LiSA 23: Sacred plants of ancient America
Product no.: ISBN 9783969392607
Description
Sacred plants of ancient America
Jan Elferink
Religion played a major role in all civilizations of ancient America. A main feature of that religion was animism, hence supernatural forces were not only believed to be present in the many deities they had, but also in other forms of live and in inanimate objects. Plants were thus believed to possess some form of supernatural power which enabled them to perform tasks as feeding, healing, contact the deities, and so on. This book gives an overview of the plant which were considered to be most sacred or magical, especially for the cultures that were the dominant ones at the time of the conquest, thus the Nahuas and Mayas in Mexico, the Incas in South America, and the North American Native Indians. By preference the sources are used, which used pre-Columbian informants, but this only partly possible. Therefore post-conquest colonial sources and ethnographic sources will be used, as well as the results of archeological investigations. Because in animistic religions all plants are less or more sacred, the book deals only with those plants which were highly sacred for the Americans. Especially the reasons of their sacredness and interesting properties for their use by the people will be discussed.
ISBN 9783969392607 (Hardbound). LINCOM Studies in Anthropology 23. 410pp. 60 coloured images. 2025.
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