Abstract

MARTINEZ RIVERA, Mintzi Auanda. Misa Kuani: The P’urhépecha Wedding and its Historical Transformation. An Ethnohistorical and Ethnographic Analysis. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2020, vol.41, n.163, pp.97-118.  Epub June 18, 2021. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v41i163.698.

Currently, the P’urhépecha wedding is an elaborate ritual that may last three days. Based on descriptions in the Relación de Michoacán, some of the principal ritual events have roots in Pre-Colombian times. In this article, which takes the Relación as the primary historical source, but is based as well on my own ethnographic fieldwork in the P’urhépecha community of Santo Santiago de Angahuan, I elucidate some of the main elements of continuity present in weddings. This ethnohistorical analysis of the transformations in P’urhépecha weddings over time allows us to perceive a continuity in the practices involved while also highlighting the principal cultural elements that reinforce P’urhépecha cosmology.

Keywords : Ethnohistory; ethnography; cultural transformation; P’urhépecha wedding; Angahuan.