The Eternal Glass Ceiling :: The Neo-Reconquista

A Gift From Mi Madre

After just two years of living in the rural northern mountains. The family grew even closer than ever. With the exclusion of Amaru's dad, Fernando. His drinking habit became worse as he grew more distant towards the family. Other than that, everything else was pretty normal for the most part. Amaru did a lot of fishing and farming on his own from time to time. He taught his little sister how to read more complex books and secondary math. In the morning his mother would make breakfast for the family. He could smell the sweet succulent fragrance of eggs and corn tortillas. Many mango trees began to bare fruit during the summer. When a good amount of them were ripened, Amaru would take Areli to pick them and place them into her basket. When the pair brought a decent amount home, his mother would make a special kind of mango juice with it. This was Areli's favorite.

Even though the family had moved away from the city. Amaru's dad was still absent most of the time, leaving the teenager to be the man of the house. One day Atalia called Amaru into the kitchen. He walked passed Areli making sure not to disturb her as she read her novel in the living room. Meeting his mom in the kitchen, she commanded the boy to come to her stating that she had something for him.

He walked over to her hesitantly, grumbling under his voice, "No more kisses mom. I'm too old for that now." She smiled and shook her head saying, "Yes, you're almost twenty years old but your still my little boy. My intelligent little scholar." Amaru laughed while replying, "Guess i'll never grow out of that, will I? Haha." His mom smiled gracefully, "No, you won't and there's no rush. But thats not what I called you for. I have a gift for you." But before she could reach into her pocket to grab the item a series of abrupt coughs interrupted her. She placed her hand over her mouth quickly and began to cough very loudly. Amaru rushed over and held her asking, "Are you okay, mom?", She shrugged it off replying nonchalantly, "Sure, just a little dust that's all. I'm fine."

Taking a break from washing the dishes, she wiped her hands on her apron until they were completely dry, then reached into the pocket of her apron and took out a jade neckless that was shaped like a shell in the form of a spiral. Then she requested that the boy tilt his head down. Amaru did as he was instructed, then Atalia placed the necklace around his neck. "Thanks mom, this looks really cool. What is it anyway?" he asked as he stood up straight. "It's a ehecailacocozcatl, it's the wind jewel from the Mayan God Kukulkan. It'll bring you good luck dear." she said smiling. "Oh, you have so much knowledge about our Mayan heritage mom, you have to teach me more sometime." Amaru replied.

She said nothing, smiling as she walked off to continue the dishes, "Well, my heritage is your heritage, my son." Amaru nodded his head in agreement as he held the necklace while staring down at it saying, "Of course mom, that's why you named me Amaru. It's a Mesoamerican deity, right?" Atalia chuckled while shaking her head, "Amaru simply means 'snake'. The Amaru is a mythical creature of the Andean folklore. It is described as having snake-like or dragon traits. Some has described it as having two heads, one head is a puma, the other head, a llama. Others have depicted the Amaru as having a serpentine body that is covered in colorful quetzal feathers with a long tail that has fins like those of a fish." Amaru laughed hysterically asking, "Wow, there's no way people can believe in something as exaggerated as that!"

Atalia gave Amaru a deadpan stare which instantly stopped his quizzical laughter, "Don't undermine the tales of the ancients my son. This creature is said to cause tremors and earthquakes when it moves through the depths of the earth due to its huge size. Although we don't know much about it today the ancient stories say that the Amaru was a celestial creature. A great mythic being, a water snake symbolic of disorder transforming into a new order. The creature was capable of controlling the weather, causing hail and thunderstorms by flying up into the sky, but also bringing rain in times of drought by gliding toward the horizon. It is also associated with the underworld, linking the sky and the earth, by sending lightning from the sky vault into the earth, creating seismic movements."