Introduction: Mesoamerican Medicine, Ancient and Contemporary

• This article introduces the Conference theme and the over all theme of the articles in this Double Volume, of Acta Americana which also is a Special Issue with contributions from the International Conference of the American Anthropological Association, that was held in New Orleans in November 2002, organized by John F. Chuchiak, Missouri State University, and Servando Hinojosa, Texas PanAm University. All these contributions are focused on various categories of medicinal rituals found in the Mesoamerican area, but the majority of those focuses on Maya rituals. Also the perspectives in the articles varies from ancient time to present time and in many cases the researchers argues for a long term continuity in these rituals, based on both archival records, epigraphy, iconography and contemporary fieldwork.

Keyword

Mesoamerica

Maya rea

Yucatan

medicinal rituals

curing rituals

shaman

shamanism

Popol Vuh

iconography

epigraphy

Books of Chilam Balam

Ritual of the Bacabs

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)