#tu'unsavi

[acapulcopress]

Preciso seguir reforzando marco legal para la protección de las lenguas originarias | Dip. Masedonio

CHILPANCINGO, Gro. * 21 de febrero, 2024. ) Congreso de Guerrero En el marco del Día Internacional de la Lengua Materna, el diputado Masedonio Mendoza Basurto resaltó la importancia de seguir reforzando las leyes para la preservación y fomento de las lenguas indígenas en el estado. En entrevista, el legislador recordó que desde 1999 las Naciones Unidas estableció el 21 de febrero para conmemorar las lenguas originarias, con el fin de celebrar y visibilizar el patrimonio lingüístico de los pueblos, pero también para analizar los retos y desafíos que enfrentan, ante el riesgo de su extinción. Agregó que, desde el ámbito de su competencia, ha trabajado en busca de mejorar los ordenamientos jurídicos locales, y muestra de ello es que presentó una reforma a la Ley Orgánica del Poder Legislativo para que los trabajos referentes a las nuevas leyes, reformas y adiciones que se realicen en el Congreso, puedan ser difundidos y traducidos en las distintas lenguas que existen en Guerrero. Además, dijo que presentó una propuesta para que en el Muro de Honor del Congreso del Estado se inscriban los nombres de las lenguas indígenas que existen en Guerrero, como parte de un reconocimiento a la aportación pluricultural de las comunidades y pueblos. Mendoza Basurto reconoció que el riesgo de desaparición de las lenguas maternas permanece debido al avance tecnológico y la globalización, aunque reconoció a docentes y ciudadanía que aún difunden las distintas lenguas que existen en el estado, como el náhuatl, tu'un savi, me'phaa y ñomn daa. Informó, por último, que además de las acciones legislativas, está participando en diversas actividades culturales en las comunidades indígenas, con el propósito de unir esfuerzos y hacer una agenda conjunta en favor de los pueblos originarios. “Este tema no solo se debe atender en momentos coyunturales ni solo como parte del discurso. Necesitamos realmente garantizar la preservación de nuestras lenguas; es por eso que estamos participando en este tipo de encuentros, en busca de realizar acciones concretas para su preservación”, puntualizó. ] Síguenos en facebook.com/acapulcopress ) Síguenos en facebook.com/angelblanco.press ] Síguenos en ) acapulcopress.com Read the full article

[its-revenant]

Mixteco: Mexican Heritage

“When the members of a community identify themselves through their culture, they become an invincible community”.

Earlier this year I attended to several sessions of “Mixteco Culture” where the professor Ofelia Pineda gave us some (brief) lessons on the origins of the Mixteco culture and the different ways they still preserve the same traditions or cultural events prior to the Spanish conquest.                                                     I’m not actually going to comment on every single aspect we dealt with, but I will just point out the clash of those traditional values opposed to the current western lifestyle.

To begin with, I was pretty surprised that some of the pre-Columbian gods and deities where “readapted” in Catholic terms -mainly in naming. Though, of course, it is just the price to pay for  being the ‘conquered’: acculturation. In spite of this, the people belonging to the mixteco culture have rescued and still preserve some of the Nahuatl cultural figures and rituals such as the (not so well-known) ritual for the ‘Day of the Dead”. This takes place from the 10th of October until the 2nd of November (3 days) and it requires the building of a series of altars and the assistance of the whole community -including children.

(altar made by using “cempasutchitl“ flowers as main decoration, and edible goods brought by the members of the community)

There are five main elements: the altar itself, the food, the candles, the incense and the flowers. The whole ceremony-ritual is meant to be a way of remembering the deceased, so all symbols are related to eternity. In this sense, the altar is a sort of life’s threshold, a way of coming back to life; whereas the candles and the incense are supposedly meant to be guiding items for the dead-ones: candles provide light in the darkness and the incense leaves a smell to follow. Food is just a metaphor for “taste” -the taste of being alive, I guess; and flowers... well, I supose they are just related to life and also death - a metaphor again refering to the circle of life. Besides, they play their traditional music in order to cheer up the community and also to avoid the sad implications this ceremony may have in western cultures. They see death as a part of life, so they need to spend as much time (and money) as they can.

It is a really interesting and unique ceremony, though I did not like the fact that women seem to be somehow responsible of the community. They cannot or should not drink alcohol because being drunk or just tipsy is not “the norm”, but if a man is drunk the community (women) are meant to take care of him. In addition, they have to cook quite a lot and serve the rest of the people, and to do that, they skip sleep time. Anyway, I guess this is just a cultural thing (things I wouldn’t do given my education based on equality, but I can understand that this still happens).

Related to this, there is the hand-made dresses that women of the community are supposed to wear, though I was told that nowadays, young girls prefer to wear other pieces of clothes such as jeans because they are “trendier” and, of course, more comfortable. One of the patterns that they use when sewing this dresses, named “huipil”, are based on the symbols like these:

There are at least 20 symbols from the pre-hispanic calendar used in the huipil, as shown in the image above. The huipil is considered to be something “alive”. When someone is taught how to sew, is also taught that she should make an offering to the huipil. However, this dress is not meant to be sold, but it can be swapped for other goods like clothes and food (because there is a legend involving that when someone dies, the huipil would attract birds that will guide the deceased women in their afterlife). 

Finally, the language. I did not have specific Nahuatl classes given the lack of time we had, but we were shown a few things, like numbers. Here is a photo of Ofelia Pineda writing the numbers in the blackboard:

I thought that numbers were going to be something pretty difficult, but they reminded me of French (?) because their counting systems are quite similiar, though.

So, to sum up, these brief (though interesting) classes gave me the opportunity to learn about a culture I would probably not have known if it were not for the University of Sevilla, where the classes were hold. I think it is fascinating the way this people are trying to mantain and spread their culture, even when they are struggling against forces such as a corrupt government, unfair treatment (towards their religious beliefs) and, I would say ignorace in general.

The following are some links (in Spanish) for you to check if you are interested on this culture:

[santiagosavi]

“Ña’a Ntyiko Nuni / La molendera de Diego Rivera”

Autor: F. Santiago

Técnica: Acrílico sobre papel

Medidas 33.4 x 24 cm.

Año: 2015