Constructing the Nahua Home: The Place of the Indigenous Household in the History of Colonial Puebla

When Angelina Magdalena Gómez of Cholula, Mexico died in 1735, she bequeathed her home to her grandchildren, grudgingly. She had inherited it many years earlier from her father at his death, but had improved upon it over the course of her lifetime. In her words, “Though he left me this house, nevertheless I say that there was nothing like a house there then, that later I built all the houses, afterward, when God had given me a little.” She also agonized over her grandchildren’s willingness to keep and care for their inheritance, even ultimately refusing to pass part of her eclectic household lot to her grandchildren.

This paper focuses on the significances attributed to the home or household, the most central place in indigenous life in colonial Puebla, Mexico. From birth Nahuas learned to identify first with their ancestral households, composed of physical buildings and lands and populated by the relatives and kin who inhabited them. The paper begins by examining and analyzing the physical layouts of some of indigenous homes, utilizing digital sketches, to vividly illustrate the central role that that the household played in daily life. In addition, this paper considers the indigenous home as the place in which the history and traditions of indigenous families and kin groups were preserved. When they inherited the land and structures, Nahuas inherited a physical, inhabitable symbol of their ancestral legacy. Both men and women inherited, owned, improved upon, destroyed, and sold ancestral homes and properties. In turn, this paper also considers how gender influenced uses of household space. By exploring spatial layouts and ethnic and gendered constructions of the indigenous home, this paper seeks to better understand the history of colonial Puebla, Mexico and the role of place within that history.