Flute kazoo as a vehicle of reification and expulsion of evil among the Nahua of the Huasteca in Hidalgo

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the symbolism encoded in the materials, the morphology and the emic names of the ‘mirliton flute’ components and its sound. From a case study conducted among the nahuas of the Huasteca hidalguense, region located to the northeast of Mexico, I suggest that the mirliton flute is constituted as a text that articulates sonic patterns with mythical stories, conceptions about mountains and caves and the relationship between the crossroads and tlasolehecame or ‘harmful winds’. Therefore, the senses associated with this aerophone emerge from intersemiotic translations (LOTMAN 1996).