Abstract

ACOSTA MARQUEZ, Eliana. Cuando el maíz es Itekontlakuali: el "dueño de la comida". Un acercamiento a la economía ritual de los nahuas de Pahuatlán, Puebla. Cuicuilco [online]. 2014, vol.21, n.60, pp.223-238. ISSN 0185-1659.

Based on the case of the Nahuas of Pahuatlán, a settlement located in the western part of the Sierra Norte -Northern Mountain Range- of Puebla, evidence shows that corn, above and beyond being the basis of subsistence, is one of the main reasons that have enabled us to comprehend these people's way of thinking and interacting with the world. Through ritual activity and narrative, one can see an economy that, unlike the capitalist economy, in which corn is a commodity among many others, the Nahua economy forms one of the most complex components of their cosmology in relation to the Lords, or itekome in Nahuatl, entities associated with a power and a specific domain, usually related to the preservation of things such as animals, water or corn.

Keywords : Pahuatlán Nahuas of the Sierra Norte of Puebla; corn; owners; ritual economy; ritual activity; narrative.