A Mixiote and Red Rice
I began my second quarter century on this rock on March 30, and on Saturday the 29th we had a party at my house here in Puebla to celebrate (besides my birthday we were also belatedly celebrating both my brother’s graduation from college back in summer 2012 and my January graduation from law school). We had family, longtime friends, and people we’ve become close to more recently attend, and it was a blast. We also prepared one of my favorite dishes of any cuisine ever: the mixiote.
Mixiote (pronounced meesh-EEOH-teh) is a word in Nahuatl (NAH-ooah-tl), the language of the Mexica people more commonly known by their Spanish name: the Aztecs. As a side note, the word “Mexico” comes from the word “Mexica”, which explains the country’s name. In any case, variations on Nahuatl are still spoken by 1.45 million people in Mexico according to a 2005 report of the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (“INEGI”), the Mexican government’s statistics bureau. Many words in English are originally Nahuatl, including avocado (aguacate in Spanish, ahuacatl in Nahuatl), chili peppers (chile in Spanish, chilli in Nahuatl), chocolate (chocolate in Spanish, chocolatl in Nahuatl), coyote (coyote in Spanish, coyotl in Nahuatl), and many more. Culturally, most Mexicans use words derived from Nahuatl every day, often without even knowing that is where they come from. Ethnically, almost all Mexicans are mestizos—of mixed European and indigenous bloodlines—with many of us from the Valley of Mexico having Mexica ancestry. Personally I’m unsure if I have Mexica blood, but my family has Zapotec and other indigenous groups in our ethnic mix.
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