The story of the Flower in the Otomi costumbre

Abstract

In this text, we shall present the story of the Flower in the Otomi costumbre, a myth about the importance of Light (the Sun) in connection with life and God’s force itself and that of humans, particularly of the Otomi people of the Sierra Madre Oriental, who live in the states of Hidalgo and Veracruz. The myth mentions that the Light left and that it asked to return that the costumbre be hurt; which is “put the flower” to preserve and “ lift the force”, in which thousands of little bunches of flowers are prepared, to place them on the (altar), where the music and numerous offerings are necessary to make pleas for rain, abundance and health. Meanwhile, in other instances and times of the year, the Otomi people shall have to be thankful for the “health granted” and for the good harvest. Under this context, we propose to develop a pragmatic proposal: present the author-narrator of the myth,  the context of the narration, the registration and transcription of the same, part of the ritual act and the local exegesis, to finally see what function the myth has among the Otomies of the region of study.