Nezahualcoyotl – the most famous Mesoamerican ruler, part 1, early life
A brilliant statesman, lawmaker, a renowned poet and engineer, Nezahualcoyotl Acolmiztli, the Acolhua offspring of the royal house of Texcoco, was born into turbulent times.At the end of the 14th...
View ArticlePulque and the four hundred divine yet helplessly drunken rabbits
Not overly strong alcoholic beverages were certainly a part of pre-contact Mesoamerica and had their undeniable presence in people’s lives. In Central Mexico it was a fermented sap of agave/maguey...
View ArticleNahuatl that we speak every day
In the previous article on Nahuatl and its dominance over huge chunks of Mexico and Central America, we looked into its growing outreach through the last two centuries of the pre-contact times and then...
View ArticleNahuatl – the lingua franca of pre-contact and early colonial Central Mexico
Back in the pre-hispanic days, even before the hugely important and greatly influential Triple Alliance that we know today as the famous Aztec Empire, the Nahuatl/Nawatl language was spoken widely all...
View ArticleThe Natchez Calendar
The year in the Natchez Calendar began around the early spring according to Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz and other among his French contemporaries. A grandiose celebration called Deer Feast that...
View ArticleFeast of the Deer or Happy New Year
As mentioned in the Natchez Calendar, the Mississippian new year began on the new moon of the early spring (roughly equivalent to mid-March). Celebrated with magnificent festival called The Feast of...
View ArticleThe Harvest Feast
The second most important celebration of the Natchez’ year was held through mid-September, or on the Moon of the Great Corn, the festivity that began the time of the harvest.The Feast of the Grain it...
View ArticleBuy Vermilion for a Party
Fashion of decorating one’s body was not limited to tattoos or other permanent markings. Another important part of the Mississippians’ lives came certain dress codes, ornaments as well as the fashion...
View ArticleFancy a warriors’ marking or just a pretty tattoo?
Among the Mississippians and their neighbors the art of decorating one’s body with permanent markings of colorful designs was widespread and beautiful to look at. Or so claimed the later-day French...
View ArticleMarried into the Mississippian royal family? Follow your loved one into his...
Upon the great mounds of Cahokia and the rest of the great Mississippian cities, life was reported to be significantly different than among the dwellers of the countryside and the simpler towns and...
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Ahuitzotl – the Mysterious Creature of the Lake
The legendary animal that reportedly haunted many fishermen’s sleep back in the 15th century Central Mexico, ahuizotl was widely known around the great Lake Texcoco and among towns and altepetls...
View ArticleWhen a Mississippian Boy Meets a Mississippian Girl
While the rules governing marriage eligibility seemed to be strict among the Mississippian nobility, the common people were reported to enjoy more freedom and less ceremony by far. Especially the...
View ArticleThe Dubious Privilege of being a Son of the Great Sun
The magnificent mound of Cahokia, the largest man-made earthwork in North America, is towering over the surrounding landscape of the beautiful Missouri River and multitude of other man-made mounds,...
View ArticleThe Ancient History of the Ancients – who was there before Cahokia?
It is interesting to note that when we refer to the pre-contact history of North America, we tend to think of the times fairly close to the portentous, not to say apocalyptic, 15th century. Whether the...
View ArticleThe Great Peacemaker, the founder of the Great League – the Iroquois Confederacy
The Great Peacemaker of the Iroquois/Haudenosaunee People might be the most documented person in pre-contact North America, or at least the most remembered historical figure. Just like the Great League...
View ArticleAhuitzotl – the Mysterious Creature of the Lake
The legendary animal that reportedly haunted many fishermen’s sleep back in the 15th century Central Mexico, ahuizotl was widely known around the great Lake Texcoco and among towns and altepetls...
View ArticleBattle of Too Many Ambushes
In 1474, the war in the Toluca/Tollocan Valley began and almost ended with the remarkable battle through which the Tenochtitlan ruler was wounded severely, an unheard of occurrence according to most...
View ArticleFrom the feasts of Tenochtitlan Royal Enclosure to the kitchens of the...
Between the grand feasts consumed by the Mexica rulers in Tenochtitlan Palace and the daily meals the last of the commoners living by the wharves or the marketplace hastily devoured, the flow of the...
View ArticlePriestly Career
Various servants of gods held an important place in Tenochtitlan’s life, even though their importance is tended to be often overplayed by the later-day records of Spanish conquerors. Like anywhere...
View ArticleMocuilxochitzin – the most famous poetess of Tenochtitlan
In the Mexica Capital, women composing poetry were not uncommon, if less famous than their fellow contemporary noblemen poets. Sahagun in his “Florentine Codex” presents us with a glyph that is thought...
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