The Sticky Relationship Between Orchids and Mexican Amate Paper: Present and Possible Past

Abstract

In the literature of the last century, there was the recurrent claim that an orchid called amatzauhtli was used as an adhesive in the manufacture and repair of indigenous Mexican handmade paper or amate—an attestation some scholars still repeat even today. Here, we describe the present use of the orchid Cyrtopodium macrobulbon in the final step of amate papermaking in the village of San Pablito, Puebla. After amate sheets are dried on and subsequently peeled from wooden boards, the pseudobulbs of the orchid are cut and used as an adhesive to patch over any holes or other imperfections that remain on the paper. Cyrtopodium macrobulbon is locally called küiä by Otomí papermakers, which they translate to Spanish as “pegamento” (glue). We also suggest that the amatzauhtli described in the sixteenth century by Hernández—widely reported as Epidendrum pastoris—actually refers to a very different species, Trichocentrum pachyphyllum, and we discuss the putative use of this and other orchids in pre-Hispanic amate making.