The Natural History of the Soul in Ancient Mexico

by Furst, Jill Leslie McKeever

• ISBN13: 9780300072600
• ISBN10: 0300072600
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-09-01
• Publisher: Yale Univ Pr

Summary

A richly illustrated look at basic Precolumbian beliefs among ancient Mesoamerican peoples about life and death, body and soul. Drawing on linguistic, ethnographic, and iconographic sources, art historian Jill McKeever Furst argues that the Mexica turned not to mental or linguistic constructions for verifying ideas about the soul, but to what they experienced through the senses. 32 illustrations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
The Evolving Soul	p. 1
The Mexica and Their Souls	p. 10
The Yolia and the Soul	p. 17
The Yolia as a Bird	p. 23
The Winged Soul, Universality and Natural History	p. 33
The Yolia as Breath	p. 42
The Yolia as Shadowy Double	p. 48
The Yolia as Stone	p. 54
The Tonalli and Fire Drilling	p. 63
The Tonalli as Sumptuary Art	p. 71
The Tonalli as Name and Astrological Sign	p. 76
The Tonalli and Physical Resemblance	p. 88
The Tonalli, Body Temperature and Neonates	p. 96
The Tonalli and Advice at Puberty	p. 103
Soul Loss and Aging	p. 109
The Tonalli and the Cold Body	p. 118
The Tonalli as Body Part	p. 125
Blood, Shock and Sacrifice	p. 131
The Spirit, the Air and the Winds	p. 138
The Aires as Spirits, Gods and the Returning Dead	p. 143
The Glowing Ihiyotl, the Winds and the Aires	p. 153
The Ignis Fatuus and the Ihiyotl	p. 160
The Foul-Smelling Ihiyotl	p. 167
Postscript	p. 173
Notes	p. 185
List of Abbreviations	p. 191
Bibliography	p. 193
Index	p. 224
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