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chapter 9 continuities and power When I began to write my concluding thoughts on Teotihuacan, the funeral procession for former President Ronald Reagan was assembling on our own broad national thoroughfare. Dense crowds packed either side of Constitution Avenue while various members of the military branches positioned themselves on the processional route. A man in a large bearskin hat led the Army band, followed by rows of sailors in pristine white uniforms. Stern members of the Marines and impeccably dressed soldiers walked in perfect formation only to stop and await the arrival of the dead president’s body. As the body was transferred onto the caisson, the president’s former official residence, the White House, was visible in the distance. Glorious black horses had smartly dressed members of the Old Guard sitting ramrod straight upon their backs. When they began to pull, the funeral cortege to the United States Capitol began, and Americans witnessed the pageantry of leadership whose vestiges still survive in our own society. Another poignant tradition included in the funeral was the riderless horse with reversed boots in the stirrups. All of these horses were a nod to the cavalry of the past through which the United States secured its independence and rose to world prominence. The Air Force contributed its own funeral tradition by flying overhead in the missing man formation. Certainly the line of elite black limousines was impressive, but overall it was the seemingly endless linear formations of the marching military personnel, the solemn drumbeat, and the dirges played by the band that created the dominant effect of the procession. The cortege ultimately concluded its stately movement when it reached the Capitol, and the body was placed on Lincoln’s catafalque in the rotunda, arguably the most symbolic location of the United States government. A prime minister, members of congress, and everyday Americans walked the circuit around the casket by the tens of thousands. Through it all, hour after hour, six men stood watch over the flag-draped cof- fin. Although the honor guard changed every thirty minutes, there remained at least one representative from each branch of the military— the Marines, Air Force, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard—all of whom shaped the tenor of the ritual with their unflinching watch. After years of exploring how Teotihuacan’s rulers had sheltered themselves with the military orders of their day, I found it was these five individuals who most captivated me. Even in this country, where the powers of the executive office over matters of war are tempered by Congress, in his final moments the president was surrounded by his military. While it might be easy to dismiss these events as insignificant traditions that have lost their meaning, the thousands of people who journeyed to the funeral or simply watched it on television would serve as testament that such symbolic rituals continue to have tremendous value in the modern world. Furthermore, as much as the United States proclaims itself a peaceable nation , we persist in using our militance to assert our values throughout the world as we accompany our rhetoric with the rattle of sabers. The heavy presence of the military in a presidential funeral should therefore come as no surprise because our own leaders at least partially support their tenure with the promise of strong military leadership. Presidents of the United States may serve as citizens, but those citizens still carry the title of Commander-in-Chief. Step back 1,500 years, and we see the Teotihuacan ruler also encircling himself with members of his culture’s various military entities. The caches under the Pyramid of the Moon, wherein the contributions of the military seem to have even eclipsed the ruler, offer the prime example. Although we will never know the precise circumstances surrounding the deposition of the animal mascots of the military orders, it is tempting to imagine the splendid ceremonies that must have accompanied the filling of these chambers . One wonders if the whole of Teotihuacan, and even representatives from foreign political powers, gathered in the Moon Plaza to watch as members of the military orders assembled. How exciting it would have been if feline warriors carried the puma in its cage and placed it in the cavity, and if canine warriors followed with a caged wolf. Such speculation is unprovable, even though logic holds that the military orders must have had a role in furnishing the caches because their heraldry was so prominently figured...

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