The Rabbit on the Face of the Moon: Mythology in the Mesoamerican TraditionEighteen essays provide an accessible, entertaining look into a system of millennia-old legends and beliefs. Mythology is one of the great creations of humankind. It forms the core of sacred books and reflects the deepest preoccupations of human beings, their most intimate secrets, their glories, and their infamies. In 1990, Alfredo López Austin, one of the foremost scholars of ancient Mesoamerican thought, began a series of essays about mythology in the Mesoamerican tradition, published in México Indígena. Although his articles were written for general readers, they were also intended to engage specialists. They span a divers subject matter: myths and names, eclipses, stars, left and right, Méxican origins, Aztec incantations, animals, and the incorporation of Christian elements into the living mythologies of Mexico. The title essay relates the Mesoamerican myth explaining why there is a rabbit o the moon's face to a Buddhist image and suggests the importance of the profound mythical concepts presented by each image. The eighteen essays in this volume are unified by their basis in Mesoamerican tradition and provide an accessible, entertaining look into a system of millennia-old legends and beliefs. |
From inside the book
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... celestial actress in an unusual event , a marvelous free spectacle that took place on July 11 , 1991. People living inside the fortuitous band of darkness attended the gala event . Many sought aesthetic pleasure in it . A few added ...
... celestial regularities , a fear of the lunar rabbit's influence ? There is no way of know- ing whether they had a myth similar to that of the Nahua of the Central Plateau . According to the Nahua , the sun and the moon were born with ...
... celestial process . ' Our Mexican traditions are also rich in mythical eponyms . Ac- counts of the ancient Nahua of the high Central Plateau name Tenuch , Ulmecatl , Xicalancatl , Otomitl , and Mixtecatl , the an- cestors of the ...
Contents
The Rabbit on the Face of the Moon | 1 |
Myths and Names | 9 |
Invention and Discovery in the Mythical Concept of the World | 15 |
Copyright | |
18 other sections not shown