Pictographic representation of the first dawn and its association with entheogenic mushrooms in a 16th century Mixtec Mesoamerican Codex

Abstract

Antecedentes: En México, antes de la llegada de los españoles en el siglo XVI, los hongos tenían una importancia ceremonial y sagrada de gran relevancia, lo cual está sustentado en evidencias lingüísticas y arqueológicas, y documentado en códices prehispánicos y escritos coloniales.Objetivos: Describir una historia fascinante y, paradójicamente poco conocida, vinculada a la concepción de la primera aparición del sol y su relación con los hongos enteogénos según el Códice mixteco “Yuta Tnoho” o “Vindobonensis Mexicanus I”, producido en el siglo XVI.Métodos: Se realizó una exhaustiva revisión bibliográfica de las publicaciones relacionadas con el Códice estudiado en diversas bases de datos digitales de la Universidad de Sheffield, la British Library ambas en Inglaterra y el Colegio de Postgraduados de México.Resultados y conclusiones: Se presenta una interpretación detallada de los pictogramas que registran el uso de hongos enteógenos desde una perspectiva ritual y sagrada para los grupos Mixtecos en épocas prehispánicas previas al nacimiento del primer sol. Esta evidencia constituye una pieza única de la importancia cultural y ceremonial de los hongos en Mesoamérica, la cual pervive actualmente en el sureste de México en grupos cercanos geográficamente a los mixtecos.

Indigenous psilocybin mushroom practices: An annotated bibliography

“…When the intoxication from the little mushrooms had passed, they talked over among themselves the visions which they had seen. (Sahagún, 1530) Along with the very few pre-conquest codices which survived the destruction of Spanish colonizers, these documents represent the primary sources for many contemporary texts on Indigenous psilocybin mushroom practices (Hernández-Santiago, 2017;Herrera, 1992;Ramírez, Sánchez, Hernández, & Ramírez, 2020). The suppression of these practices was also documented by these missionary chroniclers, who were ambiguously often admirers of the Indigenous cultures that their colonial religious authority was systematically destroying.…”

Cultivation, chemistry, and genome ofPsilocybe zapotecorum

“…1–6 Indigenous cultures of mesoamerica, particularly the Zapotec, Mixtec and Mazatec collect these mushrooms in the wet season from landslides, among other habitats, and consumed them in ceremony. 7–10 Indigenous knowledge of its psychopharmacology is documented by pre-columbian ethnomycological glyphs, codices, and physical artifacts made from ceramic, stone, and metal. 1,2,10–14 Yet it was not until 1956 that P. zapotecorum was described in the scientific literature.…”

“…7–10 Indigenous knowledge of its psychopharmacology is documented by pre-columbian ethnomycological glyphs, codices, and physical artifacts made from ceramic, stone, and metal. 1,2,10–14 Yet it was not until 1956 that P. zapotecorum was described in the scientific literature. That year, the French mycologist Roger Heim created the first type description from a 1954-55 collection by Valentina Pavlovna Wasson and Robert Gordon Wasson, from Santiago Yaitepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.…”

Mycorrhizas for a changing world: Sustainability, conservation, and society

“…People have interacted with mycorrhiza‐forming fungi, consciously or not, for millennia. The fruiting bodies of some of these fungi are of significant cultural importance for modern and ancient civilizations, including Mesoamerican cultures who regarded mushrooms as “flesh of the gods” (Hernández‐Santiago, Martínez‐Reyes, Pérez‐Moreno, & Mata, ; Krippner & Winkelman, ). Today, fungi not only form the basis of many culturally important foods (Chang, ), medicines (Beulah, Margret, & Nelson, ; Wasser & Weis, ), and ceremonies (Arthur, ), but their key role in maintaining modern ecosystems by forming vast, underground networks that connect plants to one another is increasingly recognized (Leake et al, ) (Figure ).…”

“…People have interacted with mycorrhiza-forming fungi, consciously or not, for millennia. The fruiting bodies of some of these fungi are of significant cultural importance for modern and ancient civilizations, including Mesoamerican cultures who regarded mushrooms as "flesh of the gods" (Hernández-Santiago, Martínez-Reyes, Pérez-Moreno, & Mata, 2017;Krippner & Winkelman, 1983).…”