The ways that the Nahua theater produced plays, it is easy to see how they could have inadvertently helped preserve pagan beliefs of the Nahua. The use of allegorical figures in the plays, such as the Final Judgement, could have been very confusing to viewers and actors. Using people dressed up as Penance, The Holy Church, Sweeping, Time, and Death to convey ideas that are not material or human could have added to pagan ideas that previously existed. Another preexisting idea of the native people that was carried over post-conquest that we have evidence of, was the veneration of the feathers of the Quetzal bird. Associated with Quetzalcoatl, a creator diety, the Quetzal feathers were still used to adorn crucifixes. Matthew Restall shows us a
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Historian James Lockhart brought the idea of “Double Mistaken Identity” to life; this meant that a cultural exchange was happening and during the process both groups presume that given concepts were familiar to their own culture. The second part of the process was the fact that neither side was aware of the opposite interpretations of their actions. With a language barrier and this process of Double Mistaken Identity taking place, it must have benefited the native population mores than the Spanish colonials. Louise Burkhart notes in Aztecs on Stage that the colonists felt they were in charge and had power over the Nahua, while the Nahua people continued on with their normal lives but gave the appearance of compliance with the Spanish. The largest problem associated with teaching Catholicism using indigenous language was the translation. Not all concepts and ideas of the Christian faith existed in these native languages, so in translation words could be presented as something totally different. For instance, tlacatecolotl means “devil” in Central Mexico, supay means “devil” in the Central Andes, and tlatlacolli means “sin” in Central Mexico as well. Local people learned the new words, ideas, and concepts introduced to them through Christianity, but even if they learned them in a colonial system it is impossible to know if they picked up on the exact meaning, just as the western world understood
Historian James Lockhart brought the idea of “Double Mistaken Identity” to life; this meant that a cultural exchange was happening and during the process both groups presume that given concepts were familiar to their own culture. The second part of the process was the fact that neither side was aware of the opposite interpretations of their actions. With a language barrier and this process of Double Mistaken Identity taking place, it must have benefited the native population mores than the Spanish colonials. Louise Burkhart notes in Aztecs on Stage that the colonists felt they were in charge and had power over the Nahua, while the Nahua people continued on with their normal lives but gave the appearance of compliance with the Spanish. The largest problem associated with teaching Catholicism using indigenous language was the translation. Not all concepts and ideas of the Christian faith existed in these native languages, so in translation words could be presented as something totally different. For instance, tlacatecolotl means “devil” in Central Mexico, supay means “devil” in the Central Andes, and tlatlacolli means “sin” in Central Mexico as well. Local people learned the new words, ideas, and concepts introduced to them through Christianity, but even if they learned them in a colonial system it is impossible to know if they picked up on the exact meaning, just as the western world understood