Nahuatl Theater, Volume 2: Our Lady of Guadalupe (review)

Each year, on the eve of the celebration on December 12 that is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, there begins the ritual of the appearance of television series, films (new or old), theater productions, books, and many periodical articles concerning the miracle of the presence of the Virgin Mary in Tepeyac, to the north of Mexico City. In accordance with social conditions, economics, and political demands in the country, it is possible to detect the inclusion in this material of changes to some situations, or the pre-Hispanic, colonial, or modern people participating in the part of the account that is the best known and most often repeated. This is the Nican mopohua (It is told in an orderly way), a text in the Náhuatl language that was published for the first time in 1649. It has become the axis and paradigm for our knowledge of the tradition. And so it seems that this custom of using the Guadalupan apparitions as a foundation and beginning for other narrations, primarily those with a tendency to admonish and promote the exemplary life, has its beginning in previous centuries, as the work reviewed here proves.

In this second volume on the Náhuatl theater (the first, entitled Náhuatl Theater. Death and Life in Colonial Nahua Mexico, was edited in 2004 by Barry D. Sell and Louise M. Burkhart, with the assistance of Gregory Spira), the editors undertake the laborious task of reconstructing and translating into English various Guadalupan texts in the Náhuatl language: a Coloquio (Dialogue on the Apparition of the Virgin Saint Mary of Guadalupe) and a comedy with the title Portento mexicano (The Wonder of Mexico), as well as a song, a sermon, and a prayer. The translations, to which Lisa Sousa also contributed, are accompanied by two critical essays written by Stafford Poole and Louise M. Burkhart. These clarify various aspects of the contents, particularly the social relationships that the works reflect.

Thanks to the experience that they have acquired in critical translations of colonial Náhuatl texts, the editors bring us a highly useful work, a contribution to various areas of knowledge concerning the indigenous Mexican of the past and especially Guadalupan studies, which traditionally have been based on a limited number of sources from the indigenous and Hispanic traditions. With the exception of the work of the Mexican scholar Fernando Horcasitas Pimentel (1925-1980), colonial Náhuatl theater has not been treated in a systematic manner, given that it was considered to be a minor category and in a deteriorated language that made its translation more difficult. Now, and after the reading of this work on the particular topic of the presence of the Virgin Maria in Tepeyac, we realize the important subjects that can be inferred: the presentation formats, the indigenous assimilation of elements of Catholic dogma, the didactic and moral character, and above all, the representation of relationships involving type and class. Additionally there is the inexplicable presence of certain elements of humor and vulgarity.

Now other works on these materials remain to be done, such as the identification and study of the "novelties" that are added to the "nucleus" of the Guadalupan tradition. It is probable that the reasons for their inclusion have their origins in the necessity to reinforce the message of the catechism and make it accessible to indigenous Náhuatl speakers during the late colonial phase. Here the effort to make the Guadalupan tradition known is apparent, as is its utilization as a medium that instills examples of Christian conduct. This is reinforced with narrations and personalities not mentioned in other Guadalupan sources. Among these are the father of Juan Diego, the older brother of Juan Bernardino, the old father of Maria Lucia, the wife of Juan Diego, and an indigenous charlatan doctor. Also participating are servants with extravagant names like Cacahuatzin and Totopochtli. We await other works on...