[ebooks] Moviebob's Reel Breakdown: The Film Criticism of Bob Chipman by Bob Chipman at Arts-Photography

Description

Aztec painted manuscripts and sculptural works; as well as indigenous and Spanish sixteenth-century texts; were filled with images of foodstuffs and food processing and consumption. Both gods and humans were depicted feasting; and food and eating clearly played a pervasive; integral role in Aztec rituals. Basic foods were transformed into sacred elements within particular rituals; while food in turn gave meaning to the ritual performance.This pioneering book offers the first integrated study of food and ritual in Aztec art. Elizabeth Moraacute;n asserts that while feasting and consumption are often seen as a secondary aspect of ritual performance; a close examination of images of food rites in Aztec ceremonies demonstrates that the presencemdash;or; in some cases; the absencemdash;of food in the rituals gave them significance. She traces the ritual use of food from the beginning of Aztec mythic history through contact with Europeans; demonstrating how food and ritual activity; the everyday and the sacred; blended in ceremonies that ranged from observances of births; marriages; and deaths to sacrificial offerings of human hearts and blood to feed the gods and maintain the cosmic order. Moraacute;n also briefly considers continuities in the use of pre-Hispanic foods in the daily life and ritual practices of contemporary Mexico. Bringing together two domains that have previously been studied in isolation; Sacred Consumption promises to be a foundational work in Mesoamerican studies.