Cocinar para los dioses. Comida ritual y alteridad entre los otomíes orientales de Hidalgo (México)

Abstract

In the present essay, I propose to present a certain type of offering which the Otomí of Santa Ana Hueytlalpan in the borough of Tulancingo, Hidalgo (Mexico) prepare for particular rituals (costumbre), called Xoxtu in Otomí (“elevating the deceased”). The ritual’s primary recipient is the owner of the world, the major ancestor: Zithu, the demon that lives in the Napateco hill, which the Otomí consider to be the entrance to the netherworld. His aliment is the same as the comestible goods for human beings: tamales and corn. Nevertheless, the food that is prepared for the offering to Zithu is not of quite the same texture as the one humans eat in their world: the tamales are of mud and the corn is represented by vetches cooked without salt. This discrepancy is due to the fact that the aliment is prepared and offered in a space – time netherworld that is inverse to the humans’ world.

Keywords

• ritual
• food
• otomís
• alterity
• offering
• ancestors