The «misuse» of public mexican temascales (1686-1691)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/aeamer.2012.1.03Keywords:
Temascal, Steam bathrooms, Sodomy, Medical reportsAbstract
The arrival of the Count of Galve in Mexico as Viceroy of New Spain marked the start of a new series of measures aimed at achieving the moral regeneration of the New Spanish society. Among others, the targets of the measures were pulque (a Mexican alcoholic drink), baratillo (a flea market), crime and, in the Count’s view, the ineffectiveness of the Court of Law (sala del crimen). In this paper we focus on temascales, which were public steam bathrooms widely used in the capital city because of their social, sanitary, and medical functions, such as pain relief during labor. However, the increasing ‘misuse’ of these bathrooms forced the Count of Galve (1686-1688) first, and his heir the Count of Galve (1688-1696) later on, to regulate their use.
Downloads
References
Alcina Franch, José: «El temazcal en Mesoamérica: panorama etnográfico», Gades, 20, Cádiz, 1992, 131-161.
Alcina Franch, José: Temazcalli: higiene, terapéutica, obstetricia y ritual en el Nuevo Mundo, Sevilla, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos, 2000.
Alonso, María Luz: «La visita de Garzarón a la Audiencia de México: notas para su estudio», en Estudios jurídicos en homenaje al maestro Guillermo Floris Margadant, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1988, 11-27.
Clavero, Bartolomé: «Delito y pecado: noción y escala de transgresiones», en Tomás y Valiente, Francisco et al.: Sexo barroco y otras transgresiones premodernas, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1990, 57-89.
Gruzinski, Serge: «Las cenizas del deseo: homosexuales novohispanos a mediados del siglo XVII», en Ortega, Sergio (ed.): De la santidad a la perversión o de por qué no se cumplía la ley de Dios en la sociedad novohispana, México, Grijalbo, 1985, 255-279.
Silva Galeana, Librado: «In Temazcalli: (relato en náhuatl y su traducción al castellano) », Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 17, México, 1984, 227-233.
Silva Prada, Natalia: «El uso de los baños temascales en la visión de dos médicos novohispanos: estudio introductorio y transcripción documental de los informes de 1689», Historia Mexicana, 205, LII-1, México, julio-diciembre, 2002, 5-56.
Soustelle, Jacques: La vida cotidiana de los aztecas en víspera de la conquista, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1956.
Viesca, Carlos T.: Medicina prehispánica de México: el conocimiento médico de los nahuas, México, Panorama Editorial, 1986.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.
