Download or read book Masks of the Spirit written by Peter T. Markman and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on secondary works in archaeology, art history, folklore, ethnohistory, ethnography, and literature, the authors maintain that the mask is the central metaphor for the Mesoamerican concept of spiritual reality. Covers the long history of the use of the ritual mask by the peoples who created and developed the mythological tradition of Mesoamerica. Chapters: (1) the metaphor of the mask in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: the mask as the God, in ritual, and as metaphor; (II) metaphoric reflections of the cosmic order; and (III) the metaphor of the mask after the conquest: syncretism; the Pre-Columbian survivals; the syncretic compromise; and today's masks. Over 100 color and black-&-white photos.
Download or read book The Eyes of Tlaloc written by Agnes Emelie Peterson and published by . This book was released on 1936 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Teotihuacan Trinity written by Annabeth Headrick and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Northeast of modern-day Mexico City stand the remnants of one of the world's largest preindustrial cities, Teotihuacan. Monumental in scale, Teotihuacan is organized along a three-mile-long thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead, that leads up to the massive Pyramid of the Moon. Lining the avenue are numerous plazas and temples, which indicate that the city once housed a large population that engaged in complex rituals and ceremonies. Although scholars have studied Teotihuacan for over a century, the precise nature of its religious and political life has remained unclear, in part because no one has yet deciphered the glyphs that may explain much about the city's organization and belief systems. In this groundbreaking book, Annabeth Headrick analyzes Teotihuacan's art and architecture, in the light of archaeological data and Mesoamerican ethnography, to propose a new model for the city's social and political organization. Challenging the view that Teotihuacan was a peaceful city in which disparate groups united in an ideology of solidarity, Headrick instead identifies three social groups that competed for political power—rulers, kin-based groups led by influential lineage heads, and military orders that each had their own animal insignia. Her findings provide the most complete evidence to date that Teotihuacan had powerful rulers who allied with the military to maintain their authority in the face of challenges by the lineage heads. Headrick's analysis also underscores the importance of warfare in Teotihuacan society and clarifies significant aspects of its ritual life, including shamanism and an annual tree-raising ceremony that commemorated the Mesoamerican creation story.
Download or read book Tlaloc written by Ernest Novato and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-14 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading Gilgamesh, Hercules, Aeneas, and Lancelot are instantly recognized as mythological heroes in the West, evoking visions of Persian monsters, ghastly labors, and the founding and glorification of cities, but the name Quetzalcoatl is as mysterious as its spelling. Even those who have come across his name when learning about the history of Mesoamerica - particularly the Aztec and the god's role in the Spanish conquest of their empire - are often unaware that the Mesoamerican deity has tales that equal any of those in the repertoire of the mythological figures mentioned above, and the tale of his transmission into modern times is no less fascinating. As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to gods all across Mesoamerica, from the Olmec and Toltec to the Aztec and Maya. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the ruins of Mesoamerican cities, even as researchers learn more about the civilizations that continue to generate interest among modern societies. Gods and myths reflect the societies that created them. The lustrous Garden of Eden was dreamed up by those for whom such verdant plenty could only be magical when compared with their usually arid environment. Peoples who endured harsh winters sang of eternal hearth fires and those who were threatened by dangerous animals told stories of humans who could tame them. Of course, these deities also often reflected the nuanced difficulties their creators experienced in their daily lives, and this is the case with the Aztec god Tlaloc. As the great scholar of Mesoamerican history and religion Kay Almere Read put it, "Rain and water deities constitute perhaps the largest, one of the oldest, most pervasive and complex group of gods and goddesses in Mesoamerica." The Valley of Mexico is the central elevated basin that contains Mexico City at its heart today. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley's lowest point is actually some 2200 meters above sea level and just like the plains of Mesopotamia or the Nile Delta, it is one of humanity's great birthplaces of civilization. Inhabited for over 12,000 years, it was the home to such creative cultures as the Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec. These cultures built vast empires and colored them with sophisticated art and architecture, which is invaluable for scholars who study the groups today, and symbols of Tlaloc have been pervasive across their ruins. One of the reasons for the prevalence of Tlaloc in the Valley of Mexico is that in the semi-arid climate, water was a powerful daily symbol. Although there were no naturally occurring water connections to the sea, the high altitude of the mountains and volcanoes that surrounded it caught the rain water well and formed five important lakes: Xochimilco, Xaltocan, Zumpango, Chalco and Texcoco. As the largest, Texcoco was where the Aztecs eventually built their capital city Tenochtitlan. Since this was not a desert culture, their god Tlaloc was not just a reflection of an opposite extreme they desired; instead, he was a complex god that reflected the duality of water as both a boon and a force for destruction. From his home in Tlalocan, Tlaloc was able to send good and bad waters to the people of the Valley of Mexico and beyond. He was the lord of the chthonic powers of Mexico even as far south as the Maya, who called him Chaac and connected him with warfare and agriculture much the same way the Aztec did. The Aztec tell the story of Tlaloc blessing their rise to regional dominance by sending a famine to the Toltec, and his duality of good waters vs. bad waters was a product of the largely two-season system in Mexico. Tlaloc: The History of the Aztec God of Rain and Giver of Life examines the origins of the deity and his place in the pantheon of gods.
Download or read book The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc written by Esther Pasztory and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 1974 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog Adder s Fork and Lizard s Leg written by Marty Crump and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From celebrated herpetologist and science writer Marty Crump, a beautifully illustrated exploration of the interlinked stories of herp folklore, natural history, and conservation. Frogs are worshipped for bringing nourishing rains, but blamed for devastating floods. Turtles are admired for their wisdom and longevity, but ridiculed for their sluggish and cowardly behavior. Snakes are respected for their ability to heal and restore life, but despised as symbols of evil. Lizards are revered as beneficent guardian spirits, but feared as the Devil himself. In this ode to toads and snakes, newts and tuatara, crocodiles and tortoises, herpetologist and science writer Marty Crump explores folklore across the world and throughout time. From creation myths to trickster tales; from associations with fertility and rebirth to fire and rain; and from the use of herps in folk medicines and magic, as food, pets, and gods, to their roles in literature, visual art, music, and dance, Crump reveals both our love and hatred of amphibians and reptiles—and their perceived power. In a world where we keep home terrariums at the same time that we battle invasive cane toads, and where public attitudes often dictate that the cute and cuddly receive conservation priority over the slimy and venomous, she shows how our complex and conflicting perceptions threaten the conservation of these ecologically vital animals. Sumptuously illustrated, Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog, Adder’s Fork and Lizard’s Leg is a beautiful and enthralling brew of natural history and folklore, sobering science and humor, that leaves us with one irrefutable lesson: love herps. Warts, scales, and all.
Download or read book Maya Gods of War written by Karen Bassie-Sweet and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Numerous archaeological projects have found substantial evidence of the military nature of Maya society, and warfare is a frequent theme of Maya art. Maya Gods of War investigates the Classic period Maya gods who were associated with weapons of war and the flint and obsidian from which those weapons were made. Author Karen Bassie-Sweet traces the semantic markers used to distinguish flint from other types of stone, surveys various types of Chahk thunderbolt deities and their relationship to flint weapons, and explores the connection between lightning and the ruling elite. Additional chapters review these fire and solar deities and their roles in Maya warfare and examine the nature and manifestations of the Central Mexican thunderbolt god Tlaloc, his incorporation into the Maya pantheon, and his identification with meteors and obsidian weapons. Finally, Bassie-Sweet addresses the characteristics of the deity God L, his role as an obsidian merchant god, and his close association with the ancient land route between the highland Guatemalan obsidian sources and the lowlands. Through analysis of the nature of the Teotihuacán deities and exploration of the ways in which these gods were introduced into the Maya region and incorporated into the Maya worldview, Maya Gods of War offers new insights into the relationship between warfare and religious beliefs in Mesoamerica. This significant work will be of interest to scholars of Maya religion and iconography.
Download or read book Star Gods of the Maya written by Susan Milbrath and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A prodigious work of unmatched interdisciplinary scholarship” on Maya astronomy and religion (Journal of Interdisciplinary History). Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Pre-Columbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Pre-Columbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture. “Milbrath has given us a comprehensive reference work that facilitates access to a very broad and varied body of literature spanning several disciplines.” ―Isis “Destined to become a standard reference work on Maya archeoastronomy . . . Utterly comprehensive.” —Andrea Stone, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Download or read book Fanning the Sacred Flame written by Brian D. Dillon and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fanning the Sacred Flame: Mesoamerican Studies in Honor of H. B. Nicholson contains twenty-two original papers in tribute to H. B. "Nick" Nicholson, a pioneer of Mesoamerican research. His intellectual legacy is recognized by Mesoamerican archaeologists, art historians, ethnohistorians, and ethnographers--students, colleagues, and friends who derived inspiration and encouragement from him throughout their own careers. Each chapter, which presents original research inspired by Nicholson, pays tribute to the teacher, writer, lecturer, friend, and mentor who became a legend within his own lifetime. Covering all of Mesoamerica across all time periods, contributors include Patricia R. Anawalt, Alfredo López Austin, Anthony Aveni, Robert M. Carmack, David C. Grove, Richard D. Hansen, Leonardo López Luján, Kevin Terraciano, and more. Eloise Quiñones Keber provides a thorough biographical sketch, detailing Nicholson's academic and professional journey.
Download or read book Yaxchilan written by Carolyn Elaine Tate and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Art historian Carolyn Tate presents, in a well-organized and amply illustrated two-part format, a holistic treatment of a single archaeological site—the great ancient Maya city of Yaxchilan.... This is the most successful attempt to relate [art and architecture] within a Maya site that I have seen." —Ethnohistory As archaeologists peel away the jungle covering that has both obscured and preserved the ancient Maya cities of Mexico and Central America, other scholars have only a limited time to study and understand the sites before the jungle, weather, and human encroachment efface them again, perhaps forever. This urgency underlies Yaxchilan: The Design of a Maya Ceremonial City, Carolyn Tate's comprehensive catalog and analysis of all the city's extant buildings and sculptures. During a year of field work, Tate fully documented the appearance of the site as of 1987. For each sculpture and building, she records its discovery, present location, condition, measurements, and astronomical orientation and reconstructs its Long Counts and Julian dates from Calendar Rounds. Line drawings and photographs provide a visual document of the art and architecture of Yaxchilan. More than mere documentation, however, the book explores the phenomenon of art within Maya society. Tate establishes a general framework of cultural practices, spiritual beliefs, and knowledge likely to have been shared by eighth-century Maya people. The process of making public art is considered in relation to other modes of aesthetic expression, such as oral tradition and ritual. This kind of analysis is new in Maya studies and offers fresh insight into the function of these magnificent cities and the powerful role public art and architecture play in establishing cultural norms, in education in a semiliterate society, and in developing the personal and community identities of individuals. Several chapters cover the specifics of art and iconography at Yaxchilan as a basis for examining the creation of the city in the Late Classic period. Individual sculptures are attributed to the hands of single artists and workshops, thus aiding in dating several of the monuments. The significance of headdresses, backracks, and other costume elements seen on monuments is tied to specific rituals and fashions, and influence from other sites is traced. These analyses lead to a history of the design of the city under the reigns of Shield Jaguar (A.D. 681-741) and Bird Jaguar IV (A.D. 752-772). In Tate's view, Yaxchilan and other Maya cities were designed as both a theater for ritual activities and a nexus of public art and social structures that were crucial in defining the self within Maya society.
Download or read book Lagniappe written by and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Sounds and Colors of Power written by Dorothy Hosler and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking analysis of the relationship between culture and technology.
Download or read book Customs Bulletin and Decisions written by and published by . This book was released on 1995-03 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica written by Shawn G. Morton and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2019-11-29 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica focuses on the conflicts of the ancient Maya, providing a holistic history of Maya hostilities and comparing them with those of neighboring Mesoamerican villages and towns. Contributors to the volume explore the varied stories of past Maya conflicts through artifacts, architecture, texts, and images left to posterity. Many studies have focused on the degree to which the prevalence, nature, and conduct of conflict has varied across time and space. This volume focuses not only on such operational considerations but on cognitive and experiential issues, analyzing how the Maya understood and explained conflict, what they recognized as conflict, how conflict was experienced by various groups, and the circumstances surrounding conflict. By offering an emic (internal and subjective) understanding alongside the more commonly researched etic (external and objective) perspective, contributors clarify insufficiencies and address lapses in data and analysis. They explore how the Maya defined themselves within the realm of warfare and examine the root causes and effects of intergroup conflict. Using case studies from a wide range of time periods, Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica provides a basis for understanding hostilities and broadens the archaeological record for the “seeking” of conflict in a way that has been largely untouched by previous scholars. With broad theoretical reach beyond Mesoamerican archaeology, the book will have wide interdisciplinary appeal and will be important to ethnohistorians, art historians, ethnographers, epigraphers, and those interested in human conflict more broadly. Contributors: Matthew Abtosway, Karen Bassie-Sweet, George J. Bey III, M. Kathryn Brown, Allen J. Christenson, Tomás Gallareta Negrón, Elizabeth Graham, Helen R. Haines, Christopher L. Hernandez, Harri Kettunen, Rex Koontz, Geoffrey McCafferty, Jesper Nielsen, Joel W. Palka, Kerry L. Sagebiel, Travis W. Stanton, Alexandre Tokovinine
Download or read book First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution written by Various and published by anboco. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 1145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bibliography of North American philology, by J. C. Pilling Linguistic and other anthropologic researches, by J. O. Dorsey Linguistic researches, by S. R. Riggs Linguistic and general researches among the Klamath Indians, by A. S. Gatschet Studies among the Iroquois, by Mrs. E. A. Smith Work by Prof. Otis T. Mason The study of gesture speech, by Brevet Lieut. Col. Garrick Mallery Studies on Central American picture writing, by Prof. E. S. Holden The study of mortuary customs, by Dr. H. C. Yarrow Investigations relating to cessions of lands by Indian tribes to the United States, by C. C. Royce Explorations by Mr. James Stevenson Researches among the Wintuns, by Prof. J. W. Powell
Download or read book Art Ideology and the City of Teotihuacan written by Janet Catherine Berlo and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 1992 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Spirit Run written by Noé Álvarez and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, the son of working-class Mexican immigrants flees a life of labor in fruit-packing plants to run in a Native American marathon from Canada to Guatemala in this "stunning memoir that moves to the rhythm of feet, labor, and the many landscapes of the Americas" (Catriona Menzies-Pike, author of The Long Run). Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noé Álvarez worked at an apple–packing plant alongside his mother, who “slouched over a conveyor belt of fruit, shoulder to shoulder with mothers conditioned to believe this was all they could do with their lives.” A university scholarship offered escape, but as a first–generation Latino college–goer, Álvarez struggled to fit in. At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of Dené, Secwépemc, Gitxsan, Dakelh, Apache, Tohono O’odham, Seri, Purépecha, and Maya runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings. Telling their stories alongside his own, Álvarez writes about a four–month–long journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. He writes not only of overcoming hunger, thirst, and fear—dangers included stone–throwing motorists and a mountain lion—but also of asserting Indigenous and working–class humanity in a capitalist society where oil extraction, deforestation, and substance abuse wreck communities. Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, Álvarez forges a new relationship with the land, and with the act of running, carrying with him the knowledge of his parents’ migration, and—against all odds in a society that exploits his body and rejects his spirit—the dream of a liberated future. "This book is not like any other out there. You will see this country in a fresh way, and you might see aspects of your own soul. A beautiful run." —Luís Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels "When the son of two Mexican immigrants hears about the Peace and Dignity Journeys—'epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America'—he’s compelled enough to drop out of college and sign up for one. Spirit Run is Noé Álvarez’s account of the four months he spends trekking from Canada to Guatemala alongside Native Americans representing nine tribes, all of whom are seeking brighter futures through running, self–exploration, and renewed relationships with the land they’ve traversed." —Runner's World, Best New Running Books of 2020 "An anthem to the landscape that holds our identities and traumas, and its profound power to heal them." —Francisco Cantú, author of The Line Becomes a River
