THE HISTORY OF MEXICO: Pre-Hispanic roots in SMA

Antonio Arreola is, first of all, a surprising musician. That’s because the quality of the music he produces on his violin would warrant that he be found on stage at a major venue. Instead, you find him playing his violin in restaurants and sometimes even on the streets of San Miguel.

Not only is it the quality of his musical performance that surprises, it is also his passion and knowledge of the culture and traditions of his people. Antonio Arreaola was born in Mexico City on the Cerro de estrellas—the hill of stars, a focal point for the Anahuac civilization, of which he is part. The Anahuac are an ancient people united by culture, traditions and social organization, who were located along the American west all the way from Alaska down to Nicaragua. They encompass many different tribes, and their traditions include the Mexica (Aztec), Toltec, Purepecha, and Maya. These ancient traditions are integral to Antonio’s identity, his source of pride in his origins, and his passion in preserving the history and rituals.

From his father he claims ancestry going back to Culhuacan, an ancient city whose Nahuatl-speaking residents claim to be descendants of the Toltecs, predating the Aztec civilization. The Colhua established their capital at the foot of the Cerro de estrellas, and named it Culhuacan which can either mean “place of the Culhuas” or “place with a hump,” referring to the prominent hill in the area.

For centuries they dominated the region, until the Aztecs invaded in 1376 and brought about intermarriage between the two cultures. In 1522, Culhuacan was invaded once again, this time by Augustinian friars who came with the Spanish conquerors with their campaign of evangelizing all of New Spain. The friars built a monastery, and one of the teachers was Friar Bernardino de Sahagun, famous for documentation of the history and traditions of the natives of the area. He compiled the Florentine codex—so named because it was eventually brought to Florence, Italy, where it remains to this day. And Culhuacan remains the oldest civic and religious center in Mexico’s central highlands.

On his mother’s side Antonio is a Chichimeca, another ancient tribe whose members spread throughout the territory of Mexico and beyond. They are always remembered for their ferocity in battle and the unerring marksmanship with their bows and arrows. One eyewitness explained how he saw them throw an orange into the air and then all the warrior shot at it. The fruit fell to the ground in pieces because of all the arrows that pierced it. Another spoke of witnessing a Chichimeca warrior fight off four Spanish soldiers in full armor. The native had been pierced by the lance of one of the solders, yet was able to wrestle away the lances from the other three. In addition, the Chichimeca were known for their speed, and when pursued could even outrun the horses on which the Spaniards were riding. Because of all this, the Spanish feared them and were never able to defeat them.

Antonio is proud of his heritage—both on his father’s, and mother’s side. An interest in those ancient cultures led him to a group of Anahuac people living in the jungles of Guatemala, where they continue to celebrate the old traditions. One of the most important ones is a festival following the ancient Meso-American calendar which was recalibrated every 52 years in what was considered a renewal and a new beginning. Below is an ancient Mesoamerican calendar carved in stone.

On that particular date, which was aligned with the Pleiades, all fires were put out all the way from Alaska to Nicaragua, ceramic pots and figurines were broken, old clothes discarded, and household items destroyed because they were all linked to the old cycle. Then a certain moment a fire was lit somewhere in Nicaragua, named el fuego nuevo—the new light—and then one by one new fires were lit going northward all the way to Alaska. This was the new beginning, a sort of purification ritual, the start of a new era. Ancient illustration of the “new fire.”

Each of the various tribes held a part of the tradition, and the particular Mayan town in the jungle that Antonio visited was in charge of the specific 52-year celebration. He stayed with them, and while there had a series of dreams in which he heard unique music. He is convinced that it was delivered to him by his ancestors with a purpose, and claims “it was brought by the energy of the past.” In his waking state he was able to recall the music and it remains fixed in his memory. He has written out some of the musical score, and hopes to play and record it on a CD, recreating the music from the past.

Making this dream a reality is a major challenge because one needs the right instruments to perform this ancestral music. Not only do the instruments have to be the right type, they must also be tuned to a particular frequency. A musician friend in La Esmeralda is working with him on this project; creating the particular instruments that will be capable of transmitting the music that lives in his head—the music from the past that was gifted to him in a dream.

Antonio has both the passion and the ability to make this musical dream come true. He studied at UNAM in the conservatory of music, specializing in the viola d’amore, a unique baroque instrument played by a select few. A violin hybrid, it is not much different in appearance to a regular viola. However, it is the variation in sound that separates the two instruments, when a musical movement requires a special moment of color, the viola d’amore fills in the gap. This special sound is produced because it has six or seven strings that are played, and an equal number of resonance or sympathetic strings. These strings are untouched by the bow, but they vibrate in response to the primary strings in harmonic likeness.  A simple explanation of how this works is when you strike a tuning fork, with another tuning fork attached to it; then mute the struck fork, the second fork creates a sound after picking up the vibration.

Senses are difficult to describe, they must be experienced through the particular sense involved. With sound, no amount of words can truly convey the experience of hearing. Some have described the tonality of the viola d’amore as ethereal, or delicate and silvery. One of the best descriptions was given by Leopold Mozart, the father of the celebrated composer. He called the viola d’amore “a special violin that sounds especially beautiful in the stillness of the night.” Or perhaps the way to explain the sounds of a d’amore violin or viola can be accessed by tapping into another sense—the sense of sight. A painting by Fernandez Arman, titled Viola d’ amour captures visually the musical effect of the instrument, the vibrations resulting from sympathetic chords.

The viola d’amore was most popular in the late 17thcentury, and it a complicated instrument to play, and in spite of being an instrument of the Baroque era, composers continue to write for d’amore to the present day.

Following his studies, Antonio had a position teaching music in Mexico City, until he lost his job during the Covid pandemic. During the lockdown period he began playing his viola and violin on the streets and alleys of Mexico City. He looked for places where people gathered in spite of the lockdown—outside banks, grocery stores, government buildings, or simply along passageways. Then in 2021 he decided to come to San Miguel de Allende where he has family on his mother’s side, and found a place to stay in the small community of Esmeralda.

The bus from Esmeralda brings him to City Market within a half hour, and from there begins his walk to wherever he will play. At first he was simply playing on the streets, and then was able to play inside some of the restaurants along Ancha and Salida a Celaya, such as Lolita Restaurant and Murmullo Café. His only steady position is playing on Saturday and Sunday mornings at Hotel Golpe de Vista. Aside from that, he survives on what he receives in tips.

He hopes that the world will someday realize there is another story, lost because of the emphasis on Western culture. That there was once a great civilization here; and that his people built and created important artistic, architectural, and social structures that need to be acknowledged. His people maintain that although they have been subdued and decimated by the European conquerors, they will rise again because “today our things have been destroyed, but our sun will shine again!”

Today’s Mexico was the birthplace of one of the world’s six oldest civilizations that achieved a high level of development. Those people called themselves Anahuacas, originally hunters and gatherers who settled down once they learned to cultivate crops. They grew wheat, potatoes, rice and millet, and learned to hybridize corn, transforming a type of grass into food that now nourishes people everywhere.

The history of Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish, has been researched and written about and held in contempt. Ignored were the accomplishments of these ancient people who built pyramids and beautiful artworks as objects of worship. The Anahuac culture and philosophy was shared by people residing as far north as Alaska, down to Nicaragua. However, after so many years of colonization the native people have lost their historic memory and their pride, even forgetting the names by which their ancestors called themselves. The ancient Mexicans called the continent Cem-Anahuac, and they recognized themselves Anahuacs. Antonio’s mission is to promote and preserve the culture of his ancestors. These have been kept alive for millennia through oral traditions from generation to generation, through stories, songs, and dances. According to Antonio, his people say: “It is not we who will rescue our culture; our culture will rescue us.”

To contact Antonio Arreola call him at 442-118-4331 or email: Remayor07@gmail.com