Agricultural worldview and celebration in the urban town of Cholula, Puebla, México

Abstract

The complex sociocultural and political contexts faced by Mesoamerican indigenous peasant communities have produced major transformations, disruptions, and heterogeneities in their cultural matrix. Historically, the peoples of this tradition have always been characterised by the construction of their material and symbolic lives around a complex worldview inspired by nature and its sacred powers, in mutual correspondence with agricultural practices that serve as a conduit for the proper development of life. However, the processes of urbanisation and globalisation have brought about changes in many of these communities, now called urban communities, resulting in the decline of agricultural work. Currently, they no longer practise agriculture but continue to reproduce its symbolism and ritual cycles. But why do a Mesoamerican worldview of nature, its ritual cycles, and agricultural powers persist and are reproduced in an urban environment? The objective of this paper is to analyse the symbolic and cultural reproduction of the Mesoamerican worldview on agriculture through a systemic set of festive practices in an urban setting such as San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. The methodology and approach used are ethnographic.