Otomi Worldview: A Way of Seeing, Feeling and Describing the World

“Ár nthandu̲ximha̲i ya ñäñho. Honja da thandi, da ts’a̲ ne da ‘bede ar ximha̲i. Otomi worldview. A way of seeing, feeling and telling the world”, is a book that approaches us to the original culture of the Otomis, one of the native peoples from Mexico that established themselves and developed themselves in the heart of Middle America, many centuries before the arrival of the Aztecs to this area and the Conquest of the Aztecs. In this book, Ñähñus, Ñäñhos and Ñäthos poetically tell us tales and beliefs that they themselves have been told by their parents or grandparents that have been transmitted from generation to generation and form part of the collective memory and oral tradition of their community. Through their ancient tongue, the Ñähñus, Ñäñhos and Ñäthos share with us their version of how the universe was created, they tell us of the origin of man, of the most representative plants and animals of their culture, and they tell us of the respectful relationship that they share with nature, of the founding of some of their communities and the beliefs they have for mythological creatures and natural forces. This book captures the semantic and poetic universe We want to honour the collective memory of the Otomi people, leave evidence that Hñäñho can be written and read and eradicate the prejudice that Hñäñho is a dialect. This book about Art, Language and Culture is the fruit of the research program “Rescue and Revitalisation of the Otomi Language in Querétaro”, a program, which since 1981 takes place in the Autonomous University of Queretaro. The book blossomed and matured in the fertile field of the Program that supports the Municipal and Community Cultures (PACMYC), coordinated by the Regional Unit of Popular, Indigenous and Urban Cultures in Querétaro.