[Music] a mexico city borough home to over 1 million people it's saturday afternoon [Music] and the local community have come together to mourn their dead [Music] yet this is no ordinary funeral [Music] this is la danza a ritual that runs deep into the history of mesoamerica a region today running from mid-mexico down to guatemala back to the aztecs who first inhabited these lands jaime santos is one of the dancers [Music] they represent while many here may not have put on their copilies since the last time their dance group met jorge coyote is a professional transformer
[Music] [Music] yet for no one here is this simply dressing up it's a direct connection to their own ancestors [Music] sergio santiago is the group's organizer uh it's a memory of a subjugated people passed down through the generations [Music] mexico's history is a painful one scarred by domination and subjugation before the arrival of the spanish conquest in 1519 the mountain bowl where modern mexico city stands was known as tenochtitlan it was the capital of the meshica a people we call the aztecs a thrusting and vibrant society dominating an empire that spanned from the gulf of
mexico to the pacific ocean yet the spanish with european weapons and technology crushed the aztecs and killed their king and with the foundation of nueve espana new spain came the demonization of the indigenous throughout the country native language ritual and culture were suppressed and a social caste system which favored european descent was instituted under european imperialism to be indigenous was to be a second class citizen an ideology of racism that echoes still she has jesus jimenez is the director of mexico city's indigenous university an institution that seeks to preserve native culture and help those who
arrive in the capital phenomenon despite the vast majority of mexico's population of 123 million having meso-american genetics racism is alive and well existed this superiority complex is plain to see in mexican society the vast majority of marketing imagery uses caucasian models the adjective indial in mexican spanish is synonymous with uneducated significa and when yalitsa aparicio an indigenous actress from oaxaca was nominated for the best actress academy award for her performance in roma her indigenous physical features were mocked on national television professor ivan gomez cesar is an anthropologist who has studied mexico's own image of its
past is the 21st century mexico city is vastly changed from the aztec to notch title home to 23 million people now one of the world's mega cities internal migration from across the country has created a culture of its own communities is a subcategory of the miche indigenous who inhabits the high sierras of oaxaca state a poet today he chooses to write in his native tongues mexico city's indigenous university is found in one of its most marginalized districts in the heart of chimalwakan jesus jimenez has been attempting to save the culture from dying using the human
resources available to him the modern first generation indigenous migrants there are some 56 different indigenous languages in mexico and many hundreds even thousands of tribal subcategories of people yet in mexico city they are almost unheard of and that's what the institution seeks to change [Music] spanish [Music] discriminate nancy espinal is a traditional healer however the daughter of indigenous migrants to mexico city she was never taught these ancient techniques by her parents yet nancy has worked to rediscover her roots she's a qualified dentist but after five years of practicing in her field she discovered her connection
to traditional medicine it's a journey that began for her at the dancer [Music] [Music] last year nancy shut down her dentistry practice to become a full-time traditional healer she says her own change of lifestyle is to preserve this ancestral wisdom has in the hills above mexico city carmen rodriguez is 87 years old despite her parents speaking nahuatl the language of the aztecs they never taught their children and like nancy karmen has had to rediscover her mother tongue today she runs a cultural center teaching her community's next generation about their ancestry and not only for historical
interests for she says with an understanding of this dying culture mexico can have a brighter indeed mexico's original culture is upheld by those who find meaning in it a cultural leader from chimalwakan he believes this culture can help with mexico's modern day challenges violencia [Music] is for those who are proud of their indigenous roots they believe that mexico's brightest future lies in its clouded past [Music] on you
