“This is the legacy of our people,” my uncle used to say when we admired the pyramids.

We were not in Egypt, but in the city of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan State, in southwestern Mexico.

The pyramids, or yácatas, towering before us were round and unique, made of volcanic stone—perhaps the best-preserved remains of the Purépechas, a pre-Columbian indigenous group that once ruled here, but most people don’t know. . In fact, I had never heard of them until a few months ago, when I discovered that I was a direct descendant of those people.

Born and raised in California, USA, I grew up unaware of this part of my family’s legacy, which was lost to my family with my grandfather’s death in 1978. My grandmother was left with five children and no income. But after saving a lot of money, he took my father and brothers from Mexico to the USA in 1983.

The pressure to integrate into the new country caused my father to break away from our purepeka culture. But recently, when I started to wonder about my identity, I started asking him about our past.

Until he brought me to Michoacán for the first time in 2021 at the age of 31. That’s when I met my Israeli uncle, who told me not only that we were naive, but that my great-grandmother Juana was still alive and living in the small village of Urén nearby.

When people think of Mexico before the Spaniards arrived, they automatically think of the Aztecs. But what they didn’t know was that the Purépechas lived at the same time and their kingdoms were so powerful that they were one of the few indigenous Mexican groups the Aztecs couldn’t conquer.

In fact, that’s what Mexicans generally know about purépechas, according to Fernando Pérez Montesinos, a professor of indigenous environmental history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“is-is [forma] It is very common to refer to the Purépechas and their history because we know that the Purépechas were as powerful as the Aztecs,” he says, explaining that the Aztecs tried to fight the Purépechas but were unable to defeat them.

Steady and strong at five feet four, Purepecha is my great-grandmother, an elder in her community, and lives in a humble, weathered house with concrete walls.

He speaks the native language, which is an endangered heritage in a country where the official language is Spanish. Mexico has an estimated population of 128.9 million, of which 124.8 million – 97% speak Spanish as their mother tongue, and all of them speak only 175,000 Purépecha in the state of Michoacán.

Talking in the kitchen of great-grandmother Juana, I observed everything I could see: how she cooked without electricity or a stove; rows of clay plates; and a deep stone pit in the center of the room where he prepared a large pot niktamal – specially processed corn seeds to make bread.

Excited by the new information about my ancestors, I asked him where I could learn more about my safpeka heritage. He stirred the meal and, giving my uncle an authoritative look, said in Spanish, “Take it to Pátzcuaro.”

The next day we were in the Lake Pátzcuaro basin where my uncle, aunts and cousins ​​were, marveling at the monuments our ancestors had built in honor of gods such as the sun god Curicaueri.

Between the 14th century and the beginning of the 16th century, the Purépechas dominated western Mexico with an estimated population of over one million. Tzintzuntzan was the capital. irecha, rule maker. At the same time, the Aztecs dominated central Mexico, while the Purépecha empire prevented them from conquering territories to the north and west.

According to geographer Jahzeel Aguilera Lara, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, “The yácatas of Tzintzuntzan – ‘the place of hummingbirds’ (in Purepecha) – are the best preserved pyramidal structures in the region.”

“(visitors) not only learn about the public architecture of the Purépechas, but also how the Purépechas understood the world and the importance of Lake Pátzcuaro to them,” says Aguilera Lara.

The empire chose this area for a reason: The basin is home to a huge lake with habitable islands around it, pine-covered mountains full of fish and lush landscapes. The area is so magnificent that the Purépechas believed the lake was the gateway to heaven.

“This is a very important site for the emergence of purépechas during the precolonial period of our history,” says Sandra Gutiérrez de Jesus, a Purépecha native and professor of Latin American studies at California State University in Los Angeles. “Gastronomy was a setting for cultural and linguistic meetings and exchanges.”

When the Spanish arrived in the Lake Pátzcuaro basin between 1521 and 1522, they captured the Purépecha ruler and forced the empire to cede power.

Still, Pérez Montesinos explains that historians see this transition as more peaceful than the Spanish Aztec siege. The Purépechas achieved greater autonomy from the Aztecs, and their elite continued to exercise influence and authority over the region.

“Nothing can be done without the permission or consent of the Purepecha elite,” explains Pérez Montesinos.

The traditional way of looking at things is for the Spaniards to come and do what they want, but what we now know is that the Spaniards have always had to ask and negotiate with the Purépecha elite to stay in control.”

An example for him is the Basilica Church of Our Lady of Health, built around 1540 in Pátzcuaro.

“Traditional knowledge, [o bispo] Vasco de Quiroga built the cathedral, but it was the work of Purépecha’s hands,” says Pérez Montesinos. He explained that since the Purépecha community agreed to provide their own labor, the Spaniards did not have to use forced labor to build the cathedral.

“There is this strong dominant narrative of the Purepecha people trying to reduce their daily achievements – emphasizing that it was the Spanish monks who taught them to make these crafts, but faced with daunting challenges, the Purépechas added new insights into their lives to make something original.” he counts.

Traveling throughout the state, I began to see touches of Purepecha architecture. As Michoacán was rich in oak and pine trees, the Purépecha empire was known for its skill in wooden structures – most notable were traditional wooden houses called trojes.

With colonization, the Purépecha people incorporated their crafts into the Spanish colonial infrastructure that has survived to this day in the Michoacán region.

Since the Purépechas managed to retain most of their autonomy, the three administrative power centers – Tzintzuntzan, Pátzcuaro and Ihuatzio – remained economic centers throughout the colonial period.

“I lived in Pátzcuaro all my childhood and this is the most beautiful place to visit for the history of purépechas. There is no other place like it,” my uncle said.

When we arrived at the city’s Plaza Grande, there was a celebration of Purépecha culture in Pátzcuaro like every weekend. Young men performed a traditional dance, the Danza de los Viejitos (“Dance of the Old Men”).

They were dressed in white and wore colorful handmade berets or straw hats adorned with vibrant rainbow-colored ribbons. They stood there with their canes and the strange masks of old men until they started tap dancing.

This pre-colonial dance was originally performed by the elders as part of a ritual for the ancient gods. But after colonization, the Purépechas used the dance to mock the Spaniards. That’s why dancers wear funny masks during their exaggerated imitations of older men.

Although the empire gained immense power and left behind this incredible legacy, the purépechas were almost forgotten in Mexican history, which was overshadowed by the Aztecs.

According to Pérez Montesinos, “This has more to do with how Mexican nationalism arose in the 19th and 20th centuries. Everything was centered around Mexico City, and the narrative of Mexican identity was primarily based on the Aztec heritage”.

“As there are more narratives of war, war and resistance against the Spaniards, there is much more material. [entre os astecas] For an epic story, you don’t have the same kind of drama as the purépechas.”

I returned from Michoacán as a different person, proud of this new knowledge of my ancestors, their culture and traditions. I was so excited that I came back to Mexico with my father six months later and sat down with my great-grandmother to pick up where we left off.

“Can you teach me purépecha?” I asked. Great-grandmother Juana pointed and replied: “She can teach you”. When I turned around, I realized that he was pointing at my father.

“What? Can you say Purepecha?” I asked in disbelief. He laughed and replied: “It was a long time ago, I knew, but I don’t know anymore”.

Juana replied: “You can teach him. Nobody forgets, it’s our culture.”

– This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/vert-tra-62343057.