The baton of command, sacred symbol for the originarian peoples of Oaxaca

Abstract

Sacred phenomena have serious anthropological implications; they represent the essential ontological constitutive of the human experience; this experience becomes evident in the hierophany (sacred ma- nifestation) of the sacred objects like the baton of the original towns in Oaxaca. In this sense, the baton is the quintessential sacred symbol of a political community. It helps internal cohesion and the relationship between leaders and people. Under this symbolic scheme the native identity comes out stronger. The baton is a sign of identity not only political but religious also. It implicates representation of what a community is and what it pretends to become.    .