Ceremonies: Zapotec people engaged in numerous rituals associated with their farming activities. Lightning, Cosijo, was seen as alive; the powerful deity was offered human blood, quail, dogs, human infants, and war captives in exchange for rain. God or Gods: Zapotec religion was polytheistic which means the believe in multiple gods and goddesses also known as deities . Two principal gods include Cocijo, the rain god which is similar to the Aztec god Tlaloc, and Coquihani, the god of light. It is believed that the Zapotec sometimes used human sacrifice in their rituals. The Zapotecs had a greater number of gods associated with fertility and agriculture. There are both male and female representation, told apart from each other by costumes. Males normally wear Loincloth and sometimes capes, while females are represented by wearing skirts. Prominent gods are Cocijo – god of lightning and rain and also god of corn Pitao Cozobi. The roles of religious leaders like priests in curing disease and maintaining health: The Zapotec people don’t have religious leaders but they did have an impressive range of remedies and cures.There are roles which have members of both sexes are curers, but only women are midwives, and only men mend bones. Illness may be assigned to improper religious conduct, soul loss, envy, anger, the evil eye, fright ,and witchcraft. Impact religion had on Zapotec people: Anything that moved had "pee" and was alive. Anything animate was somewhat sacred and had had to be approached with some ritual and sense of reciprocity . Animate things included: animals, men, the 260 day ritual calendar, the moon, light. Marriage: The zapotecs have two types of marriages either free union which is between two people that lacks any publicly recognised bond, or church marriage. You can’t get a divorce by a catholic church, but sometimes they can separate and take other spouses. A pregnancy can often prompt a marriage, it’s either by common law or the church. |