Otomí Ceremonial Center: A Site for Otomí Ceremonies
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very High
- Country
- Mexico
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Sanctuary
History
The Otomí Ceremonial Center is a ceremonial site in Temoaya, State of Mexico, Mexico, inaugurated in 1980 to help the Otomí people continue their beliefs and traditions. Its creation received support from José López Portillo, then president of Mexico, and Jorge Jiménez Cantú, then governor of the State of Mexico.
The center is used for ancestral and sacred Otomí ceremonies. Each March 18, participants hold the Ceremony of the Fifth Sun, referring to the current world age in Mexica (Aztec) cosmology, which follows four earlier ages. On the first Sunday of each month, a ritual invokes the four cardinal points and gives thanks to the universe.
Remains
The center covers about 45 hectares in dense pine and oak forest, at elevations of 2,800 to 3,200 metres. Its design is based on ancestral Otomí ceremonial centers and is credited to Mexican architect Iker Larrauri. The forest supports wildlife, with deer as its most abundant animals. The area has a temperate climate and an average annual temperature of 12 to 14 degrees Celsius.
