Since the arrival of the Western Europeans on the shores of Anahuac and the eastern shores of Turtle Island, it has been a living hell for native people on this hemisphere. Our hellish existence began with the “divine moral authority” granted by the Papal bulls to the Spanish Monarchy which declared natives as barbarous, therefore fodder for conversion, a euphemism for enslavement. Western Europeans, in this case the Spaniards, assumed that Native spirituality was inferior to a spirituality transported from the other side of the world. That convenient assumption gave Western Europeans a blind, genocidal, and materialistic perceived right to dehumanize Native people in this hemisphere.
Christianity was brutally imposed on Native people. Our beautiful and precious spirituality that predates the Christian path was suppressed and relegated to idolatry that supposedly needed to nourish bloodthirsty gods. The Nahuatl language does not even contain the word god; therefore we could not nurture that which is inconceivable. In Native thought we don’t conceive of gods, or kings or queens.
In order to justify their genocidal impulses and ease their conscience, Western Europeans dehumanized Natives by creating a myth that Natives engaged in human sacrifice. It was a myth invented by the chroniclers, Sahagun, in particular. The historical record proves that not a single Spaniard witnessed a human sacrifice, yet they write about it as though they had been present at the dedication of Templo Mayor in 1325, for example. The Christian friars conveniently forgot to mention the human sacrifices committed by the Spanish Inquisition and by extension the Mexican Inquisition that torched countless Natives at Alameda Park.
The Western Europeans butchered many Native lives during the conquest of the Americas, one of the most horrific is Alvarado’s massacre at Templo Mayor on May 22, 1520. Pedro De Alvarado massacred women, children and the elders. This infamous date is important because it was on this day that Mexica women became warriors and arose to defend their loved ones and put a stop to the carnage. The massacre at Templo Mayor was a precursor to Sand Creek and countless other atrocities that occurred throughout the hemisphere. Historians have estimated that 40 million Native people perished during the conquest of the Americas, probably a vast undercount.
Genocide of this magnitude is unprecedented in human history. Yet we don’t talk about it, no mention of it. It is completely absent from any educational system. The silence is deafening.
No one demands erecting a memorial to remind future generations of the suffering we have endured in our own homelands.
The conquest and colonization of our homelands has not ended, it has morphed: Native people in Brazil, Guatemala, Meshico, and Turtle Island continue to defend our Earth Mother.
I submit that Los Seis De Boulder and Alcantar are Retoños de Resitencia, new growth of resistance, their reaction was natural when they discovered some of the true history of our people and what truly happened in our homelands. A retoño is a rebirth, similar to a plant or a tree re-emerging from a cycle dormancy to flower anew with a promise of fruition, our future generations.
Que vivan Los Seis De Boulder que nunca se borren de nuestra memoria ni de nuestra conciencia. Resistance to injustice is a universal rule. Hasta lo que es justo para todos los pueblos.
Tlazocamati,
Ometeotl,
Rogelio Briones
Rogelio Briones is a retired art instructor who was fortunate to teach in San Luis, Colorado and continues active in community affairs. Briones is a student of the Aztec calendar and culture. He studied in Mexico and has long standing working relationships with Indigenous Nations on the continent including the, Meshicas and Hopi. Briones has been trading with the Hopi Nation and Zuni Nation for more than a quarter century. Briones, a native of Aguascalientes, Mexico, resides in el Valle de San Luis having also lived in Ciudad Juarez, and Las Cruces NM.
Información Sobre los Glifos y los Numeros del Destino
Note: The meaning of the glyphs and numbers are directly translated from the book: CAUHPOHUALLI, Collar de Turquesas, Engarzado con Oro de Sol. Arturo Meza Gutierrez 1999. Ediciónes Artesanales Malinalli. Mexico.
When a human inhales the initial breath of life, the ihiyotl, at that moment according to the Aztec Calendar, there are certain energies that are present that identify a human being. These energies are manifested as the lord of the day, lord of the night, a trecena, a veintena, el ser volatil, a corresponding glyph and number. These energies are our Native identity, and they are beneficial for the rest of our life.
What follows is a portrait of Los Seis De Boulder y Alcantar according to the conocimiento of our Tonalmachiotl.
The portraits of Los Seis de Boulder +1 are drawn on paper using graphite pencils. The accompanying glyphs and numbers are drawn using charcoal pencils and chalk pastel.
