Significados y apropiaciones mexicas de la Danza del Sol. Estudio de caso de Axixik Temazkalpul-li

Abstract

This text describes and analyzes the cultural phenomenon of Mexicanism and its relationship with Lakota spirituality by way of the appropriation of the Sun Dance ritual. The aim is to articulate the senses conferred by the practitioners of Mexican ritual dances drawn from the native American traditions and the implications regarding identity. To this end, the text presents a historical recreation of the appropriation process and of the arrival of the Lakota Sun Dance ritual to Mexico. Thereafter, an example hybridization and relocation process is provided through the description of a particular case study: the Axixik Temaskalpul-li group (Kalpulli of Mexicanism), located on the shores of Lake Chapala, Jalisco (which also practices Sioux rituals, and which is the second oldest group in Mexico to practice the Sun Dance). Finally, the paper questions the phenomenon of identity and meaning conferred by the people immersed in the network of alternative spiritualism, which in a certain way circulates within the neo-indian circuit, and particularly those aspects related to Mexicanism and the Sun Dance.