Sullu, mesa y lógica social aymara

Abstract

The aymara societes of the bolivian plateau make a link of culinary reciprocity with the protector beings of their geographical landscape. Both men and «gods» have to take care of each other to subsist; the aymaras feed their gods with the special complex offering they prefer: the mesa . By the other hand, the sobrenatural beings of the bolivian plateau protect the human beings and make their life confortable. The fanning production, the domestic animals fertility, the illness, and the adversity may be negotiated because of the culinary look the mesa presents. Each sacred guest prefers a kind of diferent mesa hecause of the articulation of the ingredients of the offering and the sensible attributes they present. The social characterization of these sensible atributes of the mesa and the quality of the animal foetus that compase each ofering constitute a metaphorical reflection of the complex society in which the aymara live nowadays.