Culture Differences between Mexica and Spanish - Essay Example

Culture Differences: Mexica and Spanish The term culture is important as it refers to a number of elements that constitute a group or subgroup that is more or less homogenous in several aspects. It can refer to the physical objects created by these groups (known as material culture) or intangible elements such as language, religious beliefs, mannerisms, ideals and norms. In this sense, we call a group which share many or all of these elements or have a very similar style of material culture a “culture”. Limón (1996), without any doubt brings out different culture in the book, the Song of the Hummingbird, through the differences in the cultures of the Mexicans and that of the invading Spanish. Although there are many important aspects of a culture, this essay lays forth the three most relevant to the clash between the Mexica and the Spanish conquistadores. Cultures that are further away from each other geographically tend to be more dissimilar than those which are close together, which can lead to the problem of a “culture clash”, a term which refers to the way in which some groups are culturally incompatible and therefore may war or argue with each other. In a culture clash, there are generally two outcomes – either a dominant culture will take over and the other group will assimilate, taking on many of the religious beliefs and architectural styles, or the two cultures will amalgamate and create a completely new style which incorporates elements from both groups. One of the most important and interesting examples of a “culture clash” comes from the Colonial age, in which many European countries explored the “New World”, which included parts of both North and South America. Spanish conquistadores made their way to Central and South America, bringing many elements of their own unique European culture, whilst the Mexica (a group found in modern-day Mexico) struggled to fight and understand these new leaders. Language differences are perhaps the basic difference that can be cited when looking into two different cultures. In fact, Limón (16), in the dialogue between the native old woman and the new priest, the old woman remarks when asserting the language differences between her and the young priest, “My name is Huizitzilin, but because I know the difficulty my language causes your tongue, you may call me, Hummingbird…”. That was a translation of the word in Spanish from the native language. The Spanish invaders evidently spoke Spanish, which is now the dominant language in South and Central America and one of the most widely spoken in the world. The Mexica and the native peoples around them spoke a language called Nahuatl, which is still spoken by 1.5 million people today but is generally written in the Latin alphabet brought by the Spanish. Each and every nation group all over the world has their particular language, and differences in language not only manifest in phonetics, but also in other grammar related aspects of each and every language. For instance, the new priest, Father Benito notices that his language is dissimilar from that of the natives as the former when pronounced as “consonant riddled” Limón (25). The purpose of language just like any element of culture is to create homogeneity between a group of people and Aztec, the native language, referred to as by the Huizitzilin, as Mexica, and formed the language that brought together the native people of Mexico, much different from the language spoken by the European invaders. Belief systems, much more like language, usually vary among nation groups, and in the case of Mexica and Spanish are not any different. The Spanish as opposed to the Mexicans were mostly Roman Catholic Christians; their belief system was centered on the word of Jesus Christ and one God and founded on the Bible. On the other hand, the Mexica were polytheists who believed in several different gods and in magic and sorcery. As a matter of fact, the debate between Huizitzilin and Father Benito, mostly focused on the understanding of the differences in their belief system, particularly prior to the invasion of the latter’s land by the Spanish colonialists. The dialogue between the priest and the old native woman exposes the reader to the differences between the Spaniards and the Aztecs, in fact, both groups are deeply religious. According to Catholic tradition and as exposed by the priest, they revere the Virgin Mary, while the native Mexica worship a number of gods including goddesses and they linked the gods and goddesses to agriculture, war, the sun and rain amongst a number of factors. According to Linton (43), religious differences between the natives confront Huizitzilin, such that if she accepts Christianity, then she erodes her own indigenous culture, and accepts the new culture proscribed by the new religion. García (107), on the other hand, describes the debate between the old native woman and the catholic priest as humorous, and as a matter of fact, the young priest, through the dialogue with the old woman becomes fascinated with the religious practices of the natives, and in particular the Moectezuma. This is the Mexica’s cleansing ceremony performed at the Temple of the Mother-goddess Tonantzin, Limón (39), describes it as an erotic snake dance performed to honor Coatlicue- the Mexica goddess of not only life, but also death. Finally, the warfare used by the two cultures was significantly different – Mexica people did not use horses or guns, whereas the Spanish did, which put them at a significant advantage. These three elements of culture were perhaps the three defining elements of the meeting between the two cultures and also contribute to an understanding of the way Mexico is in the modern day. Huizitzilin dialogue with Father Benito is an excerpt of her painful relay into the atrocities committed by the European invaders, using their more advanced weapons against the native weapons. The differences between mexica culture and Spanish culture as explored by the dialogue between Huizitzilin and Father Benito, majorly focuses on the religious differences. But language differences become the foremost differences between the two different cultures. Work Cited García, Alesia. "Book Review: Song of the Hummingbird." Studies in American Indian Literatures. 12.2 (2000): 106-108. Print. Limón, Graciela. Song of the Hummingbird. Houston, Tex: Arte Público Press, 1996. Print. Linton, Patricia. "Cultural Negotiation and Narrative Form: Graciela Limons Song of the Hummingbird." Literary Studies. 16 (2000): 41-51. Print. Read More