THE VICISSITUDE OF THE ALTER-EGO ANIMAL IN MESOAMERICA - AN ETHNOHISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF TONALISM

This paper presents a model of the history of the alter ego animal con cept. It covers a period of more than 2000 years and its spread throug h vast Mesoamerican zones, beginning with its birth in the Olmec cultu re of the Late Formative up to its current presence in suburban zones. It is incidental to the Postclassical and then colonial power centers . The author suggests that the alter ego animal belief was alive and p resent with the subaltern classes of the Nahuas in the Mexican Highlan d even before the Spanish conquest.