Mixtecs: characteristics of this pre-Columbian culture

The Mixtecs have been known as one of the main rivals of the Aztecs, although sooner or later they ended up being subdued by their empire.

This culture was one of the most developed and prosperous in Mesoamerica together with the Zapotecs, establishing a wide trading network, developing sophisticated art and politically organizing into small kingdoms and independent cities.

Next we will discover who the Mixtecs were, what they believed in, what their political system was like and what their economy was based on.

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Who were the Mixtecs?

The Mixtecs were one of the most prosperous cultures in Mesoamerica. Its period of splendor coincides with the Mesoamerican classic period, going from around the year 200 AD. c. until 900 AD c.although after the 10th century they held up fairly well until, around 1400, the Aztecs put an end to their independence. The pre-Hispanic Mixtecs settled in the current states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Guerrero.

They were neighbors with other Mesoamerican cultures, especially with the Zapotecs with whom they shared many cultural traits. Their language and Zapotec were very similar, in addition to sharing with this culture the fact that they were one of the few Mesoamericans that had a writing system, written using hieroglyphics. They also worked metals in a very similar way and, curiously, they called themselves the same as the Zapotecs: "the people of the clouds" or "the one of the rain".

Today this culture still exists, embodied by the descendants of the original Mixtecs. The current Mixtecs continue to live in the same region as their ancestors and speak languages ​​derived from the same language spoken by their ancestors, in addition to Spanish. They continue to keep many pre-Hispanic traditions alive, although mixed with Western influences and adapted to the Catholic creed imposed during the Spanish conquest.

The pre-Hispanic Mixtecs were closely related to large urban centers. They are credited with having made Teotihuacán the great and important archaeological site we know today, in addition to having inhabited Monte Albán, originally Zapotec territory.

But despite having had many centuries of cultural and economic splendor, they ended up declining when their nation became Balkanized, creating small independent states at enmity with each other. This would be taken advantage of by the Aztecs, since the Mixtecs became politically very weak around the fifteenth century and, with the arrival of the Spanish, the conquistadors would take advantage of ethnic and political tensions to expedite the conquest of the New World.

Where did members of this culture live?

According to archaeological findings, the pre-Hispanic Mixtecs settled in the current states of Puebla, Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Its area of ​​influence has been called La Mixteca, which in their language is Ñuu Dzahui or “the country of the rain”. It is a mountainous region that is divided into two regions: low Mixteca (northwest of Oaxaca and southwest of Puebla) and high Mixteca (northwest of Guerrero and west of Oaxaca).

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Mixtec customs and traditions

As we mentioned, the Mixtecs shared many traits with their neighbors, the Zapotecs, as well as with the Mayas and the Aztecs. His traditions and mythology were very similar to those of other Mesoamerican peoples, especially centered on the solar divinity Yya Ndicahndíí or Taandoco.

It is believed that the Day of the Dead ritual, if not a Mixtec heritage, at least the way in which they celebrated it had a great influence on the people of present-day Mexico.

The Mixtec religion was animistic and polytheistic, as was the case in most Mesoamerican religions. As a protective deity he had Dzahui, who personified the rain. This deity is very similar to the god Tlaloc, present in the Teotihuacano and Toltec pantheon. Along with this, we also find the god of fire Huehuetéotl, highly revered in the Baja Mixteca.

To satisfy the gods, the Mixtecs made human and animal sacrifices., which they staged in their temples built in caves or peaks, the main one being Apoala. The priests had a great importance in the social structure, acting as supreme religious leaders. Their rituals sometimes did not involve killing anyone, but they did draw blood and body parts, such as ears and human tongues, to show their fidelity and veneration to the gods, throwing their members into baskets ceremonial.

But it wasn't all bloody rituals and amputations. They also celebrated ceremonies with privileges and games, among which the most famous Mesoamerican distraction could not be missing: the ball game.

Witnessing one of these games was not like watching a football game, but something much more momentous. This game represented the eternal struggle between the powers of the universe. The playing field represented the sky and the ball the sun, making each game an event loaded with religion and symbolism.

language and writing

The pre-Hispanic Mixtecs spoke the Proto-Mixtec language, the proposed name for the language from which most of the languages ​​spoken by present-day Mixtecs derive. This ancient language managed to survive Aztec and Spanish rule, evolving and diversifying in up to more than 80 different modalities. The language has evolved so much that its variants are very different, making its speakers unable to understand each other and resorting to Spanish as the lingua franca.

Although not much is known how the protomixteco sounded, it is possible to see how one of its current variants sounds, the xochapa. Next we see how the numerals from 1 to 10 are in this language:

• iin
• uvi
• uni
• kumi
• u'un
• iñu
• uxa
• a
• iin
• uxi

However, despite the fact that the efforts to reconstruct how Proto-Mixtec sounded have not borne very good results, it is known how it was written. Like the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs They used hieroglyphics as a writing system. which have been preserved and analyzed in numerous codices, such as the Mixtec-Zapotec codex, the vindoboninensis mexicanum, the Brodley, and the Zouche Nuttal, describing historical scenes, noble genealogy, and alliances sociopolitical.

Social and political organization

The Mixtec social structure was made up of strata, organized in a hierarchical way. It was a system very similar to the Zapotec. At the top was the king and also the religious leaders and the high nobility, although never at the same level as the monarch.. On the next step were the highly valued merchants, followed by the peasants and artisans who were the main economic engine. Finally, at the last step were the slaves and serfs, mostly prisoners of war and criminals who represented the workforce of each kingdom.

The Mixtecs did not live in a single country, but in various kingdoms and city-states, similar to how the Greeks functioned in Classical Antiquity. Each independent state was governed by a king who collected taxes in the form of goods and services, with the nobility being the bureaucratic structure in charge of charging the subjects. These kingdoms, despite being part of the same culture, from time to time became enemies and attacked, although they also agreed to commercial and military alliances.

Among the most important leaders in the history of the Mixtecs we have Eight Jaguar Claw Deer, a leader who founded various Mixtec kingdoms during the 10th century. This famous cacique initiated an important expansionist process and is credited with having unified under the command of the only the kingdoms of Tututepec (Yacudzáa), Tilantongo (Ñuu Tnoo Huahi Adehui) and Ñuu Cohyo, ruling them until he died.

Taking into account that the Mixtecs did not get along very well with each other, much less were they going to be friends with other cultures. They got along especially badly with the Toltecs and on more than one occasion they had scuffles with the Zapotecs. However, their ethnic disagreements were overcome each time the Aztecs tried to establish themselves as main power of Mexico, making the Mixtecs and other peoples unite to face the enemy common.

Unfortunately, the system of alliances between Mixtec kingdoms and with other Mesoamerican countries would end up failing, awakening old ethnic tensions that would be exploited by the Aztec Empire in the fifteenth century. Later, the Spaniards would know this little military and state unity of the Mixtecs and other peoples, greatly expediting the conquest of Mexico.

Economy

Its economy depended mainly on agriculture. The Mixtecs planted chili, beans, squash, cocoa, cotton and, of course, the corn that is so important for all Mesoamerican culture. It must be said that the cultivation of cocoa and cotton was only possible if the terrain allowed it, in addition to the fact that this culture constantly faced abrupt relief and a shortage of water. That is why They had to manage to develop a system of terraced cultivation that they called "coo yuu".

Similar to their neighbors the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs were not especially given to fishing, hunting, or gathering wild fruits, although they occasionally practiced these activities. On the other hand, the Mixtecs are known to have domesticated the turkey, or turkey.

They were very good at working with metal, especially gold.. In their culture this mineral was considered the excrement of the gods and had an important sacred meaning. It is believed that the Mixtecs must have been one of the first cultures to work with metals, although the possibility that they developed metallurgy late has also been considered. Likewise, his mastery of metals was very great, transforming it into statuettes, as well as making sculptures with bones.

Its pottery is polychromatic, with shades of orange, black, red, white, blue and lilac.. To dye the vessels and fabrics red, they bred cochineals, a parasitic insect of the nopal plant that, when crushed, produces a bright red color. In addition to this, they extracted caliche (calcium carbonate) and magnetite, which they traded along with their manufactures and some of their crops.

Bibliographic references:

• Bradley, C. Henry; Josserand, J. Kathryn (1982). The Proto-Mixtec and their descendants. Annals of Anthropology 19(2): 279-343.
• Rodríguez Cano, Laura (2004). «The Mixtec writing system in a document from the Mixteca Baja of the 16th century». In Guzman Betancourt, Ignacio; Maynez, Pilar; León-Portilla, Ascension H., eds. Linguistic historiography and history of languages. Mexico City: XXI Century. pp. 401-416. ISBN 9682325153.