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Si bien el pensamiento prehispánico en torno a la muerte es diverso, existen elementos comunes en las prácticas funerarias, como los ritos, que aseguraron el paso del difunto hacia el mundo espiritual, y los mitos, que permitieron la comunicación y veneración del muerto. Los entierros humanos representan uno de los vestigios más productivos para la investigación arqueológica. En este número se compilan algunos ejemplos de las costumbres funerarias practicadas por pueblos antiguos del noroeste de México. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes and analyzes Wixarika mythology related to rivers, oceans and rain, especially in light of the concerns for their mythology raised by the construction of two hydroelectric dams: one already constructed at Aguamilpa on the Grande de Santiago River, and another soon to be built on the San Pedro River. The objective of the essay is to underscore some principles for understanding the internal logic of Wixarika rhetoric in terms of otherness and the transformation of tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resemblance between Claude Lévi-Strauss's structuralism and Carl Jung's theory of the archetypes of the collective unconscious has been occasionally discussed. However, Lévi-Strauss followed the foundation of Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, stressing the group dynamics of structural anthropology, whereas Jung's psychology is an individual psychology. Jung employed myths as a series of images to interpret symbols of the collective unconscious, whereas Lévi-Strauss adopted theories of linguistics to analyse myths as narratives. From Lévi-Strauss's point of view, a single cultural complex cannot be isolated from other groups of cultural complexes, as they are relational with regard to the exchange of symbols and signs. Lévi-Strauss's comparison of the European and Native American twin mythology is a case study of the cultural complex when it is read from the perspective of Jungian psychology. How can we approach the mythology that is not one's own culture? Do we impose our own mythology onto others'? Or do we analyse them more objectively as systems of thought? The trickster, for example, is a discourse by Western culture about Western culture, and it has a very different meaning for Native American people. With a prophetic warning to future generations, Lévi-Strauss died in 2009 - his centennial year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre las creencias religiosas y mitológicas de los grupos indígenas de México acerca de la influencia de los malos aires en la salud humano.

The article analyzes the Indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth story of "How Son of Raven Stole the Light". The connection between the story's description of giving and the potlatch custom of food sharing is scrutinized along with the alleged relationship between the invisible and visible worlds and a GKS conference held in Grainau, Germany.

The exclusion of Native Americans from their own cultural heritage is a persistent problem in twenty-first museums. Although in recent decades museums have greatly expanded their programs and institutional frameworks to be more inclusive, experimental projects remain vital to creating new bridges between American museums and Native Americans. In 2010 and 2011, an innovative pilot program titled the 'Native American Museum and Technology Workshop' was hosted at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The two-week intensive workshop brought 10 Native American high school students to the museum to create a proposal and working model for an interactive web interface. Although the project did not fundamentally alter the museum's approach to Native culture, it provides one model for expanding how Native Americans can be included in museums through a digital voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses four versions of the myth of Inkarrí, which explains the defeat and behead of the last Inca ruler by Spanish conquerors, focusing on ethnographic research among the indigenous peoples Machiguenga and Quero in Shipetiari and Quero, Peru. Topics addressed include an overview of the evolution of the myth among the Machiguenga, the social conditions and migrations of the Quero in the 21st century, and a messianic version of the myth with Christian references among the Quero.

El artículo discurre sobre le origen y los aspectos religiosos de la planta de México el maguey y la bebida alcohólica el pulque. El autor comenta sobre la mitología y los ritos mexicanos, los sacrificios humanos a la diosa del maguey Mayáhuel y los usos de las espinas de la planta. El artículo ofrece varias imágenes de la planta y los usos.

Historical writings on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most revered sacred figure indigenous to the Western Hemisphere, focus largely on her cult's origins. Scholars disagree on whether reports of Guadalupe's 1531 appearances to the indigenous neophyte Juan Diego initiated devotion to her or whether the apparition tradition is a later invention that provided a mythical origin for an already existing image and devotion. This essay critiques the standard argument against a foundational apparition tradition as exemplified in the work of Stafford Poole. The reevaluation sheds light on the scope of early indigenous devotion and the genesis of belief in the apparitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discute las representaciones de perros asociadas con tradiciones funerarias en figurillas pertenecientes a la tradición de las tumbas de tiro del Occidente de México, una cultura precolombina del periodo comprendido entre 250 a.C. a 450 d.C. Los temas discutidos incluyen ritos funerarios en esta tradición, la relación entre el perro y el hombre en las culturas mesoamericanas y el perro en los mitos de la creación nahua.

The increasing influence of New Animism is providing useful ways of interpreting rock art as well as ways to move beyond generalizing models based upon Cartesian principles. However, the increasing attention to animism runs the risk of simply replacing one generalization with another. To avoid the pitfalls of generalization, this article sets out to explore the ways in which relational ontology may have been communicated throughout indigenous society in a specific case study from south-central California. To do this requires adopting a ‘third space’ approach (Porr & Bell 2011) to detail the didactic and pedagogical narrative roles of rock art and mythology in south-central California. Paraphrasing Bird-David (2006), the goal is to understand how an animistic epistemology is enacted into an institutionalized way of knowing. To do this, I look closely at new information on rock-art chronology in conjunction with mythological narratives. It is suggested that the vibrant pictographs of the region drew upon ontological notions of the past embodied at specific places in the landscape and that the narrative structure of myth helps inform our understanding of the narrative structure of rock-art composition. This provides an appreciation of indigenous perceptions of time, which in turn shows that mythology was a template for human institutions while explaining rock art as another ontological institution that was part-and-parcel of relational ideologies associated with ‘delayed-return’ complex societies of south-central California. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

El artículo enfoca en el libro "Relación de Michoacán" escrito por Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá en 1540. Se describe el contenido mítico-histórico del libro, que combina leyendas y mitos, información etnográfica y datos históricos sobre los orígenes y la experiencia histórica de los indios purépecha de Michoacán (México). Se comenta también sobre su valor historiográfico y su utilidad para investigaciones arqueológicas.

El artículo enfoca en la tradición mítico-histórica de origen compartido y luego de separación entre los pueblos prehispánicos nahua y purépecha. El menciona su trasmisión a autores españoles del siglo 16 como Diego Durán, Juan de Tovar y Jerónimo de Alcalá y reflexiona sobre las investigaciones arqueológicas dirigidas a comprender el origen y las migraciones de los pueblos de la región de Michoacán, México.

The article looks at different approaches towards the politics of reconciliation in the case of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The author suggests that the novel “Kiss of the Fur Queen” by writer Tomson Highway advocates the establishment of cross-cultural practices while novelist Joseph Boyden’s “Three Day Road” affirms the need to restore the culture and lifestyle of the Cree Indians. The use of Cree legendary figures Weetigo/windigo and Weesageechak in both novels is discussed.

I consider data from Cree and Métis history, ethnology, and mythology to focus on three transformative modes (integration, disintegration, and mediation) in relation to concepts of community. I develop an allegorical fantasy of oily monsters, tricksters, and their appetites arising from liquid commodities, in opposition to more integrative ritual practices that have historically underpinned community in the oil sands region of northern Alberta. Specifically, I suggest that (petro)-capitalism can be compared to the monstrous Windigo (not a trickster) with respect to its uncontrolled appetites and growth, and also that various proposed technical remediations resemble the vain adventures of the hubristic, foolish, and acquisitive Amerindian Trickster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the summer ceremonial of the Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia. Topics include the relation of the ceremonial to the people's winter ceremonial, the role of salmon in the ritual, and animistic religious aspects of the ceremonial. Also addressed are the role of the ritual in resource management and wildlife conservation in the Northwest Coast region of North America, the definition of religion in the thought of scholar Franz Boas, and the role of oral tradition in preserving related mythology.

This paper analyses a new media art projection in Winnipeg, Canada. The projection of digital animations visually illustrates the narrative of Sky Woman, a North American indigenous creation myth, and is to be installed over the Assiniboine River at The Forks, a Manitoba tourism and heritage site located in downtown Winnipeg. After projecting the work at the site, the artists intend to share the animated projection via online databases such as YouTube. Given that The Forks is the actual location of the event described in the Sky Woman story, there is a direct and specific relationship imagined between the geographic place that the projection will occupy and its content and form. The various elements of this installation--place, content and form--posit a contemporary indigenous epistemology of place and sited memory, interrupting a fixed sense of place or landscape undergirding Canadian national imaginaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The popular imagery of the inhabitants of 1,000-year old Cholula, sacred metropolis of Mesoamerica, is populated by supernatural beings that act under cover of the night. Occasionally, they harm those who break social norms (adulterers, drunks, those who stay out all night) or they may help with illnesses, meteorological phenomena or wars. The Devil forms part of today’s imagery, but his constitution and trades go back to the Conquest of ancient Mexico. During a prolonged process of synthesis of beliefs, this character becomes mixed up with deities of the pantheon of the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica. The Devil in Cholula becomes linked to the mountain, a sacred place in the geography of this community, according to the myths and tales that we collected. He keeps his treasures in a palace built inside the mountain, as the ‘Lord of the Mountain’, an important deity who lived in the underworld, did before him. Similarly, because of this physical appearance, the Devil has acquired traits from another god of the pre-Hispanic pantheon, Tezcatlipoca, ‘Lord of the Smoking Mirror’, whose sphere of numinous action revolves around the prediction of the destinies of human beings. For that reason, the evangelizers fused the Devil and Tezcatlipoca in a single entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on changes in Caddo stories about the sun across time and space. The author presents various sun accounts out of chronological order to emphasize the similarities and differences between separate accounts and the non-linear nature of time in Native American tradition. Particular focus is given to accounts collected by 20th-century ethnologist George Dorsey and to his Caddo informants' motivations in sharing their stories with him. Caddo dance is also discussed.

This essay approaches the relationship that J. Edward Chamberlin posits between stories and land from the standpoint of First Nations narrative and reflects on the process by which outsiders may come to understand how Native storytellers construct meaning and reflect on their present-day social and political circumstances. Such storytellers often employ traditional stories to establish cultural continuity and provide templates for contemporary reflexivity. Examples are drawn from more than four decades of fieldwork as a linguistic anthropologist, primarily among Plains Cree and Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) peoples. Some proposals are made for establishing respectful relationships and transcending cross-cultural mis-communication. The essay both articulates and employs First Nations pedagogical principles drawn from oral tradition. It attempts to establish effective conversations across traditional academic disciplines of the humanities and social sciences as well as between Native and non-Native discourses. Because cross-cultural differences in meaning-making are deeply grounded in social practice as well as language in the narrow sense, careful attention to the underlying relational quality of philosophical thought in specific Native traditions is required to calibrate narrative practices and the appropriate forms of interaction entailed by them. The stories themselves are the tip of a complex iceberg and effective storytellers invite hearers or readers to interpret their words in terms of rich social and aesthetic conventions that differ greatly from those of mainstream Canadian society. "Common ground" is about traditional land in a literal sense but it is also about the potential for discursive common ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, archaeological researchers have re-examined Lower Pecos River Style rock art with the intention of providing different possible interpretations of the several panels in the region. One of them, the "White Shaman" (41-VV-124), located in Val Verde County, Texas, has been one of the most studied in the area. Some researchers have stated that the panel can be interpreted by referring to Huichol and other Mesoamerican mythologies; these interpretations are based on color symbolism and other apparent parallelisms present in the rock art. This paper introduces a new potential alternative interpretation of some iconographies based on current and in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico and the United States among different groups of Amerindians. Focused on the potential use of the color black, as well as two related iconographies in specific mythologies, this article demonstrates that detailed ethnographic information can lead researchers to find additional potential connections to the regional rock art and other contemporary Amerindian ethnicities. This research confirms some previous interpretations, and suggests new avenues of approach to the rock art of the Lower Pecos by incorporating new ethnographic information and introducing ethnologic theoretical reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espanola de Antropologia Americana is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Espanola de Antropologia Americana is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

When two conflicting worldviews come into contact, tension is bound to result, and eventually violence, and conquest of one by the other. It is not so much a matter of the Darwinian-inspired notion of the survival of the fittest, but perhaps merely of "survival," tout court, in the face of predatory invasion. The Indigenous perception of the world, as a whole made up of infinite interactive elements, like a gigantic spider's web, where everything acts upon and depends on anything else, conducted their cultures onto a circular path on an immense spiral, rather than onto a hierarchical line of evolution, or a mere sequence of chronological events. As a matter of fact, chronos played only a minor role in the theatre of their lives, whereas mythic time and space played a major role. Out of this mythic, eternal, dreamtime area came prophecy. And in prophecy is rooted much of present-day cultural affirmation. Could this be the vision of the Ghost-Dancers? Or the path to Paradise Regained for mankind as a whole? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines claims made by various Native American tribes over Mount Taylor, an extinct volcano located in New Mexico, United States. The history of the region is outlined, from Spanish colonization to the Mexican-American war and it's development at the hands of Americans in the twentieth century. Navajo mythology regarding the mountain is explored.

"Two Tlapanec Myths" is a contribution in which the two authors colaborate. Felix Ramirez Cantú, speaker of Tlapanec, a language also known as me'phaa̲, is a member of the community of Malinaltepec, and Peter Lodewijk van der Loo is an anthropologist and ethnohistorian. They present two texts, published here as transcribed in a practical orthography by Félix Ramírez, and translated into Spanish and English. In their introduction the authors also briefly discuss the complex history for the place names used for Malinaltepec in Tlapanec and Nahuatl, and clarify their definition of the term myth. In their commentaries they point out several parallels and contrasts with other Meso-american traditions. The first myth is " Mba̲tsuun, dxaguíi gajmí bigo̲ 'Fire, his Sister and the Lightning Bolts'", which concerns the origin of rain. Recorded in November 1979, it was narrated by Felipe Chávez Poblano (1900-1996), of Malinaltepec, a respected specialist in Tlapanec ritual. It was transcribed in April 2009 by Ramírez Cantú. Mba̲tsuun is the proper name of the Fire God. The authors note that the figure of Mba̲tsuun's sister is called in Tlapanec Gu̲mba I̲'kho̲ Ginii, meaning Old Woman (Gu̲mba) Crocodile (I̲'kho̲) First (Ginii), in which the word for crocodile can also be understood as "devourer". The Old Woman has the power to make anything her own by setting it on fire with her fiery tongue. Mba̲tsuun steals this power from her to pass it to his sons, the Bigo̲, giving each son fire in the form of a lightning bolt with which the rains will come. After having been robbed, the old woman is reduced to receiving offerings from the people in the form of the counted bundles which the Tlapanecs use for their rituals. The second myth, " Xo̲we ga̲imaa iya mi'xá 'Opossum and the Pulque'", narrated and taped in May of 1983- In this case Félix Ramírez Cantú, was also the narrator. The Tlapanec invoked the help of the opossum, the culture bringer of Tlapanec tradition. The first use of pulque in the myth leads to discord among the people. With the help of the animals the quarrels are resolved, but the warning stands that pulque brings as much danger as pleasure, an example in which a myth provides a code of behavior for our time. Thus, the Tlapanecs traditionally drink pulque with certain ritual precautions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented discussing the history of the Native American Indian Shaker church in the Canada-U.S. Pacific Northwest. It describes the relationship between Indian mythology and Shaker understandings of the human spirit and soul, the syncretism between Christianity and Indian religious traditions, and the spiritual practices of Coast Salish/Puget Salish peoples.

El artículo enfoca en las creencias y los mitos de las culturas prehispánicas sobre la creación del mundo y del tiempo. Se analiza el simbolismo de la creación de la tierra y la erección del árbol cósmico, que representan dos mitos fundamentales. Se examinan las historias parecidas de la creación del mundo de varios grupos de indios de México, que incluyen la interacción y la transformación de los dioses. Se menciona el desarrollo del concepto del tiempo mediante el símbolo del árbol cósmico.

El artículo considera el significado de los tlaquimilolli o bultos sagrados en las prácticas religiosas de los indios mesoamericanos. Según su mitología, los bultos vinieron del sacrificio de varias deidades que dieron mantas a sus devotos. Se nota que cada bulto representa a un dios y contiene objetos religiosos, como huesos y mazorcas. Se analizan las funciones de los bultos como portales de comunicación con el dios e instrumentos en los rituales de sacrificio y de entronización de los reyes.

El artículo considera los rituales y las ceremonias funerarios de la antigua población indígena de México. Se describe el periodo de la conquista española en México durante el siglo 16 y el encuentro con la gente indígena y sus prácticas religiosas. Se analizan estas prácticas, como el depósito en cuevas de los muertos cubiertos en tela o fibras vegetales, que momificaron los cuerpos. Se examina la relación entre los mitos de creación y los rituales funerarios de la gente prehispánica.

El artículo enfoca en la comprensión de la transgresión sexual en la cosmovisión prehispánica. Se hace referencia a las transgresiones sexuales y a la asociación entre discapacidad y transgresión en la mitología prehispánica. El autor tanbién aborda las prácticas sexuales transgresoras entre los grupos prehispánicos y algunas de sus ideas sobre cuerpo y comportamiento.

The article discusses the influence of Amazonian animism on the study of nahualism (nagualism), brought about by the contributions of researchers such as Philippe Descola and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. It describes nahualism as a belief system in which some human beings are born with and accompanied by non-human entities that protect and assist them throughout their lives.

The article presents a kinship study of the Cowessess First Nation, an Indian nation located in Saskatchewan. It particularly focuses on tensions between Cowessess' understandings of kinship and the legal definition of an Indian according to Canada's Indian Act, or Bill C-31. The author examines the importance of the traditional stories of Elder Brother, a trickster and transformer, among the Cowessess in defining tribe membership. Other topics include communal identity, the Cowessess' multiculturalism, and nineteenth century First Nations leader Louis O'Soup.

Lejos de lo que pudiera suponerse, son contadas las imágenes conocidas de Coyolxauhqui. Varían mucho entre sí en tamaño, materia prima y calidad. Algunas representan a la diosa de cuerpo entero, otras lo hacen decapitada y otras más figuran solamente su cabeza. Sin embargo, todas la plasman como una mujer muerta, recién vencida por su inclemente hermano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the two novels: "The Dark Pond" and "Whisper in the Dark" by Abenaki writer Joseph Bruchac. The author observes that while Bruchac makes a connection between the horror story and adolescence despite one's cultural background, he also integrates notions of the uncanny. It says that the integration of American Indian mythology deconstructs the known genre of the horror story to make it different. The author also discloses that the underlying theme of the two novels is that one's maturity comes from understanding one's identity.

El artículo enfoca en la historia y los orígenes prehispánicos de los símbolos nacionales mexicanos: el águila, el nopal, la serpiente y la piedra. El autor cita el trasfondo religioso mexica de estos símbolos--en particular el águila y el nopal--y describe el proceso de desacralización y adaptación al contexto cristiano del período colonial. Considera también sus lazos con la ciudad prehispánica de Tenochtitlán y aborda el simbolismo católico español de la virgen de Guadalupe.

This paper results from research conducted between October 1994 and August 1995 on the oral tradition of the Yokoyinik'ob, the “true people” of Chontales in Tamulté de las Sabanas in the Mexican state of Tabasco. A little over sixty stories were recorded and transcribed in the research. Some of the stories that are considered to be “creation stories” or “creation histories” will be discussed in this paper. In Tamulté stories are not classified as “myth” but are called “historias” (hi)stories. Some stories, like creation narratives for example, do refer to primordial times: times before corn existed or times when the skies had not yet risen. Much in the same way, what is often referred to as the “supernatural” in Tamulté is actually not “super”-natural; it is very much part of the natural. The supernatural world is neither myth nor legend; it is a reality. During the course of the research a young group of artists illustrated the stories that were collected and painted images of their worldview. Through the use of visual arts, Tamulté's younger generation was enabled to re-connect with their grandparents' stories, thereby bridging a generational gap that is predominant in other communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Otomi text that Enrique Palancar presents here is from the variant of the language spoken in San Ildefonso Tultepec, Amealco de Bonfil, in the southern part of the state of Queretaro. The author notes that the variant belongs to the northwest Otomi dialect area, and is close to that of the Valley of the Mezquital. The story "The chameleon" was narrated spontaneously by Anastacia Cruz Vazquez, who was 59 years old at the time, and treats a theme that is both modern --that of a circus-- and yet reflects an old Otomi mythology regarding the Mexican reptile Phrynosomatidae, a kind of lizard somewhat like a miniature iguana. The reptile's mythical abilities to control all other animals are the point of departure for the narrative. Palancar also includes an explanation of the practical orthography and the conventions for the glossing and transcription of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The story about the 'mat-snake', is from Ayutla Mixe oral tradition, and different versions were collected by the author Rodrigo Romero in 2005. It is about a young girl who is carried away and raised by the 'mat-snakes'. The text presented here was told by Irene Galván, and was transcribed by Romero in collaboration with Adelaida Avelino Galván and Amalia Ramirez Antonio. The author explains that the Ayutla variant has been classified as belonging to the southern highland Mixe dialect area, although he notes that it may be that it should be classified as a separate Mixean language. Then he provides a brief description of the phonology, including the correspondences between the linguistic symbols and the practical alphabet, and of the basic inflectional morphology. Romero also provides the reader with a morphological analysis in Spanish and translations of the text into both Spanish and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]