Reading Maize: a narrative and psychological approach to the study of divination in Mesoamerica
The casting of maize seeds is a tool used by contemporary daykeepers in the Ayöök (Mixe) area of Oaxaca, Mexico, which along with the prognostications and prescriptions of the 260-day calendar, helps to cure illnesses and afflictions. This divinatory practice was also employed by precolonial tonalp...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Recurso Electrónico Artigo |
| Idioma: | Inglês |
| Verificar disponibilidade: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Carregar...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publicado em: |
CEEOL
[2016]
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| Em: |
Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
Ano: 2016, Volume: 15, Número: 43, Páginas: 102-124 |
| (Cadeias de) Palavra- chave padrão: | B
Mittelamerika
/ Milho
/ Adivinhação
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| Classificações IxTheo: | AG Vida religiosa KBR América Latina |
| Outras palavras-chave: | B
divinatory narratives
B divinatory signs B Maize divination B Borgia Group B Codices B Mixe B Mesoamerica |
| Acesso em linha: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Resumo: | The casting of maize seeds is a tool used by contemporary daykeepers in the Ayöök (Mixe) area of Oaxaca, Mexico, which along with the prognostications and prescriptions of the 260-day calendar, helps to cure illnesses and afflictions. This divinatory practice was also employed by precolonial tonalpouhque, who were experts of reading the tonalamatl, the pictographic manuscripts with calendrical, ritual and oracular content, such as the now called Borgia Group codices. In this article maize divination will be described and analyzed, arguing that maize divination results in images that can be read in a similar way to these codices. The reading of maize is approached here by employing the concepts of signs and symbols as described by Carl Jung and the notions of chronotope and dialogical narratives by Mijail Bakhtin. The Jungian understanding of divinatory practices as a means of gaining consciousness of oneself is also applied to argue in favor of the therapeutic capacity of reading maize, as it offers relief and triggers action. |
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| ISSN: | 1583-0039 |
| Obras secundárias: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
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