The Guadalajara Reporter

All nations, certainly Mexico, cherish myths; and some, everywhere, have a hard time enduring close historical investigation

All societies and individuals possess, consciously and unconsciously, a lexicon of myths. Historically, most youngsters embrace a central myth of youth — they are invincible — apart from their societies’ widely held concepts of immortality in various forms. Some myths come from a dense pre-historic past.

In Western cultures other myths are made immortal themselves by Greek, Latin and biblical literature. While a great many people today believe myths are no longer useful, they operate in cultures that deny them while subliminally utilizing them. The iconic “modern” example of course is George Lucas’ artful use of Goethe’s instructive Faust myth in “Star Wars” and its myriad cultural offspring about the universal hero. And in our modern midst are judges clad not in business suits, but draped in “magisterial” robes straight out Greek mythology and time. If being a judge in modern society were considered a mere “role,” the garb would be a CEO’s pin-stripe suit. “For law to hold authority beyond mere coercion, the power of a judge must be ritualized, mythologized. As does much of modern life today, from religion and war to love and death,” one cultural analyst has pointed out.

For 60 years, El Dia de los Niños Heroes, September 13, has been a popular (once official, now unofficial) national celebration. It marks the deaths of six young cadets in defense of Mexico City at the end of what Mexicans call “The American War” of 1846-48. It’s a ritual that many Mexican historians call a “legend,” the kind of myth that all nations wish to retain not relinquish.

It was no secret to the educated that the Mexican Army, commanded by the infamous General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, performed embarrassingly in 1846-48. For good reason. Santa Anna’s forces were indifferently recruited, untrained, poorly supplied, and atrociously commanded.

In 1982-83, Mexican historian, author, journalist and magazine editor, Armando Ayala Anguiano, subjected the Niños Hereos story to keen examination. In a comprehensive treatise in his “Contenido” magazine, he suggested that the “history” of the child heroes grew not out of battlefield facts but out of what he termed the need of a defeated Mexico to salvage self-respect from a defense of Mexico that was scandalously conducted from its beginning.

Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.

(This is the first of a two-part series.)