Hierogamy in the Aztec Ritual
Abstract
"It is generally known that hierogamy or the ritual of sacred marriage was present in some cultures of the Old World. There, its most basic meaning was to regenerate vegetation and thus ensure fertility and abundance for the community. Little attention has been paid to the subject in Mesoamerican studies and, although we possess a considerable body of knowledge on Aztec feasts and ritual, none of the rites described in the sixteenth century sources or extant in the codices has been labeled by scholars as hierogamy. The aim of this paper is to show that what we deal with in Mesoamerica isalso a kind of hierogamy, which l understand as marriage between two gods or their earthly representatives, often accompanied by ritual sexual intercourse, usually of a special purpose and of religious significance."
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