FOREWORD

“Just as religious convictions determined social ethos and the way Native Americans behaved toward nature, ideology provided the frame for the recording and interpretation of history itself. . . . We see this reflected in the archetypal king of the archetypal civilized kingdom: Quetzalcoatl of Tollan.” So writes Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez at the end of the first chapter in the long-awaited, innovative, and significant Encounter with the Plumed Serpent: Drama and Power in the Heart of Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican Worlds series has two other books whose titles include the famed name of Quetzalcoatl: Davíd Carrasco’s Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition, Revised Edition and H. B. Nicholson’s classic study Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: The Once and Future Lord of the Toltecs. Jansen and Pérez Jiménez’s Encounter with the Plumed Serpent adds a new complexity and richness to our understanding of Mesoamerica’s widespread Plumed Serpent tradition. The authors use archaeological, iconographical, historical, and mythical evidence but also include contemporary ethnographic insights gleaned from years of working with indigenous peoples. Focusing intensely on the historical narratives of the Ñuu Dzaui peoples (the name given the Mixtecs by the Nahuas), Jansen and Pérez Jiménez describe the complex relationships among creator deities, rulers, warriors, place-names, and sacred storytelling not only to illuminate Quetzalcoatl’s past significance as archetypal ruler, priest, and warrior but also to explain some of his living legacies today. As they mention in the preface, the authors strive to carry forward the “vision of a sovereign people with their own history and culture, with values and with projects for the future” by taking us deeper into the dynastic discourses, religious symbolisms, and political traditions of these Mesoamerican peoples than other scholars have done previously. The authors present these people as historical and mythical; filled with profound attachments to the material conditions of their towns, lands, and cities; and animated by extraordinary imaginations, intellectual commitments, and creative ways of expressing them. It is by focusing on this potent combination, in part, that we are able to grasp new understandings of how religious convictions and political ideology combined to make the Plumed Serpent the focal point of many creative aspects of Mesoamerican history.

Additionally, the thorough introduction explicates the nature of the primary evidence, linkages and disjunctions between codices, and the nature of kingships and gods in Mesoamerican traditions. The authors also confront us with the need to give back to these people and their documents their original names. We have eagerly looked forward to sharing the innovative work of Maarten Jansen with our readers, and here it is deeply enriched by the companion voice of Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez.

As was prophesied long ago, the Plumed Serpent has returned yet again, this time through the research and writings of Jansen and Pérez Jiménez.

DAVÍD CARRASCO AND EDUARDO MATOS MOCTEZUMA
GENERAL EDITORS