The ethos of the Mazahua culture: collective interpretation of the gestation, childbirth and puerperium processes

Abstract

The present work aims to structure itself through the following themes: conceptual framework, used to describe what is understood by ethos, and in what way the ethos is linked to structural processes that build senses of the world. From that position, it started to elucidate the invisible forms that shape the practices and knowledge of the culture. Once the aforementioned is clear, a section will be delegated to delve into the social and cultural organization of the Mazahua ethnic group, emphasizing the importance of virilocal residence and the principles of the typical marriage in the region, including the preponderant role that mothers-in-law play in shaping the post marital organization. Subsequently, in the third section, Mazahua practices around gestation are retaken from the use of the female or male cashan, pregnancy, citing the use of uncle grass and its principles of oxytocin release, and the puerperium, via the construction of restrictions and norms of care delegated to parturients. With all the elements obtained so far, it will be possible to describe the structural properties around pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium within the Mazahua region, paying special attention to the interaction that is created between nature and femininity, and the particulars that shape the Mazahua ethos grounded —from what is argued in this research— by the feminine.