Some communications “experts” claim that most of our communication is non-verbal and that we interact with one another more with signs and symbols than through the spoken word. However, it is difficult to see how these supposedly “non-verbal” signs and symbols can be adequately understood apart from language. I see an object in front of […]
Continue ReadingAn article by Mr. Morgan Bedford entitled “New Spain’s Fifty Magical Years (1492-1542)” appeared in the July, 1999, issue of the Ojo Del Lago. A more accurate title would have been “New Spain’s Fifty Years of Rape, Pillage, Murder, and Slavery.” Mr. Bedford highly praises the achievements of Cortes and other Spanish explorers and conquerors in spreading […]
Continue ReadingThe medicine lodge or sweat bath dates from a very early period in the history of the Americas and, in some parts, continues to the present day. In Canada. Indians from the Atlantic coast to British Columbia used sweat lodges for ritualistic and health purposes. In the United States from northwestern California to Alaska, various […]
Continue ReadingAre you an illegal alien? If you are white and of European ancestry, however remote, the California-based Mexica Movement says that you have no right to be on this continent. These people, who call themselves Nican Tlaca, the Indigenous People, claim to speak for all the native peoples of Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. Their […]
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Do you ever feel pressed for time? Have you felt the weight of time hanging heavily on your shoulders? Pity the poor Maya deities who bore the Burden of Time throughout all eternity and then some. The ancient Maya calendar was closely bound up with religion and, like all people, the Maya asked the same […]
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The tribute payable is: 2 strings of beads of jadeite, a green semi-precious stone a total of 4,000 handfuls of colored feathers 160 skins of the bird with a blue plumage 2 labrets (lip piercings) of amber encased in gold 40 skins of jaguar 200 loads of cacao beans, the main ingredient of chocolate 800 tecomates (cups […]
Continue Reading It seems that one can never take anything for granted in the academic world, at least because there is always someone somewhere waiting to contradict everything that has been said previously. This is especially true of revisionist history. Of course new evidence and different ways of interpreting the “facts” of history may justify revising standard […]
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Our knowledge of ancient Aztec civilization comes from many different sources: archaeology, codices or painted books, comparative ethnological studies and the like. But it is not until the advent of writing that a clear picture of past history begins to emerge. That is not to say that historical accounts did not exist before the Conquest. […]
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The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Cortes in the sixteenth century brought to an abrupt end the developing civilization of the ancient Aztecs. With the destruction of their capital of Tenochtitlan (now modern Mexico City) much of Aztec religion and culture was destroyed in a catastrophic cultural holocaust. However, within a few decades […]
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Several Mesoamerican researchers have recently cast doubt on the current interpretation of certain features of pre-Columbian cultures and their world outlook — in particular that of the Classical Aztecs and their literature. Revisionist history can represent an attempt to change an historical account for political or personal reasons. Or it can be a response to new […]
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