The Sun Serpent

Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico in the play The Sun Serpent

I recently had the pleasure of seeing a performance of the play The Sun Serpent by José Cruz González. It tells the story of the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spanish Conquistadores, led by Hernan Cortés. It is remarkable that this story is told by a total of three actors, employing a variety of masks and lightning-fast costume changes. This is the first play I have ever seen to be performed in three languages (English, Spanish, and the Mesoamerican Nahuatl language). Supertitles were provided on a screen at the top of the stage.

The Sun Serpent

In a review in the Star-Tribune, the playwright shared these words regarding his play: “We like to think of the Spanish as brutal and the Aztecs and other tribes as good, but that wasn’t always the case. The Aztecs were the oppressors of Mexico before the Spanish. They required human sacrifices from the subjugated populations. That’s why a small number of Spanish men were able to ally with oppressed groups and overthrow this great empire.”

The many dead are spoken for in the play The Sun Serpent

The two main characters are two brothers, Anahuac and Tlememe, who belong to one of the subjugated populations. Seeking to avenge the death of his parents by the Aztecs, the older brother Tlememe joins the Conquistadores. After his mother Alci is killed, Anahuac searches for his brother, following the trail of death and destruction. He discovers that one group of oppressors has been exchanged for another.

Maybe if the Aztecs had been kinder to their subjects, they would have lasted longer. Perhaps if the Aztecs had been more skeptical about their prophecies, they would have mounted a resistance. Maybe if the subjugated tribes had been less angry and bitter towards the Aztecs, they might have been more skeptical of the promises of Cortés. I consider the arrival of Cortés to have been a disastrous setback for Christianity in Mexico, anchoring it to the state and the sword.

I have pondered about Cortés in many a dark hour. Maybe the lesson to be learned is, if someone comes to your shores, they do so to solve their problems, not your problems

At the end of the play, Anahuac tells of how he survived the great end of the Aztecs, and witnessed the beginning of a mestizo nation, the seeds of the modern nation of Mexico. I consider it a great accomplishment to tell this story without whining or victimhood. There will be six more performances of The Sun Serpent in Minneapolis between now and March 22.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Choose Well

Imagination or reality?  Choose well

Sometime around the time I did Step 63, some well meaning people in Shoreview, Minnesota, a western suburb of Minneapolis, decided to stage a poetry slam.  Since I had participated in a poetry slam not too long before that, it seemed like a good thing in which to participate.

As poetry slams go, it was a relatively subdued affair.  I’m telling you about it because the following poem was my contribution to the proceedings.

Choose well

I sure hope you’re in a buying mood today.
Alas, I have no little ideas, only a big idea to sell.
Unite as a race or be slaves; choose well.

A generation seeks a sign.
I have a sign to give.
I give the sign of Cortés of Spain
Who pitted warring tribe against warring tribe.
Cortés, by whose hand the Aztecs fell.

I know you believe you’re advanced, sophisticated, enlightened.
But alas, as far as I hear
You’re just another warring tribesman, just another Aztec
With a 50-megaton intercontinental spear.
Your chariot has a nicer whistle and a bigger bell.
Unite as a race or be slaves; choose well.

A generation seeks a sign.
I have a second sign to give.
I give the sign of Tecumseh of the Shawnee
Who lived and died working to unite the warring tribes
The invaders of their world to repel.

I know you believe you’re peaceful.
But why do you have borders?
Because you’re just another warring tribesman, just another Shawnee
Who hasn’t learned with other nations in peace to dwell.
Unite as a race or be slaves; choose well.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.