Xochicalco, or "The Place of the House of Flowers" in the language of the Mexica (Nahuatl), rose to power after the fall of Teotihuacan in the sixth century CE. Xochicalco is an Epiclassic site, flourishing between 650CE and 900CE. It sits atop five adjacent hilltops and because of that, it has been suggested that the people of Xochicalco needed their own natural fortification and defense systems. The general area, however, was first occupied at about 900BCE and there is even a trace of some occupation after it was destroyed in 900CE. The Feathered Serpent and sacrificial imagery abound in Xochicalco and the Feathered Serpent was considered to be the head of the state cult and the symbol for Xochicalco's elite. Around the city can be found workshop sites, mostly because of the material remains of obsidian (which came from the Ucareo source in Michoacan, about 124 miles away). Xochicalco is in the state of Morelos and was one of the most important sites in the central altiplano of Mexico during the Epiclassic period. There are many images also found at Xochicalco that speak of tribute-payment by other peoples and places to Xochicalco. This speaks to Xochicalco's position as a military power able to extract tribute and conquer other sites. There are glyphs found at Xochicalco that are mostly dates and a few names so it is conjecture as to what they could mean (they possibly have a relation to the 52 year sequence of events that the later Tenochca Mexica related to the Fuego Nuevo, a celebration that started every 52 years by extinguishing the fires or lights in the city and then relighting them).
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Xochicalco
Posted by BryanSchaeffer.blogspot.com at 2:55 PM 3 comments
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday in Cholula
Today is Good Friday in the Christian religion and Mexico is a very Catholic country (generally speaking) and I was able to hang out in the centro of Cholula (San Pedro Cholula) and see all of the morning festivities. People were preparing for the procession of statues by finishing their tapetes; they are these colourful images made right in the middle of the streets. Anyways, it was interesting to observe all of this and I haven't ever really seen anything like this in the United States. The tapetes are full life and colour and were, for me, the highlight of the day. Of anything else that I have learned about the people here in Cholula, I know that they like to have parties and festivites whenever they can (there are more than four hundred parties a year- you do the math- usually more than one a day). I truly enjoyed seeing the ways in which the cholultecas celebrated Good Friday.
Posted by BryanSchaeffer.blogspot.com at 12:44 PM 2 comments