In the southern region of Huasteca (Puebla, Veracruz and Hidalgo), the Hñahñu (Otomí), Nahua, Tepehua and Tutunakuj (Totonaca) cultures preserve Prehispanic customs of exchanging gifts with the entities who create and populate the world. The agricultural and meteorological rituals and therapies, known as “the custom” and the human body are instruments that allow this communication between apparently dissimilar beings.
Almost abstractly, the talakchín (“that which is tied, knotted, bound” or “doll”) made of paper or rubber tree bark is the temporary body the Tutunakuj shamans give to the deceased, the stars, the Sun, the Moon, and to the great powers (Water, Fire, Wind and Earth). These are amulets with clearly human features: bones, skin, head, extremities and heart all materialize using Mexican pine sticks, pieces of rubber tree bark and little balls of copal (sometimes Mexican pine resin). These elements are tied together with a string, with the knot marking the waist and dividing the body into its upper and lower parts. “To tie the ixtle” is an expression used by the shamans in reference to making these dolls. Once the human body is tied, it is clearly tridimensional, but it still does not have life.
Like all living bodies, the dolls know they are “complete” only when they are given that essential element, blood. This is why, during “the custom” rituals,” the Tutunakuj sacrifice domesticated birds to sprinkle their precious liquid over hundreds of bodies that rest among the offerings. Alive and present in the ritual, the powers can now receive prayers, and can dance and eat with the humans.
The talakchín and other anthropomorphic amulets made in the region are ritual devices that draw us into cosmological beliefs about the body; however, it is difficult to give it just one meaning, because the organizing axis of the body is projected out and allows for wider configurations addressing nature, territory, time and the cosmos.