Cultural expressions of Tepeji del Río and San Ildefonso Chantepec

Abstract

The objective of the work has the importance of giving value to indigenous peoples by presenting their cultural expressions and so contributing to stop discrimination and marginalization through their knowledge. After the Spanish conquest, regional development had its main economic activity in the exploitation of mines, which motivated the establishment of towns and farms that benefited from the exploitation of precious metals, the subsoil, the use of Henequen and the extraction of the pulque.

At the time of the conquest, it was intended to build a "republic of Indians" to preserve, on the one hand, the indigenous cultural elements that were not contrary to Christian precepts, and on the other, incorporate the new religious contents into the daily life of your new membership. To carry out this objective, they gathered the dispersed natives in the depths of the mountains and the almost impregnable caves to form towns. In the evangelization stage, the Augustinians founded hospitals annexed to their convents and took advantage of the knowledge of pre-Hispanic herbalism, applied occupational therapy that turned their faithful into excellent artisans and participated in the construction of churches and convents, and they also built schools for children, groups of choirs and musicians for religious services, Tepeji del Río Hidalgo and San Ildefonso Chantepec, community of Tepeji were no exception.