Lumbres, vapores y serpientes. Apuntes sobre algunas técnicas de cocción ritual y sus significados entre los antiguos nahuas
Lights, Vapors, and Snakes. Notes on Some Ritual Cooking Techniques and Their Meanings among the Ancient Nahuas

Summary/Abstract: The research presented in this article focuses on the study of some cooking techniques practiced by the ancient Nahuas in the festivals’ cycle associated with the solar year, called veintenas. First of all, this subject will be studied from the linguistic point of view, by presenting the analysis of Nahuatl verbs related to the action of cooking – aspect still little documented by researchers – and by glimpsing the techniques of food preparation, based on the contact with air, water, fire, etc. Subsequently, the use of two opposite and complementary techniques, roasting and boiling (steam preparation), of prey of hunts and tamales made with amaranth will be analyzed. The study will be carried out by analyzing three of the eighteen twenty-day periods of the solar calendar, in search for the symbolic meaning and the ritual implications of this culinary binomial. In conclusion, the results of the study of the Nahuatl vocabulary related to cooking will be applied to conduct research on the techniques used to elaborate some edible effigies of the Nahua gods, made of amaranth seeds and honey.

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