Chapter Divinità di amaranto. Corpi effimeri in Mesoamerica

Overview & Synopsis

This article explores the ritual use of edible effigies made from amaranth dough (tzoalli) among the Mexica. Rather than representing transcendent or polytheistic deities, these figures embodied «metapersons»: immanent, relational powers activated through ritual. Colonial – especially missionary – sources misread these practices as idolatry, failing to grasp the ontological logic at play. Focusing on the construction and use of figures like the Tepictoton, aquatic metapersons embodying mountains, the article argues that Mesoamerican religions enacted a fluid ontology and a dynamic material cosmopolitical system. These ephemeral bodies were not merely symbols but performative presences and social agents: temporary materializations of natural forces shaped through communal ritual action.