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Show Page 8 The UTAH INDEPENDENT "Chicano May 5, 1972 What Does it Mean lishing their towns on the west side of the LakeTexcoco. Then They Saw The Eagle The word Chicano comes from an ancient Mexican term meaning ' illegitimate child, according to Gabe Aguilar, long time student of Mexican Indian history and a graduate of the Archeology and Natural History Museum school in Mexico City. Aguilar said he is opposed to use of the word to describe people of Latin extraction because it implies something that most people wouldn't want attributed to themselves. In a recent interview, Aguilar said that the Mexican radicals ideal of claiming that California and the Southwest in general is the ancient mythical empire of the Mexican people, Aztlan, is totally false. No one knows where Aztlan was, he said, adding it was something like the long lost Atlantis in Mexican folklore. So it is that the self appointed Chicano of today is simply calling himself a lowly illegitimate son who is filled with chicanery or deceit, said Aguilar. I hardly think that most people of Hispanic descent want to be identified with them, he said. Aztlan, he said, means Where the geese live, implying it was a place located near a great lake. According to Mexican history', the nine tribes of the Nahua race came from that place. a race of people called the Tol-tec- s, he said, who in turn estab- Two Distinct Races Populate lished a great civilization of their own. Mexico You must remember that Mexico is populated by two distinct races, the Nahuans and the Olmecas, he said. Nahuans are long faced, he said, and populated the Southwest at one time as cliff dwellers. The Olmecas, on the other hand, w'ere the mound builders of the Mississippi River Valley. Theoretically, according to Aguilar, both races came across the Bering Sea from Asia, although mythology also teaches that the Olmecas are descendants of the Atlantis peoples. Aguilar said that about 3,000 years ago the Olmeca races started to migrate south from the Mississippi Valley, following the Littoral to the Gulf of Mexico. On the way they founded cities along what is now called the Huasteca route. Somewhere along the line the group split in half and some of them went to the area where Mexico City is now constructed and the other half continued south to Yucatan to establish the race known as the Mayans. The ones who ended up near what is now Mexico City founded Aztecs Ruled With Fists of Iron The Toltec civilization was at its peak when the Nahuans began to stir restlessly due to the fact that; there were nine tribes and one of those tribes, the Aztecs, ruled the other eight with fists of iron. The eight tribes were literally enslaved to the Aztecs, Aguilar said. Because of the brutality of the Aztecs, including human sacrifice, the members of the other tribes began to desert the area where tUjy lived, heading south about the time of Christ, with different tribes moving at different times and going distances away from the Aztecs. Today, the main cities of the state of Michoacan are peopled by those tribes, he said. In other words, said Aguilar, the tribes left Aztlan as fast as they could to get out from under the heel of the Aztecs, although nobody knows where Aztlan was at this time. The last tribe to escape was the Chichimccha, who escaped and went to the valley of Mexico around the 11th century, estab- - Eventually the Aztecs decided to leave Aztlan, too, because they had nobody left to exploit, so they also went south and as they passed the tribes that had settled along the way they were warred upon and driven further south. Aguilar said that the Aztec chief, Tenoch, was driven by an old myth that said they should continue searching until they found a place where an eagle would be perched on a cactus eating a snake. Finally, when they reached the valley of Mesico, they were warred on by the Chichimechas, who drove them into the shallow lake and onto an island. Sure enough, there was the cactus with the eagle eating a snake which has since become the insignia of Mexico. Tenoch said he would build the city there, said Aguilar, and so they did, becoming very powerful because they were able to war on the landlocked tribes and then dash back to their fortified island for safety. It was on that island, eventually, that Mexico City was built and the Aztecs ruled the land from Arizona to Panama. Aguilar. Since the Chichimechas were very subservient to the Aztecs at that point, the Aztecs were fond of attacking them and raping their women from which came a large number of illegitimate off- spring, a mixture of Mexican (Aztec) and Chichimecha. When the Spaniards realized the lowly state of these people, they contemptuously referred to them as Chichicanos (half and half), which was later shortened to Chicano. The Chicano, not being either one or the other, was usually a man with no ties and was often used by both Aztecs and Spaniards for dirty work, such as committing various crimes, said Aguilar, adding, That is where the word Chicaneria or chi- canery' comes from. WOODS CROSS REALTY & INSURANCE 295-238- 1 What We Really Sell Is Service Spaniards Arrive, Mexicans Named In 1521, the Spaniards conquered Mexico and it was then that the Aztecs were fi rst dubbed Mexicans by the Spanish, said Since 1932 426 W. 500 So. 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