Significance Of Atzlán: Symbolism And Symbolism

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Atzlán
It 's Symbolism and Significance

I. Introduction The concept of Atzlán represents a belief, a symbol, a rallying cry, a declaration of autonomy, a nation, a journey 's end and a homeland. Perhaps it is more myth than fact. Nevertheless, its importance cannot not be overstated or underestimated. It is representative of the Chicano/a culture and its origins. Atzlán is the spiritual epicenter and ancestral home to fifty-four billion individuals whose Latino heritage defines them. Atzlán’s importance in literary and visual arts continues to be a focal point for Chicano/a artists and authors. Atzlán epitomizes and denotes a historical past brimming with every conceivable human emotion.
II. History According to Nahuatl written and oral stories, Atzlán is the ancestral home of the Aztec people. A component of one of the largest Native American linguistic family, Uto-Aztecan, Nahuatl was the language of the Aztecs. Atzlán means “place of whiteness” or “the place of the Heron”. According to legend, seven tribes lived in Atzlan-Chicomoztoc, or …show more content…

Atzlán is a significant symbol in the art, folklore, music, poetry, dance, sculpture, theatre. It represents cultural identity, values, activism, history and the struggle for parity. In Chicano Poetics, Alfred Arteaga writes, “Atzlán aims at the homeland, at the nation as people, as state. It offers an interwoven history and myth if presence. It provides the principle of definition in the present and dines an idealized state in the future. As such it functions as the national myth” Atzlán is often used as a literary device that signifies the territory seized unjustly by the United States from Mexico. Latinos function as a diasporic population in regard to Atzlán. Their homeland has been appropriated by the “gringo” and, by extension, so has their national

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