Page:Historia Verdadera del Mexico profundo.djvu/128

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

All human beings when achieving a development stage, from the origin of times through the present day, face the mandatory question. Is there life after death? I live to die and be reborn to eternal life? What is the reason for life? Because there will be the reason of death.

Flower War.

The concept of the "Flower War" is very revealing of the Anahuac philosophical conception. First of all we must observe that war for ancient Mexicans, probably from the earliest societies which we today call Olmec, had a "symbolical-ritual" nature. As it has already been noted, there is no proportional comparison between mathematics, medicine and architecture, to name only three aspects of the culture, with the evolution and development of weapons. In fact, the weapons found in the iconography of the Preclassical period, are the same seen in the Postclassical period with the Aztecs. The question is obvious; why were there important advances in other areas and not in military technology, with the exception of the atlatl,[1] which was invented to hunt flying birds by the Toltec. This demonstrates that the anahuacas were never a warrior civilization, as is claimed and tried to demonstrate by the invader-colonizers. When natives defended themselves it was called "hostility" and the Hispanic extermination was called "pacification" in the texts of the 16th century.

The "Flower War” warriors of Toltec lineage during the Classical period sought to fight their "florid battles" internally and their weapons were "flower and song", their victory, to flourish their heart to feed their loved ones. Even the Toltecáyotl transgressors, the Mexica warriors during the Postclassical period, in their
____________________

  1. The atlatl is an impulse weapon, widely used by the pre-Columbian aborigines, especially the Aztecs, Peru and Colombia. In Nahuatl was called átlatl, although Spanish is also known as dart thrower. It was a short, thin and narrow platform made of flexible and resilient wood held with holes for the index and middle fingers, the dart placed on top. It provided the dart a powerful impulse, which was capable of piercing thick skinned animals, and steel mesh protection, as experienced it the Spanish soldiers. Ancient American hunters used the atlatl to replace the use of the Javelin, as was more effective, and it accelerated the extinction of Cenozoic giant mammals. Much later was it replaced by bow and arrows that were more effective. However, several pre-Columbian cultures continued using the átlatl for war purposes because of its greater power than the arch. The oldest atlatl discovered is approximately 19,000 years old. Scientific studies estimate that it was used over 40,000 years ago. Mr Dave Ingvall, made an atlatl with carbon fiber and an aluminum dart, to achieve the world record for distance shooting with this weapon, in the American town of Aurora in Colorado in July 1995. The dart throw was 258 meters.
128