Thunder Doesn't Live Here Anymore: The Culture of Marginality Among the Teeneks of Tantoyuca

458 Pages·2004·18.68 MB·English

by  Anath Ariel de Vidas, Teresa Lavendar Fagan

The
Culture
of
Marginality
Among
the
Teeneks
of
Tantoyuca
Thunder
Doesn’t Live Here
AnyMore
A n a t h A r i e l d e V i d a s
Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan
Thunder Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
MESOAMERICAN WORLDS
From the Olmecs to the Danzantes
Ancient Tollan: Tula and the Toltec Heartland,
Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Robert H. Cobean, and Dan M. Healan
Eating Landscape: Aztec and European Occupation of Tlalocan,
Philip P. Arnold
Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Cultures, Revised Edition,
Anthony Aveni
In the Realm of Nachan Kan:
Postclassic Maya Archaeology at Laguna de On, Belize, Marilyn A. Masson
Life and Death in the Templo Mayor, Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an
Ancient Maya Manuscript, Gabrielle Vail and Anthony Aveni, editors
Mesoamerica’s Classic Heritage: Teotihuacan to the Aztecs,
Davíd Carrasco, Lindsay Jones, and Scott Sessions
Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca, “Lord of the Smoking
Mirror,” Guilhem Olivier
Representing Aztec Ritual: Performance, Text, and Image in the Work of
Sahagún, Eloise Quiñones Keber, Editor
Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: Places of Mist, Alfredo López Austin
Thunder Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: The Culture of Marginality Among the Teeneks
of Tantoyuca, Anath Ariel de Vidas
Topiltzin Quetzalcóatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs, H. B. Nicholson
The World Below: Body and Cosmos in Otomí Indian Ritual, Jacques Galinier
SERIES EDITORS
Davíd Carrasco
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
EDITORIAL BOARD
Michio Araki
Alfredo López Austin
Anthony Aveni
Elizabeth Boone
Doris Heyden
Thunder
Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
The Culture of Marginality Among the Teeneks of Tantoyuca
Anath Ariel de Vidas
This English translation is a
revised and abridged version of the French original,
Le Tonnerre n’habite plus ici.
Culture de la marginalité chez les Indiens teenek (Mexique)
ÉDITIONS DE L’ÉCOLE DES HAUTES ÉTUDES EN SCIENCES SOCIALES, PARIS, 2002
Translated from the French by Teresa Lavender Fagan
U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S O F C O L O R A D O
© 2004 by the University Press of Colorado
Published by the University Press of Colorado
5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C
Boulder, Colorado 80303
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of
the Association of American University Presses.
The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by
Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College,
Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern
Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI
Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ariel de Vidas, Anath.
[Le Tonnerre n’habite plus ici. English]
Thunder doesn’t live here anymore : the culture of marginality among the Teeneks of
Tantoyuca / Anath Ariel de Vidas ; translated from the French by Teresa Lavender Fagan.—
Abridged version.
p. cm. — (Mesoamerican worlds)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87081-769-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-87081-770-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Huastec Indians—Social life and customs. 2. Huastec Indians—Folklore. 3. Tantoyuca
(Mexico)—Social life and customs. I. Title. II. Series.
F1221.H8V5313 2004
305.897'4207262—dc22
2004010395
Design by Daniel Pratt
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Ouvrage publié avec le concours du Ministère français chargé de la culture–Centre national du
livre. [This work has been made possible by a grant of the French Ministry of Culture–National
Center for Literature.]
Additional support has been provided by the Eugene M. Kayden Fund at the University of
Colorado at Boulder and Haifa University’s Research Authority.
All photographs were taken by the author.
Portions of this book were translated by Martha Grenzeback.
In memory of my father,
whose questions of identity accompanied him throughout his life
and even into death
vi
Contents
List of Figures, Maps, Tables, and Myths / ix
Foreword by Davíd Carrasco and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma / xi
Acknowledgments / xiii
Phonetic Transcription of Veracruzan Teenek / xvii
Introduction: Is the Sparrow Hawk Dying? / 1
PART ONE—THE TEENEK UNIVERSE / 17
1 The Natural and Social Landscape of Tantoyuca / 21
The Social Scene / 23
Economic Life of the Tantoyuca Teeneks / 38
Can the Teeneks “Afford” Their Indianness? / 56
Political Organization of the Teenek Community / 59
Public Functions in the Communities / 65
The Community as the Immediate Social Framework of the Teeneks /
66
2 Teenek Alliances / 69
The Marital Alliance / 69
vii
CONTENTS
Social Alliances / 91
3 A Problem of Boundaries / 101
“The Problem” / 103
Three Sides to Every Story: Yours, Mine, and the Truth / 105
Land and Ethnicity / 116
Conclusion to Part One / 127
PART TWO—MESSAGES FROM THE UNDERWORLD / 129
4 The Reality of the Baatsik’ / 133
The Baatsik’ Space / 143
The Baatsik’ and the Souls of the Dead / 149
5 Teenek Etiology / 155
Balance Disrupted / 156
The Regulators / 166
Balance Regained / 190
Illness and Cosmology / 222
6 Teenek and Baatsik’: Terms of Coexistence / 227
Soul and Territoriality / 227
Conclusion to Part Two / 247
PART THREE—BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH / 261
7 “Hell Is Other People” / 265
The Others / 265
The Reality of the Ejek / 292
The Dilemma of Present-Day Teeneks / 311
8 The Space of Memory / 321
Veracruzan Teenek Dances / 322
The Myths of Thunder and of Corn / 351
Thunder, the Prophet, and the Man-God / 365
Conclusion to Part Three / 375
Conclusion: The Culture of Marginality / 387
Notes / 395
Glossary of Acronyms and Foreign Terms / 407
Bibliography / 411
Index / 423
viii