Question for November 2022

People in every culture in the world use sympathetic magic or sometimes religious rituals to achieve their goals, and the Aztecs were no exception. Even if they did not use rainsticks (although the student’s question may have referred to rattle staffs, the use of which does appear to be widespread in ancient and contemporary cultures), the question applies to behavior in any culture where there is no clear link between one’s actions and the desired outcome. What happens when a priest shakes a rainstick to produce rain, but no rain is forthcoming? What do people think of such a failure?

Pic 1: In the Nahua community of Amatlán, Veracruz, participants appeal for rain. The man and woman in the foreground carry the decorated tlanahuatilcuatopilli, the walking stick of command - an authentic rainstick used by contemporary Nahua people

Like people all over the world whose prayers are not answered, the Nahua might think, for instance, that the ritual was not performed correctly, that the spirit entities were angry and felt unsatisfied by the offering, or that those people who held the ritual didn’t truly believe in what they were doing. Any of these conditions could cause the rain to be withheld. But for the Nahua (and undoubtedly in diverse ways for cultures the world over) the situation is a bit more complicated. In the case of the Nahua, people generally believe that the cosmos itself is a single sacred entity, a force or power they call Totiotzin.

Pic 3: Four sacred walking sticks are arranged on an altar table that will be decorated for a ritual appeal for rain

There are many causes of imbalance in this socio-environmental system, but the most common factor is when people fail to respect the things of this world. The Nahua call this great sin axtlatlepanitta in today’s dialect of Huastecan Nahuatl, a verb construction meaning “[he, she, it] does not respect something or someone,” or in short, disrespect. It occurs when people neglect to make offerings to the bountiful earth, abuse its resources, treat each other badly, forget to make offerings to the souls of deceased relatives, envy their neighbors, engage in fighting, or cheat, steal and otherwise behave without respect. The resulting imbalance causes rain to be withheld among other such misfortunes. The purpose of Nahua rituals, then, is not to produce rain directly but rather to restore the delicate balance between the sacred cosmos and the human community through gift giving. By restoring equilibrium, Nahua rituals make rain possible or increase its likelihood, but they do not directly cause it to occur. The rituals are always successful at restoring balance, but rain may not have been forthcoming anyway.

Pic 5: An offering to the water dweller, apanchaneh, at a spring located in a Nahua community in northern Veracruz, Mexico. Note the two decorated sacred walking sticks standing behind the sisal carrying bag that holds dressed paper images of the seeds