Monthly Archives: December 2014

November 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One. Within two months of its beginning, it had devolved into the stalemate we know as trench warfare. The opposing forces established a line along the Western Front … Continue reading →

Walking through the Aztec hall of the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, the visitor notices that so many of the sculptures depict the gods of war and evoke the terrifying vision of human sacrifice. Indeed, these deities are … Continue reading →

PART FOUR: COATLICUE and GUADALUPE Sixty years after the conquest Fray Diego Durán complained: These wretched Indians…On one hand they believe in God, and on the other they worship idols. They practice their ancient superstitions and rites and mix one … Continue reading →

Standing today in the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Coatlicue astonishes us first by her sheer size. The colossal statue is some three meters high and 1.5 meter broad. It weighs somewhere between two and ten tons (significantly, even the academics … Continue reading →

PART TWO: History of a Statue A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within – Historian Will Durant The complex notion of sacrifice invites us into the terrible reality of Mexico that the … Continue reading →

Part One: Mythology and Ritual of the Goddess and Her Son Coatlicue (kwat-LEEK-ay) was the Great Mother Goddess of the Aztecs (or Mexica, as they called themselves). She gave birth to the moon, the stars and the sun. Coatlicue maintained … Continue reading →