An excerpt from our bilingual study guide for Raíz, Milagro’s 2012 Day of the Dead celebration. Visit each week for another installment or contact the theatre for complete copy in English or Spanish.
Every year, the dead have been commemorated in Portland’s longest-running Día de los muertos celebration at El Centro Milagro. This season a cabal of Aztec gods, having fallen out of favor in the modern world, seek to revive their relevance by reuniting a young clown with his departed partner, Augustina. Time turns backward as we unearth the interwoven roots of pre-Hispanic customs and traditions found at the juncture of life and death. Are we but dreaming and awake only when we die? Through music, dance and legend, we explore that thin veil that separates our world from the realm of our indigenous ancestors.
Our investigation is rooted in Aztec and Mayan traditions of Mexico and Central America: creation stories, the history of the pantheon of deities and the relationship of death to life. However, it is important to remember that what is presented here is only one set of information on these subjects. The study of indigenous Mesoamerican culture is complex; the field represents centuries of development, a variety of languages and diverse regional interpretations. For example, although it is only legend, the word ‘Aztec’ means “someone who comes from Aztlán”. Unfortunately no one knows where Aztlán is located.
Legend identifies Aztlán only as ‘an unknown location north of Mexico’, which could mean Arizona or New Mexico or as far north as Oregon. According to legend, when the Aztecs arrived from the north to the Anahuac Valley of Mexico, sometime from the 1200s to the mid-1300s, they were considered ‘uncivilized’ by the indigenous peoples. One version has it that the Aztecs “wanted to learn”, especially from the highly advanced Toltecs who were considered the originators of culture. History proved that the Aztecs learned well, and rapidly catapulted themselves into being the one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas.
The Aztecs called their city Tenochtitlán after a name they used for themselves, Tenochca. The other name they used for themselves was Mexica. They did not call themselves Aztecs. The Aztec word was created later for archeological terms to distinguish the ancient from contemporary Mexicans.