HISTORY CLAIMS A MOMENT

by Maria Teresa Garcia

Huitzilopochtli received the offerings:

still-beating hearts; suits

of peeled skin; amaranth cakes 

sticky with honey and human 

blood.

The Morning Star rose as Tlaloc wet

the earth. Maize bountiful, shedding 

its seed coat. The Mexica 

thrived. 

Sacred calendars—Tonalpohualli

and Xiuhpohualli—cycled

in tandem. 1-Acatl named 

the fateful day. Conquistadores 

quenched their thirst with gold dust.

Tenochtitlan burned as One God

eclipsed a pantheon.

Notes:  In Nahuatl, language of the Aztec,  Huitzilopochtli was the Aztec God of War; Tlaloc was the Rain God; Mexica was the Aztec’s name for themselves; 

1-Acatl was the date the Spanish explorer Cortes arrived; Conquistadores is the Spanish word for the conquering Spaniards; Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec empire.