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The Spotted Sun and the Blemished Moon, Nahuatl Views on Treponematoses

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Microbes and Other Shamanic Beings

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Abstract

This chapter explores Nahuatl understandings of nanahuatl, syphilis, and other treponemal diseases, which were understood as the tutelary deity of the Nahuatl peoples. It examines their classification and association with sectors of Mexican society, their treatments, and how this knowledge was codified in the myth of the Sun and the Moon. This version, which can also be interpreted as a description of arsenical bronze metallurgy, is one of the treatments against treponemal diseases.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sahagun 1975 [1580], 1577, 221–225 Vol. X, Chapt. 28, Paragraph 5, Fo. 109–111.

  2. 2.

    Carrasco 1976, 194.

  3. 3.

    Rincón and Peñafiel 1885 [1595], 41–43, 69, 72 & 88; Mentz 2009; Carrasco 1976, 199–200.

  4. 4.

    Carrasco 1976, 230–235; Thompson 1949; Sámano 1985.

  5. 5.

    Carrillo 2013.

  6. 6.

    Mansilla et al. 2000.

  7. 7.

    A parallel with the role of virus affections in European colonialism can be suggested, see Crosby (2004).

  8. 8.

    Elferink 2008.

  9. 9.

    Sahagun 1975 [1580], 221–25. Vol. X, Chapt. 28, Paragraph 5, Fo. 109–111.

  10. 10.

    Díaz Cíntora 1990, 14, 23 & 79.

  11. 11.

    Sahagun 1975 [1580].

  12. 12.

    Díaz Cíntora 1990, 14 & 22.

  13. 13.

    Harper and Armelagos 2013.

  14. 14.

    Rossell and Díaz 2003, 128; Díaz Cíntora 1990, 17.

  15. 15.

    Seler 1904, 287–288.

  16. 16.

    Garibay 1961; Sahagun 1975 [1580], 7:3–7; Kohler 1997; Lupo 1991.

  17. 17.

    Velazco 1998.

  18. 18.

    Hosler 1995.

  19. 19.

    Hosler 1999.

  20. 20.

    Hosler 1995.

  21. 21.

    Sámano 1985; Marcos and Norton 1982.

  22. 22.

    Paulsen 1974; Murra 2002.

  23. 23.

    Sahagun 1577, Vol. X 109.

  24. 24.

    Ziobrowski et al. 1996.

  25. 25.

    Idrovo 2005.

  26. 26.

    Hughes et al. 2011; Ehrlich 1913.

  27. 27.

    Descola 2013, 5.

  28. 28.

    Descola 2013, 208–213.

  29. 29.

    Such relations only appear when dealing with deities with different origins such as Tlazoltéotl and Xochiquétzal .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Somerville College, Institute for Science Innovation and Society School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Oxford, UK

    César E. Giraldo Herrera

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Giraldo Herrera, C.E. (2018). The Spotted Sun and the Blemished Moon, Nahuatl Views on Treponematoses. In: Microbes and Other Shamanic Beings. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71318-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71318-2_10

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