The Temascal: Mesoamerican Spirituality
by Ronald A. Barnett
March 1994

     
      The temascal, or traditional sweat-bath, was in common use when the Spaniards first arrived in Mexico. It survives today in somewhat different form, although the basic purpose remains more or less the same: to treat the body and the mind together as a single entity. Religion and medicine have always been closely associated in Mexico, and there are two types in use today: the curative temascal (temascal curativo) and the religious or spiritual temascal (temascal espiritual). The first is mainly for health purposes, the second for the development or rejuvenation of the spirit. The word “temascal”or “Temazcal” comes from an ancient Aztec work temazcalli, which means something like “bathhouse with fire”.

      Jesús Higuera, of Ajijic, is a “temascalero” or specialist in both types of temascal. Jesús’s temascal resembles a large dome-shaped bakery oven, except that the floor is lower and the opening large enough for a person to enter. There is a firebox on the outside which heats the temascal inside. He explains: The temascal is dome-shaped like this to represent the womb of a pregnant woman. Inside is hot and moist, like the inside of the womb. When we enter the temascal we return to the womb of Mother Earth. We go back to our origins.

      In the curative temascal the bathers begin by stripping naked and smearing their bodies with a thick dark clay. They bask in the sun until the clay dries; it is then washed off by assistants, and the bathers take a shower. This is followed by a dip in the Jacuzzi, where they are served tea and fruit. Then it is time for the temascal itself.

      The bathers enter one by one and sit on a low bench in front of the opening to the firebox outside. Eucalyptus leaves are spread out on the floor. Each person then offers a prayer or says how she or he feels about the experience. “Language is no barrier. It is the sincerity in the heart which counts.”

      Bathers then pour cold water over rocks heated by the outside firebox creating as much steam inside as they can comfortably bear. Soothing vapor from the eucalyptus leaves helps ease respiratory problems, and the heat and steam flush out bodily impurities. They are allowed to drink water and refresh their limbs with cool water. And they can leave the sweat-bath whenever they feel they have had enough. Outside, mats and blankets are provided for the bathers to lie down, cool off, and relax.

      The spiritual temascal may be made of pliant willow branches bent into the shape of a wigwam and covered with heavy blankets plastered down at the lower edges to make it as airtight as possible. The entrance is low and narrow, and the firepit is inside in the center leaving just enough room for people to sit around the circumference. A spiritual leader is in charge. From the initial ritualistic gathering of firewood for heating the rocks to the cul- mination of the ceremony the emphasis is on the mortality of human existence and need to free the spirit from the fetters of the body. The leader instructs the participants to “feel the bones” of the other person, head, shoulders, arms. This is to remind us of the underlying skeleton, the physical manifestation of our mortality, and so prepare one for entry into the spiritual world.

      Later, prayers are offered to the four directions and a ceremonial dance is held to the accompaniment of ancient Mesoamerican flute and drum music. Afterwards everyone lines up and prepares to enter the temascal.

      Inside, women and men sit together side by side around the central firepit. The leader tells them that they are all “Warriors of the Sun” and that each person is about to reach for the outermost limits of his or her spiritual capacity. Assistants then shovel glowing red-hot rocks in through the opening. Everyone shouts “Ometeo,” utterance derived from the ancient Aztec work Ometeotl, which means “Lord of Duality.” The leader tells them that they are all “Warriors of the Sun” and that each person is about to reach for the outermost limits of his or her spiritual capacity. Assistants then shovel glowing red-hot rocks in through the opening. Everyone shouts “Ometeo,” Utterance derived from the ancient Aztec work Ometeotl, which means “Lord of Duality.” The leader sprinkles incense on the red-hot rocks sending up clouds of smoke. Cold water from a bucket kept near the door is then ladled out over the glowing rocks. Dense steam soon fills the interior of the temascal. The chanting is broken only by the exhortations of the leader to ignore the physical discomfort and concentrate on freeing the spirit. The intense heat, the steam, and the charged atmosphere soon produce a kind of hypnotic state in which the heart rate increases rapidly, hands feel numb, and one has the sensation of being driven out the physical body.

      Many features of the temascal go back to ancient Aztec times. For example, the word Ometeotl (“Lord of Du- ality”) in ancient Mesoamerican religion represents the underlying “Reality” behind the world of cause and effect. This concept of duality is reflected in the pairing-off of female and male in the temascal. And the metaphor “Warriors of the Sun” recalls the ancient Aztee story of creation in which the gods sacrificed themselves by fire at Teotihuacán to ensure the continuation of the universe. Today’s “Warriors of the Sun” endure the fiery heat of the temascal in their quest to break free of the fetters of the material world and return to Ometeotl, the insubstancial, undifferentiated source of the world in which We live.