The majority of readers and students nowadays view the conquest of Mexico as a dramatic clash between two highly developed and strong civilizations that were drastically different from one another and had not been aware of one another until the 1510s. Ironically, though, depending on whether we consider it to be a drama or a history, this feature actually makes it difficult to comprehend the logic that drives the events in their historiography or narrative.
The majority of academics and historians view the cultural gap as an a priori assumption, which hides similar methods used by historians on both sides to mythologize the conquest. Let’s use the well-known omens of the conquest events that occurred prior to 1519 that the Mexicans claimed to be apocalypse prophecies as a case study.
These can be found in a variety of sources, but the list of eight in Sahagun is the most well-known. Initially, a comet appeared, resembling a tongue of fire, and it was located towards the east at midnight. Second, Huitzilopochtli’s cue, or temple, caught fire on its own. When people attempted to put it out by dousing it with water, the fire erupted much more. Third, lightning hit a shrine in the town of Tzonmulco. Fourth, an additional comet or falling star was observed: “It started in the west and moved towards the east, seemingly showering glowing coals.” And there was a huge uproar when it was discovered. Fifth, the lake that surrounded Tenochtitlan bubbled up or foamed, flooding some homes and damaging others. A sixth bad omen was the frequent sound of a lady sobbing and calling out. She let out a loud yell at night.
As she moved around, she exclaimed, “My beloved sons, we are about to go!” Seventh, and most provocatively, Moctezuma was handed an ash-colored bird that resembled a crane. On its head, he saw a mirror, and in the glass, he saw the stars of a constellation known as the Fire Drill: And when Moctezuma saw the stars and the Fire Drill, he saw it as a portent of immense disaster. He saw something somewhat different when he glanced at the bird’s head a second time: “Deer carried them upon their backs, looking like people coming massed, coming as conquerors, coming girt in war array.”
Ultimately, enormous “thistle-men” with two heads were discovered; upon presenting them to Moctezuma, they miraculously vanished. These omens have a strong sense of authority since Sahagun recounts them in the opening chapter of his account of the conquest of Mexico.
Other historians, such Tlascalan mestizo Diego Muñoz Camargo, also reiterate these points. Euro-Americans are encouraged to treat these omens as profoundly meaningful but uncrackable due to the superstitious atmosphere around them and the references to thistle-men, the Fire Drill, and the crane, all of which have culturally particular implications.
Tzvetan Todorov emphasizes the importance of the Aztecs’ obsession with these omens and auguries in The Conquest of America. It is a key piece of evidence bolstering his claim that “Spanish and Indians practice communication differently,” with the former favoring human-to-human communication, such as the military intelligence that was so vital to Cortés, and the latter communicating primarily with the gods or with nature. In addition, Todorov tracks down “accounts, proceeding from peoples very remote from each other” (such as the Tarascans, Tainos, Mayans, and Incas), all of which are “striking in their uniformity: the arrival of the Spaniards is always preceded by omens, and their victory is always foretold as certain.”
Certain indigenous histories of North American colonial invasions, as well as the preparation and opposition to them, follow a similar pattern. Despite acknowledging that Christopher Columbus, among other European colonizers, may have imparted this mystical or superstitious way of thinking to the Indians, Todorov maintains that there is a fundamental cultural difference between the two civilizations’ communication patterns.
The Indians are devoted to ceremony, narrative oral eloquence, a cyclical conception of time, and historical reflection. The Spaniards, represented by Cortés, prepare for their future prosperity and engage in improvisation, interpretation, and a linear perspective of history.
Todorov ignores the superstitious and millenarian beliefs of the European colonizers, both Spanish and English, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in his attempt to make Cortés and the Spanish represent modern semiological sophistication. He also reiterates the prejudices of missionaries and historians who labeled the Indians as being under the control of superstition or the devil.
A comparative analysis of the history of Indian uprisings in North America shows that both colonists and Indians were concerned about the possibility of coming conflict. The interpretation of natural events as proof of divine providence alarmed New England Puritans of all social classes, and their historians saw warning signals of King Philip’s War.