Native influences on our Mexican culture

Tim Martinez  (The Arroyo Sage); Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The old shaman healer says meditacion is the way to spiritual vision and inner peace.

Indigenous (Native American) influences on Mexican culture

Tim Martinez of the Arroyo Seco Foundation has long been fascinated by the profound impact indigenous American cultures have had on Mexican culture and identity.

• [Mexicans, who were indigenous Californians, were Native Americans before Spanish and European invading-colonizers made us all Mestizos.]
• Mesoamerica ("middle America" in Greek, coined by German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff): the area home to Mesoamerican civilization that extended north and south from its heartland in southern Mexico. Kirchhoff noticed various pre-Columbus cultures including southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras, and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. In the tradition of cultural history, the prevalent archaeological theory of the early to middle 20th century, Kirchhoff defined this zone as a cultural area based on a suite of interrelated cultural similarities brought about by millennia of inter- and intra-regional interaction (diffusion).

Meso: between North and South America

Tim's interest began as a child, when he learned about his own cultural and ancestral ties to the American continent.

He was taught to take pride in the great accomplishments of Mesoamerican civilizations, and have since enjoyed learning about the indigenous influences on Mexican cuisine, language, dress, music, and food.

Food

The importance of a whole-grain, plant-based diet is key. Mexican food's origins in the Native American [amaranth, chia, and then eventually the] “corn cultures" has taken on profound importance. The roots of those on this continent have grown deeper. As will be revealed in this essay, indigenous influences on Mexican culture all contain within them clues to the origin, history, and modern identity of people of Mexican descent.

Ethnicity

 

Why do we only call the US "America"?

An analysis of the many indigenous influences on Mexican culture must naturally begin by considering the very reason we exist on this continent -- our genetic origins in the Americas.

Many Mexican people have strong ethnic links to this indigenous heritage. 

The most comprehensive genetic study of the Mexican population to date was conducted by researchers from UC San Francisco and Stanford University, along with Mexico’s National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN).

This study, published in Science Magazine and entitled “The genetics of Mexico recapitulates Native American substructure and affects biomedical traits,” identified tremendous genetic diversity within Mexico, reflecting thousands of years of separation between local populations.
 

The researchers discovered clear genetic remnants of ancient empires that crossed seemingly remote geographical zones. "We were surprised by the fact that this composition was also reflected in people with mixed ancestries from cosmopolitan areas,” said first co-author Moreno-Estrada, a life sciences research associate professor at Stanford. "Hidden among the European and African ancestry blocks, the indigenous genetic map resembles a geographic map of Mexico."

  

This study revealed profound implications for the field of medicine, as genetic differences between so-called “Latino” populations can result in vastly different outcomes and predispositions related to health. However, the significance of these findings reaches beyond the scientific.
 

The long and ancient presence of many of the ancestors of modern-day Mexican people demonstrates the primary reason for the existence of all of the various indigenous influences that will be examined in this essay:

Mexican people are, to a large degree, native to the Americas.

Therefore, culinary, musical, linguistic, and various other cultural aspects of indigenous origin within Mexican culture are a direct result of this fact.

Taking this information into account, it makes sense as Rodolfo Acuña stated in his book Occupied America that, “The primary culture of Mexico and the Americas is Indian.”

Mexican food

Indigenous food is delicious!

Mexican culture shares a common heritage as being one of several indigenous American “corn cultures.”

Mexican cuisine, which is so much a part of our US culture, has its foundation in a healthy plant-based, indigenous diet.
 
Indigenous cuisine has historically contributed to the health and wellness of Native American peoples, and for that reason it is being reclaimed today by modern Mexican Americans in the US.

The author gathering nopales (cactus pads) with tunas (prickly pears) in Altadena, CA.

 

Mexican people have a very ancient and intimate relationship with corn [having formerly had amaranth and chia as much healthier staples]. For more than 10,000 years, Mexican farmers selectively bred and domesticated maize from its ancestor, a wild grass called teosinte. 

Monsanto makes Frankenfoods

Teosinte, from the Nahuatl [a Native Mexican language] teocintli, or teōtl (“sacred, divine, god”) + cintli (“dried maize”), is different from modern Franken-corn.

Over centuries, Ancient Mexicans selectively picked the largest of the teosinte kernels and bred from it the first ancient forms of maize.

 

This domesticated whole grain spread throughout North America along what is now US Interstate Highway 10, bringing the associated maize culture with it (Occupied America, p. 3).

Evidence supports the theory that Mesoamerican farmers transported corn seeds to the American Southwest, due to the similar and intact cultural aspects and symbolic significance it played in native ceremonies and rituals (Ibid).

The cultivation of corn also spread from Mexico to South America. It could be found in what is now Peru as early as 450 AD (Ibid). As it spread throughout different lands, corn was bred with incredible diversity and adapted to numerous climactic conditions. As with whole grains elsewhere in the world, corn took its place as the primary staple food.

Corn was often grown together with beans and squash in a system known as the Three Sisters. Indigenous people who followed the traditional diet composed primarily of vegetables, corn, beans, squash, fruit, wild plants, fish and game, enjoyed abundant health and longevity, absent of the current epidemics of degenerative disease that so often plague their modern-day descendants in the U.S.

When Cortes and the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in Mexico, they were amazed to discover that the Aztec lifespan exceeded their own by at least 10 years (Jackson).

The benefits of a traditional diet and lifestyle can still be seen in traditional people such as the Raramuri, or Tarahumara, people of Mexico. The Raramuri are arguably the best endurance runners on Earth, and it is well documented that those following a traditional diet were almost completely free of many common degenerative diseases.

High blood pressure and obesity were unknown to them, and their cancer rates were extremely low. In fact, it was only since the introduction of modern processed foods such as Top Ramen noodles, chips, and soda that the Tarahumara have had to invent names for diseases like “high blood pressure."

The traditional Native American diet based on corn and corn products -- such as tortillas, tamales, cornbread, pupusas, pozole, and atole -- remains the basis for much of the modern cuisine of modern Mexican and Mexican American people.

The foundation of these foods reveal a diverse, healthful, indigenous diet that is a direct link to our Mexican roots as America’s original corn culture.

The integrity of this central aspect of Mexican cultural heritage, however, is in jeopardy. According to Acuña (Occupied America) the “European invasion [of the Americas] put the corn cultures in danger of extinction. This threat continues today [because] genetically modified organisms [GMOs] are invading the native corn.”
 

Cookbook (decolonizeyourdiet.org)

Despite this fact, there is a growing movement by Chicano/as in the US to “decolonize” the diet and “reclaim ancestral foods, herbs, and teas.”

Prof. Luz Calva and Prof. Catrióna Rueda Esquibel, authors of Decolonize Your Diet, state that “As US-born Latinos/as, we have much to learn from the way our ancestors ate.

“Eating our ancestral foods can help us prevent and treat the diseases that result from adopting the Standard American Diet [SAD]. The central tenet of our project is, La comida es medicina.” In other words, “Food is medicine.”

Language

Considering the strong and central influence of indigenous foods on Mexican culture, it should come as no surprise that many of the most common words in Mexican Spanish for food are of indigenous, primarily Nahuatl, origin.

As with culinary influences, these linguistic aspects of Mexican culture set it apart as truly indigenous and American.

Words, names, and expressions of indigenous origin contain the story of who “Mexican” people are and where they came from.

Nahuatl words in the Spanish language, which are the most common words of indigenous origin used in Mexican Spanish, include an extensive list that represent animals and plants, fruits and vegetables, foods and beverages, and domestic appliances.

In the Nahuatl language, many of these words end with the suffix "-tl" [which is generally silent]. This suffix was Hispanicized  into a "-te" ending in Spanish. For example, the word axolotl became ajolote (“salamander or lizard”).

Atolli or maize porridge

Spanish words for animals, plants, foods, and other objects that end in "-te" most likely derive from the Nahuatl language. 

Examples of how inextricably linked many common words and names of native origin are with Mexican culture may be seen in the following examples of Spanish words of Nahuatl origin.

Ahuacatin or aguacates or avocados

The Spanish word for “avocado,” aguacate, is derived from the Nahuatl word ahuacatl. Atole, “maize porridge” common in Mexican culture, came from the Nahuatl word atolli. The Spanish word for “peanut,” cacahuate, and for “sweet potato,” camote, are also nearly identical to their original, indigenous pronunciations.
 

Camotli or sweet potatoes

The common Mexican name for a young boy is chamaco. It comes from the Nahuatl word chamahuac. A chapulin is both the Nahuatl and Spanish word for a grasshopper, while the well-known word for chewing gum, chicle, is very similar to its Nahuatl counterpart of tzictli.

One of the most defining and characteristic foods in Mexican culture, the chile pepper, closely matches its Nahuatl counterpart, the chilli. Even the popular restaurant chain Chipotle owes is of indigenous origin, chilpoctli, which is a type of smoked red chile.
 

Chocolatl or hot cocoa, chocolate

Most people who grew up in a Mexican culture have heard the description of someone or something being chiquito.

This word also derives from the Nahuatl tzitz quit, meaning “very small.” 

Coyotl or coyote, Native American dog

“Chocolate” closely resembles the word behind its origin, chocolatl. A comal, or “griddle,” is easily recognizable as originating from the Nahuatl word comalli. Copal, used prominently by Aztec dancers, is another native word for the incense made from tree resin. Coyote, the native dog species of the Americas, derives from the word coyotl.

Comalli hot pan or griddle

The Mexican Spanish slang word for a friend or buddy, cuate (literally, “twin”), comes from the Nahuatl cuatl. Similarly, a tocayo, or a “namesake,” derives from the word tocayotl. Elote, or “corn on the cob,” which is often sold by street vendors, is also a Nahuatl word, as is guacamole (ahuaca-molli).

A molcajete, stone mortar used to create guacamole, derives from the Nahuatl word molcaxitl, which is used to create sauce (molli) out of peanuts, chocolate, chiles, and other ingredients.

Potzolli or savory stew

The famous nopal cactus, which is prominently featured on the modern Mexican flag, is pronounced nopalli, while another well known entheogenic (healing hallucinogen or psychedelic) cactus, peyote (peyotl) is also a word of Nahuatl origin. 

The pre-Colombian stew pozole (potzolli) is a well known hangover remedy used after a night of drinking too much of a sickening (non-entheogenic) alcoholic drink mescal (mexcalli) or tequila.

Kwarachi or strap sandal

Tamales (tamalli) and tomatoes (tomatl) come from crops grown in a milpa or field. Huarache (sandals) derives from the Purepecha word, kwarachi. 

Tamaltin or tamales, corn puffs

In Saints and Citizens, Haas refers to the “California vernacular,” the common Spanish that indigenous people learned in the missions and that was spoken by the troops in Alta and Baja (Upper and Lower) California. It contained elements of other indigenous languages spoken in Mexico and “had traces of Indigenous speech and experience from the long colonial history of conquests that the military had undertaken.”
 

The experience of traveling out of Mexico through indigenous lands and into California and the Southwest, where many modern Mexican Americans now live, is written in a language picked up along the way. 

These words, which are unique to Mexican culture, are evidence of a people with their own unique and storied history and identity that is largely native to America (much more than to European influence).

Dress
 
Many traditional styles of clothing and dress in Mexican culture have indigenous cultural roots and are still worn today among modern Mexican people.

The regional influences on clothing, designs, and even materials used in the production of traditional clothes all reveal interesting facts and histories behind them.

Young Mayan girl wearing a huipil

Most pre-Columbian clothing remains today and is still worn is women’s styles. These include such items as cloth belts called fajas, and tunics known as huipils, and a type of short poncho called a quechquemitl.

The quechquemitl used to be worn directly on the upper body of a woman but is today worn over a blouse. Huipils are often embroidered with beautiful floral and geometric designs and are still popular with women.
 

Another garment of indigenous origin is the rebozo. This is a long, rectangular shawl used as a wrap and as a way to carry children or other objects tied to the body. The rebozo is a mixture of indigenous, Spanish, and Asian garments and is woven with multicolored designs using colorful threads.
 

Woman wearing a rebozo

Few pre-Columbian male clothes are still in use due to the fact that many Mesoamerican males wore relatively little clothing. They were therefore forced by the Spanish to begin wearing European shirts and pants.

The only pre-Columbian male garment to survive into modern times is the serape or cloak (Universidad Veracruzana).

Charles Lummis (ASF founder) in a serape, old Californio style

In addition to clothes, other woven items common to Mexican culture contain aspects of indigenous origin, such as blankets, hats, and backpacks. The designs for these items are often woven or embroidered. The materials used include various native fibers such as cotton and agave.
 

Indigenous Mexican weaver: sisal fiber is obtained from the sisal agave (Agave sisalana)

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Just as with language and food, traditional Mexican clothing reflects the history and roots of our culture. 

The rebozo, for instance, is a mixture of pre-Hispanic, Spanish, and Asian influences that reflect the history of Mexico’s indigenous people being conquered by Spain -- a land which itself was dominated by “Oriental” or Islamic civilizations for many centuries.

Reflecting upon this history and heritage as expressed through clothing enables us to understand the development of modern identity.

Music

Martin Espino composes pre-Columbian music.

Pre-Columbian musical influences are still present in modern Mexican American culture. Much of the traditional Mexican Son music, for instance, has influenced musicians in the US. It was created as a mixture of Spanish and local indigenous musical styles (Ilich).The musical and instrumental style reflecting the greatest indigenous heritage, however, accompanies Aztec dance.

Aztec dance emerged shortly after the Spanish conquest. It was modified to include Catholic symbolism as a means of preserving ancient rituals under the noses of the imperial church. During the mid 20th century, the dance was renamed Azteca and reintroduced the use of conch shell trumpets and huehuetl and teponaztli drums.

In some cases, these indigenous instruments were mixed with European instruments, and in other cases they replaced them entirely. These dancers attempted to return to a "purely indigenous" form of the dance by eliminating any European influences on the ceremony (Aguilar).

The dance style now known as Aztec dance originated on the periphery of what was once the Aztec Empire. It often recreated or reenacted the battles against the Spanish during the Conquest (González Torres).

Aztec dancers adopted Spanish military titles for dancers and, depending on the group, might honor a patron saint of Catholicism (González Torres). So as with the food, dress, and linguistic influences that have passed on to Mexican American culture, Aztec dance has within it living elements of the historical events that formed our identity and which derive from an indigenous foundation.
 
Customs

The Day of the Dead or El Dia de los Muertos is full of meaning and joy.

 
Various other customs have carried over into Mexican culture from indigenous, pre-Columbian times. They continue to influence and shape our culture today. The holiday of Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a direct link to the indigenous past.

It is now being embraced by the larger North American community, which is influenced by the strong Mexican American presence in California and the Southwest. 

The Day of the Dead has merged with or been appropriated by Catholicism's All Souls’ Day, providing yet another example of the means by which indigenous culture adapted and persisted in the face of imperial Spanish conquest and colonialism.

In another example, shamans and witches called Naguals in Central Mexico used devotion to saints as a way to continue practices and beliefs developed before Catholicism (Haas, p. 92). The Virgin Mary came to be associated with agrarian rites in Mexico and was associated with the maguey, or agave plant, by farmers (Haas p. 96).

Folk beliefs and practices often carry strong indigenous overtones. Curanderos (literally, "curers"), the traditional healers, utilize herbs and other natural remedies to heal.

Native spirituality, Roman Catholic prayers, and elements of Moorish and Spanish herbalism and religion are all combined by curanderos to treat the physical, psychological, and spiritual causes of illness.

El Curandero -Mario Gonzalez Chavajay

The belief in witchcraft can also be traced to indigenous Mexican folk religion. Naguals, who are shape-shifting brujos ("wizards, sorcerers, witches"), can transform themselves into animals and use their power for either good or evil. 

A person's tonal or day-sign can determine which animal represents the positive and negative aspects of his or her nature, and which animal a person may share a spiritual connection with.

In Rudolpho Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, the curandera (healer) Ultima shares a spiritual connection with an owl, which represents her soul.

Even scary stories told to children have their origins in pre-Columbian Mexico. The story of La Llorona, "The Crying Woman" whose ghost weeps along the river searching for her lost children, is often used to keep children from wandering out at night. The story of La Llorona derived from the Nahuatl myth of Chocacihuatl (like Mictecacihuatl, Santa Muerte, the Aztec "Goddess of the Dead").
 

Chocacihuatl -- the crying woman, La Llorona -- is based on ancient Aztec story.

In the Nahuatl language, choca means to cry, and cihuatl means woman. Chocacihuatl was the spirit of the first woman who died in childbirth. Her cries could be heard along the banks of Lake Texcoco.

The skulls of Chocacihuatl and her lost son floated in the air and hunted any traveler who crossed their path in the darkness of night.  The unfortunate person who saw these things could be sure of misfortune or death.

Conclusion

American history (beacon.org)

In discussing the ethnic roots of Mexican people at the beginning of this essay, the UC San Francisco, Stanford University, and Mexico’s National Institute of Genomic Medicine’s landmark study of the genetics of Mexico was cited to demonstrate the Native American ethnic heritage within much of the Mexican population.

It is as a direct consequence of this ethnic heritage that other indigenous cultural aspects are still in place within Mexican culture, sometimes under the surface.

The various indigenous influences on Mexican food and culture were shown to have their foundation in the indigenous American "corn cultures" that developed in Mexico and which spread civilization.

Due to this culinary heritage, modern Mexican Americans are returning to their plant-based ancestral foods for the health benefits they provide.

Clothing, music, and other cultural customs whose roots can be traced to indigenous times all share one common theme: Mexican culture survives in living examples with unique origins and development here in North America and Mesoamerica.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Acuña, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. New Jersey: Pearson,  2015.
2. Aguilar, Mario (PhD). The rituals of kindness: The influence of the Danza Azteca tradition of central Mexico on Chicano-Mexcoehuani identity and sacred space. Claremont Graduate University, 2009.
3. Craft textiles in Mexico Introduction: Historical Precedents. Veracruz, Mexico: Universidad Veracruzana. June 1, 2010.
4. Decolonize Your Diet (decolonizeyourdiet.org)
5. González Torres, Yolotl. "Conchero’s sanctuaries and pilgrimages". INAH and University of Colorado, Boulder. May 28, 2012.
6. Gorney, Cynthia. “A People Apart.” National Geographic, November 2008.
7. Haas, Lisbeth. Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2014.
8. Ilich, Tijana. “Music of Mexico - Son, Ranchera, Mariachi.” About Entertainment, 2015.
9. Jackson, Mark. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine. Oxford University Press, 2011.
10. Laws, Rita. “Native Americans and Vegetarianism.” Vegetarian Journal, September 1994.
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12. Moreno-Estrada et al. The genetics of Mexico recapitulates Native American substructure and affects biomedical traits. Science, 2014.
13. “Nahuatl Borrowings in Mexican Spanish Vocabulary,” mexica.net/nahuatl/nahuawds.php