Poetry from the Land of Rapists and Animals

Each of these verses below, except those of the Book of Genesis, can be found in Spanish on the walls of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.  I have included lines from the Book of Genesis (King James version) for comparison with the Aztec creation narrative. The English translations are mine.

In the Beginning:  Cuado Aún Era de Noche 

           In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and

           void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face

           of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light:  and there was light.  The book of Genesis

           Cuando aún era de noche, cuando aún no habia dia

           cuando aún no habia luz, se reunieron

           Se convocaron los dioses, allá en Teotihuacán

          When it was still night, when there still was no day

          When there was still no light, they met

          The gods convened, there, at Teotihuacán:  The (Aztec) Florentine Codex

The Florentine Codex consists of field notes taken by the Spanish Franciscan monk, Bernardino de Sahagún, in the late 16th century, for his monumental work, The General History of Things of New Spain, also known as the Florentine Codex. Teotihuacán, around 500 AD, was the fifth or sixth largest city in the world.  It was built probably by the Toltec civilization at least a thousand years before the arrival of the Spaniards.  The civilization collapsed in the sixth or seventh century AD.  Teotihuacán, in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs), means "birthplace of the gods."  The Aztecs believed the gods created the universe at Teotihuacan.  The site can be visited today.

Creating Humans:  El Hombre Formado

           And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the

           breath of life:  and man became a living soul.  So God created man in his own image, in the

           image of God created him:  male and female created he them.  The Book of Genesis

           ¡Que aclare!

           ¡Que amanezca en el cielo y en la tierra!

           No habrá gloria ni grandeza hasta que exista la criatura humana:  el hombre formado

  

           Let there be light!

           Let the light awaken in the sky and on earth!

           There will be no glory or greatness until the human creature exists:  the created man:  Popol Vuh (Quiché Maya)

The Popol Vuh is the creation narrative of the Quiche speaking Maya civilization.  According to the narrative humans were created by the gods only on the third try.  The first resulted in lifeless mud figures, the second, monkeys.  Popol Vuh was transmitted orally through the generations, until the Dominican friar, Francisco Ximenez, a Spanish priest assigned to Chichicastenango, in Guatemala, transcribed it. 

The Fleeting Nature of Life: Toda sangre llega al lugar de su quietud

            ¿Solo asi he de irme? 

            ¿Como las flores que perecieron?

            ¿Nada quedará de mi nombre?

            ¿Nada de mi fama aqui en la tierra?

            ¡Al menos flores, al menos cantos!

            Thus am I to go?

            Like the flowers that perished?

            Nothing will remain of my name?

            Nothing of my fame here on earth?

            At least flowers!  At least songs!  Cantos de Huejotzingo

Cantos de Huejotzingo is part of a three-part book of verses in Nahuatl, copied probably by friars Andres de Olmos and Bernardino de Sahagün.  It was found at the beginning of the twentieth century in a forgotten pile of books in the National Mexican Library.  The fleeting nature of life, along with images of flowers and songs are favored themes of nahuatl poetry.

            Toda luna, todo año, todo dia, todo viento

            camina y pasa también.

            Tamien toda sangre llega al lugar de su quietud.

            Every moon, every year, every day, every breeze

            comes and then moves on

            Likewise, all blood reaches the place where it lies in stillness Chilam Balam

The Chilam Balam are books from the Yucatan written after the conquest, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.  They are written in the Yucatec Maya language but using the Latin alphabet.  The lines included above are from a famous section of a chapter called "To Castrate the Sun," referring to the actions of the Spanish conquerors