Everything is drying because there is no longer Savi. Memory or the dispossession of sculptures in Mexico (Mixtec, 20th-21st.C)

Abstract

Due to an archaeological looting that took place during the 20th century in the Mixtec town of San Juan Mixtepec, Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, its inhabitants were dispossessed of almost all of their sculptures called Yuu Savi, literally “Stone-Rain” in English. The objective of this article is to understand the contemporary representations of the absent statues, which the locals worshiped, mainly to ask for good rains. We will address the origins first, the denominations and characterizations, as well as the rituals and sanctuaries. Later we delve into the effects of dispossession on the different elements symbolized by the missing sculptures. The analysis is based on the Mixtec discourses of the elderly who had the opportunity to see them, when they were very young. The interviews were conducted between 2016 and 2018, mainly with monolingual people. Anthropological work on contemporary relationships between Mixtecs and rain has multiplied in recent decades, such as that of the researcher Esther Katz (2008) on the representation of rain and climate, or the various publications of the anthropologist Samuel L. Villela (1999, 2006, 2008, 2009) on ritual in Guerrero. With this article we want to contribute to this area of ??study in which there is still much to explore.