Holy Intoxication to Drunken Dissipation
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A01=Barbara Butler
Anthropology
Archaeology
Author_Barbara Butler
Category=JBCC6
Category=JBSL11
Category=JHB
Category=JHMC
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9780826338143
- Weight: 759g
- Dimensions: 154 x 230mm
- Publication Date: 30 May 2006
- Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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On the eve of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, peoples throughout the Andes brewed beer from corn and other grains, believing that this alcoholic beverage, called asua, was a gift from the gods, a drink possessing the power to mediate between the human and divine. Consuming asua to intoxication was a sacred tradition that humans and spirits shared, creating reciprocal joy and ties of mutual obligation. When Butler began research in Huaycopungo, Ecuador, in 1977, ceremonial drinking was causing hardship for these Quichua-speaking people. Then, in 1987, a devastating earthquake was interpreted as a message from God to end the ritual obligation to get drunk. 'Holy Intoxication to Drunken Dissipation' examines how the defence of drinking and getting drunk ended abruptly as the people of Otavalo re-evaluated their traditional religious life and their relationship with the wider Ecuadorian society, and defended a renewed traditional indigenous culture with increasing pride. This account presents both the local people's views of their struggles and a more general analysis of the factors involved, and concludes with thoughts about how their culture will adapt in the future.
