Aztec and Maya Myths

Aztec and Maya Myths by Karl Taube, 80 pages      

This book starts off with a little history on Mesoamerica and talks about some details that are important for Mesoamerican religions such their calendar system, day versus night, and twins.

Next, it explores the sources for our knowledge of their myths and the history of those sources. By the time you get to the myths you are almost halfway through this slim book.

Then Aztec myths are covered including some of the many gods, the story of creation of heaven and earth and where people came from. There are some other creation and origin myths as well.

The section on Maya myths provides their myth on how the world and people were created. There is also a myth about how two twins vanquished the underworld realm by foiling some trickery.

There are similarities between the two mythologies and but also differences. Within Mayan mythology there are regional differences and the mythology evolved over time.

I liked this book but wanted more. I would recommend it as an introduction but for something more in-depth I would recommend something more up to day since this was published in 1993 and the author alludes to possible upcoming discoveries that would provide more knowledge to the field.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol 1531-1797 by Stafford Poole, CM, 225 pages

According to the story believed by millions of devotees, over the course of three days in 1531 the Virgin Mary appeared to a Nahua native, St Juan Diego, on Tepeyac hill near Mexico City, the last time leaving a miraculous image of herself on his cloak, which still hangs in the shrine today.  In the traditional retelling, the apparition led to a wave of conversions among the native population, solidly establishing Catholicism in Mexico.  By the end of the eighteenth century, a revisionist account began to develop, questioning the historicity of the apparitions and identifying the Virgin of Guadalupe as an amalgam of Mary and a Mesoamerican earth goddess, providing the natives with an icon of maternal care and rebirth after the trauma of the Conquest.

Poole casts doubt over both of these narratives.  According to his research, the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe began in earnest not with the native population of Mexico, but with the creoles, and not in the sixteenth century, but in the seventeenth.  It was in the development of this tradition that Guadalupe became one of the chief symbols of Mexican identity.  Poole's command of the primary sources is strong, even if there is enough ambiguity in the early records to question his interpretations, and enough lacunae to cast doubts upon some of his conclusions.  What cannot be doubted, however, are Poole's integrity and learning, making his history an indispensable contribution to research into the origins and development of the Guadalupe devotion. 

Prison Angel

Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail by Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, 225 pages

Mary Clarke had her share of ups and downs in her life.  Her father struggled to make ends meet in the Great Depression, but founded a stationary company in time for World War II, becoming successful enough that the family moved into a mansion in Beverly Hills.  Wealth could not buy happiness, of course, and in adulthood Mary struggled through two failed marriages.  Increasingly, she became involved with charitable work, and it was there that she found her vocation.  At the age of 50 she sold her house, donned a homemade habit, and began full-time work at La Mesa prison outside Tijuana, Mexico.  A year later she moved into the prison permanently, living in a cell, ministering to the prisoners, and acting as a mediator between the inmates and authorities.  Working tirelessly to improve living conditions, promote peace, and inspire others to repent and forgive, she became known to guards and prisoners alike as "La Mama".

The authors make much out of Mother Antonia's two divorces in order to create space between her and the Church, despite the close cooperation between her and the local bishops in both San Diego and Tijuana and the personal blessing of St John Paul II.  They follow the common journalistic practice of casting "church rules" as arbitrary limits that are inherently oppressive.  At times the book, in the process of humanizing the convicts at La Mesa, comes perilously close to sanitizing them, a mistake which diminishes the true nature of Mother Antonia's work, casting her as a social worker in a habit rather than a minister of repentance and reconciliation.  In the end, however, the authors' literary skill and the force of their subject's personality overcome these handicaps to present a lively portrait of a woman who heard God's call late in life, but responded to it with her whole heart.

Avenue of Mysteries

Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
480 Pages


"In Avenue of Mysteries, Juan Diego—a fourteen-year-old boy, who was born and grew up in Mexico—has a thirteen-year-old sister. Her name is Lupe, and she thinks she sees what's coming—specifically, her own future and her brother's. Lupe is a mind reader; she doesn't know what everyone is thinking, but she knows what most people are thinking. Regarding what has happened, as opposed to what will, Lupe is usually right about the past; without your telling her, she knows all the worst things that have happened to you.

Lupe doesn't know the future as accurately. But consider what a terrible burden it is, if you believe you know the future—especially your own future, or, even worse, the future of someone you love. What might a thirteen-year-old girl be driven to do, if she thought she could change the future?

As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. As we grow older—most of all, in what we remember and what we dream—we live in the past. Sometimes, we live more vividly in the past than in the present.

Avenue of Mysteries is the story of what happens to Juan Diego in the Philippines, where what happened to him in the past—in Mexico—collides with his future."

I found the parts set in the past of Juan Diego to be the most compelling parts of the book.  Juan Diego's adventures in the Philippines with the two mysterious women detracted from my overall enjoyment.  If you are a John Irving fan you will probably be able to slog through this book when it comes out in November.  If you are on the fence I would recommend skipping it and reading A Prayer for Owen Meaney or Hotel New Hampshire.

The Hummingbird's Daughter

The Hummingbird's Daughter, by Luis Alberto Urrea, 528 pages

This is one of those books that has a really interesting backstory to its very writing.  Urrea grew up hearing of a nineteenth-century relative of his who was a Mexican saint and was exiled to America for being a danger to the Mexican government.  (My family definitely doesn't have any characters like that in the archives.)  Over the course of twenty years or so, Urrea worked on this fairly giant book that combines Mexican folklore and history with family history and legend.  It's a beautifully written story- with tons of descriptive language and untranslated Spanish curses, as well as a healthy dose of seldom-taught Mexican history.   Long story short: Don Tomas Urrea is a rancher in Mexico, who also happens to love the ladies.  One of his illegitimate children is Teresita, a young lady who has a gift that grows over the course of the book and leads to her death.  Well, sort of... no spoilers here.  This book has a couple of really great characters and relationships and was just a sensory experience that deserved more time spent with it.

Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, 351 pages

The kid set out for the West, fleeing violence at home.  He found a place with the Glanton gang, a band of murderous Indian-hunters paid by the scalp.  He did violence and violence was done to him, and whether there was more of the one or the other is impossible to say.  With Glanton rode the expriest, who was never a priest, and the judge, though what he is a judge of is never revealed.  The kid became the man, and was swallowed up by darkness.

What is written in the blood and fire poured out across the West?  Cosmic wisdom?  Gibberish?  McCarthy asks his questions amidst a pounding, numbing succession of atrocities.  A novel of terrifying ideas, not for faint hearts.