On naguales and snakes. Supernatural entities and “village protectors in Southern Oaxaca”

Abstract

This article aims to analyze a series of stories about naguales of the zapotecs from the south of Oaxaca, the most of which refer the water snake as a supernatural protective entity of communities against attacks by naguales of other villages, especially the huave people from San Mateo del Mar, in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. These stories are integrated in a complex context of interethnic relations among peoples of various groups that have lived in the south fringe of state –among them zapotecs, chontals, mixes, zoques and huaves–, comprising the regions of the Southern Highlands, Coast and the Istmo of Tehuantepec. The analysis was done from two aspects: the character of the naguales as supernaturals entities that protect the villages, and the local stories and ethnic relations among zapotecs villages from south and huaves from San Mateo del Mar.