When I watch pregame ceremonies at international futbol matches involving El Tri, the Mexican national soccer team, images of the school where I received my early primary education in rural Nuevo Leon come to me. Like the players on the field at the World Cup, the students would stand shoulder to shoulder in front of the colors saluting and mouthing the Himno Nacional on special occasions.
Mexicanos al Grito de Guerra…That is the only verse I remember. Still, witnessing it playout at the most important sporting event in the world gives one unexpected chills.
The two-room school building was constructed out of adobe and stucco. It had a cement foundation, a rarity in an area where the bare ground served as the floor for all structures. The entryway to the building was arched. The portón distinguished the mission style façade of the school. A foyer separated the classrooms. It had a vaulted ceiling and enough windows providing plenty of natural light that made the green board on the wall visible from all angles. I did not realize that blackboards existed until I came to Texas. Nor did I know that the aesthetic and construction of the school building was similar to the Alamo Mission in San Antonio.
During recess, the boys played futbol on the school grounds. Green blades of grass were non-existent in the perimeter of the Chihuahuan desert. From a distance, the movement of the soccer ball could be followed by the cloud of dust raised on the dirt field by the herd of running kids. More than once, the thought has crossed my mind that being totally exposed to grime and germs at an early age helped me develop a strong immune system. Allergies, asthma or ear infections never seemed to be an issue for me and my siblings. As an adult I realized that this may not be true. But Americans move to places with semi-arid climates similar to where I grew up for these reasons.
The only maladies endured then were the result of physical activities, like being fulminado while playing futbol. That is the feat of being slammed on the face by a speeding-flying soccer ball and suffering a blackout that made Galaxy-like lights appear momentarily. The teacher would rub our temple while repeating sana sana colita de rana, (Heal heal little frog’s tail), a children’s rhyme that is sung when someone is hurt. Soon thereafter, the game would continue.
Inexplicably, seeing the images of El Tri going against Europeans sides on my television screen awaken thoughts of the romanticized version of the tale of Los Niños Heroes (the Boy Heroes of Chapultepec). A sad episode that took place during the Mexican-American War that is taught to children in the schools to instill patriotism and scorn for imperialists aggressors.
The imaginative account of the Battle of Chapultepec goes like this: As the well-armed aggressors advanced towards the Chapultepec Castle that sat strategically atop a 200-foot tall hill, six young cadets between the ages of 13 and 19 refused to retreat and fought gallantly giving their life to defend the Military Academy. The last cadet wrapped the flag which flew over the citadel around his body and jumped to his death into the adjacent valley instead of letting the invaders take the banner. The narrative is similar to the fallen heroes mythology taught in middle school in Texas. That is, the exaggerated folklore surrounding Davy Crockett’s and Jim Bowie’s role at the Battle of the Alamo is meant to simultaneously instill nationalism and disdain for individuals who are deemed aliens.
The faces of some of the players also make me aware of my appearance and the saying “traes el nopal en la cara” (I have the cactus on my face). A blunt not-so-politically correct way of pointing out that, in terms of morphology, the majority of people of Mexican origin, including me, are mestizos, a person of combined Native American and European descent, The refrain is derived from the fact that the nopal (cactus) is on the Coat of Arms which appears on the Mexican flag. The Coat of Arms depicts a golden eagle devouring a snake perched on a nopal.
As an American citizen, one’s allegiance to the Constitution of the United States is absolute. Still, being a mestizo Mexican-American, I wonder why Americans of European origin view people whose genealogy goes back to the ancient American Anasazi people of the southwestern US as foreigners in what is their ancestral land.
Thinking about once standing at attention in the school ground with fellow hijos del sol (children of the sun) makes one cognizant that the feelings that some American citizens manifest zealously via electoral politics and while watching the World Cup may originate in the same universal truth: Simply, whether one’s origin is European, Asian, African, North American or from any continent in the world, all individuals have an inherent bond with the people in whom they see themselves.
###
