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cofradía.

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword: 
cofradía.
Principal English Translation: 

lay brotherhood, confraternity (see attestations)

Orthographic Variants: 
cobratia, cofrandi, confraria, confradia
Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

cofradīah. lay religious sodality.
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 215.

Attestations from sources in English: 

ynin cenavatil ynin necentlaliliz, Ticcentlalia ynyn Cofradia = this one command
this accord. We convene this cofrada (Tula, 1570)
John Frederick Schwaller, "Constitution of the Cofradía del Santíssimo Sacramento of Tula, Hidalgo, 1570," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 19 (1989), 220–221.

yn cofradia yntech pohui yn animasme purgatorio tetlechipahualloyan moyetzticate. = The cofradía dedicated to the Souls of Purgatory, where people are purified by fire, (central Mexico, 1612)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 214–215.

Jn .4tlamantli ynveynahuatil yn qualtin xpiansome Confrariasme = the fourth great obligation of the good Christians who are members of the cofradia (Central Mexico, 1552)
Fray Alonso de Molina, Nahua Confraternities in Early Colonial Mexico: The 1552 Nahuatl Ordinances of fray Alonso de Molina, OFM, ed. and trans., Barry D. Sell (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2002), 88–89.

Cofradía records can be found in Nahuatl. The Santísimo Sacramento cofradía in Tula in the late sixteenth century operated fairly independently from the supervision of the clergy. Women played a major role. Records about members, their tlaxilacalli affiliation, and the dues they paid, were kept fairly rigorously.
Rebecca Horn and James Lockhart, "Mundane Documents in Nahuatl," in James Lockhart, Lisa Sousa, and Stephanie Wood, eds., Sources and Methods for the Study of Postconquest Mesoamerican Ethnohistory, Preliminary Version (e-book) (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Project, 2007, 2010), 10.

cofradia otitemacaque limosna conception sulidat [S. Francisco Analcotitlan (Jalisco?), 1652]
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 8.

yntencopa omomicti maquili nobilyos yaxca nican totlasonantzin cobratia sa martin = at their command five steers belonging to the cofradía of our dear mother here in San Martín were slaughtered (San Martín Hidalgo, Jalisco, 1653)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 28, 176–177.

iserantzin y santa Cofrandi (Centlalpan, Chalco, 1736)
Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period, Linguistics 85 (Los Angeles, University of California Publications, 1976), Doc. 10.

"Church and government officials frequently criticized native religious confraterinities for squandering their funds" on festive eating and drinking, an "important part of colonial Nahua ritual and social life." But Nahuas would have seen a virtue in redistributing wealth.
Louise M. Burkhart, Before Guadalupe: The Virgin Mary in Early Colonial Nahuatl Literature, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies Monograph 13 (Albany: University at Albany, 2001), 141; citing Gruzinski 1990, 214.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

yxquich cahuitl onicnotlatequipanilhuilli yno santa confradia = mucho tiempo la he servido a la Santa Cofradía (Toluca, 1621)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 132–133.

ninopohua yn santa cofradia = soy cofrade de la Santa Cofradía (Cuauhtitlán, 1599)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 330–331.

yn ompa Tulla nictlaocolia cofradia matlactli pesos = dejo diez pesos de limosna a la cofradía de la parroquia de Tulla (Tetepango, Hidalgo, 1586)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 260–261.

occepa mochiuh quiyon confradias = otra vez las cofradías hicieron cirios (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 340–341.

themes: 
Religion (Christian)