Douglas Sharon, ed., Mesas & Cosmologies in Middle America. San Diego Museum Papers 42, 2003.

25

Central and Northern Mexico

Sierra Otomí Religious Symbolism:

Mankind Responding to the Natural World

James W. Dow

My goal is to view the symbolic world of the Sierra Otomí. I will look at the most pub-

lic symbols in their religion and then examine thenative concepts that lie behind them. These inter-pretations were developed during more than 30years studying and writing about their culture.

The Sierra Otomí are a cultural group ofMesoamerican Indians who live in the mountainsto the northeast of Mexico City. Although not of-ten stated, the difficulty that Euro-Mexicans havewith the Otomí language has inhibited the under-standing of the group. This situation is now be-ing corrected by a more intense effort to studythe language and culture (e.g., Bernard and Sali-nas Pedraza 1989, Lastra 2001). As an illustrationof the problems created by the language one cancite the issue of pronouncing the correct name ofthe linguistic group. The proper name is “Ñähñu.”In the International Phonetic Alphabet Ñähñu iswritten as nanu and is derived from “na” mean-ing “word” or “speech” and nu meaning “nose.”Thus Ñähñu means “nasal word” or “the nasallanguage.” European language speakers have dif-ficulty recognizing and pronouncing the voicelesspalatal nasal n in this word. It is pronounced byputting the tongue to the roof of the mouth andexpelling air without sounding the vocal chords.

The Ñähñu people have a very old culture thatpredates the Aztecs. Most of the speakers ofÑähñu live in the highlands. The culture therewas changed most radically by the Spanish be-cause it was a region of haciendas during the co-lonial period. The haciendas lasted through the

19th century. However, the hacienda system didnot reach into the mountains to the east wherethe sierra branch of this group lives. Figure 1shows the location of the Sierra Ñähñu in 1990.1

There were approximately 49,300 speakers ofÑähñu there in 2001.

The Sierra Ñähñu population is located in thestates of Hidalgo (28,300) and in adjacent regionsof the states of Puebla (5,900) and Veracruz(15,100).2 Although the Indians are the largest eth-nic group in some municipios, the municipio gov-ernments are usually controlled by smaller Span-ish-speaking elites.3 Profits to be made from trade,cattle ranching, and coffee production have at-tracted such elites into the sierra. The Indians arethe poorest segment of this multi-ethnic society.Municipio government usually represents the in-terests of a town-dwelling mestizo elite.

In the 16th century, Augustinian monksbrought the Holy Catholic Church to the area andattempted to evangelize the Indians. The Augus-tinian chronicler Esteban García (1918) reportedthat the Sierra Ñähñu were still worshiping theirown idols in the 17th century after considerableeffort by the Augustinians to convert them. WhenI first went to study the area in 1967, the Catho-lic Church in Tutotepec was still unable to attractthe Indian population. The Catholics had of-fended the Ñähñu by deprecating some of theirmost sacred idols. Even today Catholic ideas andcustoms are only part of the native religion. Al-though the Augustinian monks left in the 18thcentury, leaving behind many buildings, only a

26 James W. Dow

partial impression of Roman Catholicism re-mained. Today, because it is the religion of thepowerful classes and, hence, the most politicallycorrect religion, Catholicism in the region is morevisible to outsiders. This makes it an excellententry point for our view of Sierra Ñähñu religion.

Each municipio has a parish church with a resi-dent priest. The church is located in the capitaltown (cabecera) of the municipio. Sometimes theBishop will visit the parish church to baptize in-fants and in general show support by the priestlyhierarchy. People, especially the townsfolk, appre-ciate his presence because it lends status to their

municipio. But the Bishop never—and the priestseldom—visits the other communities in themunicipio, the pueblos and rancherías. However, thepueblos do have churches left over from the evan-gelizing work of the Augustinians. For example,the pueblo of San Pablo El Grande in the municipioof Tenango de Doria, Hidalgo, has an old church,the origins of which seem to be in the 17th cen-tury. During the annual fiesta of Saint Paul (SanPablo) the doorway of the church is festooned withleaves and flower images. An image of Saint Paulis kept inside and is paraded around the villagewith other images in the evenings of the fiesta

Figure 1. The area occupied by the Sierra Ñähñu

27Sierra Otomí Religious Symbolism: Mankind Responding to the Natural World

image. However, the prestige created by the con-spicuous public spending of mayordomos some-times overshadows that of the padrinos in largercommunities. The San Pablo church has three im-ages on the main altar: the Virgin of Guadalupe,Saint Paul (San Pablo), and Saint Peter (San Pedro).Two Christ (Cristo) images in niches on oppositewalls flank the main altar.

In 1990, the village elders appointed onlythree mayordomos, one each for the images on themain altar. They promised to make the offeringsand to hold feasts to honor their saints. The ritu-als for the Cristos were supported by public con-tributions, not by a single mayordomo. This situa-tion illustrates a change in religion that is takingplace throughout the Sierra Ñähñu area. Men areno longer willing to bear all the expenses of spon-soring a pueblo image as a mayordomo. In the past,each image had several ranked mayordomos, andmen vied to be allowed to accept this honor ofsponsorship. But the economy has changed andalong with it the religion. Wages are coming intothe communities from migrants who go as faraway as the United States to earn money. Athome, this largess can be well invested in housesor land, so the urge to capture prestige by spon-soring a public image has diminished. San Pablohas solved this problem by opening up mayordomosponsorship to ambitious young men who haveearned enough excess wealth that they can affordto spend some of it on public displays. In previousyears, mayordomoships only went to the older andrespected conservative members of the community.In the background, however, today the older menwatch over the fiesta to make sure that the villagesaints are well treated, hence, the community sup-port for rituals for the two Cristos who would oth-erwise be neglected. In other Sierra Ñähñu pueblos,the changing economy and the pressure to spendall one’s wealth on religious fiestas has encour-aged the growth of Protestant sects that have re-duced expenditures on fiestas (Dow 2001).

Mobile altars on which the three saints are car-ried stand at the back of the church. They aredecorated with flower fans and stalks of corn. Thefiesta takes place each year when the corn is justbeginning to ripen and when the fresh ears (elotes)can be eaten. It is a festive time. In the evening,the images are taken from the church on theirmobile altars to enjoy the fireworks outside withthe people. They are lit by candlelight on the hillnext to the plaza and wait with their supporters

days. There is a cross associated with this church,but it is not inside. It is outside the church and isdecorated with a large flower design made ofpalm leaves (see Figure 2) during fiestas. Crossesare important symbols for the Sierra Ñähñu, butthey always are covered with flowers and foliageduring rituals, so much so, that they look morelike the pre-Columbian foliated cross than theChristian cross. The cross with its flower decora-tions actually symbolizes Jesus and God Sun to-gether. Every holy building, church and oratory(oratorio), has a cross associated with it. A smallprivate oratorio may have its cross inside on thewall opposite the altar, but a larger oratorio orchurch will display its cross more prominently,outside and in front, on its own altar. So standsthe cross of the San Pablo church.

Appointed officials, mayordomos, care for theimages that belong to the pueblo as a whole. Ev-ery image also has a padrino (godfather), but if theimage is owned by a family, no mayordomo is nec-essary, because the owners and the padrino sharethe leadership of the fiesta. I have been told thatthe padrino is the most important steward of an

Figure 2. The Cross and Sun-Flower in front of the San Pablochurch.

28 James W. Dow

grow. Animals would not move. Sierra Ñähñushamans are experts who study and understandthis other dimension, the dimension of zaki.

Shamans study the hidden nature of zaki andare respected for their work, which may involvevisionary contact with unseen beings. Not all thathappens in the world of zaki is good. Sorcerersare the incompetent fools who try to manipulatethese forces for selfish ends. Shamans say thatsorcerers outnumber good folk. I have not metany sorcerers, but they are not likely to revealthemselves. One must seek out sorcerers secretly,because if other members of the communityfound one doing this there would be serious re-percussions. They are not an easy group to study.I know that sorcery exists because I have foundsorcery figures by the Tenango graveyard. Figure3 shows one of these figures. It has been burnedand the eye and feet have been mutilated. Theintent here was to destroy the zaki of the personby attracting it and mutilating it near the grave-yard where the souls of those who have died abad death would attack it.

Shamans have to fight these evil forces. DonAntonio is a shaman who works in the municipioof Tenango de Doria (Dow 1986). The followingitems for the fight can be found on his altar.

(1) Paper figures representing the zaki of a pa-tient (see Figure 4). Around the edges of the hu-man figure are the figures of the patient’s animalcompanions, his rogi.

(2) Plant and flower offerings.(3) Long candles to illuminate the evening of-

fering to the gods.(4) Votive candles for the altar.(5) The shaman’s wands covered with ribbons

and paper figures. These attract the zaki of tute-lary beings that help the shaman in his visions.

(6) A chest containing antiguas, two of whichare the special teachers of the shaman.

(7) A censer used to activate the figures andofferings and to divine solutions for problems.

A shaman, too has his or her oratory. Here, heor she conducts healing rituals on a daily basisand, from time to time, rituals for the adorationof the traditional deities, the non-Catholic ones.Before a ritual of adoration, called a costumbre, theshaman will divine how many offerings are re-quired. Many unseen beings participate as well.Don Antonio puts it this way:

When you make a costumbre there in yourland, and as you remember your friends, call

to see the fireworks ordered by the mayordomos.A tower of fireworks (castillo) bursts with an as-cending fumarole of sparks, smoke, and noise toreach a crowning pinwheel that sails off into thenight sky.

This public view of religion appears some-what Catholic; however, when one looks at whatpeople believe and practice in their homes, some-thing different emerges. One sees an animisticview of the world that is closely attuned to na-ture. For example, away from the church in SanPablo another scene takes place. Men sit in frontof a oratory all day, drinking, chatting, and me-ticulously making flower offerings to be laid infront of the images in the church. It is a particu-larly auspicious place for men to gather, for in-side the oratory are other images belonging to anold family in the pueblo.

Oratories are small buildings built very care-fully to be the homes of religious images. Of allcultural features beyond language, this is the onethat most closely links the Sierra Ñähñu to theirÑähñu brethren in the rest of the highlands. Oth-erwise, the current religion of the Sierra Ñähñubears a closer resemblance to the religions of theTepehua and Nahua than it does to the religion ofthe highland Ñähñu, who have assimilated moreof the post-colonial Spanish-speaking culture.

A well-off Sierra Ñähñu family will build anoratory to house its most precious images. Theymay be of Catholic saints, but they may also beimages of non-Catholic beings. These other pre-cious images are called antiguas or ancients, anappropriate name because some of them are pre-Columbian in origin. These antiguas have theirown myths of power. Shamans are able to iden-tify them and pass on their names. The Catholicpriest in Tutotepec in the 1960s failed to recog-nize people’s belief in these images thus causingmany people to become angry with him and theCatholic Church in general. In the Indian lan-guage, all the beings whose images are kept inoratories and churches are known as zidãhmu, “re-spected great lords.” The images are the pointsin space to which the life force of the beings arecalled by ritual.

The concept of life force (zaki) is probably themost important idea in Sierra Ñähñu religion.Zaki is an animating force that brings all livingthings to life. Without zaki the world would be adead place. Nothing would change. The sunwould not move in the sky. Plants would not

29Sierra Otomí Religious Symbolism: Mankind Responding to the Natural World

them to the meal with the censer. Put incensein the embers four times, and the spirits ofyour friends will arrive. Even though they’resleeping and far away, they’ll come. Thespirit of someone does not sleep. They’ll notdelay in arriving. Just think of them andthey’ll come. My friends number 60. I’ve se-

Figure 3. A Sorcery Figure.

Figure 4. A Figure of the zaki of a Patient with AnimalProtectors.

lected those who are good. I call only uponthem and not on bad friends. So, all will cometo the costumbre, and all will share with me[Dow 1986:73].The ritual of adoration is just one of the many

traditional rituals. The Sierra Ñähñu are noted fortheir use of paper figures in these rituals (Sandstromand Sandstrom 1986). The paper figures representthe zaki of the beings that are addressed. The sha-man gains some power over the beings by ma-nipulating the figures. Let us take a particularcase, the healing of a sick patient. The patient canbe healed magically at a distance, but usually heor she comes to the oratory of the shaman. He orshe sits in the oratory for a while to personallypray to the shaman’s zidãhmu, whose images areon the altar. Then, the shaman comes in for a con-sultation not just with the patient but with otherunseen beings. Don Antonio puts it this way:

A shaman never has to ask someone elseabout a illness. The little virgin (an antiguacalled Delfina) I have here tells me every-thing about an illness. No matter what time

˜

30 James W. Dow

of day it is, she informs me that patients willbe coming. She gives me the information asif it were a dream. When I look like I’m rest-ing or catnapping, she’s telling me how to doone thing or another. So everything is de-tailed. So always remember there is nothingto worry about. There in your consciousnesseverything will be left [Dow 1986:55].Inside a chest on the altar, Don Antonio has

an image of Delfina, one of his two most impor-tant antiguas. The image has a tiny porcelain fe-male face, which seems to have come from anantique doll. A patient may be allowed to holdthis image with the hope of receiving some of thehealing power of this miraculous tutelary being.

After the consultation, a paper figure repre-senting the zaki of the patient may be left on thealtar to receive the protection of the beings thatarrive there. If the patient has been attacked byevil winds (dahi), a cleaning (hokwi) is required.The shaman cuts figures of the evil winds fromtissue paper and lays them out on a bed of tissuepaper and newspaper. If the sickness is particu-larly bad, the shaman may see that the evil windshave been commanded by a higher evil beingwho was bribed by a sorcerer. In this case, an ap-peal also needs to be made to this being. A hokwithat makes an additional appeal to higher evilbeings is called the “large” hokwi. Otherwise it isjust the “regular” hokwi.

Santa Catarina is one of these beings. I wasnever able to determine where its name camefrom. It is a male monster that is aided by evilcompanion animals. In a large hokwi involvingSanta Catarina, the figures of the evil animal com-panions are then tied to the figure of SantaCatarina. The “altar” on which these figures areplaced is the dirt floor of the house. They wouldnever be placed on the raised altar, for that is forgood beings. They are surrounded by candles andthreads with magical powers that prevent the zakifrom escaping the encirclement. They are offeredmoney, rum, and cigarettes to attract the zaki intothe circle. After the offerings have been made, thebundle is wrapped and passed over the patient,other persons present, the house, and its furnish-ings. Because the zaki of these beings are danger-ous, the bundle is thrown away after the patientsand house have been swept clean with it. I wasable to photograph the figures before the cer-emony began, because they had not started to at-tract zaki at that time. They have to be bathed in

the smoke of the censer and sprinkled with theblood of a sacrificial chicken before they begintheir work.

There are many other evil beings that can com-mand the evil winds such as Lightning Bolt andThe Devil. Traditional bark paper is used for theworst beings. The tradition of making bark pa-per has continued among the Sierra Ñähñu in or-der to supply shamans with the material theyneed to cut figures of evil beings. Plain writingpaper and tinseled paper are used for the zaki ofthe good beings. The Sierra Ñähñu of San Pablitohave also started a business selling the paper tooutsiders through handicraft markets. Outsidersevaluate the paper in a reverse fashion. They be-lieve the handmade bark paper, closely resem-bling pre-Columbian paper, to be the most valu-able. Yet these beliefs in evil beings provide a ra-tionale and a means for psychologically escapingsome of the hardships of life, a very valuable cul-tural trait in itself. If shamans did not have thebark paper, they would not be able to do theirgood work.

An animistic view of the world underlies allthe rituals and symbolism of the Sierra Ñähñureligion. Everything that has zaki is a being, andbeings are ranked by the power of their zaki. Themost powerful being of all is Maka Hyãdi (GodSun) who transmits his powerful zaki to all liv-ing beings below him. On the top of a nearby sa-cred mountain, Maka Hyãdi is worshiped at ashrine of crosses. Maka Hyãdi and Jesus are re-garded as the same, and the foliated cross is hissymbol. Thus Christianity has entered the religionat the top. However it is the historical Maka Hyãdiwho governs the cosmology not the historicalJesus. This religion is very ecological, for accord-ing to modern science, the sun is the primarysource of energy for all life on earth. Another life-giving god is Maka Sumpe Dehe (Goddess LadyWater). Again, Sierra Ñähñu cosmology recognizesthe fundamental sources of life in the biosphere.

Animals have a lesser zaki than humans withone exception, the animal companions called rogi.These are thought to be real animals with super-natural protective power to help other beings,especially humans, to whom they belong. Theyare born at the same time as their human com-panions and they protect them throughout theirlives.

Thus, the religion relates people to nature. Itevolved from centuries of living close to nature

31Sierra Otomí Religious Symbolism: Mankind Responding to the Natural World

in a subsistence-based agricultural economy. Al-though it is a profound expression of the relation-ship between humans and the natural world, itwould be a mistake to equate it with modernisticEuro-American environmental concepts. It doesnot contain an ethic of technological conservationor sustainability. It is a religious rather than tech-nical solution. It sees humans as part of a web oflife with moral imperatives that are different fromthose being generated by scientific biological ecol-ogy. It tries to solve ecological problems throughritual rather than through technological change.

The Sierra Ñähñu rituals do have some mate-rial consequences that help to regulate the humanenvironmental ecosystem such as those discov-ered by Rappaport in New Guinea (Rappaport1967). For example, only the best seeds are se-lected to present to Maka Hyãdi in the spring fer-tility ritual.4 Thus ritual supports good plantbreeding. However, it has failed to control humanpopulation. The area is now overpopulated rela-tive to the agricultural resources and conse-quently suffers from high rates of poverty. So al-though we as humans build these spiritual linksto nature and to ourselves, modern science stillhas something to tell us about our actions and ourfate.

End Notes

1. This map was produced by the author withthe help of the bilingual school teachers who liveand work in the region.

2. Note that the speakers do not include chil-dren less than five years of age, so the actualÑähñu population is larger.

3. In these states, the executive power of thestate is divided into municipios, each of which isgoverned by a president (presidente). The territory

of most sierra municipios is smaller than an Ameri-can county.

4. Seeds contain the zaki of plants. The paperfigures representing the zaki of plants are called“seeds.”

James DowOakland UniversityRochester, Michigandow@oakland.edu

References Cited

Bernard, H. Russell, and Jesús Salinas Pedraza1989 Native Ethnography: A Mexican Indian Describes

His Culture. Newbury Park, California: Sage Pub-lications.

Dow, James W.1986 The Shaman’s Touch: Otomí Indian Symbolic Heal-

ing. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

2001 Demographic Factors Affecting ProtestantConversions in Three Mexican Villages. In: JamesW. Dow and Alan R. Sandstrom, eds., Holy Saintsand Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestant-ism in Mexico and Central America, pp. 73-86.Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

García, Esteban1918 Crónica de la Provincia Agustineana del Santísimo

Nombre de Jesús de México. Libro Quinto. Madrid:G. Lopez de Horno.

Lastra, Yolanda2001 Unidad y diversidad de la lengua: Relatos otomíes.

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Rappaport, Roy A.1967 Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a

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Sandstrom, Alan R., and Pamela E. Sandstrom1986 Traditional Papermaking and Paper Cult Figures

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