Feast Days as Place-Making in Colonial Yucatán, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As famously outlined by historian Nancy Farriss, mobility was an important survival strategy for Indigenous peoples of the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico throughout the colonial period. During the middle colonial period and beyond, a tension existed between mobility and emplacement, as demonstrated when entire communities threatened to move in protest of mistreatment. At a smaller scale, family groups moving into established communities sought ways to connect, contribute, and thrive socially. One clearly defined way to participate was to support the work of neighbors and community organizations in preparing for a town’s annual saint’s day celebrations. This paper describes historical and archaeological information about developments in food-sharing practices as well as processions and dances associated with the feast days. It considers the socioeconomic and other identity-based aspects of festival participation within small but diverse communities and the importance of such events for community well-being and resilience. The practice of large-scale food distribution at region-wide events played an important role in the development of a hybrid Yucatecan cuisine with its requisite animal and plant tending and market engagement. Saint’s day celebrations past and present contribute meaningfully to place making, and archaeological evidence can help tell this story.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33652