I'm literally a casual fan of Nahuatl not an avid learner but inshallah I'll learn it once I improve my Ojibwe, Hindi, and French

 i am a casual fan rather than an avid learner of Nahuatl, however I find some of the random words i know very beautiful like "xochimiqui" or flowery death (xochitl=flower and miquiztli=death) for a human sacrifice. also when i am sad, or stressed, or angry, or generally doompilled i like to calm myself down by reading this verse by Nezahualcoyotl.

Annochipa tlalticpac. Zan achica ye nican. Ohuaye ohuaye. Tel ca chalchihuitl no xamani, no teocuitlatl in tlapani, no quetzalli poztequi. Yahui ohuaye. Anochipa tlalticpac zan achica ye nican. Ohuaya ohuaya.

Not forever on earth, only a brief time here! Even jades fracture; even gold ruptures, even quetzal plumes tear: Not forever on earth: only a brief time here! Ohuaya, ohuaya.

(the word for gold is "teocuitlatl" which means "excrement of the gods." teotl means "sacred" or "deity" and cuitlatl means "excrement.") I'll be able to understand these beautiful Nahuatl compound words one day and appreciate this kind of stuff without English translations.

The Mexica (Aztec) version of the bulletproof vest

Alright fam, so you've probably heard of Kevlar, a high-strength material used in bulletproof vests. It was invented by Europeans of course... without a doubt. However, here's a fun fact. Did you know that the Aztecs actually came up with bulletproof vests too? This was completely by mistake. Here's a picture I stole from Mexicolore, which is a really cool website that you should go on. I think I might add that to my link list. 

As you can see, it's basically thick cotton padding that was worn by soldiers. The cloth frame would be soaked in salt water to maker it really hard and then "paper-mached" into a thick vest and left in the sun to dry. You'll be surprised how effective this was. It could stop spears thrown by the atlatl and later they found out it could also stop the Spanish musket shots too.

In case you didn't know, the atlatl was basically a device used to make spear throwing more effective and deadly. It wasn't invented by the Aztecs but it was used a lot by them, and the word atlatl comes from the Nahuatl language. It's actually a super old invention from prehistoric times. The Australian aborigines also had their own version of it called a woomera (I may do a post on them soon lol as an off-topic fun post even though they're not native american. They're kinda my second favourite culture now). So yeah, the atlatl/woomera can go like 80 miles per hour xD . That's what the vests were originally meant to stop. But then they found out that they were bULLeT ProOF too! WhOa!

So anyway, the Europeans began to use the same type of technology. They found out that this type of bullet proof vest was also more comfortable than their steel armor. Armor was changed forever. 

You can learn about other epic Aztec innovations in this Ted talk I did: http://youtu.be/1DVWVlkAKuA
Note: copy paste the link into your browser if it doesn't work :P thanks fam. 

Historically Inaccurate Movies (a foaming run-on sentence rant)

Happy Indian Independence Day (or at least it was August 15th when I started writing this post. IDK when I will actually finish it though). Mexican independence day is coming up next month on September 16th, amirite? Ask me which country I like better ;D . 

Welp fam, speaking of India, an awesome new historical movie has been released recently called "Mohenjodaro", with the leading roles played by Hrithik Roshan and Pooja Hedge. I saw it recently and honestly, I think it was the best movie ever. I loved every second of it. Even though there were probably a few inaccuracies (like with all historical movies) it's still worth a watch (like with all historical movies) ;D . 

A gr8 activity for an aspiring historian is to watch a historical movie and then spot all the historical errors and write a rant about it on their blog for their 26 followers to read ;D .

This emoji is getting annoying, isn't it? ;D I have a Danish internet friend who uses it alllll the tiiimee ;D ;D ;D. Cancerous. 

Before we get into talking about the 10 out of 10 Bollywood movie "Mohenjodaro", let me rant for a bit about historically inaccurate movies.

ALL THE MOVIES I HAVE EVER SEEN RELATING TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WERE HISTORICALLY INACCURATE AF AND THAT MAKES ME CRINGE.

Below are my comments on several popular historical movies, so that you can see what I mean: 

The Road to El Dorado 

Here is a cute edit made by one of my Romanian internet friends:

Throwback to when I used to adore things like this

Now not only was this movie inaccurate, it was also pretty racist if you think about it. Making the good guys in the movie two Spaniards and the evil character in the movie a Mayan priest was a baaaddd iddeeaaa. Also the female Mayan character in the movie was promiscuous AF with the Spaniards. WHY TF WOULD YOU MAKE A CHARACTER LIKE THAT? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY? at least name her "Malinche" then eh? Welp it was about the Mayans not Aztecs though. Also in this movie the Mayans thought the Spaniards were gods. This is not even close to anything that happened IRL. There's a popular misconception that is being spread online about how the Aztecs thought Cortes was Quetzalcoatl, but this is BS. Many indigenous people were nice to the Europeans though because they wanted to them to GTFO but didn't want to be violent. Take the Iroquois teaching Jacques Cartier and the French a cure for scurvy for example or the Taino being hospitable to Columbus and his crew. But no one thought anyone was a god, k? I will however give this movie credit for showing how beautiful pre-colonial Mesoamerica was. The characters could've been waaay better done though. The animation and music was pretty good too. 

 

Pocahontas (the first one that everyone knows and the lesser known sequel, "journey to a new world")

Okay is it just me or is Disney racist AF? Actually the Mexica Movement would agree with me according to this article, so I must be right! 

There are two conflicting accounts of what happens here. The first is that Pocahontas was only 12 when she met John Smith, which would make him a rapist. She was taken to England where she got her freedom after marrying another guy named John Rolfe. The second account is that Smith never actually met Pocahontas and just made the entire story up in one of his journals. He was very well-traveled. Disney got that right with one of their quotes I guess, "I've seen hundreds of New Worlds". And so he frequently wrote tales about meeting exotic women and having affairs with them. Does that sound like a weird pass-time to you? It's no different from my fanfictions, really. 

Not to mention the fact that Pocahontas was a Powhatan native, and there were a few words of a different language when the natives were speaking (I heard that from somewhere but I'm not sure, 'cause I'm no expert on native languages, so we'll let that pass.)

Hey I hate racist movies just as much as the next person, but you have to admit Pocahontas was an awesome character.

I loveeeee herrrr haaaiiiirrr.

*trichophilia intentifies* 

Shall I do a blog post on the meaning of the word "trichophilia"? No?

The second movie was very lackluster, thanks to the fact it was in London and London sucks. Apparently, it did not suck as much back when it was called Londonium.

I did like Rolfe better than Smith though. 

did I like him better because of his hair? Yes...yes I did.

He was so so soooooo painfully Tsundere though!!

The Emperor's New Groove

Not gonna lie, this was probably the most hilarious movie I have ever seen. It also had a hot AF protagonist WHO WOULD BE SO CUTE WITH CHEL FROM THE ROAD TO EL DORADO. 

WHO DID THE SHOPPING IT'S SO AMAZINGGGG GAWD 

This movie was also the most historically inaccurate thing I've ever seen though. Absolutely laughable. But you know what? I don't think they were actually trying. 'Cause if they were actually trying then this would be reallyyy pathetic: 

I guess it is a movie "vaguely based on the Incas because it has llamas" and not actually "based on the Incas". 

I'll let it slide though eh. Kawasachum Tawantinsuyu though. 

If you thought that was the gay pride flag and not the flag of Cusco...

well then um...

why are you on this blog?

Apocalypto

My American internet friend has made a shit-ton of fanart for this movie. Like actually she is addicted to that movie. This is literally her desktop wallpaper:

She even admins a Deviantart group for the movie. Join it ya degener8 plebeians: 

http://apocalypto-fanclub.deviantart.com/ 

The reason why it has only 9 members? well because LOOK AT THAT, THE DEVIANTS ARE BETTER AT TELLING WHICH MOVIES ARE RACIST AND SHOULDN'T BE PROMOTED THAN YOU ARE.

OH MY GOD, OKAY JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD ON RESEARCHING THE YUCATEC MAYAN LANGUAGE DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET A PASS ON EVERYTHING ELSE. NOOOPE.

THIS MOVIE IN GENERAL JUST MADE THE MAYANS LOOK LIKE BACKWARD SAVAGES WHEN NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. 

aLSO IT WAS TRYING TO PORTRAY THEM AS JUNGLE TRIBESPEOPLE. 

you know how in modern times Mayan historic sites have been almost covered by jungle? WELL FUN FACT, THEY WEREN'T ALWAYS LIKE THEN WHEN PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVED THERE. The Mayans practiced slash and burn agriculture so there would definitely be less trees. Now it's not like imperialist christian expansionism either, as they still respected nature instead of thinking nature should be exploited and animals are soulless like christians believe.

Apocalytpo plz stop. Didn't El Vuh rant about this too in one of their raps? nice. Mexica tiahui, son of the sun, native sisters, and 500 tears are their best raps thouuughh.

Also the human sacrifice scene had an Aztec calendar instead of Mayan one.

The point I gave earlier about the language-not-giving-you-a-pass thing brings me to the most cringe-worthy movie I have ever seen. 

The Emperor's New Groove wins for most historically inaccurate movie, but this next movie wins for most CRINGE-WORTHY movie, because the ENG was at least hilarious and cute, this next movie was just shiiit.

Pathfinder

This movie proved that not only can white people never be trusted to direct a movie about indigenous history, they can also never be trusted to direct something about their own history. 

HOW COULD YOU KNOW THAT LITTLE ABOUT THE VIKINGS?

Pathfinder was about the Norse exploration of North America and how the Vikings encountered the Beothuk people. 

I'm not denying that the Norse made it here 500 years before Columbus, I know there's lots of proof of that. You can go to L'anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland and see the ruins of Leifsbudir for yourself.

First of all the most popular misconception about the Vikings is that they have horned helmets. 

wwttff.

If you want to see exactly all the reasons why Pathfinder was inaccurate AF, you should read my blogpost on the Norse exploration of North America here. 

The Norse crew should've had more female characters! Lets not forget Freydis Ericsdottir, the half sister of Leif Ericson led an entire Vinland voyage! They weren't sexist... like the... you know... CHRiSTiANSss!!!

If anyone is interested in an actual, legit, accurate, GOOD FICTION STORY about the Norse exploration of North America, they should read "Eiriksdottir" by Joan Clark, which looks at it from a Viking perspective, and "The Dream Carvers", which looks at it from a coool Beothuk perspective.

Beothuk>Norsemen 

obviously 

but the Vikings weren't AS bad as PATHFINDER would have you believe. 

Dafuq is this lame shit? nice dragonhead mast on the longship in the background though!

I loooove learning about that particular part of history. It was what got me into the Vikings.

This next movie I'm going to talk about isn't related to indigenous people in any way but it's very famous and I just wanted to debunk some of its historical inaccuracies.

It's called 300! 

• This entire iconic "this is Sparta" scene with the messenger is dumb, because the Persian messengers were actually sent to Athens not Sparta.
• There is no evidence that the shepherd Ephialtes was a scarie nightmarish freak.
• Why TF were the Spartan soldiers half naked? where are the hawt shape-fitting breastplates forged from bronze?
• At least you quoted Herodotus.
• At least you translated "Thermopylae" correctly to mean hot springs.
• At least Leonidas was hawt eh
• Xerxes was also hawt eh
• all the Persiansss were hawt in this movie except for the freak ones
• Who was that Spartan soldier with the long hair? he was hawt too but looked way too Germanic or Anglo to be a Greek!

Now it is time to once more concern ourselves with the matters of the Subcontinent. The movie "Mohenjodaro" was obviously named after the greatest city of the Indus valley civilization. It was around the same time as Mesopotamia. In fact some believe it was an offshoot of the Sumerian civilization, which would make it one of the world's oldest civilizations. They've deciphered cuneiform though. Too bad they HAVEN'T deciphered the mysterious Sindhu script.

The cast of the movie was pretty diverse for a Bollywood movie. They had to get some Middle Eastern people to play the Sumerians. IT WAS THE BEST MOVIE EVER, SRSLY! UNTIL SOMEONE MAKES A GOOOD MOVIE ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IT WILL ALWAYS REMAIN THE GR8EST MOVIE.

Here is the trailer:

Scarlet and blue macaws are native to the Americas!

WELL THIS IS EMBARRASSING.

The music of the movie was composed by A. R Rahman, so obviously it is good. 

Welp that's it. 
 watch mohenjodaro!!!

and watch hetalia:paint it white which is my second fave movie!

Aspen, my IRL friend who writes guestposts here, has suggested I watch spirit and brother bear, so i will do that. they are animated with indigenous characters!

My ex was a piece of shit because he likes german girls!

yeah that's it.

Byeeee fam. 

The Fall of Tenochtitlan :'(

^Do you think the Mexica Movement would 

mind if I stole one of their pictures lowkey like that? D:

Well, hello everyone. Sorry that I haven't touched this blog all summer. My 

friends Aspen and Vickyish have been writing guestposts in the meantime to 

keep you entertained.

 I hope you had fun listening to the Alexander Hamilton musical songs. 

Murica's dankest founding father, amirite? Remember if you want to check 

out more stuff written by Aspen and Vickyish then you can read their blogs,

 which are definitely better than mine because they don't make their posts 

all 

AnnnOYINGLy 

Colourful 

and they actually stick to one topic for the duration of their posts. They 

also don't begin every post with "sorry for not updating for so long" like

 I do. Well, Vickyish apologizes for her procrastination, but Vickyish put 

the pro in procrastination, so it's okay. 

Aspen's blog

Vickyish's blog

^ links

Supporting them supports me too, as they are my best IRL friends after all. Actually they are my ONLY IRL friends :/ . 

It's kind of like the triple alliance between Texcoco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan.

Okay no, that was a really lame attempt at referencing the Aztecs.

Speaking of the Aztecs/Mexica, this day in history marks the fall of the Mexica empire. 

This means that throughout this whole day I looked like this:

Because obviously the fall of the Mexica empire was the worst thing that ever happened in history. In my opinion? no actually... really... I'm not even being biased.  

August 12th and 13th of 1521 were the final days of the battles between the Aztecs and the Spaniards. The Aztecs were pretty much screwed at that point, as the water supply had been cut from Tenochtitlan, and smallpox killed almost everyone. Most of the people who were left to fight weren't even supposed to be warriors. Emperor Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec ruler, challenged Hernan Cortes, the leader of the Spanish army. 

Do you think the Mexica Movement would mind if I copypasta Olin Tezcatlipoca's quote on the topic? 

"August 13, 1521 Marks The Fall of Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan fell to the Europeans because of their use of smallpox as a biological weapon. It also fell because we had too many traitors amongst our people, proving we were not a perfect people.
Today it is not so much the Europeans who hold us back from liberation. They have the traitors holding our people down for them.
Treason and cowardice, fear and ignorance, are all holding us back from our full humanity, from liberation from Europeans.
There are traitors all around us: in our homes, in our families, in those we trust. They are selfish egotistical opportunists looking out only for themselves.
We will eventually be liberated from Europeans, but first we will have to deal with all of the traitors amongst our people."

Olin Tezcatlipoca
Mexica Movement Director
Nican Tlaca Nation


It is such a R.I.P thing seriously.

Shall I copy Vickyish's signature sign off now as I really do not know how to

 end this on a positive note? Alright here it is:

"Welp."

.

Top 5 Scary Things from Aztec/Mexica Folklore that will get you in your sleep

Scary, creepy, and strange things from Mesoamerican mythology... 

Niltze, everyone. I have sort of been neglecting and procrastinating on this blog, but finally I got an idea for a quality post. Every culture has scary stories. These can be used to scare children into behaving. They can also be connected to a superstition. Today I'm going to talk about my five favourite scary myths of the Mexica/Aztec people. One of my friends helped me with the research for this post. Her name is Nahuaconetl Xocoyotzin. You can stalk her Deviantart account here. She is a wonderful artist who is very interested in Mexico. 

I have arranged this list from least scariest to most scariest. None of the pictures belong to me unless I say so.  So let's begin! 

5: The Ahuitzotl 

The Ahuitzotl was a creature that came in various sizes. It resembled a dog or cat with bluish fur and had a long tail ending with a human hand. The Ahuitzotl was associated with water. It was said that this animal killed humans by swimming around in bodies of water and waiting for people to enter the water. Once the people entered, it would grab them with the hand of its tail and pull them down until they drowned. At least if you were killed by the Ahuitzotl you'd end up in Tlalocan, the land of the rain teotl/god Tlaloc, which is supposed to be an awesome and luxurious afterlife.



This screenshot is actually from the tv show My Little Pony. Who knew there were Aztecs in MLP?

Here are some drawings I did of the Ahuitzotl: 

 





Remember that you can stalk me on Deviantart for more Mesoamerican fanart: http://aztecatl13.deviantart.com/ 

Here is another drawing I did called 'What the Ahuitzotl dragged in'. It shows an Ahuitzotl bringing a drowned child to Tlalocan. The goddess shown is Chalchuitlicue, the wife of Tlaloc, who was associated with water bodies rather than rain. 

Here is an Aztec chimalli (shield) depicting this creature:

There was also a Mexica tlatoani (ruler) named Ahuitzotl after this creature. Here is a codex drawing of him:

There is a website which everyone who likes the Mexica/Aztecs knows about called Mexicolore. They have done a great article on the Ahuitzotl so if you would like to learn more about it, here's a link: 

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/aztefacts/water-dog-detective 

4: The Mirror-Headed Bird

This next creature has a pretty self-explanatory name. The mirror-headed bird. I have no idea how the Mexica come up with such strange creatures. But to the Mexica, this bird was a terrible omen which meant something bad was going to happen. One post-Aztec story tells that emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (Moctezuma the 2nd. Yes, that's the famous one) was presented with this bird, shortly before the Spaniards arrived. The mirror that this bird has instead of a face is a strange mirror, because it it you are supposed to see stars and the universe instead of your own reflection in it. 



This image is from the Florentine codex.

I drew it once, but I can't find the picture as it wasn't on my DA :P . 

So here is a Alice-in-Wonderland looking picture that looks similar: 




3: The Cipactli 

This next story shows how the mythology of the indigenous people could have huge similarities sometimes, showing how they were all related throughout the continent. According to the Aztec creation story, the world was once only water. In order to bring the earth into existence, the gods who were usually enemies, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, had to team up to slay the Cipactli, a giant caimain-ish crocodillian aquatic creature. The back of this monster became the earth. One of Tezcatlipoca's feet were bitten off while he fought Cipactli. 

By the way, the word 'cipactli' also means caiman or crocodile in Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica. 

The reason why I thought this story was similar to other indigenous tales was because it reminded me of the Iroquois and Cherokee creation story in which the earth was built on the back of a huge turtle. Some indigenous people call North America 'turtle island' for this reason. The Taino people of the Caribbean also have a similar creation story that happened on the back of a caiman.

And here is a codex illustration of the creature: 

  

2: The Tzitzimeme

This is getting creepier. The Tzitzimeme were she-demons who harassed people in the forest at night. (singular: Tzitzimitl). They were associated with the stars and could turn into eagles and vultures. They had long claw-like nails and starry wings. Their queen was the goddess Itzpapalotl (her name means 'obsidian butterfly'). It is said that at the end of the world, they will devour humanity. These are some of Nahuaconetl's favorites. They remind me in some ways of Dionysus' maenads in Greco-Roman mythology.





1: The Night-Axe

You are a travelling pochtecatl (merchant) who is spending the night in a forest. You are awoken by the sound of someone cutting wood. Out of curiosity, you follow the noise, only to find a HEADLESS MAN WITH AN OPENING IN HIS CHEST HOLDING AN AXE. You are decapitated and your head is put into the opening in the Night-Axe's chest. Here is a drawing by Kama-zotz on deviantart, the best mesoamerican related artist on DA.

Nahuaconetl says it looks like a sacrificial victim. I agree with her. 

The Aztecs did human sacrifices which involved slitting open a person's chest and tearing out their beating heart. You probably know this already. It's that thing about the Aztecs that everyone knows. But there is so much more to them than human sacrifices. You have to remember that many cultures all over the world did human sacrifices. You also have to remember that even the Spaniards, who were Christians, sacrificed the Aztecs by burning them alive in the name of Jesus. The Spanish may have exaggerated the number of people who the Aztecs sacrificed as well. So really, you can not say the Mexica were more bloodthirsty than anyone else. 

Anyway, there is a codex depicting the entity but I can't find it now :(  It was next to a picture of the god Tezcatlipoca in jaguar form.How terrifying. I only heard of this legend recently, while I came across a reference to it in the historical fiction book called 'Aztec Blood' by Gary Jennings. Gary Jennings writes excellent historical fiction on not just the Aztecs but other cultures from around the world as well. Check out his books. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for giving Wannabehistorian1491 yet another page view. Have a great day! 

lol and now it's Mexica new year

almost right after Chinese new year....
there comes the awesomest new year of them all, celebrated on February 2nd.

:D 



And it is precisely the year Ome-Tochtli

Except we won't be getting any lucky candies for this new year, so just eat chocolate instead!!

A fruit that you should all eat

Introducing: the WOB!!!!

Ok, ok, I know what y'all are thinking.
                                               \

Isn't that just a dragon fruit?!

The answer is:

NOOO!!!!!!!! >:( 

The wob is the original name for the dragon fruit. You know why?! because 'dragon fruits' are indigenous to Mexico and the wob is what the Mayans called it. It spanish it's called the pithaya. Many people believe that wobs are from China, but they are Mexican.

There's a reference to wobs in my book (Misplaced by Freya Abbas) which you can buy here. (Although I'd prefer you don't because it sucks. Just saying.)

Anyway, wobs are one of the healthiest things you can eat. Did you know that the ancient Mayans were one of the healthiest people in the world?! well..... before the europeans came at least. That's because they ate healthy things like wobs.

So you should eat wobs!!

Ok, that's all. Sorry for the extremely short post.

Teteo

very random
animated thingy......... 

EASY TRIVIA QUESTION: 
Which teteo appear in the very random animated thingy?!
answers written in the fine print below:

answers: Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc, Xipe Totec!!!!!!!! 

Mayan Exhibit! (finally)

 If you look at this weird entry all the way from the frypan archives 2011, http://freyathefrypan.blogspot.ca/2011/12/my-awesome-dream.html You will notice how much I was dying to see the EPIK mayan exhibit at the ROM. Well, I got my wish. Best thing I ever saw @ ROM. But that was on a weekend in march. Probably the last day they were having it and then when I went to school on Monday, we were going on a day trip to the ROM AGAIN!!! I do like the bat cave, (even though its free and I went there THOUSANDS of times) I went there on the field trip too. Well if you guys are going to the ROM for the first time you should really check out their gift shop, there are epik things there that may seem expensive, but are totally worth it because you can't get them anywhere else. I got a notepad with a Mayan themed cover, a book about Yucatan, a EPIK photo album about the Mayan exhibit and I almost got a cool magnet but is was 5$ but that is really expensive for a magnet so I didn't buy it.

This Mayan flyer has the God Knich Ajaw on it. 
I loved the exhibit a lot.

I LOVE OBSIDIAN. The Mayans had obsidian :-D
Look at this pretty obsidian necklace thing.


Here's an unrelated picture of a kow/cat thing that lives with me:

Well at least its one photo.