Abstract

SERAFINO, Gregorio. La fiesta de san Miguel en La Montaña nahua de Guerrero. Cuicuilco [online]. 2015, vol.22, n.63, pp.207-227. ISSN 0185-1659.

In several nahuas communities of the Mexican region known as La Montaña, in the state of Guerrero, indigenous people celebrate a whole host of feasts dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, along with other saints, to indicate the end of the rainy season and the approximation of the corn harvest. The ceremony named "Thanks to the rain for the good harvest," held in September, represents the last period of the annual agricultural cycle and is characterized by very peculiar rites around the still maturing corn plant. The corn is protected in all its forms, from the green corn -jilotes- to the large and massive hard cobs, which are left to dry in the field and then gathered after St. Michael's day. The research is focused on the offerings, rituals and prayers, among them is the event known as "the dance of the baby corn," in which children and women dance with the freshly harvested baby corn, as well as "the dance of the corn field," in which only women take part, dancing with the largest of the recently harvested crop. The offerings and dances performed in honor of St. Michael are among the most important for the life and cosmovision of the nahuas peoples of Guerrero.

Keywords : St. Michael; nahuas; Guerrero; corn rituals; corn field.