Mexicans: Mythology, Movement and Masterpiece
Yel Hannon Brayton
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Storytelling
To introduce the story of Quetzalcoatl, a couple of conch shells are passed around the classroom. Students are told to put them to their ears and listen. What sounds do you hear? The sound of the wind? The beating of the surf? A drawing of the transverse section of the shell is then displayed. In the drawing, one can see the record of its growth from its tightly curled center spiraling outward in a circular pattern. From within the shell, a soft worm-like body, the conch, will emerge. It is the conch that is the source of movement and life within the shell; a shell that represents a completed cycle of life. The conch would also appear to be the inspiration for the design of Quetzalcoatls insignia as has been suggested in An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya (p. 142). Several pictures from this book will be shown to students that depict the Feathered Serpent wearing this pectoral insignia. Although a story is usually envisioned in a more linear pattern, it too, follows a kind of life cycle. Students will be instructed that they will be writing a story about the Feathered Serpent that they met in their visualization exercise, the one they have just seen pictures of. In the visualization exercise, students visited the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan where according to Mary Miller and Karl Taube (Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya, p. 141) the earliest known representation of the deity can be found (third century AD). Students will learn about who Quetzalcoatl was and the things he did. They will learn that he is a part of Mexican mythology. After a shared reading of The Story of Quetzalcoatl (Warriors, Gods & Spirits, pp. 21-24), they will then use a pattern to start writing their stories. This pattern can be a list of items or a web. In either case, like the conch, the story will emerge. As the conch gives movement and life within the shell, so will they animate their ideas through storytelling.
