#Zacateco | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kuramirocket · 1 year

Text

youtube

E-DECOLONIZE #20: Mexica Identity? Mexica Centrism and Decolonization: 9/16/22

Meet the panelists:

Cuitlahuac Arreola Martinez:

Cuitlahuac Arreola Martinez is a Nahuatl Language Learner & Teacher. They teach people of all ages from preschoolers to elders. As a 3rd language learner their role is to teach beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes of modern Nahuatl variants with an emphasis on Huasteca dialects from Veracruz, Hidalgo, & San Luis Potosi. Classical Nahuatl or ancient Nahuatl or colonial Nahuatl is also taught but the main focus is to speak in our original languages that is why they are also an Indigenous Language Promoter & Activist. They want to empower our community via language, a passion that they have had their whole life. They want to encourage everyone to speak their native language as a way of decolonizing, as a way to heal. They have been teaching virtually since 2018 and presently via Zoom. Pre-pandemic, they taught at LA Plaza de Culturas y Artes, Semillitas Preschool, Pasadena City College and other schools in so-called Southern California.

For more info: Speaknahuatl.com on Social Media

Huitzilyolotl Anahuac:

Huitzilyolotl is from Orange County, California. He’s a third-generation Chicano with roots in Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Coahuila and of Zacateco, Guachichile, and Nahua descent. He has a Master’s degree in Chicano Studies. He has been working in education for 18 years and currently working on his special education credentials to continue working with students with emotional disturbance. Huitzilyolotl is also a third-generation massage therapist and is continuing his family legacy of healing. Huitzilyolotl is also an Indigenous activist and poet.

Kurly Tlapoyawa:

Kurly Tlapoyawa is an archaeologist, ethnohistorian, cultural consultant, and filmmaker. His research covers Mesoamerica, the American Southwest, and the historical connections between the two regions. He is the author of numerous books and has presented lectures at Harvard University, The University of New Mexico, Yale University, San Diego State University, and numerous others. He most recently worked as a cultural consultant for an upcoming film from Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

Kurly is the co-host of the podcast “Tales From Aztlantis, which deals with Chicano identity, Mesoamerican pseudo history, and archaeological misconceptions.

Talesfromaztlantis.com

Chimalli.org

Mexickanewyear.com

Chris Cuauhtli:

Chris Cuauhtli is an Indigenous Nahua Tamazulteco from Tamazula Jalisco Mexico. He was born in Soyatlan, outside of Tamazula Jalisco and raised in Sacramento California. He is a Professional tattoo artist and Indigenous Language advocate currently working on the revitalization of the Nahuatl variant of southern Jalisco. He has been involved in Danza Azteca Chichimeca and Indigenous ceremonies in the US and Mexico for over 25 years. He currently works as an English language tutor and Tattoo artist and resides in Mexico. Visit Jalisco Nahuatl on Youtube and IG for more information

Citlalli Anahuac:

Anahuac is a historian, poet, activist. For the past 26 years she has been studying decolonial Mexican history as a detribalized Mexicana and has dedicated her activism, poetry, and research to understanding and sharing that history. She is a fourth generation removed from a Nahua speaking community of El Grullo Jalisco. She uses social media to share critical research on decolonial history of México. Her publications include Obsidian Blades: Decolonizing Poetry for Indigenous People of Occupied America (2013) and Don’t Call Me Latina: Notes from a decolonizing Mexican reclaiming everything that is ours (2022) She launched E-Decolonize in 2020 and since then has dedicated her time to teaching free and private courses that focus on providing accessible education for all ages and a priority to teaching the BIPOC community. Find her on social media under MEXICAN EXCELLENCE.

www.citlalli-anahuac.com

0 notes

mangodid · 5 years

Text

as an indigenous person i reflect on my indigenous-ness more in the fall than i do any other time. it's hard to be indigenous right now. it's hard to be indigenous at all. in working on how i view myself i've tried to move past only reflecting on what makes me indigenous in terms of suffering and move towards what makes me indigenous in terms of community and culture and love. i want to move the core of my identity away from suffering and embrace a life that is not that. i am growing out my hair and i am learning words in nahuatl and building up a person who embraces the true feeling of being indigenous although my tribe's culture is deemed lost. there is an almost natural feeling that comes with being any sort of indigenous person. no matter what cultural practices your tribe has you know the feeling of warmth and love and pride and community that permeates everything.

#racism #indigenous #zacatecos #indigenous people's day

8 notes · View notes

pachucoville · 3 years

Photo

A mi familia en Zacatecas les envío mis pensamientos y oraciones al recibir la triste noticia de que Manuel va al cielo. Estoy publicando esta imagen porque siempre debemos recordar a aquellos a quienes amamos durante su tiempo de grandeza. Este momento y evento fue uno de los más felices de Manuel y estoy agradecido de haberlo compartido y de haber tenido la bendición de ser parte de su familia. Manuel tenía un corazón tan grande como su sonrisa y eso es lo que siempre recordaré y guardaré conmigo. Dios los bendiga mi familia y que sus pensamientos sobre Manuel y la felicidad que trajo a este mundo iluminen por siempre sus corazones. ❤️ #purozacatecas #zacatecas #zacatecasmexico #zacatecos #chichimecas #familia #family #love #blessings (at Zacatecas, Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJCKxApA-Zm/?igshid=1l94f6pafgjab

#purozacatecas #zacatecas #zacatecasmexico #zacatecos #chichimecas #familia #family #love #blessings

1 note · View note

cabreraarchive · 3 years

Photo

Indigenous Nuevo León

The original inhabitants of the State of Nuevo León before the arrival of the Spaniards were nomadic hunters and gatherers. In general, the Spaniards at first called all inhabitants in the north frontier of Mexico by the generic term, Chichimecas. But these indigenous people actually consisted of several indigenous linguistic groups. In Nuevo León, they included the Alazapas in the north, the Guachichiles in the south, the Borrados and Tamaulipec groups in the east, and Coahuiltecans in the west.

The map shows the approximate territories of the four primary indigenous groups at the time of the Spanish contact

The Coahuiltecan Tribes

The Coahuiltecan tribes were made up of hundreds of autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers who ranged over the eastern part of Coahuila, northern Tamaulipas, western Nuevo León and southern Texas south and west of San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek. It was the practice of the Coahuiltecans to move from one traditional campsite to another, following the seasons and herds of migrating animals.

Classification of the Coahuiltecans

Initially, the Spaniards had little interest in describing the natives or classifying the Coahuiltecans into ethnic units. There was no obvious basis for classification, and major cultural contrasts and tribal organizations went unnoticed, as did similarities and differences in the native languages and dialects. The Spanish padres referred to each Indian group as a nación, and described them according to their association with major terrain features or with Spanish jurisdictional units. Only in Nuevo León did observers link Indian populations by cultural peculiarities, such as hairstyle and body decoration. Thus, modern scholars have found it difficult to identify these hunting and gathering groups by language and culture.

Eventually, many of the ethnohistorians and anthropologists came to believe that the entire region was occupied by numerous small Indian groups who spoke related languages and shared the same basic culture, the Coahuiltecan culture. By the mid-nineteenth century, Mexican linguists had constructed what is now known as “Coahuiltecan culture” by assembling bits of specific and generalized information recorded by Spaniards for widely scattered and limited parts of the region.

During the Spanish colonial period, most of the Coahuilatecan natives were displaced from their traditional territories by Spaniards advancing from the south and Apaches advancing from the north. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Tamaulipecan Groups

The Tamaulipas groups included some sedentary peoples who were dedicated to agriculture, with well-structured religious practices. The Tamaulipec groups were mainly small tribes that occupied the central and southeastern parts of the present-day state. Today, it is believed that the so-called Tamaulipecan family was related to and perhaps a subset of the Coahuiltecans. Through their Coahuiltecan ties, it is believed that the Tamaulipecos were part of the Hokan language group, but very few fragments of their languages survive today.

Guachichiles (Huachichiles)

The Guachichiles, of all the Chichimeca Indians, occupied the most extensive territory, extending some 100,000 square kilometers from Lake Chapala (Jalisco) in the south to Saltillo (Coahuila) in the north. Considered both warlike and brave, the Guachichiles roamed through a large section of the present-day state of Zacatecas and as far north as Coahuila and Nuevo León. The Aztecs used the term “Guachichile” as a reference to “heads painted of red,” a reference to the red dye that they used to paint their bodies, faces and hair. The Guachichil group of tribes is regarded as connected with the present-day Huichol language group (of Jalisco and Nayarit) and has been classified as part of the Aztecoidan division of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family.

The Guachichiles and their “Chichimeca” cousins, the Zacatecos, waged the 40-year war (1550-1590) known as the “Chichimeca War” against Spanish forces, primarily in the vast region south of Coahuila (Zacatecas, Northern Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Western San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato). They were never decisively defeated in battle, but were pacified through gifts that included many of the materials used by Spaniards and “civilized” Indians to live and thrive in their Spanish settlements.

Alazapas

The Alazapas are a Coahuiltecan group that lived in several present-day municipios of Nuevo León, including San Nicolas de los Garza, which is just five miles from Monterrey. Between 1637 and 1647, the Alazapas attacked the Spaniards in several areas near Monterrey, including the mines at Cerralvo and several small settlements. Although the Alazapas contained the Spanish expansion into the area for ninety years, eventually they were forced to move north to the area around Lampazos.Lampazos is close to the present-day boundary between Nuevo León with Coahuila.

Borrados

The Spaniards applied the name Borrados to several, widely distributed groups over a period of two centuries. In the sixteenth century, one of the Borrado tribes lived in the Monterrey-Cadereyta-Cerralvo area of Nuevo Leon, as well as adjacent areas of Tamaulipas. The Borrados were also known as Rayados (“Stripped Ones”). The name derived from the almost universal habit among these Indians of covering their faces with tattoos which the aborigines produced by opening a trace-work of cuts on the skin with a sharpened stone, then rubbing into charcoal. The resulting design distinguished members of one tribe from members of other tribes.

Catujanes

The Catujanes Indians lived in the Mesa of the Catujanes and in the area of Lampazos de Naranjo, which is a present-day city and municipio located in northwestern Nuevo León, 97 miles (156 km) north of Monterrey.

Gualeguas

The Gualeguas Indians lived in the region of Agualeguas, a city and a municipio located in the northeastern Nuevo León, 80 miles (128 km) northeast of Monterrey. The name “Agualeguas” honors the first known inhabitants of the region, the Gualegua tribe.

Cacalote Indians

Cacalote (“crow” or “raven”) is the name of an Indian groups that lived south of the Rio Grande in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Cacalotes were believed to have been a Coahuiltecan group.

Pajarito Indians

Pajarito, which is Spanish for “little bird,” was the name of a Coahuiltecan band that originally inhabited northeastern Nuevo León, but later migrated northwestward to the north bank of the Rio Grande above the site of present-day Laredo. Eventually most of the Pajarito Indians ended up along the lower Rio Grande near the coast, principally in northern Tamaulipas.

Tortugas

The Tortugas (“Tortoises”) are believed to have lived on the upper tributaries of the Rio San Juan in eastern Nuevo Leon. However, the Tortugas may also have been referred to as Pelón or Pelones (“bald” or “hairless”) because the males removed their head hair in a number of ways, but several unrelated Indian groups of Nuevo Leon were also known by the Spaniards as Pelones. The Tortugas were first recorded in eastern Nuevo Leon in 1716-1717 as one of several rebellious groups that settled at Mission Purificación in the Pilón Valley near Montemorelos. The Spaniards considered the Tortugas to be very troublesome because of their far-reaching raids, as far south as Montemorelos, as far west as Cadereyta and as far north as Cerralvo. From the 1740s to the 1760s they were recorded at various missions in eastern Nuevo Leon, but their ethnic identity was lost in the nineteenth century.

Carrizos

Carrizos (Spanish for “canes” or “reeds”) is a descriptive name that was applied after 1700 to several widely distributed Indian groups of both northeastern Mexico and Texas. Apparently, Indians of this name lived in houses whose frames were covered by canes or reeds. The western Carrizos were reported in various locations, including Mission Nuestra de los Dolores de la Punta de Lampazos (near modern Lampazos). It is believed that they may also have inhabited Starr and Zapata counties of present-day Texas. And in 1735, it was reported that they were one of several Indian groups who had attacked the Spanish settlement at Cerralvo during the preceding 20 years.

Although they continued to conduct raids in Nuevo Leon over a period of decades, the Carrizos appear to have allied themselves with the Spaniards from 1790 to 1792 against the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches. During the early 18th Century, the Carrizos were known to be in the region of Laredo, Texas and east of Lampazos, Nuevo Leon.

Zalayas

In 1688, Zalayas were mentioned in connection with the Convent of San Francisco of Cerralvo, and it’s likely that they lived in the Cerralvo area. In 1735, Zalayas reportedly were among the Indian groups that had been causing trouble at the Spanish village of Agualeguas, about 17 miles north of Cerralvo in northeastern Nuevo Leon.

Zacatiles

The Zacatiles lived near Cadereyta in west central Nuevo Leon. The word Zacatil appears to be related to zacate, a word of Náhuatl origin that the early Spaniards applied to several groups, including the Zacatecos Indians of Zacatecas. During the 1730s, there was considerable unrest among the surviving Indian groups of eastern Nuevo Leon, and some documents refer to the Zacatiles as being one of the indigenous groups that raided Spanish settlements as far north as Cerralvo and as far south as Montemorelos.

Native Groups Continuously at War

According to Omar Santiago Valerio-Jiménez, the various tribes of this area “were almost continuously at war with one another. Inter-tribal strife made it relatively easy, during the early stages of the conquest, for the Spaniards to master many of these small, mutually antagonistic tribes.” However, the natives who sought refuge in the Sierra Madre were harder to locate in their mountain refuges. The mountain strongholds served as a base of operations for raids on Spanish settlements and as refuge for natives who fled the mission settlements.

The natives of colonial Nuevo León were almost constantly on the move in their search for food. Although the region had a distinct dry season, many streams still flowed from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre, and this led to the lush growth of vegetation in the foothills and coastal areas. In normal times, many of the tribes engaged in hunting and food gathering. They moved about in small groups and their rancherias usually consisted of one or two families, which rarely numbered more than eight or ten persons altogether. In times of war, these small nomadic communities would coalesce to form aggressive raiding parties.

The Establishment of Monterrey (1577)

In 1577, Alberto del Canto, a Portuguese immigrant, founded a settlement named Ojos de Santa Lucía, which was renamed San Luis in 1583 by Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva. However, it was abandoned and then re-founded as the City of Monterrey on September 20, 1596 along the Santa Catarina River. However, the hostility of the local natives, was so intense that Monterrey became an isolated stronghold standing in hostile territory.

Establishment of the Kingdom (1579)

On May 31, 1579, Luis Carvajal signed an agreement with King Felipe II of Spain to pacify the region and to establish the Kingdom of Nuevo León, which extended from the Pánuco River on the south and the Gulf of Mexico on the east, while its western sector extended well into the Sierra Madre Oriental. The northern border of the province ran roughly along the lower Río Grande.

Carvajal was both the first governor and encomendero of the area, but, according to historian Sean F. McEnroe, his “brief and unsuccessful conquests” were “motivated by the profits of slave raiding and mining” and “provoked fierce resistance from local populations.” This hostility, followed by his subsequent arrest leading to a power vacuum led Spain to abandon the area for some time.

Slavery in Nuevo León

As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, some of the Spaniards turned to Indian slavery for profits. In establishing the towns of Monterrey and Cerralvo, Spaniards captured Indians to sell as slaves for labor in the mines of Zacatecas. This cruelty provoked several results. In 1624, as an example, the local tribes assaulted the Monterrey and slaughtered the Franciscan missionaries living in the area. However, in his Ph.D. dissertation, Professor Rodolfo Fernández discussed the complexities of the local system, noting that some indigenous people also became slave owners.

The Encomienda System in Nuevo León

According to Professor Rodolfo Fernández, the encomienda system gave some Spaniards “the legal right to negotiate tribute in the form of labor from specific indigenous groups. The encomienda was the most widespread labor relation between Indians and Spaniards in northeastern New Spain.” In this system, the tribute-receiving soldier, known as an encomendero received a grant in the form of land, municipios or Indian labor. He was also obliged to provide military protection and a Christian education for the Indians under his command. The Indian laborers under his command were called encomendados.

Fernández notes that in the northern frontier area, “the structure of Indian communities was completely different since the native Chichimecas did not own a particular piece of land permanently, and they did not have the type of political elites that existed in Mesoamerican societies.”

In his Ph.D. Dissertation, Professor Fernández noted that Indians of the north “were not bound by ownership of land or coercive political systems. Encomendados could literally pick up their belongings and move beyond the encomendero’s reach, yet many of them chose to live and work in an encomendero’s commercial property. One reason why many Indians chose to stay with the Spanish was not because of coercion or control from imperial structures of power, but because they saw joining them as a way to find relief in times of scarcity, or protection in times of war.” Fernández also notes that many of the northern indigenous groups “viewed the encomienda as a temporary alliance to counter emerging threats. When Indian groups felt conditions under Spanish rule to be intolerable, they often escaped, joined other groups and in many extreme cases rebelled.”

The Decline of the Coahuiltecans

When the Spaniards arrived in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, they settled into “choice locations” which led to strains on local food supplies and eventually led to displacement of many Coahuiltecan bands. Ruecking believed that this was “one of the fundamental reasons for the rapid missionization of the Coahuiltecans.” The Coahuiltecans in the missions had provided unskilled labor and engaged in intermarriage with other ethnic groups. As the missions closed in the 19th century, Indian families were given small parcels of mission land. Eventually, the survivors passed into the lower economic levels of Mexican society.

Missions as a Place of Refuge

Although the missions were established as a means of Christianizing the native people, they also became a vehicle for educating Indians in the ways of Spanish colonial living. But, with a more hostile environment on the outside, the missions also became a place of refuge. The former hunter-gatherers were willing to become part of the mission system for a number of reasons noted here:

The irrigation system promised a more stable supply of food than they normally enjoyed.

The presidio – frequently located close to a mission — offered much greater protection from the Apaches.

The missionaries and their lay helpers instructed the natives in the Catholic faith and in the elements of Spanish peasant society. The Indians learned various trades, including carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, and weaving; they also did a great deal of agricultural work.

Mission Indian villages usually consisted of about 100 Indians of mixed groups who generally came from a wide area surrounding a mission. Although survivors of a group often entered a single mission, individuals and families of one ethnic group might scatter to five or six missions. The number of Indian bands (or groups) at each mission varied from fewer than twenty groups to as many as 100.

However, with so many people concentrated in a single area, the natives around the missions became more vulnerable to the diseases brought by Europeans. Because the missions had an agricultural base, the economic output of the mission declined when the Indian labor force dwindled. Missions were distributed unevenly. Some were in remote areas, while others were clustered, often two to five in number, in small areas.

Displacement and Loss of Ethnic Identity

In Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Texas, the displacement of Coahuiltecans and other nomadic groups by the Spaniards and Apaches created an unusual ethnic mix. Inevitably, the numerous Spanish missions in the region would provide a refuge for the displaced and declining Indian populations.

As they lived in close contact with the Spanish colonial culture and learned agricultural techniques, most of the Coahuiltecan Indians lost their identity. Their names disappeared from the written record as epidemics, warfare, migration, dispersion by Spaniards to work at distant plantations and mines, high infant mortality, and general demoralization took their toll. Small remnants merged with larger remnants or were absorbed into the Apaches. By 1800 the names of few ethnic units appear in documents, and by 1900 the names of groups native to the region had disappeared. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Political Chronology:

In 1582, Nuevo León was known as Nuevo Reino de León. From 1777 to 1793, Nuevo León was made part of the Provincias Internas. With the independence of Mexico in 1821, Nuevo León became a free and sovereign state by a decree of May 7, 1824. When the Constitution of 1857 took effect on February 5, 1847, Nuevo León was incorporated into Coahuila. On February 26, 1864, the state of Nuevo León was split from Coahuila.

The 1921 Census

In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca” (indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total state population of 336,412, only 17,276 persons (or 5.1%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background.

With only 5.1% of its people being recognized as of pure indigenous origin, Nuevo León boasted a large population of assimilated individuals, with 253,878 individuals – or 75.5% – being classified as mezclada (or mixed). However, nearly one-in-five of Nuevo León’s inhabitants – 64,697 (19.2%) – claimed to be white.

But Nuevo León’s long-term assimilation into the Spanish world was evident in the fact that only four people in the state spoke an indigenous language: two Huastecos, one Kikapoo and one Maya.

Migration from Other States

Over the next few decades, the number of persons who spoke indigenous languages in Nuevo León increased significantly in a unique reconfiguration of indigenous identity in Northern Mexico. From 787 individuals five years of age and older in 1970, Nuevo León witnessed an unprecedented increase to 15,446 speakers in 2000 and 40,237 in 2010. In fact, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Nuevo León was the Mexican entity with the highest rate of growth of indigenous population (12.5% per year) throughout the country as of 2005.

Indigenous Languages Spoken in Nuevo Leon in 2010 In 2010, a total of 40,258 indigenous speakers 3 years and older in Nuevo Leon lived in Nuevo León, of which more than half (53.6%) spoke the Náhuatl language, and 17% did not even specify which indigenous language they spoke.

While the speakers of the Otomí, Totonac and Huasteco languages most likely came from nearby states like Veracruz and San Luis Potosí, the Zapotec and Mixtec speakers probably came from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

The 2010 census also reported the languages spoken within each municipio of each state. As indicated in the following table, Náhuatl — the most common language spoken in Mexico and the leading language in several states — is, by far, the most spoken indigenous language in Nuevo León. But, it is noteworthy that Náhuatl — and any other languages spoken in the state — are transplants from other states, due to Nuevo León’s position as a magnet for migration from a multitude of other states.

https://indigenousmexico.org/nuevo-leon/indigenous-nuevo-leon-land-of-the-coahuiltecans/

8 notes · View notes

heartofnopal · 4 years

Note

First of all, kudos for representing your culture ♥ I wanted to ask you though: As someone who shares a similar background with you, I was genuinely conflicted when I first saw your MC, I think I was worried about misrepresentation? Since finding out you're channeling your own culture though, I do feel a bit better, yet still conflicted... Maybe I'm still afraid of doing the same, y'know? How do you feel, genuinely, about sharing yourself like this? [1 of 2]

Going to add your part two: “And, I'm really sorry about the heavy topic of this ask. It's just been weighing on my mind for a good while now and I've only finally mustered up the courage to visit your blog and send it. I'm not sure what I'm feeling and I was hoping you might understand, haha. Please feel free to ignore. [2 of 2]”

Hey there, definitely not gonna ignore. And don't be sorry about the heavy topic. I'm genuinely glad you asked this question and it's something that had been weighing heavily on my mind before I decided to finally make content for the character I've had in mind for so long.

Gonna start by introducing Quetzalli and what it means for someone like this in the Arcana world. Because it's a fictional universe, there's no such thing as Mexica. Same goes for all other canon characters, we know the cultures they were influenced by, but the people don't actually exist in this world. But I absolutely love that characters do have influence from our real world cultures and I wanted to share that of my ancestors because all of our cultures have a right to influence fiction just as much as any other. And when I realized Nopal is influenced by modern day Northern Mexico/Southwest US, I felt so happy to think people inspired by ours could exist in this world because they're ignored in every other fantasy.

One other good example I can think of is Avatar the Last Airbender which has nations and people inspired by real-world cultures. Inuit, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan cultures are among them yet even then there are other elements and no one nation is strictly influenced by one culture alone nor do they completely mirror them. I was also happy to notice that the Sun Warriors were primarily influenced by Mesoamerican civilizations including Mexica, Incan, and Mayan with some Southeast Asian influences as well. On the other hand there are movies like the Road to El Dorado that has established itself in a real-world setting and so I’d be very strict on how the culture is represented.

As you probably figured, Quetzalli is influenced by the Mexica (Aztec) culture as it used to be before La Conquista. And the Mexica as the people they were haven't existed since then, but instead have changed with time. Yet I've grown up surrounded by their legacy and that of the Chichimeca people in my town in Mexico, particularly the Zacatecos, Caxcan, and Guachichil (Quetzalli's mother is influenced by Chichimeca peoples who would likely be placed in the Catclaw desert in the Arcana world). But honestly, what has pissed me off so much is the way our people are seen and treated. Even many people in Mexico are racist and still look down upon those of indigenous descent. But we should be proud and I wanted to create a character who is proud, brave and powerful because that's what I feel like when I embrace that part of me. Thus Quetzalli was born!

But integrating the character into the Arcana universe is tricky. There are many elements that I could keep and some that I couldn't because not everyone will understand some concepts. Death is a tricky subject and even in the Arcana universe, it's heavily influenced by western concepts of death in which death is like some ultimate scary thing and that's that. While of course I don't take death lightly, even as a child it wasn't ever truly scary. I was raised to believe it's a cycle and death is not feared but honored and respected. So when I was taught about Mexica sacrifice as a kid (most people only know about sacrifices like some bs to justify la Conquista while there’s SO MUCH good shit like public education and genius engineering) although I don’t agree obviously, it makes sense to me because I could understand how a people would view it as a cycle that must continue. The sun rises and falls, seasons change, people die, people are born. Even enemy war captives who have a sliver of divinity that allowed the capture. It's all a cycle where life and divinity must be returned in order for it to be given back. There was never enough blood to give to everyone that is and will ever be and so much be returned.

This is one of the things I'm leaving out in Quetzalli because it's a delicate subject that I know people won't understand. And because she's a fictional character only influenced by the Mexica in a fantasy world, I feel okay leaving the bloodshed out (also people might vilify her and the Mexica people for it like they already do). If I was to make her a character in a real world scenario, then nope, I'll need to be strict and include everything whether everyone likes it or not. Other things about her that I've stretched is the fact that she's an Eagle Warrior. Although women had more independence over their work and finances (compared to many European women at the time) and that it was believed women could be powerful leaders (depicted in stories and history) they weren't allowed in combat, at least in the last 200 years of the empire. I'm not counting the time women joined the struggle under Huey Tlatoani Cuauhtemoc because that was a desperate last stand.

But if you read my short story "the game begins" it's known that Quetzalli cannot become a warrior and thus will listen to Huehuecoatl in hopes he'll help her get there. Another thing I stretched is her coliseum outfit. I wanted to incorporate some essential parts of the Eagle Warrior's uniform: the greaves, the chimalli, and especially the cuacalalatli and feathers lining the leather so she may embrace the eagle's fighting prowess. Those parts are there but I also wanted to keep in with the theme of the Arcana coliseum outfits in that they are very revealing and made for show over function as we've seen with Julian and Asra. I also wanted to share the cuacalalatli and I think the idea of embracing an animal's prowess is beautiful in that one looks up to nature to feel strength.

I try to add Mexica elements where I can because I love to share more and so few people know about Mesoamerican cultures. But I also try to keep it on the same level as the other Arcana characters who show their real-world cultural elements while not making that everything there is to know about them. I want her to still feel apart of this world and story, she’s a character like all the others. So sometimes I’m limited to clothing, tools and weapons, language, flowers and plants, motifs, her hummingbird familiar, even the appearance of the “Ascending Eagle” but I think references to our world’s Tonatiuh is as far as I can go while maintaining Arcana universe.

But to summarize what I feel about it. Indigenous american cultures are widely ignored among Arcana apprentices and I honestly feel that we should not feel ashamed to include them, especially if they're our own. And I do understand the feeling of not wanting to misrepresent cultures, it IS important to avoid stereotypes even if it's a fantasy setting. Also one thing some forget is that indigenous people are PEOPLE like everyone else and have every right to exist in media. We don't have to adhere to every aspect of our culture nor should we be ashamed and hide it away. Quetzalli is influenced by Mexica but she's a normal person in this world with every right to be there like any other character, wear her clothes, speak her language, get upset, be sensual, kick some ass, hate and love... None of this says any less of her or her culture.

The things I've included in her has been a monument to the power she feels and that of the people she's influenced by, the same pride and power I feel when I embrace my roots. It took me a while to finally get around to sharing her, but I'm glad I am. Thank you so much for this ask.

Si quieres hablar mas, o si todavia tienes miedo de crear un personaje como este, dame un mensaje? Nuestra gente y nuestros ancestros tienen derecho a existir aqui. :D

48 notes · View notes

mattattack64-blog · 4 years

Text

Hey y’all! I would really appreciate it if y’all could help! Here’s my email for e-transfers [email protected] if you’re feeling extra generous! I’ve been trying so hard to find a job, but it’s been quite tough considering that my queerness sometimes gets me in trouble. I almost got a job at a taco shop, but because I called the manager out for being frantic with customers and employees, he decided to not hire me on. It’s been a hell of a year and I wish people weren’t, so homophobic and Machistas. I’m sorry I have confidence and assertiveness without being aggressive or arrogant. I think we need to make workplaces less of a hostile and docile environment by connecting with queer people and understanding their need for an inclusive work space! Also here’s an essay I wrote for my Sacred Medicines course! It describes what my work entails and will bring to Turtle Island.

Essay about my journey:

The Journey of A Shaman

My Story of Decolonizing on Stolen Lands of the First Peoples of Canada through Accessing Aztec and AfroBlackfoot Ancestry of Indigeneity From Practicing the Art of Medicine:

The History of Turtle Island is filled of stories of genocide affecting Indigenous Peoples communities and cultures. Mine is one of many told in Central America of Conquistadors who bestowed missionaries that would change the villages that relied on local foods and medicines of Mayan, Aztecan, and Incan descent, into a colonial way of being. Instead their peoples and cultures found themselves at the foot of extinction during the 1400s-1900s on Turtle Island, due to settlers' greed for land. The lands were filled with Indigenous nations which were pushed out due to the colonial settlers from France, Spain, and the British. This forced the displacement of African Peoples on Indigenous lands which resulted in some of them escaping slavery during the settlement of Turtle Island and joining tribes such as the Blackfoot peoples. These peoples took up what is now the Rio Grande river to the flourishing valley in Zacateco; the small village my grandmother grew up in. Before the Mexican Civil War between the Indigenous Peoples and Spanish Settlers she learned how to rely on ancestral knowledge of land, food and medicine. She faced challenges that the missionaries introduced when settling establishments for the Spanish Conquistadors, in her village. It resulted in her losing her father and mother through working in horrible conditions in bean, corn, and rice fields put in place by the church's tyrant ways of controlling the Indigenous population through religion and assimilation of their way of living in a colonial society. My grandmother told me stories of soldiers dismantling their connections to Aztec medicines, foods, and Gods by destroying any traces of that civilization through mass burials and mass burnings of artifacts.

The phrase Turtle Island was first introduced to me at the Free Store and Food Bank in the Student Union Building, d where I found a black cloth. Printed on it was a green land mass depiction of the Americas as a Turtle figured island, encompassing all of what is now Settler Governments. This concept opens my mind up to Indigenous self governance and peace as one lands for the sake of protecting them for future generations. Following the ongoing interactions with organizers of the Food Bank, I managed to bring my expertise as a project and outreach coordinator. I organized discussions on where our food came from to spark the movement of individuals respecting our Food Bank as an Activist establishment against capitalism.

I had the opportunity to be part of Dr. Rennee’s course on Sacred Medicines from her INGH 452 online course at The University of Victoria. She has inspired me to look at and create a career in medicine that doesn’t involve the perspectives of Western Medicines for the sake of saving the medicines we lack in our Indigenous communities that suffer from Settler Colonizer diets implemented through legislation. The Canadian and American governments have been accused of depriving Indigenous communities of their lands, food, medicines and right to practice their rituals.

I grew up mostly living with my grandmother who taught me my morals, customs, and values she got from her father and the people from her village in Zacatecas, Mexico. She told me stories of her great grandmother showing her the ways of the lands by cultivating teas, remedies, and foods to bring nourishment. They would run through fields of corn before new crops were introduced that seemed to take away from the Native plants that were for eating and medicine. I immigrated to what is now known as Canada; this colonial power continues to settle on unceded lands of indigneous communities spread out through Turtle Island. It has been a challenge due to the traumatic similarities my people have faced on Turtle Island that resemble the treatment of the Indigenous communities in Canada.

The missionaries in Zacatecas, Mexico displaced my grandmother who was on a journey to midwifery before a soldier boy stole her hand in marriage after the death of her father. This led to Machismo in my family that I continue to navigate through for the sake of changing my family's ongoing struggles with their own health due to displacement of their original foods and ways of protecting the lands. Machismo degraded the Aztec woman by allowing Conquistador ideologies from Settler Societies to make the Aztec Man more powerful than any other member in the family, it forced him to wield his wrath on anyone who didn't follow his manliness of aggression for the sake of protecting his property and family. They colonized our men in order to create a new persona that fit the colonial ideologies of the new Colonial state, for the sake of keeping a patriarchal government that oppresses its women and Indigenous peoples.

The global displacement of brown and black people was brought about by attacking familial and community based societies that relied on tribal relations to the lands before settlement of westernized societies that encompassed our lands with racist doctrines like the Manifest Destiny. When talking about relieving the colonial way of living I have to take the stigma away from my black and brown communities I am tied to, because of my knowledge and expertise in navigating colonial systems for the sake of creating better conditions for their underrepresented communities that are controlled through Colonial Governance of the Majority, Settler European Anglo Saxon Protestant Vigilantes of Turtle Island.

In my work, the aim is to reduce the stigma of mental illness on communities that have ties to Indigenous roots who come from displaced Indigenous cultures due to their unceded lands. European settlement of Turtle Island has created gaps in our understanding of Indigeous Youths’ Mental Health Issues. If we were to destroy these barriers created by our colonial governments we'd be able to see positive change in underrepresented brown and black communities that harness the potential to spark a movement through Ancestral Healing.

Western ways of organizing data based on research for white middle class Canadian families help come up with diagnosis and treatment for anxiety or depression. This has worked for white privileged families that have in turn displaced, stolen, and compromised indigenous lands. Leaving Indigneous Peoples on Turtle Island with the lack of individualized treatment for specific cultural approaches to anxiety and depression that may arise from living in a colonial settler society based on white supremacy doctrines. The way mental health is conceptualized can depend on culture to culture based on the usage of land for healing. My work as a Shaman is to bring the tangible and visible immenseness of research that claims the benefits of Indigenous led rituals that have been hiding in plain sight. I have compiled articles that discuss the Indigenous communities that would benefit from a forum that would help decrease the rising numbers of suicide among Indigenous youth. In The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles Redvers notes that the; Increase of inuit youth suicide is higher than it has ever been for inidgneous youth,” (Redvers, 2019, Pg.142). We must create a new system that doesn't rely on westernized ways of thinking, but instead on traditional knowledge from elders teachings of the lands and their connections to the lands. The gift of healing is one to be assigned to a shaman who can help see a condition through sacred knowledge (Redvers. In The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles, 2019 Pg.144). It's a bit like when a psychologist compiles data to make a diagnosis, but instead of using evidence based data from empirical research, they instead use sacred knowledge from elders and the shamans/healers in their communities. I believe I am on my own journey to become a shaman with a doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology. I want to bring concrete evidence for holistic practices to gain respect for Traditional Indigneous medicines that live and breathe on Turtle Island. Integrating a new stream of medicine would allow for further decolonization of our healthcare system on Turtle Island. Knowledge and wisdom organized from elders, shamans, traditional healers, and story tellers could be used for customizing and improving Indigenous youths’ health. Taking the steps towards creating a stream of medicine based on using the lands for healing through elder storytelling and ceremony practices, must come from my own knowledge of Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Healing can come from storytelling scenarios, schemas, and drawings that help revitalize Indigneous peoples connections they have lost from the lands due to the colonial infrastructures in place today. I have attached an image of a side by side comparison of what I believe the lands want me to be on the right, and on the right is what I have to face when I'm aware of the lies in the colonial settler societies make-believe truths. I drew this when I was going through an intense breakup. I was having to do a lot of soul searching due to my feelings of emptiness after the break up. The love for using drawing to express depressive or anxious episodes has helped me understand my own feelings when I’m no longer able to physically display emotion, which happens a lot of the times when I'm having a depressive episode. I find that Indigenous peoples have faced a lot of hardships with health, therefore in order to ensure that they get the essential healing, we must give back something that they've felt has always been lost, their lands. (I will attach an image of the drawing if requested) description: two faces drawn with colour pencils next to one another, one is covered in leafy natural colors and the other with primary colors. My intention was to depict myself through expression of colors by using them to Demonstrate stresses in my life that I need to deal with.)

Redvers, N. (2019). Chapter 8: The Natural Psychologist. In The Science of the Sacred: Bridging Global Indigenous Medicine Systems and Modern Scientific Principles. North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, CA. (p. 141-162).

1 note · View note