Cacaxtla: murals at war
We have left the DF Zaragoza by road, in the eastern part of the city, which runs parallel to the former Itzapalapa -Where can i enter Hernán Cortés in 1520 a Tenochtitlan first- to thread the valley of Puebla. We want to approach Cacaxtla, bastion of the Olmec civilization.
We traveled by countless tiny villages without horizon begin to show the gentle face and resigned survivors. They are people who do not go hungry thanks to the frugality of his diet, rotating around maize and beans, and fertility of the land, but depleting their prospects in the humility of their dwellings dotted along the margins of the road and runs a string. Your chances of success are nil, because the subsistence economy which are doomed denied any savings capacity. They know it and are resigned to survive.
We traveled by countless tiny villages without horizon begin to show the gentle face and resigned survivors
A journey through the backroads Mexico It is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know the back room of this splendid country still has a lot of unfinished business in more than 2.000 people spread their disparate geography if you want to advance on the path towards progress and social equality.
In San Miguel Xochitecatitla, state Tlaxcala, a group of children parading martial by chanting patriotic slogans shoulder. In all schools nationwide parades are organized to commemorate independence day, when he chanted loudly the anthem of Mexico and the names of all liberators Korean. These little ones are very much into the role, preceded by an escort proudly carrying the tricolor. It is a privilege to be earned every day during the course, so part of the college escort opens the parade of independence is one of the honors to any student who aspires each 15 September.
Cacaxtla is the legacy of 200 square meters of murals on the disappearance of the city after a bloody battle with the teotihuacanos
The archaeological ruins of Cacaxtla, discovered in the late twentieth century, They are silhouetted on a hill from which we glimpse the Valley of Mexico, on the one hand, and the city of Tlaxcala, on the other. Its former inhabitants Olmecs the city created on this hill in the middle of the eighth century. Cacaxtla is, especially, historical legacy 200 square meters of murals left evidence of the disappearance of the city after a bloody battle with the Teotihuacan, their bitter enemies.
The ancient acropolis, which he inhabited the privileged caste of priests and caciques, It is covered entirely by a modern indoor, as necessary as abominable. Here they lived about a thousand people in permanent hostility with neighboring Tlaxcala, the city whose collaboration opened the doors of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. a septuagenarian, sitting outdoors on a chair with a simple table as only furniture, It acts as guardian and charges us 30 record images pesos for allowing the enclosure, a common practice throughout Mexico with the descendants of the Aztecs past resarcen expolios.
The calm that breathes thanks you the traveler who just wants to hear the murmur of the wind and the confidences of the Olmecs spirits
Cacaxtla is away from the usual tourist routes and tranquility that breathes thanks you the traveler who just wants to hear the murmur of the wind and the confidences of the Olmecs spirits. We are the first to arrive and nobody bothers us during the visit to the Acropolis, which requires stopping in front of each painting in his strokes trying to read the horror of war and the abandonment of the city. The mural of the battle, with their 22 meters long the largest in Mesoamerica, immerses you in a scenario of fear and violence.
clearly we hear the voices of a Tiangui that even fail to see and should be located a few kilometers
It is cool and our footsteps echo in the dome and spread by the greenery of the valley, It is offering excellent acoustics. clearly we hear the voices of a tiangui (local market) that even we fail to see in the distance and must be located a few kilometers away, while Caesar, our guide, He denies that there is evidence that human sacrifice had Cacaxtla. Always obsession to mitigate the horrors of ancient civilizations, as olmeca or Aztec, They were not exempt from abhorrent episodes, including ritual sacrifices occupied a prominent place.
The Aztecs believed they had to feed their gods with human blood so that your world is not extinguished. This belief compelled them to a frenzied military activities that would guarantee them sacrificial victims. The presence of hostile Tlaxcala a few kilometers from Tenochtitlan claimed few battles were needed to supply troops to the stone Immolation. Thousands of tlaxcaltecas and ended their lives, something that helps explain the merciless brutality used his countrymen with the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan making, even ignoring the orders of Cortés.
The Aztecs believed they had to feed their gods with human blood so that your world is not extinguished
Human sacrifices were widespread in Mexico at that time. The victim had been laid on the sacrificial stone, generally it located on top of a pyramid, and four priests held him while another quarried, with an obsidian knife, beating heart, which it was offered up to the gods. The body of the slain was then pulled down the temple stairs. Immediately after, head was cut unhappy, which is skewered in a populated skulls palisade, the tzompantli, testimony before the divinities of the fidelity of his people. The ritual ended with the tasting of the body of the slaughtered, as relates Fray Toribio de Benavente, he must have known these practices by the mouth of the conquerors or the Indians themselves, for when he came to New Spain, in 1524, the sacrifices had ceased:
"The hearts, Sometimes they ate the old ministers; others were buried, and then they are taking the body and down the steps echábanle by rolling; and close friend down, if it was at war prisoners, which pinned, with friends and relatives I llevábanlo, and aparejaban that human meat with other foods, and another day were party and ate "
Some accounts say that on the occasion of the inauguration of the temple of Tenochtitlan, in the year 1487, when he reigned Auitzol, Moctezuma predecessor, They were sacrificed to the gods over 80.000 victims in three or four days, a figure, how almost, All, subject to controversy.
"In times of the Olmecs you could hear the echo to DF", says our guide as we left Cacaxtla
Caesar rescues me from my thoughts of sacrifices and obsidian knives. "In times of the Olmecs you could hear the echo to DF", says as we leave Cacaxtla. Given that the federal capital is more than 100 km from here, all self-respecting skeptic is bound to be wary of an assertion like that. I also. We met another small group of curious. They may be the only visit the ruins today. There are few tourists who come here. Teotihuacán, Chichen Itza or El Tajin have much more pull. Maybe it's better this way.
PDTA.- These lines are included in my book «Hernán Cortés. The erased steps » (Mirror of Ink, 2007), republished by Editorial America Iberica in 2011.
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