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Just yesterday, @lobahuisa and I were discussing the religious and cultural syncretism that existed in Mesoamerica before the Spanish invasion.
When the Mexicah arrived in Anahuac (the Valley of Mexico), they found multiple Nahua city states with similar language & customs.
1/ https://twitter.com/neoteotihuacan/status/1349013332892725265
When the Mexicah arrived in Anahuac (the Valley of Mexico), they found multiple Nahua city states with similar language & customs.
1/ https://twitter.com/neoteotihuacan/status/1349013332892725265
The Toltec Empire had long ago fallen, but their culture and religion (already a blend of Nahuan ways evolved in El Bajío to the northwest centuries earlier & pan-Mesoamerican culture promulgated by the kingdom of Teotihuacan, etc.) endured.
The Mexicah adopted it, but ...
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The Mexicah adopted it, but ...
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... they combined their pantheon (previously influenced by different Chichimecah tribes & the Huastecs) w/ the vestiges of the Toltec system extant in Nahua city-states at the time.
Huitzilopochtli, Ixcuinan, Quilaztli: new deities were folded into Anahuac religious belief.
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Huitzilopochtli, Ixcuinan, Quilaztli: new deities were folded into Anahuac religious belief.
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As the Mexicah gained ascendancy, they eventually (under King Itzcoatl & influential Minister of State Tlacaelel) rewrote their national history to cement themselves as the true heirs of the Toltec Way, retroactively lifting Huitzilopochtli to head of the pantheon.
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For that reason, I'm always wary of neo-Mexica movements that elevate "Aztec" religion as some sort of unadulterated system of long-standing ancestral belief.
There are multiple layers of syncretism to it—
and a shiny veneer of manipulative nationalism on top.
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There are multiple layers of syncretism to it—
and a shiny veneer of manipulative nationalism on top.
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For the pipiltin (noble class) to continue controlling the three major places of power of the Triple Alliance & accruing more wealth, they needed the macehualtin (commoners) to accept noble control & expansion as divinely ordained.
So they built it into their state religion.
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So they built it into their state religion.
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Of course, I get / support efforts by modern Mexicans & Mexican Americans to rediscover ancestral practices, beliefs, language ... to find ways to pull from those traditions to de-center European heritage & root ourselves in indigineity.
Let's keep our eyes open, though.
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Let's keep our eyes open, though.
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Another aspect of Mexicah emigration from El Bajío (Aztlan), travel through the Huasteca, & arrival in Anahuac (over many centuries) was the mestizaje not only of culture but of genetics. The Mexicah were never some pure Nahuan people: they intermarried everywhere they went.
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This pattern holds true for lots of Indigenous groups in Mexico before the Spanish invasion.
I know some modern Mexican [Americans] don't like the term "mestizo" (or even "mexicano") because they rightly see its origins in nationalist propaganda.
Nevertheless ...
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I know some modern Mexican [Americans] don't like the term "mestizo" (or even "mexicano") because they rightly see its origins in nationalist propaganda.
Nevertheless ...
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... I personally feel no shame in calling myself a product of mestizaje. I'm a nepantlero, no doubt. My identity is as syncretic as they come.
And that's okay. Because it's actually the norm.
We are all of us blends, no matter what lies we tell ourselves.
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And that's okay. Because it's actually the norm.
We are all of us blends, no matter what lies we tell ourselves.
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None of that excuses empire or conquest or mercantilism or oppression by nobles/captains of industry.
It's not my job to excuse one set of ancestors for what they did to the other.
It's my job to find a way to LIVE WITH THAT TENSION and not despair.
That's all I can do.
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It's not my job to excuse one set of ancestors for what they did to the other.
It's my job to find a way to LIVE WITH THAT TENSION and not despair.
That's all I can do.
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