Comienzo

Hola classmates, Dr. Mack, and other readers!  This is the reading blog that I'll be maintaining for my Humanities of Latin America class.  My love for the culture comes from the exposure I've had to it: Latino friends, 8+ years living in Texas, 2 years spent serving a mission in Paraguay, and Mexican food.  I'm looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the culture from this class.  Here's my first writing assignment:

Finally, we must recall that for the Nahua, myth, history, and propaganda were not discrete categories and none was more "true" than the others.  Traditionally, for peoples of Mesoamerica, history's main function was not so much to describe events as they "really" happened, but rather to fit them into a specific vision of the past and the future.  (Stuart Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished, 80)

My superficial knowledge of Mesoamerican chronometry is based mostly on Discovery Channel specials.  If I remember correctly, time is viewed as cyclical rather than linear.  And not just one cycle either - multiple cycles of varying lengths.  A brief perusal of Wikipedia reveals a 260-day calendar, the solar 365-day calendar, a 52-year cycle (based on the intersection of the calendars just mentioned), as well as cycles based on the orbits of the moon and Venus.

The regular interactions of these calendars and cycles were used to determine when major historical events would (should) occur.  The amount of time passed since a certain event wasn’t nearly as important as how that event fit into the context of the cycles.  So based on what Schwartz says, perhaps the timing of some events was exaggerated to fit the calendar.

Spaniards exaggerated events too, but for more selfish purposes.  Schwartz mentions that “it has been suggested that Cortés sometimes ‘invented’ facts to suit his purposes” (80).  By demonstrating the high degree of barbarism found in the Americas, his royal sponsors might be more inclined to let him convert the natives and spread the faith (o sea, conquer and pillage).

The above quote describes the blending of myth and history.  Does this still exist in Latin American culture today?  I think it might be found in various superstitions - while on my mission I met adult Christians who were afraid of Kurupi, Ao Ao, and Luison.

Before ending, I just want to share one more quote from the reading that I found absolutely chilling.  It's a native Nahua's description of the Spaniards:

It especially made him faint when he heard how the guns went off at [the Spaniards’] command, sounding like thunder, causing people actually to swoon, blocking the ears.  And when it went off, something like a ball came out from inside, and fire went showering and spitting out.  And the smoke that came from it had a very foul stench, striking one in the face.  And if they shot at a hill, it seemed to crumble and come apart.  And it turned a tree to dust; it seemed to make it vanish, as though someone had conjured it away.  Their war gear was all iron.  They clothed their bodies in iron, they put iron on their heads, their swords were iron, their bows were iron, and their shields and lances were iron.

And their deer that carried them were as tall as the roof.  And they wrapped their bodies all over; only their faces could be seen, very white…

And their dogs were huge creatures, with their ears folded over and their jowls dragging.  They had burning eyes, eyes like coals, yellow and fiery.  They had thin, gaunt flanks with the rib lines showing; they were very tall.  They did not keep quiet, they went about panting, with their tongues hanging down.  They had spots like a jaguar’s…  (Stuart Schwartz, Victors and Vanquished, 97)