In Mesoamerica, the most human of all religious rituals, rites of passage, mark people's changing relationships with their fellow human and nonhuman beings. Points in the life cycle most stressed include birth, marriage, and death. Rites, however, mark many other transitions, including children's and adolescents' development, the transition from illness to health, and initiation into new careers. Communities small and large also celebrate rites that move human corporate bodies from one status to another. Finally, because both the cosmos itself and those things that inhabit it are also considered living beings analogous to humans, even cosmic entities such as the sun move through transitory moments celebrated as rites of passage.

Historical Documentation

Mesoamerica's long history dates back to approximately twenty-three thousand years ago. Fairly secure archaeological dating techniques have been able to place humans in the region at that point, although some suggest an even earlier...