Maria De Belen: The Autobiography of an Indian Woman [Hardcover]

Huitzitzilin/Hummingbird/Maria de Belen (and Limon), singing this her/their first song, tells the story of her/a native woman's conquered life -- and transports her readers to a faraway place and time, where we relive the history and experience the painful labor and difficult birth of a modern day Mexico.

Limon, who possesses a true talent for making life's lessons learnable, puts the story into history -- and what a "messenger" she's found in her "bird" that does much more than hum! Huitzitzilin (like Limon), with a knack for getting her point across in the strong yet subtle way that her readers have grown to admire, respect, look forward to, and love -- provokes new ways of thinking, as she poses such ponderances as: "if your bearded captains sacrifice a god for man, why not man for a god?" -- not so much as/in an attempt to rationalize the Mexica practice of human sacrificial offerings to their deities, but more as a way to challenge pre-conceived notions and prejudiced beliefs -- to make others re-think and re-see -- to bid them to step out of their ethnocentric shoes and walk awhile with the soles/souls they condemn as inhuman, and are so judgemental of.

thus we see the Mexica, not as barbaric savages, but as humans, weak and strong, of flesh and blood -- as men, women and children who "breathed and loved and felt and laughed and wept" -- realties that the glitter of gold blinded their conquerors to, the greed in them replacing any trace of brotherly love.

in addition to being an absorbing read, Limon's Maria de Belen is an attempt to educate her readers, not only in the ways of the Mexica, but in the ways of all mankind, by reminding them/us that no matter the shades of our skins, we are all the same -- brown or white, dark or light -- and by leading/redirecting them/us from knowing to understanding this truth -- in the hope that such comprehension will open closed minds and hearts, for -- as she says, "only through love can suffering end." -- and we've suffered enough!

those of you who have read (and love) Song of the Hummingbird will appreciate having made the effort to locate this one! complete with more descriptive stanzas and detailed verses than its scaled down and modified version, it offers a wealth of expanded information about aztec/mexica rituals, ceremonies, customs and beliefs -- both the scholar and the regular reader will get their time's worth from it! -- it has something for everyone.