Apocalypto 'the Movie' in accordance with what was going on in Mexico in 1518.

Just a little FYI and background about what was going in 1518 Mexico.

The movie is set in a time that prophecies for the Indigenous Mesoamericans’ were becoming true. In 1518 the Aztecs were the main and strongest indigenous group of people whom the Spaniard eventually conquered in 1521

Before Cortés arrived there had already been a drought in Mesoamerica for almost 10 years. The crop production was horrible, people were starving, and because the Europeans had already landed in the Antilles and had already ventured into the Yucatan coast; there was an epidemic of measles and chicken pox that were heavily affecting the American Indigenous who had no resistance for such diseases (the little girl in the movie).

In one of the prophecies the moon was suppose to eat up the sun; in another the drought was a curse sent by the gods because the Aztecs and Mayans were not pleasing the gods; these prophecies were written before the feathered-serpent arrived. Prophecies of the Aztecs Quetzalcoatl and the Mayans Kukulcan (both feathered-serpent gods, and of all things both gods looked like Cortés according to the Mesoamerican Codex and artwork written and done before his arrival) were to return from a place far away, to their birthplaces in Teotihuacán or México City today; and Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, México respectively.

Blood, blood, and more blood for the Aztecs, Mayas and Incas was the flow of life. It was the flow of life for the gods as well and if the gods did not get enough blood the gods would not be happy. Therefore the gods did not supply rain and healthy crops. So the Aztecs and Mayas were sacrificing at an alarming rate trying to please the gods. This was unfortunate for the villages and tribes in and around the Aztec and Mayan major cities. Since the sacrifices had depleted the population in the larger cities (they could only sacrifice so many of their city people without creating chaos within the city) and most of the citizens and families had already donated a child or an adult male or female to the gods. Worriers were ordered to go outside the larger cities and abduct by force several individuals (young, old, women, and children) from the surrounding villages and tribes. The Spaniards were very much astonished when they witnessed their first human sacrifice, talk about cultural clash.

Most of the surrounding villagers did not want to partake in the sacrifices and several of the small villages had already donated a number of their kinfolks to the city leaders for sacrifices. Hence the bloody mess at the temples throughout Mexico in those times was horrendous, “approximately 40,000 individuals had been sacrificed in one year in Teotihuacan alone” (Adams, 1998). Imagine about 100 sacrifices per day.

The Mayas and Aztecs had very similar gods and beliefs; the language however, was different, and they were both a caste society (a hierarchy society that begins with the royal family, and descends to the relatives, high priest, soldiers, servants, entrepreneurs, artisans, labor workers, field workers, slaves, captured prisoners, street persons, the sick, and the poor). Mel portrays this as the Maya warriors return to the city with their captured sacrifices and we see them walk through the burned fields; through the mason workers (who died because their body could not take the constant work around the dust particles produced from all the stones they smashed); and eventually as they walk through several different types of social hierarchy until they all arrive to the main temple.

They also had shared rituals, religion, clothing, jewelry, and food. The Mayan priest in the movie who was doing the sacrifices was wearing an Aztec head peace, and the Mayan King was wearing turquoise as face jewelry, which means the “turquoise came from the Aztecs who in turn got it by trading with the Indigenous tribes in and around the southern areas of today USA states Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California” (Adam, 1998); so Mel stays true to the attire the Mayan used in that time period

The Mayas portrayed in the film are from the Post Classical Period 900 to1521, and had already broken up into many smaller villages and tribes, “like the peninsular Yucatecas who spoke Maya; the Tzeltales, Tzotziles and Chamulas of Chiapas; the Lacandones of the jungle; the Cakchikeles and Quichés of Guatemala; the Kekchís of Belize; the Chontales, Choles, Tojolabales, Mams, Motozintlecas and Itzáes from Petén: all of them were descendents from the past lost ancient Maya cities; whose mathematics, calendars and astronomy astonish us today”
(Dumois, 4). They were not as united as when the Mayan Culture was at its peak in the Classical Period 300 to 900 A.D. nor as powerful as the Aztecs.

This is why Cortés had no problem recruiting 50,000 to 100,000 Indigenous fighters to help his 400 Spaniard eventually defeat the Aztecs.

I guess Mel Gibson thought that the viewers knew what was going on during the times the movie is portrayed. That is his mistake, other than that it is a great film and portray’s the cultural reality of the situation (as in other movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, the godfather and others.

Traveling to a Spanish Speaking country

Post your travel experiences to a Spanish speaking country.

I like to travel to Spain, in the 1st
picture I like to visit the Gothic Cathedral and the Giralda in Sevilla, while in the second picture I visited the ruins of Machu-picchu, Perú.

Having traveled to both countries I saw how two opposite cultures are united today by the Spanish language.