THE WOMEN OF MEXICO
THE story of the women of Mexico, as that country is known to-day,
presents few distinctive features. If that story were confined to the
status of woman as found in the present inhabitants of the country of
the _conquistadores_, there would be but little to tell, since from the
time of the first coming of the Spaniards to the present day there has
been but little change of consequence in the matter with which we are
directly concerned. But the very mention of the name of the Spanish
conquerors recalls a civilization which preceded that which we now
know--a civilization which in various forms has remained impressed upon
the characteristics of Mexico, and one which is therefore of some
importance as well as of the greatest interest to us in our study of the
progress of women in America. That civilization is, of course, that of
the Aztecs, that wonderful race which held Mexico from time
immemorial--or, more strictly, indeterminate--up to the hour when Cortés
and his followers penetrated to their capital and began the work, to
know completion in a few short years, of destroying not only a nation
but a civilization, and one that was in many ways the most remarkable of
which there is record.
It is in no way needful to enter into the detail of general Aztec
sociology. In this work the principal interest is connected with those
social aspects and influences which affect women; yet a few words
concerning the chief features of the Aztec civilization are absolutely
necessary to the understanding of our subject. The Aztecs--in which
general title, for convenience, are included the Tezcucans, though there
were differences of civilization, the Tezcucans being in many respects
superior to their neighbors--the Aztecs present in nearly every way the
greatest racial mystery that has ever come under the notice of the
student of comparative ethnology. Their very origin is unknown; it is
impossible to discover how much of their civilization they owed to their
traditions, how much may have been of gradual growth, and how much may
have come to them as a legacy from the still more mysterious Toltecs,
later probably known as Mayas, of whom remain wonderful monuments and
traditional narratives preserved by the Aztecs. This people appeared in
the Anahuac Valley in the sixth or seventh century, and founded their
chief town, Tula, about fifty miles north of Mexico City. Their name is
said to signify "builders," and tradition ascribes to them an advanced
knowledge of arts and a remarkable culture. The supremacy of the Toltecs
in the Anahuac Valley lasted till the twelfth century, when they
abandoned Tula and mysteriously disappeared. Among the traditions
preserved, the most conspicuous concerning the Toltec women is that of
Xochitl, queen of one of the later chiefs, or "kings."
Huemac II. began to reign in Mexico about 995, in what is called the
Toltec period. Xochitl, accompanied by her father, a nobleman, went to
the court of Huemac, carrying with her as an offering to the king a
beverage which she had invented. The king tasted the wine, and desired
to have more. Later, Xochitl returned to the court, and Huemac, who
already was fascinated with the girl, caused her to be retained, and
sent a message to her father that he had placed her in the care of his
court ladies and would complete her education. Shortly afterward his
queen died, and Huemac immediately made Xochitl his queen.
The labors of Don Mariano Veytia in his _Historia Antigua_, and the
researches of more modern scholars, furnish us with some fragmentary
history of the Aztecs before the coming of Cortés; but these fragments,
in relation to the status of womanhood in those days, cannot be joined
into a coherent whole, and consideration will therefore be here given to
some aspects of Aztec civilization as found by the conqueror rather than
to the pre-Aztec culture. The most notable general feature of that
civilization is its singular contradictions. We find a race, gentle,
intelligent, refined in some respects beyond European standards of their
day--and yet cannibals, at least under certain conditions! We find these
people moral, with high ideals of religion in theory--and in practice
holding human sacrifices as an essential part of their cult! We find
them warlike and yet mild, the conquerors of the neighboring races, and
yet ruling these more by force of intellect than of arms. Most wonderful
of all, we find a true and high civilization, isolated from all
companionship and existing by its own inherent merits, and not, as has
been the case with almost all others, by contact and rivalry with others
of almost equal powers.
The Aztecs were versed in the arts of agriculture, mechanics,
architecture, pottery, and, generally, in the domestic arts. They built
beautiful cities, containing noble edifices, both private and public.
Their dress was artistic and graceful, and their tastes were worthy of
the highest civilization then known. They delighted in flowers, in
beautiful gardens, in all manner of natural graces. They lived under the
rule of an emperor, and there were many great nobles, of a distinct
class and holding large estates.
There was a regular law of descent for these estates, and the principles
of entail and of reversion to the crown were understood and practised.
There seems to have been a species of feudality as the foundation of the
social order, but our knowledge in this respect is too vague to justify
us in reasoning from it to any great length. There were courts of
justice, with jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, and there was
the legal machinery of higher and lower courts, with the privilege of
appeal. The rights of property and persons were fully, if not acutely,
recognized. There was a regularly established priesthood, of which the
emperor was the official head. There were admirably organized and
conducted schools, where morality as well as education was inculcated.
In short, there were all the requisites, though not always in modern
form, that we are accustomed to consider as the rightful and unique
portion of the highest Caucasian culture.
And yet, this cultured and refined people practised cannibalism! Not
only did they eat the bodies of captives taken in war and immolated upon
their altars in the execution of their religious rites, but, according
to Sahagun in his _Historia de Nueva Espana_, they often, at private
feasts, sacrificed a slave and served his flesh to the assembled guests.
These dishes were dressed in most elaborate ways, for the Aztecs were
excellent cooks. This, however, only adds, in its refinement of
bestiality, to the revolting aspect of the custom.
It is now time to turn from this very imperfect summary of the
civilization of the Aztecs to the place therein occupied by woman. This
place was very high higher than that gained by the sex in any other race
found on the North American continent. It may be stated as a general
fact that woman held equal social position with man. Physically they
were attractive, their complexions being light and their hair long and
black. They dressed tastefully, their heads being covered by a gauzy
veil or wreathed with flowers or even with strings of precious stones
and pearls. They wore flowing robes, handsomely trimmed with embroidery,
and their appearance was in all ways far superior to that of any other
American women.
Their status, while in some respects sharing in the contradictions that
we find prevalent among the Aztecs, was, on the whole, almost equal to
that of their European sisters of that day. It is true that
polygamy--that institution usually so fatal to the place of woman in the
community where it is practised--was permissible among the Mexicans; but
it is probable that its practice was confined only to the most wealthy
and was not invariable among them. On the other hand, the sanctity of
the marriage tie, that great safeguard for women, was strongly insisted
upon. Not only was the marriage rite formally celebrated as a religious
ceremony, but there was instituted a special legal tribunal for the sole
purpose of hearing and deciding questions relating to marriage. Divorce
existed, but only by a decree of the tribunal mentioned above, and was
not a matter of discretion; due reason must be alleged and proved,
infidelity being, of course, the primary cause for divorce. Adultery was
severely punished; and it is a remarkable fact, as showing the advance
made by this people upon the conceptions of the ancient civilizations,
that concubinage was exceptional, though slavery was an institution of
the country. Even the slave woman, however, held a position advanced
beyond that usual in such cases, for her child was born free; there was
no such thing as hereditary slavery among the Aztecs. No other
civilization, ancient or modern, has been thus generous.
The practical equality of woman to man was recognized in the fact, among
others, that women had a distinct and honorable part in the sacerdotal
functions and rites, though they could not participate in sacrifice. The
priestesses undertook the education of the girls, the schools being a
part of the temples. Here the girls were taught the feminine
accomplishments peculiar to their culture as well as those of more
general use, such as weaving and embroidering the rich draperies used to
cover the altars of their gods. The strictest morality was inculcated in
these schools; for the Aztecs were essentially a moral people, and the
girls were brought up in habits of the straitest decorum. This they were
not likely to exceed, at least while under the tutelage of the
priestesses, for offences were visited with the greatest severity, even
death being occasionally meted out as punishment for the most marked
transgressions. The system of these schools was to some extent
conventual, and reverence for religion was instilled as an integral
portion of the system.
The education that was received by women among the early Mexicans may be
illustrated by a reference to the story of _The Lady of Tula_. Among the
Tezcucans, at least at one time, concubinage was recognized as a
legitimate appanage of royalty, and the Lady of Tula was one of the
concubines of Nezahualpilli, son of the great monarch Nezahualcoyotl and
his successor as ruler of the Tezcucan nation. The son of this latter
king entered into a correspondence with the Lady of Tula, and, as the
offence was capital, the youth was slain by royal command; but we are
not concerned so much with the sadness of his fate or with the Roman
severity of his father as with the characteristics of the woman who
tempted him from his allegiance to his royal sire. It is told of her
that, though of humble birth, she possessed most remarkable endowments
of mind, that she wrote beautiful verse, and that she was often
consulted upon grave matters by the king and his ministers. She was
given a separate establishment, and maintained almost regal state. The
information that we have of this woman discloses a very high feminine
status among the Tezcucans; and as the chronicler of her powers
expresses little or no surprise concerning them, we may assume that such
education and standing as she enjoyed were not uncommon among Mexican
women, even if not in so high a degree as in the case of the Lady of
Tula.
To return to the women of the true Aztecs. When the young girl had
emerged from the conventual school she took her place in society as one
of its rightful factors. She participated on equal terms with the men in
all social functions, eating with them at the banquet and taking part in
all the festivities which were so congenial to the somewhat superficial
nature of that people. It is true that at the banquets she sat apart
from the men, as did also the married women; but this was simply a
custom, not a result of inferior status. These banquets were carried on
in a style not inferior to the feasts of the old Romans; the tables were
covered with flowers, and bowls of water and cotton napkins were
furnished to each guest, that they might perform before eating the
ablutions which were as formal with the Aztecs as with the Mussulmans.
There were golden chafing dishes and cups and platters, as well as table
ornaments of the precious metal, which was very common among the
Mexicans. The feasts of the wealthy, if we may credit the accounts of
early writers, were sumptuously provided with delicacies, such as
venison, peccaries, rabbits, "tuzas,"--a species of mole,--fish of many
names, turtles, iguanas, turkeys, quails, and numerous other kinds of
birds. Vegetables and fruits of several varieties completed the dishes.
The variety and quality of food here indicated suggest an epicurean
supply rather than the frugal dietary to which the Aztecs are reputed to
have been accustomed. Before eating it was _de rigueur_ to smoke, the
tobacco being in the form of cigars or used in pipes, the former being
held in dainty holders of tortoise shell or silver; but we are not
informed whether or not the women participated in this part of the
feast. We do, however, know that after the banquet was concluded the
elder women as well as the men drank pulque, the national beverage,
often to a state of intoxication; but the young of both sexes were
rigorously excluded from this portion of the entertainment. The youths
and maidens danced while their elders drank--a custom which has not
wholly ceased in our own civilization; and we can find in the whole
proceeding on these festal occasions more likeness to modern
entertainments than is found even by the old Spanish writer who tells us
that, after the distribution of gifts with which the entertainment came
to a close, the guests dispersed, "some commending the feast, and others
condemning the bad taste or extravagance of their host, in the same
manner as with us."
While the home discipline of children, like that in the public schools,
was of a very severe type, the relations of the Aztec maiden to her
parents, after she had arrived at maturity, were of the closest and
tenderest description. They enjoined upon her, with loving solicitude
for her well-being and felicity, simplicity of manners and conversation,
personal neatness, modesty of demeanor, and reverence for her husband
when she became a wife. They showed her an affection and consideration
which were in conformity with the highest type of social culture, and in
return were regarded and treated with respect and love.
When the maiden finally attained the dignity of wifehood, her condition
was hardly changed. She received from her husband the utmost respect of
demeanor, and she was--of course we are considering the women of the
upper classes--freed from all obligation of service. She had maidens to
wait upon her and to do the tasks of the household, over which she ruled
much as did a feudal chatelaine in the days of chivalry in Europe; and a
favorite amusement with the Aztec wives consisted in listening to their
maidens rehearse traditionary tales and ballads. When there came to her
the further dignity of motherhood, she was the recipient of
congratulatory visits from her friends and neighbors--male as well as
female--from whom she received gifts of dresses, ornaments, or flowers,
in token of sympathy and regard. These visits of ceremony were regulated
by a code, unwritten but as thoroughly understood and binding as that
which regulates similar forms in our own social world. In short, the
Aztec woman, whether as maiden, wife, or mother, received universal
acknowledgment of her rightful place in the structure of society and was
in almost all respects the peer of her Caucasian sister in status and
indeed in civilization. Most of what has thus far been written is
applicable to the women of the lower classes as well as to their richer
and more cultured countrywomen, at least so far as concerns the
estimation in which they were held and their place in the household and
in their appropriate society. Of course, even as with us, the women of
the lower classes labored; but their labors were as a rule not severe.
The Aztecs were primarily an agricultural people, and their women
assisted in the toil necessary to the tillage of the soil, but their
labors were of the lighter kinds; they sowed the seed and husked the
corn, but they did not reap or garner, while they would doubtless have
rebelled in mass had they been required to undertake the more laborious
tasks incident to irrigation or actual tillage. Even the slave women,
though these of course were doomed to harder service than the wives and
daughters of freemen, were not generally condemned to wearing toil.
Indeed, the institution of slavery, except in the cases of prisoners
taken in war,--a small class of slaves, since such prisoners were
usually sacrificed to the gods,--was milder among the Aztecs than among
any people of whom there is historical record; the slave could marry at
will, could hold property, and could even possess slaves of his own,
while, as has been already said, the child of a slave was independent of
the status of his parent.
It is unfortunately true that there can be found but few names of women
of importance in the history of the Aztecs or indeed of the Conquest
itself; nearly all that is to be learned is general and not particular
in its import. Though the blood of many of the women of that period,
intermingled with that of the Spanish cavaliers, flows in the veins of a
very large number of the Mexicans of to-day, there is yet no trustworthy
record of particular names or fames. It is indeed recorded that
Alvarado, one of the right-hand men of Cortés, married the daughter of
Xicotencatl, a Mexican chief; but she was a Tlascalan, not an Aztec. So,
as space would fail in the compass of a large volume to tell of all the
civilizations which surrounded that of the Aztecs, and also as Doña
Luisa, as she was called by the Spaniards after her baptism into the
Christian faith, did nothing more meritorious than to bear to
Tonitiuh--"the Sun"--as Alvarado was called by the Mexicans, because of
his bright face and golden hair, a number of children who became by
intermarriage the sires and mothers of some of the noblest families of
Castile, she does not deserve particular chronicle here. It may,
however, be well to take advantage of the introduction of this incident
to make the statement that marriage between the followers of Cortés and
his successors and the native maidens--who must first, as an unalterable
rule, embrace the tenets of Christianity, which had borne its earliest
message to them in the flame and steel of the massacre of their parents
and kinsmen--was adopted as a matter of policy and resulted in the
foundation of many lines which have continued to the present day.
Though there is no typical Aztec woman to present as representative of
her sex and country, there is one whose name is so welded with the
history of the fall of the Aztec power that a brief sketch of her story
may be given here. She was of Mexican birth, but had been sold by her
unprincipled mother as a slave, the mother thereby securing for her son
by a second marriage the estate which would otherwise have fallen to the
girl. When Cortés reached his first harbor on his road to Tenochtitlan,
as the Aztec capital was called, the cacique of Tabasco presented him
with several slaves, among whom was this girl, called by the Spaniards
Doña Marina, and by the Mexicans Malinche. She was of great beauty and
of a high degree of intelligence, and she soon came within the notice of
Cortés by acting as interpreter for him when he was embarrassed by his
inability to communicate with the Aztec embassy. She did not at that
time speak Spanish, but she managed to interpret through an
intermediary, and she soon became proficient in the language of the men
with whom her lot was now thrown, from one of whom she learned more than
the Castilian tongue.
The beauty of the young girl, whose charms are said by Spanish writers
to have been extraordinary, soon captivated the heart of Cortés, and he
first made her his secretary and then his mistress. At least so the
fashion of our time would term her, but there can be little doubt that
in the eyes of Marina, reared amid traditions of polygamy, there was
nothing of wrong in her union with Cortés, and it may be noted that such
a good and moral man as Father Olmedo had for her no word of reproof but
rather of blessing. At all events, she openly lived with Cortés as his
wife and by him had a son, Don Martin Cortés, acknowledged by his
father, and who afterward became comendador of the Military Order of
Saint lago.
Marina was a loving, faithful, tenderhearted woman, and she was in all
ways true to her Spanish lover and to his countrymen, frequently
extricating them from grave difficulties by her advice, given with
knowledge of the natures as well as customs of the Mexicans. Perhaps
this was only to be expected; but it is remarkable, and speaks volumes
for her character, that she was always held in affectionate honor by the
Mexicans themselves, though she dwelt in the camp of their oppressors.
In truth, Marina time and again used her influence with Cortés on the
side of mercy, and she always displayed a profound sympathy with the
misfortunes of the Mexicans, notwithstanding the fact that she may have
in some ways aided their foes and tyrants. Even though the act which
more than aught else struck terror into the souls of the Indians--the
cutting off of the hands of fifty Tlascalans, who had come to the camp
of Cortés in the garb of ambassadors but were suspected of being
spies--was directly traceable to the watchfulness of Marina in the cause
of the man she loved, she was never held culpable by the natives for her
guardianship, though this resulted so disastrously to those who, if not
precisely her countrymen, were assuredly more nearly of consanguineous
race than were those whom she defended from them. It was these people
too, who, after their desperate but vain struggle with the Spaniards,
whose arms and valor proved invincible against overwhelming numbers,
were the most faithful allies of Cortés in his battles with the Aztecs.
Muñoz Camargo relates that, among other tokens of their friendship, they
presented numbers of "beautiful maidens" to the Conqueror and his
companions.
All through the wonderful march to the capital, through the honorable
reception accorded to Cortés, through the siege which was the
consequence of Spanish treachery, through the "Terrible Night," which
saw the banishment of Spanish power for a time from Tenochtitlan,
through the long march back to the coast, through all perils, as through
all triumphs, Marina stood by the side of her lover, watchful of his
welfare, wise in suggestion, tender in helpfulness, in all things a
noble type of woman. When the unhappy Montezuma was made prisoner within
his own capital, Marina alone of those who surrounded him never forgot
the reverence that was due to the monarch, and it was she who nursed him
most tenderly when he lay dying under the wounds inflicted by his own
outraged subjects. It was she who most uncomplainingly bore the
privations of the siege, she who most bravely met the terrors of the
"Noche Triste;" and it may be said that it was she more than any other
single man or woman, Alvarado and Sandoval not excepted, who helped
Cortés to establish the Spanish rule in Mexico.
The question of the gratitude of Cortés for these services and for her
love is one that is to be settled by each reader of history according to
his own ideas of the form which true appreciation should take. The facts
are simple enough. In 1525 she was with the Conqueror at Coatzacualco,
the province which could claim the honor of being her birthplace. Here,
by accident, she came into contact with her own mother, who had sold her
into slavery and who was now naturally terrified at meeting her injured
daughter in a situation of power; but Marina, with her natural
generosity, embraced her parent, assured her of her forgiveness, and
even made her many presents, apparently in the wish to regain that
affection which had once been hers in her babyhood. This was the last
time that Marina appears by the side of Cortés; on the expedition to
Honduras, made shortly afterward, he gave her away to Don Juan
Xamarillo, a knight of Castile, who wedded her according to the rites of
the Catholic Church. Here then is the question which each must decide
for himself: Was Cortés just and generous in thus making disposition for
the honorable and safe future of the woman who loved him, or was he
merely ridding himself of one who had grown to be an encumbrance? It is
impossible to answer; it is not even known whether the marriage was
arranged with the sanction of Marina or whether it was a piece of
tyranny on the part of the Conqueror, of venality on the part of Don
Juan, of heartbroken docility on the part of Marina. Nor is there any
record of the further life of the latter by which to decide the
probabilities of her marriage being more than a mere contract; from the
time of the completion of the ceremony the gentle Marina fades from the
page of history. It is certain indeed that she was given estates in
Coatzacualco,--possibly the bribe which induced Don Juan to wed the
mistress of his captain,--but it is not even known that she lived to
take possession of those estates. Except for the unmerited persecution
and shameful torture undergone by her son, Don Martin Cortés, we are
never again reminded in history that Marina had lived to be the right
hand of one of the greatest conquerors of all time, to prove the most
valuable ally found by the fierce enemies of her native land, and yet to
be held in lasting honor alike by conquerors and conquered.
[Illustration 3: THE BEAUTIFUL MAIDENS PRESENTED TO THE SPANIARDS.
_Reproduced from the "Lienzo de Tlaxcala".
Muñoz Camargo relates hot their Tlaxcalan allies presented the Spaniards
a large number of "beautiful maidens." This native representation of the
scene shows Cortés seated, with his followers behind him, and at his
side Marina, a young native woman who was his companion and interpreter.
The_ Lienzo de Tlaxcala _was a long strip of canvas, containing
forty-eight representations of scenes of the early Spanish invasions.
The original was destroyed during the revolution following the downfall
of Maximilian, but a copy had fortunately been made before the
destruction._]
Shortly before the marriage of Doña Marina, Cortés's legal wife a woman
of low birth and a drag upon him in his upward career had come over from
the Islands to New Spain, but she did not live long after her arrival,
and her death furnished the later detractors of Cortés with a pretext to
attack him in the way that could most deeply and yet safely pierce his
defence. This was absurd enough, since Cortés had always treated his
wife with affection and consideration; but suspicion was never entirely
allayed. The facts of having thus influenced in some degree the fortunes
of the Conqueror and of having been one of the first ladies of Spain to
die on the shores of New Spain form the only title to mention in this
history of Doña Catalina Xuarez.
There are indeed but few names of women associated with the conquest of
Mexico, that of Marina standing out preeminent. Yet there were women not
a few who exercised a certain influence on the fortunes of the Conqueror
and his army, though their names are generally unknown to us. In the
second march upon the Mexican capital many of the soldiers had brought
their wives with them, and during the stress and storm of the days when
Guatemozin was hurling his forces again and again upon the fearfully
outnumbered but better armed Spaniards, these women did service in true
Amazon style. Not only did they cheer and encourage the downhearted and
prick the cowards--though there were very few of the latter in that
little army--with the needle of their scorn, but they actually did
soldier service as well. When Cortés had besought these women to remain
at Tlascala, they had replied that "It was the duty of Castilian wives
not to abandon their husbands in danger, but to share it with them, and,
if necessary, to die with them." Though some of the names of these
heroines have been embalmed in history by Herrera, they have but little
meaning for us now; it is more to the point to know that one and all
acted to the utmost of their conception of duty and that some of them
mounted guard on the walls in the place of their husbands, while one was
said actually to have donned mail at a time of disaster and rallied the
retreating troops against the enemy. It cannot be said, however, that
even these gallant dames showed a higher spirit than did the native
women during the same time of battle. The Aztecs were suffering from
many evils during the conflict when the Spaniards strove, for long in
vain, to take from them their beautiful city. The plague of small-pox
was abroad, brought to the Aztecs by a dying negro in the train of
Cortés; and that unknown negro proved the most terrible foe of the Aztec
nation. Yet, even though they were now dying by hundreds in the streets,
while their thinning ranks were being swept by the fire-speaking tubes
that weaponed the army of their foes, they fought fiercely on, and their
women gave them noble aid and incitement. They stood by the side of the
warrior in battle, strung his bow, filled his quiver, gave him fresh
stones for his sling; they nursed the sick through all the horrors of
the loathsome disease which had fastened upon them; and they did yet
more, for they kept their hearts high with hope and determination when
even the noblest warriors failed of these things, and so they upheld the
hands of Guatemozin, their beloved but most unhappy chief, and upbore
the standard of their country to the very end. It was all in vain; the
Mexico of that civilization was doomed; but none the less did the women
of that day, both pagan and Christian, display qualities which in the
fusion of the races in after years should have borne noble fruit.
It is not the purpose of this work to trace the history of any country,
save at the points where such history touches the universal story of
woman; and so there exists no obligation to present to the reader even
the most fragmentary sketch of the progress of Mexico from the rule of
the barbarism of the Aztecs to that of the civilization of the
Spaniards. The latter brought with them their own feminine culture, and
for long held it apart from the conditions existing among the indigenous
inhabitants of the land. Among the women of Spain who took up their
abode in Mexico there are names which lend themselves to story; but
their histories touched Mexico only as a scenic background, and,
moreover, it would be an unfruitful digression to attempt to find any
feminine history in the days of Spain's first occupation of Anahuac. The
vice-roys held their courts with little less than regal splendor, and it
cannot be that those courts were unadorned by the presence of women of
high claim to remembrance; yet there comes down to us no name of those
days touched with the halo of romance or in any way made worthy of
memoir. Doubtless the ladies of the viceregal courts flaunted as costly
attire and held themselves as haughtily as their sisters in the court of
Spain itself; but they passed away and left no trace, even as an
influence. For years of varying fortunes but of constant prosperity in
high places, Spain held Mexico under dominance, until the oppression of
the lower classes began to bear its invariable fruit, and there came
first threats, and then acts of rebellion. There was revolution after
revolution; but although the unsuccessful revolts bequeathed to history
the names of such men as Hidalgo and Morelos, and the successful attempt
to throw off the galling yoke of Spain, the names of Yturbide and Santa
Anna, there comes down to us even from these later times the name of not
one woman of renown. Moreover, there is but little in the way of
development and change which is found for record. Long before the
expulsion of the Spaniard, the Mexican people had come to be recognized
as a nation, not merely descendants of the Spaniards, but a people of
self-gained characteristics. Mexico was no longer New Spain; she was
herself, even as, a few years before, a greater country on her borders
had come to be itself in the matter of nationality, even before it had
gained autonomy. To be a Mexican woman was not merely to be a lesser
Spaniard, but to be something definite, something individual. Some of
the older national traits had become developed, some atrophied; but long
before Mexico had achieved her independence, the Mexican woman had
attained her own freedom from Spanish dominance in matters of custom,
thought, and even heredity.
Yet it cannot be said that there was progress. There was fixed
development of nationality as displayed in the establishment of a
characteristic femininity, but there was no evolution toward a higher
type of individual or of civilization than had been known in the days of
the coming of the Spaniards. On the contrary, there may be said to have
been retrogression. The woman of Mexico--by which name we must now
distinguish the descendants of the Spaniards, while those of Aztec
blood, or descendants from any of the native tribes, may be called
generically Indians--retained as a rule neither the activity and courage
of the wives of the _conquistadores_ nor the graces and dignity of the
dames of the viceregal courts. After the establishment of Mexican
independence there came as first ambassador from Spain, in 1839, Señor
Don Calderon de la Barca; and this gentleman brought with him his very
accomplished wife. Madame Calderon, as is the case with most women, was
an indefatigable letter-writer, especially when she was amid new
conditions; and to a number of her letters, written with no intent of
publication, but most vivid and entertaining in their presentation of
the chief characteristics of Mexican social life, is owing much of the
present-day knowledge of Mexican existence in the early part of the
nineteenth century, when that existence had begun to be acknowledged as
national and individual. There is no period better adapted than this to
the purpose of finding and fixing a typical Mexican woman, for it was
the time when the women of Anahuac had emerged from the imitation of
Spanish characteristics and customs into a national female existence as
well as type, and it was before their briefly held individuality failed
beneath the incursions of a northern civilization which has been so
universally destructive of national type wherever it has set foot.
Consideration of the characteristics of the Mexican woman of the forties
may be begun with an extract from the letters of Madame Calderon. She is
speaking of society women in Mexico, and she says: "I must put aside
exceptions which are always rising up before me, and write en masse.
Generally speaking, the Mexican señoras and señoritas write, read, and
play a little; sew, and take care of their houses and children. When I
say they read, I mean they know how to read; when I say they write, I do
not mean that they can always spell; and when I say they play, I do not
assert that they have a general knowledge of music. The climate inclines
everyone to indolence, both physical and moral. One cannot pore over a
book when the blue sky is constantly smiling in at the open windows."
This language reads as the words of one who is reluctantly compelled to
tell the whole truth and then seeks to withdraw or at least palliate the
accusation which she has brought. It is entirely plain that at the time
of Madame Calderon ignorance and sloth were the prevailing feminine
characteristics among those who sat in high places. It is true that the
chronicler goes on to say that the Mexican women generally made good
wives and affectionate mothers; but even in this matter she does not
strike us as speaking from conviction. However this may be, she is
certainly at no loss to characterize the taste in dress displayed by the
"fine ladies" upon festal occasions. Describing one of these, she
writes: "Here was to be seen a group of ladies, some with black gowns
and mantillas, others, now that their church-going duty was over,
equipped in velvet or satin, with their hair dressed--and beautiful
hair they have; some leading their children by the hand, dressed--alas,
how were they dressed! Long, velvet gowns trimmed with blonde, diamond
earrings, high French caps furbelowed with lace and flowers, or turbans
with plumes of feathers. Now and then, the head of a little thing that
could hardly waddle alone might have belonged to an English
dowager-duchess in her opera-box. Some had extraordinary bonnets, and as
they toddled along, top-heavy, one would have thought they were little
old women, without a glimpse caught of their lovely little brown faces
and blue eyes."
Though again Madame Calderon very kindly bestows her criticism upon the
dresses of the children rather than those of the mothers, even a mere
man can guess what must have been the appearance of the mothers who had
chosen thus to dress their offspring.
It is not, however, among the higher classes of city-dwellers that one
should seek for the most characteristic aspects of the life of a nation.
These city-dwellers, and especially the female moiety of them, are apt
to be mere imitators of other cultures, shaping their lives, as their
costumes, in obedience to the dictates of some other land, higher in the
scale of fashion. It is to the country, the _terris_ as distinguished
from the _urbis_, that one must go to obtain the truth of female life in
Mexico or any other land; for, though fashion may hold sway here also,
it is less apt to overcome national taste and custom.
Female life on the great estates of Mexico, the _haciendas_, in the
first days of the republic was in a measure characteristic and
individual--more so, at least, than at any time since the days of the
first coming of the Spaniards. To some extent there was a continuance of
the customs of the race which had dwelt in Anahuac before the coming of
the invaders, the customs being modified by the conditions and needs of
the new time. Among the upper classes, there was no costume peculiar to
the country, save that nearly all wore the graceful veil in lieu of the
hideous European headdress of the period. There was, however, then as
now, a decided love for garishness of color among the Mexican women, and
there was but little display of taste in the direction of costume.
The mistress of a large hacienda was somewhat in the position of one of
the European "ladies of the castle" in feudal days; but as a
rule--though, of course, the stated rules had many exceptions--she did
not occupy herself in the same manner as did the feudal chatelaine. She
was apt to be ignorant and lazy; she passed the greater part of the day
in idling upon the _azotea_, as was called the roof-garden which crowned
most of the long and low houses of the Mexican country estates, perhaps
rolling and smoking her cigarettes,--for the Mexican ladies were
inveterate smokers,--or perhaps writing a _papelcito_ to be sent to her
lover in appointment of a tryst. This latter if she were young and
handsome; if she were old--and no daughter of Anahuac passed the Rubicon
of forty and retained her beauty in even the most modified form--she
might reflect on her sins, which probably gave her some little
uneasiness, or she might rehearse them into the ears of her confessor,
or she might do aught that called for no exertion, of mind or body. Of
the latter she would never be guilty, and the former she abhorred to an
almost equal extent. There were, however, marked exceptions to the rule
of inactivity of body in the persons of certain señoritas who could ride
like Comanches and throw a _lazo_ almost as well as their lovers and
brothers, and who delighted in the display of these, their chief and
perhaps only accomplishments. These ladies, however, were in the
minority; the rule of Mexican female life was passivity, not to say
sloth.
As in the case of their predecessors, so with the women of modern
Mexico, consideration has been accorded chiefly to those of the upper
class. There was, however, until recently a very large and significant
class in Mexico called _peons_, who might be said roughly to answer to
the servitors of European feudal times. This class was composed chiefly
or entirely of those of native Indian blood, the descendants of the
races enslaved by the Spaniards and set free so late in the history of
Mexico as even now hardly to have lost in all respects the
characteristics of slavery. These peons form the servitor class on the
great haciendas, and are almost retainers of the wealthy proprietors.
Their women are of widely different type from the señoras who form the
bulk of the upper classes; and the same difference which exists to-day
was even more determined in the days of the youth of the Mexican
republic. So constant, indeed, have been the individualities of this
people that it matters little whether we look at them in the past or in
the present; as is generally the case with classes which represent the
lower strata of the population and are from their very unimportance in
the social scale less affected by outer influences and therefore more
steadfast to national type, the peon class has altered but little in its
peculiar customs and characteristics, these being modified only as is
rendered necessary to meet the changes in material conditions which have
from time to time occurred. In this peon class are encountered many
recurrent and persistent customs of the Aztec civilization; but as these
instances do not strongly affect the life of the women they may be
passed over. That which it is needful to note, however, is the fact that
always in the history of feminine Mexico it is these women, of truly
native stock, who have formed the characteristically native class. It is
they who have had and held a settled and constant tradition and custom;
it is they who have conserved an individuality which has come down to
them from mingled cultures--from that of the Aztecs, with their
paradoxical civilization and nature, and that of the Spanish intruders,
with their Latin characteristics modified by new environment. The
mingling of these cultures produced the true Mexican individuality.
Yet, though individuality was at the time of the foundation of the
republic to be found most decisive in the peon class, it may be broadly
said that at that period the Mexican woman was generally characteristic
and individual. She reproduced and accentuated many Spanish traits; she
was gay beneath a mask of propriety, immoral--the rule of generalities
must be remembered--under the cloak of a profound piety, vengeful and
jealous under the garb of a real love, and in all ways was the emphasis
of the Spanish woman of her time. She was more than that, however; she
had her national and even racial traditions and characteristics which
parted from the Castilian culture at certain points and turned to the
old fount of the Aztec racial influence. She was more profoundly
superstitious than her Spanish sister, and she was more concerned with
outer guise in all matters of morality or religion. She would not for
the world miss her accustomed attendance at mass, but she did not fail
to recognize the opportunities offered by the ceremonial, with its
genuflections and its periods of rest, for the transmittal of notes of
amorous inspiration, and many was the _billet d'amour_ which was slipped
by a tiny hand into a broader palm as the respective owners thereof
bowed in apparently deep reverence at the elevation of the Host. Among
the higher classes, the Mexican señora and señorita were far less
educated and cultivated than their Spanish kindred; yet among the lower
classes--not the peons, but the shopkeeper class in the cities, the
small landholders in the country--education of a kind was further
advanced in Mexico than in Spain. Most interesting in certain ways,
though least individual of all, was this middle class, wearing as their
festal costume, "white embroidered gowns, with white satin shoes and
neat feet and ankles, _rebozos_, or bright shawls, thrown over their
heads;" while the peasants on the same occasions were dressed in "short
petticoats of two colors, generally scarlet and yellow, with thin satin
shoes and lace-trimmed chemises." Stockings, it may be noticed, are not
referred to in either case; sixty years ago they were not considered at
all _de rigueur_ in the costume of a Mexican woman of any but the very
highest class and, if we are to believe all travellers, not even
invariably among the señoritas themselves.
The Mexican woman of the dawn of the republic was a type--indefinite,
even elusive, amid the crowd of southern Latin nationalities, yet
possessing some distinctive traits of manner, custom, and nature, and by
these to be distinguished from her Italian, Spanish, or even South
American kinswomen. But the individuality which she possessed, never
strongly marked, soon began to fade before the incursion of a northern
culture, with its novel ideals, standards, and requisites. When the
United States was at war with Mexico, the type of the latter culture was
at its most distinctive stage; and, though there were not a few of the
women who were enamored of the methods of the northern invaders and
became _Ayankeados_, as sympathizers with the foe were contemptuously
termed, yet, as a rule, the women of Mexico proved true daughters of
Anahuac in their hatred of the enemy of their native land. But these
passions passed away with the coming of peace; and the Maximilian
episode served to bring Mexico into somewhat closer relation with the
civilization of her northern border neighbor. Still the national
culture, if so it can be called, remained practically unaffected for
years after the founding of the republic; for the purely Spanish
families had been banished in large numbers, and the Maximilian rule was
too brief to effect a new Latin invasion.
But there was an invasion lowering upon the horizon of Mexico, though
foreseen perhaps by few, which was destined to prove most effectual in
influencing the future of the Mexican woman--the invasion of the
Anglo-American in peaceful guise, armed with scrip and not with stave,
and bearing the axe and spade in his hands. The wealth of Mexico began
to attract the attention of the citizens of her northern neighbor, and
they kindly hastened to relieve her of as much as she found at all
burdensome and they themselves decided the discomfort of that burden.
The typical American, the American _par excellence_, he of the United
States, invaded Mexico once more, though this time in search of dollars,
not glory; and under his influence, perhaps yet more under that of his
wife and daughters, the feminine civilization of Mexico lost its
individuality in its acceptance of standards which were unfitted to its
conditions and unacceptable to its traditions. The woman of Mexico
forgot her history and her very nature, and became, in the majority of
cases, a mere imitator of Anglo-Saxon and Gallic fashion and custom.
Once she smoked her dainty cigarette with entire nonchalance; now, even
though her English and North American sisters have found a charm in the
nicotian incense that is offered to the god of social converse, your
Mexican woman, having long since been told solemnly that "_Las
Americanas_ do not smoke," has thrown away her little roll of paper and
tobacco, and has become "proper" according to standards with which she
should have nothing in common. She has doffed her _rebozo_--that which
might have been termed the national garment of the Mexican woman--and
has accepted the less graceful and becoming garments of European
fashion. In all outer guise, she is steadfastly setting herself to
become a mere imitation, if not a caricature, of the belles of other
civilizations; but within she is still the child of the South, the
daughter of a race of Indians, dashed indeed with Spanish blood but
preserving many of the Indian characteristics intact; and these do not
agree with normal culture. For it must be remembered that in Mexico
there is to-day, owing to the wholesale expulsion of the Spaniards at
the establishment of independence, hardly a family of unmixed blood; and
those who do claim uncontaminated descent from the Spanish _hidalgos_
are looked upon with utmost disfavor almost--ostracized, indeed. On the
other hand, the Mexicans have come to look upon Americans of the North
with respect and even affection, and to welcome them to their country
and often to their homes. The result, of course, has been partly to
establish a heterogeneous culture, neither Spanish, Indian, nor
American, and yet a commingling of all three, at least in outward form.
But beneath the veneer of the new culture the Mexican woman preserves
the characteristics which have been hers for centuries and which in
their greater part came down to her from her Indian forebears. She is
still passionate, jealous, vengeful, sudden and violent in all her
impulses, most of which are founded upon that which she calls her love,
but which, as a rule, is but passion. Her traditions do not agree with
her surroundings as she would fain make them; and the question as to
which will finally survive in permanent conquest is one that can be
answered by time alone, that convenient arbitrator to which to refer all
vexed questions of this sort. To that tribunal may be left the questions
for the future which have been suggested to thoughtful readers
concerning the Mexican woman.