid features leads to theories of
  African travel

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• Evidence of shamanic practices and belief found
  in much of Olmec art
• Jaguar potent symbol
• Child with downturned mouth another frequent
  symbol

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Olmec figures from La Venta
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Olmec figure
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Olmec Stele 19 from La Venta
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Olmec "The Wrestler" 600 - 100 BCEFrom Santa
María Uxpanapa, now Antonio Plaza, Veracruz near
Minititlan, Veracruz
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Las Limas statue
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Maya Civilization

• Situated in areas near Chiapas and Guatemala
• Early civilization dates 1800 bce
• Many great ritual centers
• Traded in cocao (chocolate), coffee, and other
  fabulous delicacies
• Created written language
• Calendric system based on Olmec dating system

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• Yaxchilan

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• Image of Lady Xoc performing tongue piercing
  ritual
• She is the head of the matrilinear line of rulers
  of Yaxchilan
• Blood drips from her tongue onto the basket of
  papers below

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• Carved image from Yaxchilan, Chiapas
• Lady Xoc calling upon an ancestor
• Indicates ancestor reverence and shamanic rituals

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• Lady Xoc gives jaguar helmet to King
• Scene shows preparation for battle

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Totonac CultureVeracruz and Tabasco

• Early Postclassic Period 900 1250 CE
• Built El Tajin, a ceremonial center with many
  large pyramids
• Famous for the Danza de los voladores

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Cihuateteo

• Figure is 135 cm tall
• Double-headed inverted U dragon headdress
• Censer is in the shape of a bat head the bat is
  associated with the underworld and seeing in
  the dark
• The bottom of censer similar to a bulto,
  wrappings for a dead body
• The snakes are tied in the ollin style knot.
  The protruding tongues support the heads

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Cihuateteo

• This is the only statue retaining its color
• The double-headed dragon on the headdress is in
  the sky-band shape
• Around her waist is a cord tied in an intricate
  knot and a string of shells
• The marine characteristics associate her with
  Chalchiuhtlicue

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Cihuateteo

• Figure is 105 cm tall
• Note sun rays behind her head
• Monkey on her headdress could refer to the day
  she died
• The snakes are tied in the ollin style knot
• Her mouth and hands show distinct post-mortem
  characteristics
• Her feet are interestingly crafted as they appear
  under her dress.

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Mictlantecuhtli

• The statues of the Cihuateteo from Veracruz were
  found in a large ofrenda with this statue of
  Mictlantecuhtli in the center.
• The altar behind the statue is 5.8 meters long
  and 3.27 meters wide. The statue is 1.6 meters
  tall.
• The statue is of unbaked clay, facing north.
• The Cihuateteo were lined up, single file, on the
  west side of Mictlantecuhtli, also facing north.

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Caras Sonrientes
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Tlazolteotl
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Chicomecoatl
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Huastec
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Huastec
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Aztec Empire

• 1300 1500 ce
• Originally from the north of Mexico, south of the
  United States
• Adopted much of ancient Toltec culture, which had
  adopted much from Olmec culture
• Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan were main ritual
  areas, both in present day Mexico City
• Quetzalcoatl one of many principle god/desses
  worshipped

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Teotihuacan place where men become gods
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Quetzalcoatl
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Coyolxauhqui
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Coatlicue
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Xochiquetzal
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Chalchihuitlicue
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Cihuateteo in the Borgia Codex
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Tezcatlipoca in the Codex Féjérváry-Mayer
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Tlazolteotl from the Codex Laud
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Tlazolteotl in the Codex Féjérváry-Mayer
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Bibliography

• Carrasco, D. (1990). Religions of Mesoamerica.
  San Francisco HarperSanFrancisco.
• Coe, M.D. (1997). Mexico From the Olmecs to the
  Aztecs. New York Thames and Hudson.
• Leon-Portilla, M. (1982). Aztec thought and
  culture. Norman University of Oklahoma Press.
• Markman, R. H. and Markman, P.T. (1992). The
  flayed god. San Francisco HarperSanFrancisco.
• Miller, M.E. and Taube, K. (1993). The
  illustrated dictionary fo the gods and symbols of
  ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York Thames and
  Hudson.
• Tedlock, D. (1985). Popul Vuh. New York Simon
  and Schuster.