De Cocijo al Rayo. Acercamiento etnohistórico a la ritualidad agrícola de los zapotecos del sur de Oaxaca
From Cocijo to Lightning. An Ethnohistorical Approach to the Agricultural Rituality of the Zapotecs of Oaxaca

Summary/Abstract: Within the ethnohistorical perspective, Cocijo, the Zapotec deity of lightning and rain, was closely related to the worship of water, maize, and the earth. Just as in archeological iconography, also in colonial sources it is possible to identify the continuity of Cocijo as the regent of pluvial phenomena and agriculture. Present day agricultural rituality among Zapotec communities from the south of Oaxaca still conceives of Lightning as a sacred entity -generator of rain, fertility, the growth of maize and other crops. The petitions and offerings made in the past in important times of the ritual agriculture cycle (petition for rain, sowing, blessing of the maize field and harvest) were directed towards this god entity. In this article, I intend to recreate the agricultural complex starting from an ethnohistorical approach, to understand the continuity of Lightning in the context of the ritual lives of Zapotecs from the south of Oaxaca, Mexico, making reference, above all, to the cases from the communities of Santiago Xanica and Buenavista Loxicha. In both communities these agricultural rituals disappeared some time in the twentieth century along with the cultivation of corn due to the implementation of a coffee monoculture.

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