1945: Gabriela Mistral.

Gabriela Mistral

Vicuna, Chile 1889-1957, New York, USA.

“What the soul is to the body, so is the artist to his people”

                  -epitaph of Gabriela Mistral.

Jeez, did Gabriela Mistral have a depressing life or what?  Abandoned by her father at age 3, she had to support her mother financially at age 16, and later lost both the love of her life and her beloved nephew to suicide?  Harsh.  I read somewhere that she was dear friends with writer Stephan Zweig and his wife (who both, ironically, also committed suicide in Brazil after they fled Nazi Austria, claiming that the world was just too hopeless to live in.  Good, positive company to keep). 

All of this happened to her and she persevered, kept writing, and won the Nobel Prize.

Now that’s what I call adversity.

One can see so much of Mistral’s life in her work: 

In Tenura (Cuento-Mundo), the reader sees her delight in the beauty of nature down to its simplest elements:  air, rock, water, fire; in other words, the world of matter.  She shows her maternal, womanly side (perhaps through her grief due to the loss of her mother and the boy that she considered her own son), as she explores the delicacy of nature, rebirth after death, and her Christian faith.

In Tala (America):  one sees a duality in Mistral, that she is a fusion of Basque (in her rebellious, religious side) and Indian (in her knowledge of flora and fauna, and the stories of the ancients in South America).  Her vast knowledge of the geography of Latin America-that she learned through her years of self-imposed exile from Chile-is continually utilized, as is her teacher's education, with rich literary references throughout her poems.

There were so many names and places unknown to me in Tala, that I spent eons researching them.  I’ve consequently made a little dictionary and have posted it below.

Aztec/Nahautl references

Anáhuac: "land between the waters" (see geographical)

Mexitlis: child of the moon”, great leader, war god

Quetzalcóatl:  Aztec diety, “feathered serphant”, god of wind, venus, dawn, merchants, arts, crafts, and knowledge

Tláloc:  god of rain, fertility, water, gave life but sent hails/floods etc.

Tlálocs: four corners of the universe=4 Tlálocs

Xochiquetzal:  goddess of love and beauty, earth, flowers, plants

Xochitl: “flower”, a given female name in Latin Amerca.  Also a day sign in the Aztec Calander:  provider of life energy, day for creating beauty and truth, message:  life is beautiful and quickly fades.

Inca references:

Chasquis: communication system of the Inca Empire, a courier-relay of young boys on narrow paths

Inca Huayna:  successor to Tupac, the Inca Empire was the largest under his rule

Mama Ocllo: mother, fertility goddess, taught art of spinning to women.  The sister and husband of Cápac, together they discovered Cuzco

Manco Cápac: fire/sun god with a golden staff.  Brother and husband of Ocllo, together they discovered Cuzco

Pachacámac:  an archaeological site in Peru, temples and pyramids that were conquered by the Incas (but not built by them), and used as an important administrative centre

Christian references:

Gabriel:  messenger from God

María (Mary):  mother of Jesus and Queen of Angels, works with Raphael

Migel (Michael): commander of the army of God (against Satan), a symbol of humility before God

Rafael:  “God who heals” an archangel of Christianity, with a green healing flame (God’s fifth ring), serves with Mary, truth, concentration, healing

Santa (de Puerto Rico):  John the Baptist, baptized Jesus, and a bunch of other people in the Jordan River

Viático (Viaticum): communion of someone who is dying (part of last rites) “provisions for the journey”

Greek/Roman References:

Atalanta: daughter of Hades, raised by a bear, fierce hunter, and always happy because she was raised in the woods

Dioscuros:  two famous heroes, twin brothers of Helen of Troy=GEMINI

Walkiria (Valkyrie):  Actually Norse mythology:  supernatural women who decide who dies in battle

Los Zodíacos (the Zodiac): a ring of 12 constellations that the sun’s path crosses over a course of a year

Latin American Geographical References:

Aconcagua: highest mountain in the Americas (the Andes, Argentina)

Anáhuac: In Nahautl “land between the waters”, plateau in central Mexico that is now D.F., the center of many pre-Columbian peoples (Aztec, Toltec, Teotihuacán), surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, and lakes, the Spaniards drained the lakes and built on top of them, now D.F. is sinking and has bad air/water quality

Andes:  world’s largest mountain range

Cordillera:  chain of mountains

Cuzco:  city in S/E Peru, the capital of Inca Empire

Palenque: Mayan city in Southern Mexico

Pico del Toro:  a mountain in the Andes in Venezuela

Tacámbaro:  A village in western Mexico, where a battle took place with 300 members of the Belgium army against 3000 Mexican Republicans (the Mexicans won in 5 hours)

Tihuanaco: the oldest known ruins in the world.  Belonging to Incas or an older people?

Valle de Elqui:  in northern Chile, 360 sunny days a year, magnetic vibrations/cosmic energy produces calming affect in people, exact other side of the earth as the Himalayas

Latin America Flora/Fauna:

Araucarias: evergreen, coniferous tree (found in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil)

Braceadora: stepping horse with the smoothest gait, good speed in difficult terrain

Maguey: (in Nahuatl: Mexcalmetl) “Century Plant” from Mexico, plant that Mezcal is made of

Quetzal: strikingly coloured bird of western Mexico/Neo-tropical regions, bright green with red belly, a solitary bird

Sargassos: brown algae with round bladders, found in tropical Atlantic waters

Yuca: South American woody shrub, the root is source of protein/carbohydrates

Latin America tradition:

El cántaro del peruano:  traditional silver pitchers of Peru

La jícara de Uruápan: traditional wooden pre-Columbian cups of Uruápan (the avocado capital of the world!!!!!)