History

Nezahualcoyotl – the most famous Mesoamerican ruler, part 1, early life

10 June 2020

A brilliant statesman, lawmaker, a renowned poet and engineer, Nezahualcoyotl Acolmiztli, the Acolhua offspring of the royal house of Texcoco, was born into turbulent times.At the end of the 14th century, the Mexican Valley of Central Mexico was dotted by city-states/altepetls, each with a different... Read More

Pulque and the four hundred divine yet helplessly drunken rabbits

6 May 2020

Not overly strong alcoholic beverages were certainly a part of pre-contact Mesoamerica and had their undeniable presence in people’s lives. In Central Mexico it was a fermented sap of agave/maguey plant that provided local populations with a slightly bitter-tasting and not overly strong, milky beverage... Read More

Nahuatl that we speak every day

27 January 2020

In the previous article on Nahuatl and its dominance over huge chunks of Mexico and Central America, we looked into its growing outreach through the last two centuries of the pre-contact times and then its surprisingly even greater reach in the first two centuries of... Read More

Nahuatl – the lingua franca of pre-contact and early colonial Central Mexico

27 October 2019

Back in the pre-hispanic days, even before the hugely important and greatly influential Triple Alliance that we know today as the famous Aztec Empire, the Nahuatl/Nawatl language was spoken widely all across the Mexican Valley and beyond it. Not only the Nahua people used it,... Read More

The Natchez Calendar

8 July 2019

The year in the Natchez Calendar began around the early spring according to Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz and other among his French contemporaries. A grandiose celebration called Deer Feast that opened the year took days to complete, a magnificent festival of traditional food, games... Read More

Feast of the Deer or Happy New Year

13 May 2019

As mentioned in the Natchez Calendar, the Mississippian new year began on the new moon of the early spring (roughly equivalent to mid-March). Celebrated with magnificent festival called The Feast of the Deer, it lasted for several days and involved many different feats and festivities.Several... Read More

The Harvest Feast

20 March 2019

The second most important celebration of the Natchez’ year was held through mid-September, or on the Moon of the Great Corn, the festivity that began the time of the harvest.The Feast of the Grain it was called it times according to the French annalists, Du... Read More

Buy Vermilion for a Party

31 January 2019

Fashion of decorating one’s body was not limited to tattoos or other permanent markings. Another important part of the Mississippians’ lives came certain dress codes, ornaments as well as the fashion that demanded complete removal of one’s body hair. One of the early French chronicles... Read More

Fancy a warriors’ marking or just a pretty tattoo?

30 November 2018

Among the Mississippians and their neighbors the art of decorating one’s body with permanent markings of colorful designs was widespread and beautiful to look at. Or so claimed the later-day French that lived among the Natchez and other nations that considered themselves to be descendants... Read More

Married into the Mississippian royal family? Follow your loved one into his new beginning

31 October 2018

Upon the great mounds of Cahokia and the rest of the great Mississippian cities, life was reported to be significantly different than among the dwellers of the countryside and the simpler towns and neighborhoods. As mentioned in the previous article, the lower class people did... Read More

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