Publications » Tepehuan Texts » Maguey
-
Download
Cactus fibre [PDF 324KB]
The Maguey Cactus [PDF 1.0MB]
Mezcal [PDF 592KB]
Abbreviations of Grammatical Terms [PDF 47K]
-
Description
These three texts describe the cultivation of the maguey plant and its uses. They help preserve the knowledge of how these plants have been used in daily Tepehuan life for centuries. These texts were first narrated and illustrated in the 1970s by a resident of Santa María Ocotán, and were revised and expanded thirty years later by a resident of Los Gavilanes.
The first text describes the different types of maguey plants and what each one is good for. The second text gives more detail about the process of extracting maguey fibre, and how it used to weave two types of bags and to make rope. The third text gives more detail about the process of making mezcal (cactus wine).
The form of presentation is called “glossed text,” because it includes both literal translations of every word and morpheme and free translations of every sentence. The free translations are summarized in paragraph form at the end.