Evolution of a Sacred Place in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec during the Colony: Pictographic Crosses, Vents Effigies and Satanic Spells

Abstract

In the symbolic landscape created by the Zapotecs in the Postclassic period in the southern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Ba’cuana was a sanctuary of great importance, where their rock paintings were significant. In this paper I study expressions that were painted after the arrival of the Spaniards. Combining studies of style, iconography and the analysis of pigments, a division in two main stages during the Colonial period is established, from diverse characteristics that account for the site´s evolution during three centuries. Ba’cuana remained a highly venerated sanctuary, center of a new sacred landscape, in which the agency of the Zapotec population was revealed. They developed their own visual discourses. These were a reflection of the creation of a new culture, result of the re appropriation of Christian artistic and religious elements, from orthodoxy and demoniac practice.