The Bathed Ones

Transformation into Gods among the Precontact Nahua

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2736183
AutoresJulia Madajczak (0000-0002-6309-2243, University of Warsaw, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume70
Fascículo4
Páginas495-515
Data de publicação2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEthnohistory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0014-1801 • E-ISSN: 1527-5477
EditoraDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00141801-10673336
OpenAlexW4391331349
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas14

In the sixteenth century, Fray Diego Durán gave rise to a scholarly myth that the primary purpose of Nahua ritual baths was "purification." This article deconstructs his interpretation, focusing on baths performed on deities' impersonators (ixiptla), and particularly the so-called tlaaltiltin, "bathed ones." It argues that "baths," which often consisted of merely sprinkling one's face with water, had, above all, a transformative power. In the case of deities' impersonators, they helped them change their ontological status, converting humans into gods and, sometimes, the other way around. The article concludes that the fabrication of a deity's ixiptla necessarily involved applying a special kind of liquid, different for every god. Like godly attires, these "waters" contained the god's traits or essence that enabled the transformation

Ancient history · Biology · Genealogy · Transformation (genetics) · Archaeology and Natural History · Genetics · History · Latin American history and culture · Psychedelics and Drug Studies