Mexican Otomi Manuscript on Amate Bark Paper ~ Prayers for Healing

Tellez, Alfonso Garcia

[MEXICAN OTOMI MANUSCRIPT ON AMATE BARK "PAPER" - HEALING]. Historia de una Vivienda para Hacer una Ofrenda al Santo Tecuil ['Making a Dwelling as an Offering to Saint Tecul (Hearth Spirit)']

San Pablito Pahuatlan in Puebla state, Mexico: 1981 (after). Crown 8vo (18 x 14 cm). Original handmade paper wrappers with muñeco illustration on front, with manuscript title, place, date of original composition, and the genuine signature of Alfonso Garcia Tellez. Handmade and handbound codex, folded accordion style, red ribbon ties. Text in Otomi-Spanish written reddish ink on amate bark paper. 22 numbered leaves with 18 muñeco illustrations (including cover) cut out from handmade amate bark-paper (brown and red). Very good. Item #4604

EXTRAORDINARY EXAMPLE OF MEXICAN BOOK ARTS, CREATED BY PUEBLA ARTISTS UTILIZING INDIGENOUS MATERIALS, NAMELY AMATE BARK PAPER IN THE MAYAN CODEX TRADITION. THIS EXAMPLE WAS A GIFT FROM GARCIA TELLEZ TO CAROL OLIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, PUEBLO, IN THE 1980S AND -- UNLIKE ALMOST ALL EXAMPLES THAT HAVE BEEN ON THE MARKET OF LATE -- IS NO DOUBT IN HIS AUTOGRAPH.

The text was written by a revered curandero or shaman (technically "witch doctor"), who gives detailed instructions for curing the sick in the form of prayers and offerings, some of which include AMATE BARK PAPER, i.e. the very material on which the present manuscript was written. It is effectively a practical manual for curanderos which gives valuable information about ritual practice and offerings for the guardian of the hearth spirit (Santo Tacul) to heal the sick and to protect household members. A COMPLETE TRANSLATION of the text and identification of the "spirit dolls" is given below.

"The Otomis, along with most other American India groups in Middle America, believe that a spirit lives in the stones surrounding the family hearth. This ritual is held to make offerings and pleaded for abundant food in the future" (Sandstrom 1981, pp. 10-11). An alternate name for Dios de Tequil is Maka Xita Sibi, or Grandfather Fire, which is associated with the three stones surrounding the household cooking fire and protects the family (Sandstrom & Sandstrom 1986, p. 136).

Alfonso Garcia Tellez is one of three known Otomi from San Pablito who produced books, the other two being Antonio Lopez M. and Santos Garcia (see Sandstrom and Sandstrom 1986, p. 33), This manuscript was created in the Mayan Aztec bookmaking tradition, namely as an "accordion / concertina" folded codex, and really must be seen UNFOLDED to be fully appreciated.

Scholarly interest in the Otomi relationship with amate paper has greatly increased of late, as well it should be. Indeed, a 318-page fully illustrated monograph on Garcia Tellez was published in France in 2018 (Alfonso M. Garcia Tellez, Ecrits: Manuscrits a miniatures otomi). However, genuine curandero books are unrepresented in many important libraries worldwide; they should be recognized holistically for both their agricultural craft and indigenous spiritual beliefs.

The culture of amate paper dates back to pre-Columbian Meso-American times. The word amate derives from amatl, the Nahuatl word for paper. Mayan and Aztec Indians painted on amate paper to create codices (accordion folded books) depicting stories historical events and even astrology. The Otomi people still use amate paper today for creating cutout figures for religious ceremonies while other village artisans use it for Mexican folk art depicting colorful urban scenes festivals and celebrations. The paper is created from the bark of the amate wild fig tree (xalama) the nettle tree (jonote) and mulberry (morus celtidifolia). Each type of bark produces a different tone of color ranging from coffee browns to silvery whites. The pulp from these barks is often combined to produce a swirling marble effect. The artisans first wash the bark, then boil it in a solution of limejuice for several hours and lay the strips on a wooden board. They beat the strips until they fuse together to form the desired texture, and then dried in the sun.

San Pablito, a settlement of Otomi speaking Indians in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, is renowned as a village of brujería (witchcraft) and the only remaining major center of indigenous papermakers in Mexico. At one time, the village of San Pablito was banned from producing the "magical" amate bark books, as considered a form of witchcraft. Curanderos (curers), sometimes called witches (brujos and brujas in Spanish), cut images of spirit entities from this paper for use in various rituals. Earlier researchers reported that light paper is used in white magic and dark paper is used in black magic, but modern investigators have not affirmed this assumption. Both types of bark paper are used in rituals associated with agriculture, divining, and curing. The brujos/curanderos, or more appropriately termed as ritual specialists, use scissors to cut anthropomorphic images (in Spanish muñecos, dolls) of spirit entities, each with iconographic motifs that indicate whether the spirit is benevolent or malevolent.

The Otomi cut paper camas (beds), upon which the paper figurines are laid during rituals. Ritual specialists first fold the paper before it is cut, producing symmetrical images when unfolded. The munecos and camas are central features of Otomi rituals. During certain curing ceremonies, the specialist (healer, curer, medicine man, sorcerer, shaman) might even kill a chicken and sprinkle its blood over the paper figurines lying on their paper beds, while praying and chanting, in an effort to rid the patient of malevolent spirits.

A lesser-known aspect of Otomi art is the making of small books from handmade paper where the lighter paper is used as a background surface, and brown and darker munecos, the "sacred paper cuttings," are glued on. These figures are accompanied by texts in Spanish written in capital letters with felt-tipped pens. The description and explanation found in the texts focus predominantly on ceremonies involving offerings to rain deities and countless spirits of seeds, fruits, and plants, as well as traditional, old curing practices. The bound manuscripts are essential testimonials, written by indigenous curanderos, revealing their knowledge of the beliefs, the religious world, the cosmovision, and secret costumbres (customs) of their ancestors. The libritos (booklets) indeed represent valuable indigenous ethnographic reports.

While members of Garcia Tellez’s family have been involved in manufacturing inferior examples for the tourist trade, ours was certainly in his autograph, as the handwriting is correct and the provenance is long and unbroken:

PROVENANCE: Alfonso Garcia Tellez; his gift to: Carol Olin (1930-2020), formerly a professor of literature and theater at Univ. Colorado Pueblo, later of San Tan Valley, AZ. Olin met Garcia Tellez in his hometown of Pahuatlan, Puebla in the 1980s; on the back cover in pen is her note of the place they met: "San Pablo (sic) de Pahuatla[n]" and "Hidalgo" (the latter reference is unclear). Her gift to: her granddaughter Danielle Duran of San Tan Valley, AZ. Purchased directly from the preceding by Michael Laird Rare Books.

¶ LITERATURE: Alan and Pamela Sandstrom's colossal 2022 monograph "Pilgrimage to Broken Mountain" is positively epic and must be consulted by all persons interested in the field. See Ecrits pp. 163-210 for the reproduction of a later copy of the present text (written by someone other than Garcia Tellez). "Amate manuscripts of the Otomí of San Pablito, Puebla," in: Mexicon, Journal of Mesoamerican Studies – Revista sobre Estudios Mesoamericanos, Vol. XXXIV, Nr. 6, December 2012. Alan and Pamela Sandstrom. Traditional Papermaking and Paper Cult Figures of Mexico (1986). Christensen / Marti, Witchcraft and Pre-Columbian Paper / Brujerias y papel precolombino, 3rd edition (1979). Sandstrom, Traditional Curing and Crop Fertility Rituals among Otomi Indians of the Sierra de Puebla, Mexico: The Lopez Manuscripts (1981).

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A FULL TRANSLATION has been prepared by Texas State University Reilly Center for the Arts and Symbolism of the Ancient Americas (Codices: Historia Vivienda, online at https://www.txst.edu/anthropology/casaa/codices/historia-vivienda.html

"Making a House as an Offering to Saint Tecul
Author: Mr. Alfonso García Téllez.
April 15, 1981"

A man and a woman need a house to live in, and, most importantly, a kitchen where they can make a fire. Us indigenous people need a fire to cook all the types of things that we eat, and things to boil, and at the moment someone in the family dies, the fire and our home are witnesses to our lives. (1)

A person’s spirit may suffer in Purgatory for their sins in this world. When they arrive in Purgatory, they may deny what they did in this world, that they didn’t do anything bad, but the judge of Purgatory will tell them: “If you don’t owe anything, we’re going to call the god of Tecul. I’m going to call the police and they’ll come to advise him,” the judge of Purgatory says. [image] Bed of the god of Tecul. (2)

Then the son or other family member of the deceased will encounter a venomous snake, or if not they’ll dream that they’re bitten by a snake. This person will grow sick from the shock of the serpent. Or if not, they’ll get some other disease, for example, like pustules, as a punishment. Those pustules are called Tlacote. The sick person will talk with his family, and one of them will say to look for a shaman to divine why this person is sick. [Image] Spirit of Serpents. (3)

After the divination [adivinanza], the shaman will say to the suffering person, this sickness comes from Purgatory. Your late grandfather was incarcerated, and when the judge of Purgatory was judging what he did in this world, the deceased denied it. He didn’t want to admit his sins. The snake that you saw or dreamed of after that was the police sent by the judge of Purgatory. The incense burner [somador] is for calling the gods. [Image] The shaman is divining the cause of the illness. (4)

The family of the sick person will ask the shaman, “Sir, what can we do so he doesn’t die?” The shaman will say, “Listen, and listen well to what I’m going to tell you. For this person to get better, you need to make an offering to the god of Tecul. That’s what the judge of Purgatory wants, so that the god of Tecul can serve as witnesses to the deceased. You’ll tell us if we’ll do the ritual or not as you wish. [Image] The suffering of the deceased. (5)

The suffering person responds, “If we make the offering, will it cure the illness?” The shaman says, “For my part, I think it will cure the illness, and the deceased will be saved from Purgatory, if you have faith in me. And if you don’t, the sick person will die. But don’t worry—this person will again see the light of day.” [Image] Spirit of the god of Tecul, witness of Purgatory. (6)

The suffering person says, “We’ll make the offering, but what things will we need for the ceremony?” You need 24 packets of amate paper, of xalama paper; one female turkey and a rooster (I’m going to cut the rooster’s throat so I can scatter the blood on the bed of the god of Tecul); and 24 bunches of Mexican marigolds to adorn the area where the deceased had his fire. [Image] Goddess of Temascal, protector of women during childbirth. (7)

After preparing everything we need to, we’re going to start the ceremony. We’ll sweep the place where the house of the deceased was, and where the kitchen was. There, we’ll place a table for the offering. When everything is prepared [arrescado?] where we’re going to work, the musicians will be ready to start to play. They will serve as a signal of welcome, and when they start, I’m going to scrape the ground where the ancient Tecul was, and pour a little bit of aguardiente also as a way of welcoming the old Tecul. [Image] The shaman goes to the site of the former house. (8)

Then the shaman will begin to speak to the god of Tecul, begin to pray. He says to Saint Tecul, “Rise, rise, I order you, to worship you. Oh! Judge of the deceased, we’re going to give you aguardiente, and cigars, turkey meat, chicken and peanut stew, a grilled chicken, 4 tallow candles, this whole offering is for you, Lord Judge of Those Who’ve Passed. The old house of he who has died--here will be the offering to Saint Tecul, oh! Judge of those who’ve passed! We make this offering unto you for the salvation of our departed grandpa, who is imprisoned in Purgatory. Now, God of Tecul, we will make a great effort to deliver this offering. We ask you to do us the favor of saving the sick person and the deceased. As interpreter of the suffering, I’m going to perform the prayer before you and the all-powerful God. As he sees all that happens here on Earth, he is also the one who watches over the lives already dead. (10)

Lord God of Tecul, the offering that we gave you, we ask that you share with the Lord Judge of the Incarcerated Dead, in order to pay for the sin committed by our ancestor who is in jail in Purgatory. We ask you, God of Tecul, that you talk with the Lord Judge of Purgatory, and say that you’re going to rescue the deceased that he has imprisoned. Also, that you serve as witness because that’s where the judge wants him. [Image] The deceased is suffering for his sins. (11)

The god of Tecul arrives in Purgatory and explains everything that’s going to happen to the judge of Purgatory. And he answers, saying, “God of Tecul, you’ve come, come to pay me for the sins that he committed in the world? And you’ve come as a witness?” The judge says every day when he made his food or when he eats, you were there? Or when he was drunk and he liked to fight or talk about women? These are the worldly sins people commit in their lives. [Image] Judge of Purgatory. (12)

The god of Tecul says: “Because of all that, Lord Judge, I brought you this offering to save our ancestor, and so you don’t continue punishing him in Purgatory. I want him to go to Heaven with God and for his spirit to rest in peace.” The judge says, “To ensure he is saved, you need to give an offering to the goddess of Temazcal. Because she’s at my side, she needs an offering too.” (13)

We promise to give an offering to the goddess of Temazcal, because she also serves as a witness. She relieves women when they’re sick from childbirth, and she takes infants to be bathed. Because of this, we’re happy to give an offering to the goddess of Temazcal. That’s how she cures illnesses. If you believe, you’ll be cured, and if you deny her or don’t believe, you’ll die. [Image] Goddess of Temazcal. (14)

Process of making an offering for a family home. You have to make an offering in the form of a cleaning [limpia] for the house. This is because the wood in the ceiling comes from the Earth, and the forest where the wood was has bad air [aire malo]. This infiltrates the trees, which are full of sickness. Heat, cold, thunder, lightning, and rain all pass through the woods. For this reason, you need to make an offering for the house, because it’s full of illness. [Image] Bed of the god of the trees of the house. (15)

For the house that has the custom of having a tlapanco [storage platform or attic], and those that don’t have one also have to make an offering, but for the house that has one, you need to make an offering with a dance on the tlapanco. There you need to put a branch of white xalama in the middle, and 4 young men, one on each corner of the house, to shoot an arrow into the wood that is in the tlapanco. The 4 young men all have a bow with its arrows. They do it dancing, because the musicians will be playing. [Image] God of the tree of the house that you live in. (16)

The musicians play for the whole ceremony. The four young men are dancing with the arrows that they carry, and the rest of the people are dancing with a cempoalxochitl flower woven with a piece of carrizo. The shaman is dancing with the incense burner. In the incense burner, he puts incense to make smoke around the area near the xalama branch, as a perfume to eliminate the bad odors of the wood in the house. This sends out the bad spirits that came from the forest and leaves only the good spirits. (17)

While the musicians are playing, the shaman is singing in the middle of the house by the xalama branch. This branch is decorated with palm flowers and figures of the sun made from amate paper of white xalama. All this is for the house offering. Each custom has its own meaning, and each type of paper also has its own meaning. Amate paper from dark lime is to cause vengeance, for example, to make people lose things, or to make evil so people lose something. (18)

For example, to make an evil spell so people lose something, you have to use dark lime xalama amate paper. Cut a paper doll with its shoes and a thorn nailed through an ant and into the heart of the figure. This thorn is consecrated with black magic to cause damage to the person who commits ![herrer?] a robbery. That person will spend a long time with this punishment, until they die, because this evil spell has summoned many evil spirits, and for this they will suffer a lot. Serpent’s fang nailed into the chest of the spirit of a robber. [Image] The thorn is called bull’s horn, and it and the ants from the tree it comes from are also poisonous. (19)

Besides the amate paper, the thorn, and the ant, also a fang from a mahuaquite serpent [Bothrops asper This fang is also nailed into the heart of the doll. And this thorn, you can only find it in the Sierra de la Huasteca, and it carries the name of bull’s horn [cuerno de toro, possibly Acacia collinsii or other Acacia]. You also can make a doll with mulberry amate paper. The doll has fingers and toes, it has shoes. It is a figure of a bad sickness, or an evil spirit. To cure it, you make a good figure with fingers and toes.
[Image] Bed of evil to perform witchcraft. (20)

For example, to cure an illness from this type of ceremony, you make a doll of white mulberry [mora blanca] amate paper, to represent the spirit of the illness, and you make a cleaning [limpia]. Then you throw it in the river, with a white chicken and 4 tallow candles so that the river takes the illness that the person had. This eliminates the evil spirits that are full of sickness, because the white mulberry amate paper represents good, and amate of dark xalama represents evil. [Image] Evil spirit. (21)

These ceremonies for curing and causing evil are for the indigenous people of the Sierra Norte of the state of Puebla. This ceremony was performed and is performed in the town of San Pablito, Pahuatlán, Puebla, and some parts of the states of Hidalgo and Veracruz. This type of ceremony is the legitimate indigenous Otomí custom of San Pablito, Pahuatlán. [Image] Good spirit. (22).

Price: $4,200.00