Teyumej

[John Joseph Sullivan Hendricks]

Forgive my absolute ignorance on the subject of the nahua spiritual world,
but I asked some questions of one of my assistants, whose father was a well
known tepatiketl (curandero) in the Huasteca before he died, about the
discussion on the wee critters that make you sick. Here goes:
    One way of getting sick is to get infected by a teyutl ("teotl", I
suppose. Plural = teyumej). These are "little animals so small that you
can't see them", and the general symptoms are pains in any part of your body
(rheumatic pains are the most common). You can get infected basically in two
ways. By going into uninhabited wilderness (high mountains, or passing by a
cave) where the teyumej live. Also, a tepatiketl will bury (in the ground or
under a rock in a stream) the instruments used to cure a patient infected by
teyumej. So if you happen to walk by such a place, you can also become
infected.
    The "ajakwinij" (sing = ajakatl) are the spirits of the mountains, air,
water, fog, etc., which constitute the life of the universe. These are
invoked by the tepatiketl to cure a person infected by the teyumej.
    They are also invoked to help cure people who are ill because they
unexpectedly ran into a wild animal (nawalli) while they were walking along,
and the fright caused their "tonal" (life force) to get temporarily stuck on
that spot. Part of the cure for this is for the tepatiketl to go to the spot
where the event ocurred, get dirt from that spot and tie it into seven
little balls around the bottom of the patient's shirt. The symptoms of this
kind of illness is lack of appetite, nightmares, and fever.
    These are two ways to get sick. There is a third, which is to run into
an apparition of the devil, "tlen amo kwalli". This can cause loss of
appetite, nightmares, fever, and visions.
    In general, curing ceremonies are called a "kampeka"

    John Sullivan
    Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas