Michael and friends--The Mexican national bird is the Golden Eagle portrayed
on the national flage killing a snake atop a cactus. The people we now call
Aztecs came from the north of Mexico City. Some believe they originated in
what is how the U.S. Southwest, and their language, Nahautl, still widely
spoken, I believe is related to SW U.S. indigeneous languages.

As I recall, the Aztecs were a wandering, warlike people who called
themselves Mexicas and had a legend that they should found an empire on the
spot where they saw a Golden Eagle killing a snake. They saw such an event
near what is now Mexico City.

Yours,

Jim Barton
redwing1986 at mediaone.net
Cambridge, MA



Michael Price wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> Fred Bird writes:
>
> >The last paragraph reads in part: "tribal police and the FBI said they has
> >discovered the body of Artei Cruz, 22, a Mexican national who had been
> >living on the reservation. He was last seen Dec. 23, and reported missing
> >>Jan. 2."
> >
> >>Coincidental or what?
>
> Far from being a 'noonee-noonee' Twilight Zone coincidence, this whole thing
> would make a perfect everday happenstance kind of sense if he were the owner
> and keeper of the caracara. Isn't it the national bird of Mexico? What if he
> kept it as some keep other raptor species: to identify with alleged totemic
> qualities: power, strength, clarity of vision, etc.?
>
> Considering his sad end, the lesson might be that totemic identification, at
> least for those qualities, might be a bit of a dry well.
>
> Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
> Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
> mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
> Aphra Behn (1640-1689)