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Princess Eréndira of the Purépecha was the princess of the
According to the folk legend, Eréndira organized a ceremony in the temple of Charatanga, the moon goddess, and a horse was sacrificed. The next day, a Spanish warrior named Cristobal de Olid approached Tzintzuntzan with a large troop of soldiers.
She had promised a Purépecha man named Nanuma that if he returned from the battle victorious, they would get married, and he led his people into battle. He succumbed to fear of the Spanish weapons and horses and tried to run from the battlefield, but was captured by Cristobal de Olid, and without a leader the Purépecha warriors were quickly defeated.
Cristobal de Olid punished Nanuma's cowardice by forcing him and his men to serve food to the Spanish army. In order to capture the Eréndira's father, Tangaxuan, Cristobal de Olid gathered together the Purépecha warriors and lead them into battle, betraying their own people. Leading them was Nanuma, who was promised a Purépecha woman if he cooperated, and he had Eréndira on his mind. Eréndira gathered together the people of Tzintzuntzan, and attacked the invading army from atop a hill, defeating Nanuma and his warriors. Once again, Nanuma fled. Eréndira's army had captured a white Spanish horse, which they planned to sacrifice, but Eréndira requested that she keep it. She tamed the animal, and they soon became inseparable, with Eréndira even allowing it to sleep in her home. After a period of peace, Nanuma finally returned to ambush Tzintzuntan, planning to take Eréndira for a slave if she did not marry him. Eréndira escaped on her horse and ran away. With Eréndira gone, her father, the cazonzci, converted to Catholicism and invited a Franciscan friar named Fray Martin to the city. He destroyed the images of the Purépecha gods. Fray Martin converted and baptized many Purépecha people, but suspected that Tangaxuan was secretly still a pagan. For this he had a Spanish warrior named
English version movie based on Princess Eréndira
Spanish version movie based on Princess Eréndira
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erendira, Princess Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Purépecha people 16th-century indigenous people of the Americas 16th-century indigenous women of the Americas 16th-century Mexican people 16th-century Mexican women Indigenous Mexicans Mexican folklore National symbols of Mexico Native American women in warfare Women in 16th-century warfare Women in the Conquest of Mexico 16th-century women rulers Indigenous Mexican women Indigenous rebellions against the Spanish Empire Princesses 16th-century royalty
Purépecha
The Purépecha ( ) are a group of Indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro.
They are also known by the derogatory term " Tarascan", an exonym, app ...
from c. 1503–1529.
Life
Eréndira was 16–17 when the Spanish came toMexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The Tarascan state
Tarascan or Tarasca is an exonym and the popular name for the Purépecha culture. It may refer to:
* the Tarascan State, a Mesoamerican empire until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, located in (present-day) west-central Mexico
* the Purépecha ...
's ''cazonci
Irecha was the title held by the ruler of the Purépecha Empire, which existed from the 14th to 16th centuries in the area of the modern states of Michoacán, Guerrero, Jalisco, Guanajuato, and the State of Mexico
The State of Mexico, offici ...
'' (monarch), Tangaxuan II
Tzimtzincha-Tangaxuan II (died February 14, 1530) was the last '' cazonci'' (monarch) of the Purépecha Empire, ruling from 1520 to 1530. He was baptized Francisco when his realm made a peace treaty with Hernán Cortés. He was executed by burnin ...
, had given up his kingdom and people to the Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
after he saw the downfall of the Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahuas, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states rul ...
to the Spanish. The story of princess Eréndira's subsequent role as a heroine is based on tradition and may or may not reflect actual events, since there are no contemporary records of her existence.
According to the folk legend, Eréndira organized a ceremony in the temple of Charatanga, the moon goddess, and a horse was sacrificed. The next day, a Spanish warrior named Cristobal de Olid approached Tzintzuntzan with a large troop of soldiers.
She had promised a Purépecha man named Nanuma that if he returned from the battle victorious, they would get married, and he led his people into battle. He succumbed to fear of the Spanish weapons and horses and tried to run from the battlefield, but was captured by Cristobal de Olid, and without a leader the Purépecha warriors were quickly defeated.
Cristobal de Olid punished Nanuma's cowardice by forcing him and his men to serve food to the Spanish army. In order to capture the Eréndira's father, Tangaxuan, Cristobal de Olid gathered together the Purépecha warriors and lead them into battle, betraying their own people. Leading them was Nanuma, who was promised a Purépecha woman if he cooperated, and he had Eréndira on his mind. Eréndira gathered together the people of Tzintzuntzan, and attacked the invading army from atop a hill, defeating Nanuma and his warriors. Once again, Nanuma fled. Eréndira's army had captured a white Spanish horse, which they planned to sacrifice, but Eréndira requested that she keep it. She tamed the animal, and they soon became inseparable, with Eréndira even allowing it to sleep in her home. After a period of peace, Nanuma finally returned to ambush Tzintzuntan, planning to take Eréndira for a slave if she did not marry him. Eréndira escaped on her horse and ran away. With Eréndira gone, her father, the cazonzci, converted to Catholicism and invited a Franciscan friar named Fray Martin to the city. He destroyed the images of the Purépecha gods. Fray Martin converted and baptized many Purépecha people, but suspected that Tangaxuan was secretly still a pagan. For this he had a Spanish warrior named Nuño de Guzmán
Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (1558) was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was the governor of the province of Pánuco (province), Pánuco from 1525 to 1533 and of Nueva Galicia from 1529 to 1534, and president of the ...
burn him at the stake. When Eréndira learned that her father had been killed, she used her horse to begin an underground resistance against the Spanish.
There are many theories as to what happened to her. Some of which include her suicide by drowning, her leaving to train others for war and that she killed herself for falling in love with a Spanish monk. One legend even claims that she was kidnapped by her own people and put into a temple so that the Spaniards should not find and kill her.
Legacy
WhenLázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...
was governor of Michoacán, he built a house in Pátzcuaro
Pátzcuaro () is a city and municipality located in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Purépecha Empire and later its ceremonial center. After the Spanish took over, V ...
, which he named "La Quinta Eréndira." She had been a regional figure, but as governor and president, Cárdenas raised her name recognition significantly. She became a symbol of indigenous resistance to the Spanish conquest, specifically as a foil to the role of Cortés's indigenous cultural translator Malinche
Marina () or Malintzin (; 1500 – 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche (), was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an inte ...
.
Cárdenas commissioned muralist Fermín Revueltas Fermín or Fermin may refer to:
* Fermin, Spanish saint
* Fermin (name), Spanish name and surname
* Fermin IV, Mexican rapper and pastor See also
* San Fermín (disambiguation), San Fermín
{{disambiguation ...
to paint murals of Purépecha history and reshape the national narrative from one focused on the Aztecs to one rooted in the indigenous people of Michoacán. The story of Eréndira was also used to reshape "Mexico's nation-building ideology of mestizaje
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...
" and put the "Purépecha past...as the ideal origin of the Mexican nation."Jolly, ''Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico'' pp. 192–93
In popular culture
The movie ''Erendira Ikikunari
''Erendira Ikikunari'' is a 2006 drama film based on the story of Princess Eréndira.
Plot
The plot is based on a mixture of folk mythology and oral tradition. When the Spanish come to take over Tenochtitlan, Eréndira rallies her people in orde ...
'' (''Erendira the Untameable'') is based on the story of Eréndira.
References
Further reading
*Jolly, Jennifer. ''Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building Under Lázaro Cárdenas''. Austin: University of Texas Press 2018. *Ramírez Barreto, Ana Cristina, "'Eréndira a caballo': Acoplamamiento de Cuerpos e historias en un relato de conquista y resistencia."e-misférica: Performance and Politics in the Americas, 2 no. 2 (2005) 1–19. *Salas, Elizabeth (1990). ''Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History'' University of Texas Press ()External links
English version movie based on Princess Eréndira
Spanish version movie based on Princess Eréndira
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erendira, Princess Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Purépecha people 16th-century indigenous people of the Americas 16th-century indigenous women of the Americas 16th-century Mexican people 16th-century Mexican women Indigenous Mexicans Mexican folklore National symbols of Mexico Native American women in warfare Women in 16th-century warfare Women in the Conquest of Mexico 16th-century women rulers Indigenous Mexican women Indigenous rebellions against the Spanish Empire Princesses 16th-century royalty