In the funeral ritual, urns were placed both in the house and in the tomb of the deceased, as they were the central objects of the offering, along with the other utensils, so that divine protection, food and water were not lacking in the difficult trance .
Upon learning of the death of Lady Grass 2 Reed, the entire family of 10 House went into great activity. They were artisans from Atzompa, the neighborhood where the most delicate ceramic objects were made. Among the families dedicated to the elaboration of pots, pans, plates, glasses, jugs, pitchers, comales and apaxtles, 10 Casa stood out because its specialty was the manufacture of funeral urns.
The urns were vessels type vessels that among the Benizáa (Zapotecs) were decorated with the effigies of their gods or seated human beings, in an attitude of guarding the funerary enclosure. These pieces featured characteristic elements of one or more gods, in compositions of unbeatable artistic quality, and were intended to accompany and lead the dead to protect them both on their journey to the underworld and in their eternal life.
In the funeral ritual, urns were placed both in the house and in the tomb of the deceased, as they were the central objects of the offering, along with the other utensils, so that divine protection, food and water were not lacking in the difficult trance .
Among the artisans who were dedicated to making urns there was always a great competition to make the best ones, so they were all different and the product of various modeling, molding and applied techniques. The quality of the urns was also influenced by the fineness of the clay, the few strokes of color and the composition of the different formal elements of the piece, combined with the complex attributes of the gods that had to be included in the limited spaces of these fine objects.
The workshop of a potter of urns was no different from that of a common potter. In the courtyard of the house he had his work areas: a covered space to store the mud that he collected in the clay banks of different rivers and streams in the region; Right there he had his benches on a mat to sit and model both he and his apprentices. Beyond that, a large pile of dry wood could be seen to feed the round stone and adobe kiln that stood out as the main element of the patio and that served to cook the urns once they were dry and finished.
His tools consisted of delicate bone, wood and gourd spatulas, bone needles, flint and obsidian smoothing with which he completed modeling and application. Invariably he used a metate to crush sediments and paints and to obtain greater homogeneity in the paste.
Being a specialist in making ballot boxes was the privilege of a few; These potters had a lot of knowledge and were closely linked to the priests, they were important characters both for their skill and for the mission they had to manufacture the companions of the dead. For this they had to receive the knowledge of the master potters, serving for many years as apprentices, and also of the priests, with whom they spent long ritual sessions in the temples to understand the different facets of each of their gods.
Thus, 10 Casa got ready to make the necessary ballot boxes that would later accompany the deceased. Because it is a character of such hierarchy, it was necessary to make a large central urn of a female character with the characteristics of Cocijo on the head, beautifully adorning the plume of feathers with jaguar features and giving it with its huge blinders, earmuffs and forked snake tongue great expressiveness to the stern face of this god.
The effigy was presented in a seated position, with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees; she was dressed in quexquémetl and a tangle for a skirt; a figure of Xipe Totec hung from his chest, which sat on a bar from which three large bells hung. The red color the urn was sprinkled with gave him an expression of deep respect.
Four other urns that would accompany the deceased were simpler; They were vessels with the effigy of male characters in the same position as the previous one, dressed only in a máxtlatl, their necks decorated with necklaces of large beads, and their heads with a simple cylindrical headdress with attributes of Pitao Cozobi; a discreet cape was detached from the headdress that fell over her shoulders.
They had facial paint on their faces, large ear flaps, and plumps on the lower lip; the features of their faces were of extremely fine workmanship, which was accentuated by the red powder. This quality characterized the works of 10 Casa, for that reason he was chosen to make the urns that accompanied the most important characters of Dani Báa.
However, 10 Casa also made simple urns for the less important deceased; smaller vessels with the attributes of Cocijo, Pitao Cozobi, the Bat god, Xipe, Pitao Pezelao, the Old God, or very elaborate small effigies; his favorites were those with large plumes in the style of Cocijo, the most revered god.
When 10 Casa finished modeling an urn, it was carefully dried in the sun, and once it was dry, the apprentices proceeded to polish it with stone polishers; finally they polished it with a piece of deer hide. Still at this stage I could 10 Casa make some strokes. Finally, the action of cooking the piece was carried out in the oven previously heated with wood; The urn was covered very well so that it would turn out gray when cooked. Spreading the red cinnabar powder in the urns was already the task of the priest who carried out the mortuary rites of the deceased. Thus, we can see why the role of 10 Casa as a specialist craftsman was so important within the society of the Benizáa.
