ORIENTACIÓN DE IGLESIAS COLONIALES EN XOCHIMILCO Y MILPA ALTA, CUENCA DE MÉXICO
ORIENTATION OF COLONIAL CHURCHES IN XOCHIMILCO AND MILPA ALTA, BASIN OF MEXICO
Author(s): Juan Rafael Zimbrón Romero
Subject(s): Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: horizon calendars; colonial churches; religious syncretism; Iztaccíhuatl; Basin of Mexico
Summary/Abstract: The churches of San Bernardino de Siena in Xochimilco and La Asunción in Milpa Alta, built during the 16th century, are oriented to the Iztaccíhuatl volcano, marking important dates to the indigenous-colonial calendar. In the first temple were registered dates of February 24 – to the east – linked to the beginning of the Xochimilco year. The second one marked the equinoxes, March 20–21 and September 22–23, useful to fix the quarter days. Also, this system includes the Sun passes through the zenith, May 16, related to the San Bernardino de Siena feast, May 20. It maintains the indigenous structure of the calendar and its conception of landscape within Christian concepts related to the cult of saints and the Virgin Mary, along with the notion of a unique God.
Book: La vida bajo el cielo estrellado: la arqueoastronomía y etnoastronomía en Latinoamérica
- Page Range: 161-170
- Page Count: 10
- Publication Year: 2021
- Language: Spanish, Portuguese
- Content File-PDF