Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl
Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl refers to the
Popocatépetl. This tale is recorded in several different versions.A summary based on one version as recounted at a September 2006 "Myth, Mortals and Immortality: Works from the Museo Soumaya de México" exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
Náhua legends
In
A different tale was told by the Nahuatl-speakers of
The most popular legend about Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl comes from the ancient Nahuas.[citation needed] As it comes from an oral tradition, there are many versions of the same story, along with poems and songs telling this story:
Many years before
One day, a war broke out with the fate of the Empire at stake, and the Aztec warriors had to go South to fight the enemy. The Emperor told Popoca that he had to bring the head of the enemy chief back from the war, so he could marry his daughter. After several months of combat, a warrior who hated Popoca sent a false message to the Emperor. The message said that his army had won the war, but that Popoca had died in battle. The Emperor was very sad when he heard the news, and when Izta heard she could not stop crying. She refused to go out and did not eat any more. A few days later, she became ill and she died of sadness.
When the Emperor was preparing Izta's funeral, Popoca and his warriors returned victorious from the war. The Emperor was taken aback when he saw Popoca but prepared to offer the throne, to which Popoca turned down as he only wanted to marry Izta. The Emperor announced that Izta had died of a broken heart. Popoca killed the warriors who had sent the false message to the Emperor. He then took Izta's body and left the town. He walked a long way until he arrived at some mountains where he ordered his warriors to build a funeral table with flowers and he put Izta lying on top. Then he knelt down to watch over Izta and died of sadness too. The Gods were touched by Popoca's sacrifice and turned the tables and the bodies into great volcanoes. The biggest volcano is Popocatépetl, which in Náhuatl means "smoking mountain". He sometimes throws out smoke, showing that he is still watching over Iztaccíhuatl, who sleeps by his side
Another tale is much like the one before: Some warriors did not want Popoca to be with Izta, since they liked her themselves; and sent a message to the emperor saying that Popoca died. Izta became very sad and died of grief. When Popoca returned, he heard about Izta's death and became sad himself. He went out of town with Izta's body and ordered his soldiers to make a mound for him and Izta. He put Izta's body on one mound and got onto the other with a smoking torch. He remains there forever, looking after Izta, and, as time passed, dirt, snow, rocks, and Mother Nature covered them, turning them into great mountains. Popoca's torch is still smoking as a reminder of what happened.
See also
- Twin peak
References
- ISBN 9780898867985.
- ^ "Parque Nacional Izta-Popo Zoquiapan". SIMEC: Sistema de Información, Monitoreo, y Evaluación para la Conservación (in Spanish). Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
- ^ "Sistema de Información Geográfica". Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
- ^ "The Legend of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl". Online guide to Mexico.
- ^ Yeyi Sekʷisƛi David H. Tuggy, The Three Volcanoes
- ^ Pittman 1954:59 (incomplete)
- ^ Pittman 1954. A Grammar of Tetelcingo (Morelos) Nahuatl. University of Pennsylvania dissertation, published as Language Dissertation No. 50 in Language (Journal of the Linguistic Society of America) Vol. 30 Number 1 (Part 2), January-March 1954.