Sociedad Mexicana y Nican-tlaca — para Restaurar lo Sagrado de la Vida.
The Mexican Tribe at ANUS.com is a data source that concerns itself with the Mexicano/Chicano and Indigenous peoples (Nican-tlaca).
El universo es una dualidad de energía. Esta es constante. No puede ser destruida. La energía únicamente cambia de forma. Algunos de los estados en los que la energía puede existir son masa o luz. La masa puede ser llamada potencial, fría, sólida, etc. A la luz puede dársele el nombre de cinética, calida, fluida. Cuando nuestros abuelos vieron estos hermosos sucesos, percibieron que todo esta relacionado a unos u otros; Y así entendieron que todo en nuestro planeta también tiene estas dualidades incluyéndonos a nosotros mismos. Pues cada partícula en nuestros cuerpos fue alguna vez parte del naciente universo. Para ellos, nosotros los humanos no éramos alguna forma de seres extraterrestres. Sino que somos parte de esta energía y movimiento: el sistema solar. A su vez, el sistema solar es una molécula de nuestra galaxia, y nuestra galaxia del universo. Nuestros ancestros llamaron a este universo creador nuestro Ometeotl. Como resultado, los miembros de la comunidad del Anahuac obedecieron los ciclos que gobiernan nuestro planeta, todos los movimientos y reverberaciones que son Ometeotl.
The Tlamatinime stated, "We know on Whom life is dependent; on Whom the perpetuation of la raza depends; by Whom begetting is determined; by Whom growth is made possible; how it is that one must invoke; how it is that one must pray." The Sacred dimension has disappeared in our urban existence, thus many of our gente have become corrupt; on a crooked path astray from reverence for the whole of our mother earth, an irreplacable gift from the Creator. If the Traditions of Mexico are to thrive again in this age, if our next Sun is to rise, then our people must restore primacy to the One on Whom life depends — Ipalnemohuani — and learn once again how it is that one must invoke and how it is that one must pray.
Here it is related how los padres admonished their children when they had already reached the age of discretion.
Here you are, mijo/mija, my necklace of precious stones, my plumage, my human creation, born of me. You are my blood, my color, my image.1
Now listen, understand. You are alive, you have been born; Our Lord Tloque Nahuaque, the Lord of the Near and Far, the maker of people, the inventor of man, has sent you to earth.2
Now that you begin to look around you, be aware. Here it is like this: There is no happiness, no pleasure. There is heartache, worry, fatigue. Here spring up and grow suffering and distress.
Here on earth is the place of much wailing, the place where our strength is worn out, where we are well acquainted with bitterness and discouragement. A wind blows; sharp as obsidian it slides over us.
They say truly that we are burned by the force of the sun and the wind. This is the place where one almost perishes of thirst and hunger. This is the way it is here on earth.2a
Listen well, mijo/mija. There is no place of wellbeing on the earth, there is no happiness, no pleasure. They say that the earth is the place of painful pleasure, of grievous happiness.
The elders have always said: "So that we should not go round always moaning, that we should not be filled with sadness, the Lord has given us laughter, sleep, food, our strength and fortitude, and finally the act by which men propagate."
All this sweetens life on earth so that we are not always moaning. But even though it be like this, even though it be true that there is only suffering and this is the way things are on earth, even so, should we always be afraid? Should we always be fearful? Must we live weeping?
But see, there is life on the earth, there are the lords; there is authority, there is nobility, there are eagles and jaguars [knights]. And who is always saying that so it is on earth? Who goes about trying to put an end to his life? There is ambition, there is struggle, work. One looks for a wife, one looks for a husband.
But now, mijo/mija, listen well, look carefully: Here is your mother, our lady, from whose bosom, from whose womb you appeared, you came forth. As the leaf opens, so you grew, you flowered, as if you had been sleeping and awakened.
Listen, look, understand, for thus it is on earth. Do not be idle, do not walk aimlessly, do not wander without a destination. How should you live? How should you go on for a short time? They say it is very difficult to live on the earth, a place of terrific struggle, mijo/mija, my little bird.
Be careful, because you come from a great family, you descend from them, you are born from illustrious people. You are the thorn, the offshoot of our lords. The lords have left us, those who governed; they are standing in line there, those who came to take command in the world; they gave renown and fame to the nobility.3
Listen. Much do I want you to understand that you are noble. See that you are very precious, even while you are still only young. You are a precious stone, you are a turquoise. You have been formed, shaped; you have the blood, the color; you are the offshoot and the stem; you are a descendant of noble lineage.
And now I am going to tell you this. Perhaps you do not understand very well? Are you still playing with earth and potsherds? Perhaps you are still sitting on the ground? Truly, you must listen a little, for you already understand these things; by yourself you are gaining experience.
See that you do not dishonor yourself and our lords, the princes, the governors who preceded us. Do not act like the common people in the market,3b do not become an ordinary face. As long as you live on the earth, near and close to the masses, be always a true man/woman.
Look now at your work, that which you have to do: During night and day, devote yourself to the things of God; think often how He is like the night and the wind.4 Pray to Him, invoke Him, call to Him, beseech Him earnestly when you are in the place where you sleep. This way your sleep will be pleasant.
Waken, get up in the middle of the night, prostrate yourself on your knees and your elbows, then raise your neck with your shoulders. Invoke Him, call the Lord, our Lord, He who is as the night and the wind. He will be merciful, He will hear you in the night, He will look upon you with compassion; then He will grant you your destiny, what is set aside for you.5
And if the destiny should be bad, the portion which they gave you when it was still night, what came with you at birth, when you came into life, with this supplication [invocation] it will be made good, rectified; the Lord will change it, our Lord of the Near and Far.
Watch for the eastern dawn, get up quickly, extend your hands, extend your arms, rinse your face, wash your hands, cleanse your mouth, take up the broom quickly, begin to sweep.5c Do not be idle, do not stay there close to the fireplace; mija, wash the mouths of your little brothers; all must burn copal incense, do not forget it, for thus all will have the mercy of Our Lord.
And this being done, when you will be prepared, what will you do? How will you fulfill your duties? Let it not be in vain if Our Lord some time may send you misfortune. Sometimes there is poverty among the nobles.
Face it; then take hold of it, mija, for this is the duty of a woman: spinning and weaving. Open well your eyes to see what is the Toltec art, what is the art of feathers;6 how to embroider in colors and how to interweave the threads; how women dye them, those who are like you, our wives, the noblewomen. How they place the threads on the loom, how to make the woof of the cloth, how to hold it fast. Pay attention, apply yourself, be not idle, do not stand idly by, be strict with yourself.
Now is the right time, there is still plenty of time, because there is still jade in your heart, turquoise.7 It is still fresh, it has not been spoiled, it has not been altered, nothing has twisted it. We are still here, we your parents, who have brought you here to suffer; because in this way the world continues. Thus it is said, thus the word was given, thus Our Lord arranged it, so that there should be always, there should be offspring on the earth.
We are still here, it is still our time, not yet has come the stick and the stone of Our Lord. We are not yet dead, we have not perished. Of what are you thinking, child, little bird, mijo/mija? When Our Lord will have hidden us, you will be cared for by another. May no one's heart ever become disdainful of you, say anything about you, point a finger at you, gossip about you. If things come out badly, how will you react to misfortune? Because of this will we be blamed? When Our Lord will have taken us to Himself, will we be reprimanded in the Region of the Dead? But as for you, do not put into motion the stick and the stone against yourself. Do not cause them to come against you.
But even if you are attentive, cannot cencure fall upon you? And if you are praised too much by others, let not your countenance become arrogant, do not act as if you had the rank of eagle or jaguar, as if you held Huitzilopochtli's shield in your hand, as if it were due to you that our heads are raised, that our countenances are magnified.8 But if you do nothing at all, then will you not be like a block of stone? They will not speak of you, you will have little praise. Be and act according to what Our Lord wishes for you.
Look now at something else that I want to impress on you, communicate to you, my human creation. Do not permit the lords from whom you are born be mocked. [Protect the dignity of your familia.] Do not throw dust or rubbish on them; do not cast any uncleanness on their history, on their black and red ink, on their fame.9
Do not insult them in any way. Do not beg them for things of this earth.
And if you never withdraw from their nest, can you ever come near Our Lord? Better that you should perish immediately!
So now calmly, very calmly, pay attention; if thus Our Lord sees it, if someone should speak of you, if they should say something ill about you, do not scorn it, do not kick with your foot what may be an inspiration of Our Lord; take it up; do not withdraw so that it would have to come back to you two or three times. Even though you be our very child, because you are born of us, do not become arrogant, forgetting Our Lord in your heart. For thus you will fall into the dust and rubbish, which is the life of petty people. And then Our Lord will scoff at you, will do with you as He chooses.
Do not seek one who will be your companion as if from the market place; do not call to them as if you were aflame in the springtime, do not go about desiring such a face. But also, take care not to disdain the one who may be your true companion, the one chosen by the Lord. For if you look down on her/him, it might be that Our Lord would scoff at you, and finally you might become as a petty face.
But prepare yourself; watch who is your enemy so that no one should make light of you. Do not give yourself to a wastrel, to one who seeks you for their own pleasure, a depraved face. Nor should two or three faces you may have seen know you. Whoever may be your companion, you two must go to the end of life together. Do not leave him/her; hold to him/her, cling to him/her even though they may be poor, or if they be only a small eagle, a small jaguar,10 an unhappy soldier, a poor noble, sometimes tired, lacking goods; not for that do you neglect them.
May Our Lord look upon you, may He strengthen you, He who knows man, the Investor of people, the Maker of human beings.
With these words from my mouth do I give all this to you. Thus before Our Lord, I fulfill my duty. And if perchance you cast this away, still you know it. I have fulfilled my duty, mijo/mija. May you be happy. May Our Lord bring you success.11
Begin the song in pleasure, singer, enjoy, give pleasure to all, even to the Life Giver.
Delight, for the Life Giver adorns us. All the flower bracelets, your flowers, are dancing. Our songs are strewn in this jewel house, this golden house. The Flower Tree grows and shakes, already it scatters. The quetzal breathes honey, the golden quéchol breathes honey.
You have transformed into a Flower Tree, you have emerged, you bend and scatter. You have appeared before Ometeotl's face as multi-colored flowers.
Live here on earth, blossom! As you move and shake, flowers fall. My flowers are eternal, my songs are forever: I raise them: I, a singer. I scatter them, I spill them, the flowers become gold: they are carried inside the golden place.
Flowers of raven, flowers you scatter, you let them fall in the house of flowers.
Ah, yes: I am happy, I prince Nezahualcoyotl, gathering jewels, wide plumes of quetzal, I contemplate the faces of jades: they are the princes! I gaze into the faces of Eagles and Jaguars, and behold the faces of jades and jewels!
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!
We will pass away. I, Nezahualcoyotl, say, Enjoy! Do we really live on earth?
1. Expressions like these, addressed to the beloved ones, rich in metaphors, are frequent in the extant examples of the Huehuetlatolli, the Ancient Word.
