10-17-2011, 12:00 AM
Barefoot wrote:
Hi Phe, thank you. I spent some time looking for the link I offered because there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and many sites build off the misinformation. However, by asking around the people you know who are natives from Mexico or even the last remains of the Toltec tribe in Arizona you will find that they are unaware of any word sounding anything like that relating to shamans, witches, seers or anyone with special powers. The word means "language" and I am willing to take the people who I asked word for it.
Another example of this, and again you should ask around and verify this yourself, is that Mexican natives have a very different understanding of quazicotal (sp?) that is usually depicted as a winged serpent eating itself. This is the kind of misinformation that gets spread and others use to build on. However, Mexican natives consider quazicotal to have been a man, similar to Jesus, who came over a hill and imparted knowledge and left promising to return one day.
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I will just respond to help with this, it appears a simple misunderstanding is going on with the particular words.
You are confusing the word "nahuatl" which means language and is the name of a langauge, with the nahuatl word "nahualli" which means "nagual" in that language. when exploring these things it helps to remember there are many different cultures, tribes and languages within mexico alone, let alone central america and then south america. For example there are 12 still existing mayan languages around the small area of south mexico, belize & guatemala. In south mexico the word "nagual" is very well known and understood. i cannot comment on northern parts of mexico as i haven't been there. the northern parts have very different indigenous people to the southern part where the maya are. The high density fusion of various tribes & languages in central america + interference of conquest with catholicism explains to me the widely varying cultural & individual interpretations of the extensive mythology & history of a being like 'quetzalcoatl'. Many of the indigenous beliefs were woven in with catholic mythologies on purpose to protect the old knowledge yet disguise it as catholic. this was a matter of life and death for many who followed their traditional beliefs.
love
Hi Phe, thank you. I spent some time looking for the link I offered because there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and many sites build off the misinformation. However, by asking around the people you know who are natives from Mexico or even the last remains of the Toltec tribe in Arizona you will find that they are unaware of any word sounding anything like that relating to shamans, witches, seers or anyone with special powers. The word means "language" and I am willing to take the people who I asked word for it.
Another example of this, and again you should ask around and verify this yourself, is that Mexican natives have a very different understanding of quazicotal (sp?) that is usually depicted as a winged serpent eating itself. This is the kind of misinformation that gets spread and others use to build on. However, Mexican natives consider quazicotal to have been a man, similar to Jesus, who came over a hill and imparted knowledge and left promising to return one day.
------------------------
I will just respond to help with this, it appears a simple misunderstanding is going on with the particular words.
You are confusing the word "nahuatl" which means language and is the name of a langauge, with the nahuatl word "nahualli" which means "nagual" in that language. when exploring these things it helps to remember there are many different cultures, tribes and languages within mexico alone, let alone central america and then south america. For example there are 12 still existing mayan languages around the small area of south mexico, belize & guatemala. In south mexico the word "nagual" is very well known and understood. i cannot comment on northern parts of mexico as i haven't been there. the northern parts have very different indigenous people to the southern part where the maya are. The high density fusion of various tribes & languages in central america + interference of conquest with catholicism explains to me the widely varying cultural & individual interpretations of the extensive mythology & history of a being like 'quetzalcoatl'. Many of the indigenous beliefs were woven in with catholic mythologies on purpose to protect the old knowledge yet disguise it as catholic. this was a matter of life and death for many who followed their traditional beliefs.
love