| Abstract |
The Mexican geothermal stories collected here span hundreds of years. Some were found in a 1541 Spanish manuscript about the just conquered Purhepecha, an indigenous people in central Mexico. The rest, part of the oral tradition, were heard in 1993 and 1994 at geothermal sites in Mexico, many from the Spanish narrative. The stories offer historical commentary and drama shaped by magic realism. They include Purhepecha political and religious ceremonies. Mayan beliefs, Spanish conquistadors, the Mexican War of independence, and country life after the Conquest. Ancient and modern, written and oral, the stories are the history of geothermal Mexico. |