existence of another god, Huracán (whence the English word
hurricane). While in Zempoala Huracán is represented as a
chacmool, a reclining anthropomorphic figure, in El Tajín he
is represented as a one-legged deity whom I consider analo-
gous to Tezcatlipoca. From the Sierra Madre near El Tajín,
Olmos reported the existence of (and denounced) a god
called Chicueyozumatli (“8 Monkey”), to whom homage
was paid at a time near that of the Christian festival of Easter.
Like Huracán, Chicueyozumatli is analogous to Tezcatlipo-
ca. Huracán was also equivalent to the god Tajín himself; this
storm god survives today among the Totonac, who give him
various names, including Trueno Viejo (Span., “old thun-
der”), Aktsini’, and Nanahuatzin.
It was also from the Sierra Madre that the Spanish first
reported a festival, called Calcusot by the Totonac, which
was held in November for the remembrance of the dead.
This festival was widespread among the indigenous peoples
of Mexico and survives today in a modified form celebrated
on All Souls’ Day.
Religious beliefs bore upon sexual practices. Totonac
priests were required to maintain celibacy. The high priest
and the secondary priest were responsible for the circumci-
sions of month-old boys, and they also broke the hymens of
infant girls. Priests would recommend that mothers repeat
the latter operation once their daughters had reached the age
of six. Through Olmos we also know that those seeking good
health for some relative would refrain from sexual contact for
eighty days before making their petition. The general regard
for abstinence is demonstrated in a popular tale in which an
old man arrives too late for a competition as a result of his
libertine ways. The winner of the competition is transformed
into the Sun; the old man is transformed into the Moon.
Several popular tales today constitute the remnants of
the Totonac religion. In the area of Zempoala the Totonac
language is no longer spoken, but in the area of El Tajín
(present-day Papantla de Olarte) it still survives. Here the
Totonac religious tales have become syncretized with Roman
Catholic beliefs. One example is that the Sun and Jesus
Christ are often considered to be the same. Another example
is that Saint John and the god Tajín (or Trueno Viejo) are
also identified as the same. The spread of Catholic (and,
more recently, Protestant) religion continues to break down
the original Totonac religion.
SEE ALSO Tezcatlipoca.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Las Casas, Bartolomé de. Apologética historia de las Indias. Madrid,
1909.
Olmos, Andrés de. “Proceso seguido por Fray Andrés de Olmos
en contra del cacique de Matlatlán.” Archivo general de la na-
ción (Mexico City) 3 (1912): 205–215.
Torquemada, Juan de. Monarquía indiana. 3d ed. Mexico City,
1975.
Williams-García, Roberto. “Trueno Viejo = Huracán = Chac
Mool.” Tlatoani (Mexico City) 8–9 (1954): 77.
Williams-García, Roberto. “Una visión del mundo totonaquen-
se.” In Actes du Quarante-deuxième Congrès international de
americanistes, vol. 9–B, pp. 121–128. Paris, 1979.
New Sources
Cuentos totonacos: antología (Totonac tales: anthology). Mexico
City, 2000.
Culturas prehispánicas del Golfo (Pre-hispanic cultures in the gulf).
Veracruz, Mexico, 1999.
Espejo, Alberto, Moraima Marín, and Rosalía Hernández. Cuentos
y leyendas de la region de Naolinco (Tales and legends of the
Naolinco region). Veracruz, Mexico, 1996.
Garma Navarro, Carlos. Protestantismo en una comunidad totonaca
de Puebla, México (Protestantism and a Totonac community
in Puebla, Mexico). Mexico City, 1987.
Ortiz Espejel, Benjamín. Cultura asediada: espacio e historia en el
trópico veracurano, el caso del Totonacapan (Besieged culture:
space and history in the Veracruz tropics, the case of the To-
tonac). Mexico City, 1995.
ROBERTO WILLIAMS-GARCIA (1987)
Translated from Spanish by Robert Allkin
Revised BibliographyTOUCHING. In religious usage touching often implies
more than simple physical contact with the hands or other
parts of the body. One may confer a touch to heal or assert
power, to convey or obtain grace, or to consecrate or con-
strain a person or object.
HEALING TOUCH. A classic instance of touching is recorded
in the first three Gospels. They relate that a woman who had
had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind Jesus in
a crowd and touched the fringe of his garment. According
to Luke, Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” and added, “I per-
ceive that power has gone out from me” (Lk. 8:45–46).
When the woman saw that she was hidden despite the press-
ing crowd, she fell down before Jesus and declared that she
had been immediately healed. As a charismatic healer, Jesus
laid his hands upon sick folk, touched lepers, and put his fin-
gers into the ears of a deaf mute and touched his tongue; he
also put his spittle on the eyes of a blind man and twice laid
hands on his eyes to effect a cure (Mk. 8:22–26).
In the Hebrew scriptures, the prophet Elisha is said to
have laid himself upon the corpse of a child and to have put
his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his
hands on his hands. The child’s flesh became warm, and the
prophet got up and then again stretched himself upon the
body. Then the child sneezed seven times and opened his
eyes (2 Kgs. 4:34–35). The prophet Isaiah, after having had
a vision of God “high and lifted up,” confessed his own sin-
fulness, whereupon a seraph flew to him with a live coal from
the heavenly altar and touched his mouth with it to purge
his iniquity (Is. 6:1–7).
Not only the touch of a sacred person but the touch of
anything connected with him could exercise healing power.
The New Testament reports that the shadow of Peter wasTOUCHING 9255