CHAPTER 5 THE COLONIAL PERIOD IN MESOAMERICA 215Figure 5.12 Title page from the
first published Nahuatl account of
the Our Lady of Guadalupe
apparition legend. The title reads:
“By means of a great wonder
appeared the royal noblewoman of
heaven, Saint Mary, our precious
mother, here on the outskirts of the
great city of Mexico, in the place
called Tepeyacac.” From Luis Lasso
de la Vega, Hvei Tlamahviçoltica... ,- Courtesy of the John Carter
Brown Library at Brown University.
edge. They made offerings at ancient shrines and in some areas continued to ob-
serve the ancient 260-day ritual calendar. Many non-Indians thought that Indian
practitioners had authentic magical powers as witches and magicians, and sought
them out when they wanted charms or potions, paying them for their services.
At the household level, religious devotions centered around a family altar, which
in Nahuatl was called the santocalli,or “saints’ house.” Here again, Christian worship
is combined with non-Christian customs. Images of saints, crucifixes, rosaries, and
other religious objects were purchased and treated with reverence. But the saints’ im-
ages might share the altar with an ancient figurine that had been passed down from
the family’s ancestors or that someone had discovered somewhere. Even an oddly
shaped stone someone happened to dig up in his or her field might be placed on the
altar as a manifestation of divine essence. These altars were tended with offerings of
food, flowers, and incense, and the space around them was carefully swept.