Soc Sci Med. 1987 ; 25(4): 339-46.

The hot and cold in Mesoamerican indigenous and hispanicized thought.

Messer E.

International Food Nutrition Planning Program, Cambridge, MA 02139.

While the influence of Hispanic humoral medicine on 16th century and subsequent Mesoamerican indigenous thought is undeniable, recent reexaminations of Aztec, Mayan and Zapotec medicinal and cosmological systems suggest indigenous roots in hot-cold concepts. This paper reviews and compares the growing evidence for independent hot-cold classifications in Mesoamerica, and suggests certain common lines of syncretism in structure, content and applications. Drawing on a model from cognitive psychology previously applied by the author to hot-cold data of the Mitla Zapotec, the paper explores its utility for cross-cultural comparison of hot-cold category development.