CENTRAL AMERICA

Central America: translation

This region, stretching from Mexico to the northwest of Costa Rica, is home to many pre-Hispanic indigenous cultures, including the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya, as well as their Amerindian descendents such as the Quiché and Yucatec. (Some scholars prefer to identify the majority of this region asMesoamerica, beginning only in the center of Mexico, and identifying the areas to the north as having more in common with southernNorth Americancultures.) Central American shamanism shares many characteristics withSouth Americanshamanism, including a complex, multilayered cosmos with human people andother-than-human persons, a shamanic calling (throughdreamsor sickness),initiationand apprenticeship, anambiguousline betweensorceryandhealing, the use oftobaccoand other nightshades to bring onaltered states ofconsciousness, and a sophisticated understanding ofillnessinvolvingsoul lossandspiritattack.There are also shared characteristics with southern North American shamanisms, with thepeyotecactus used by theHuichol(Wixáritari) also a part of theNative American Church. Pre-Columbian Aztecpriest-shamans were calledtemoma, after the sacred bundles they carried on their backs during long journeys, especially the nation’s original migration. David Carrasco discusses theirtransformativepowers andmediatoryroles with the deities. Pre-Columbian Mayan shamanism involved priest-shamans who conducted calendricaldivination, dream interpretation, spiritual healing, andritualsacrifices. The use of fasting, bloodletting, and sleepdeprivation, perhaps alongsidehallucinogens, altered the shaman’s consciousness and enabledshape-shifting. A complex view ofcosmologyinformed by planetary observances and including anaxis mundiat the center of the world permeated Mayan worldviews. Mercedes de la Garza (2002) identifies the Mayan rulers of the classical period as shamans and discusses their initiatory and shamanic practices. Today’s Mayan cultures are equally complex and diverse. Quiché shamans continue to observe the 260-day Mayan ritual calendar, with a priest-shaman known as “the keeper of days” who uses the calendar in divination. Quiché shamans in Guatemala also perform blessings and other ceremonies, along with midwifery, dispensing herbal medicine, and a range of medical tasks. Yucatec shamans, on the other hand, endeavor to maintain harmony in human– nonhuman relations through mediation with spirits and by helping people to understand and fulfill their own role in the cosmos. Interest in indigenous uses ofpsilocybinledGordon Wassonto visit the region and generated a “shamanismtourism” industry that had detrimental effects onMaria Sabinaand others. A more respectful engagement byBarbara and Dennis Tedlockhas led to a more nuanced but still largelyneo-shamanicinterest in elements of local shamanisms, especially in relation to thegenderedpractices ofwomen. HaitianVodou, CubanSantería, andGarifuna religion— all “possessioncults”—are also influential in the region.