Aztecas: Un Imperio Recordado

Nahuatl 101
Lesson #1
The Thanksgiving Edition

I don't speak fluent Nahuatl.
I don't even speak conversational  Nahuatl.

However, I know someone who does, which obviously, makes me qualified to give classes on this beautiful indigenous language.  She's my facebook friend and high school classmate Rocio, who speaks some version of it with her Nahua grandma, who is from Quiensabedonde, México y no habla español.  If I needed to, I could run my lesson plans by her, but I'm pretty sure I'm right about what I'm about to say, so I refuse to factcheck.

Guajolote is Mexican Spanish for turkey cock.

Guajolote viene de la palabra huehxōlōtl.  Other non-naco and non-Nahuatl terms for guajolote include the lesser Aztec-y sounding pavo and chompipe, which allegedly is used in Mexico and Central America.  I've never used chompipe and I asked my Salvi and Nica neighbors, and they don't use this term, therefore I rebuke it.  There are other words used in other Latin American countries for turkey, pero...que te importa? Come torta con tu hermana la gordota.

Did you know our pre-Columbian ancestors rarely ate guajolote? We ate other words that end in -ote.  And -ole.  And -ate. And -ale. Por ejemplo, we mostly ate corn-based food such as tortillas, tamales, atole, pozole or straight up elotes, as well as frijoles, chocolate, chiles, jicama, camotes, aguacates, yucca, jitomates, calabasas, nopales and limones.  It's like nothing's changed.  Almost.  Los Aztecas weren't big on carne asadas, but they were real big on eating spirulina algae.  Yummy...?  I'm sure it's good for you, as was everything else the Aztecs praised, but I prefer the agave plant and what it has to offer.  But I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

This concludes today's lesson on Nahuatl and Mexica culture.

I leave you with this image of the greatest guajolote azteca I could find.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr Image Search.)

Thanks be to Huitzilopochtli for inspiring this lady to wear gold lamé hot pants and matching midriff  in honor of her Mexica roots.

Japi Sansguibin.

Hasta mañana.