Mexicayotl, Nahuatl for Mexicanness or the essence of being Mexican, is a modern movement to revive the indigenous religion, philosophy and cultural traditions of pre-Hispanic central Mexico, chiefly Aztec (Mexica) and broader Nahua traditions. It developed from the late 1940s onward among Mexico City intellectuals and later spread into Chicano and Mexican-American communities in the United States.
History & Origin
Founded in Mexico City in the late 1940s. The movement adopted Mexicayotl as its defining concept in a 1969 book, Mexikayotl. Francisco Jimenez Sanchez, later given the honorific title Tlacaelel, founded the In Kaltonal (House of the Sun, also called the Native Mexican Church) in the 1970s.
Facts
Disputed
Restoration ClaimAdherents present Mexicayotl as a direct restoration of Aztec and Nahua religion and philosophy. Mexica-identifying scholars and practitioners writing on mexika.org have documented that the movement foundational texts rely heavily on invented and reinterpreted material rather than a continuous unbroken transmission, since Spanish conquest and colonial evangelization broke institutional continuity with pre-Hispanic religious practice by the sixteenth century. 2 Adherents present Mexicayotl as a direct restoration; Mexica-identifying critics call the foundational texts pseudohistorical. Origins
Place of OriginMexico City, Mexico, later spreading to Chicano and Mexican-American communities in the United States. 1 FounderRodolfo Nieva Lopez, who founded the Movimiento Confederado Restaurador de la Cultura del Anahuac in Mexico City in the late 1940s with co-founder Francisco Jimenez Sanchez. A parallel current, Nueva Mexicanidad, was developed separately by writer Antonio Velasco Pina from the 1950s. 1 Status
Legal StatusIn Kaltonal, the branch founded by Francisco Jimenez Sanchez (Tlacaelel), received official recognition as a religious association from the Mexican government in 2007. 1 Sources
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