The calendar lies forgotten in a corner of the classroom. (Meili Robles/Borderzine.com)

Nahuatl, the Aztec language that once graced Canutillo Elementary was displaced by pragmatism

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CANUTILLO, Tx. – While many schools are integrating bilingual studies into their programs, one teacher went beyond the two-language system at Canutillo Elementary to include Nahuatl, the Aztec language. Carlos Aceves, a fifth grade teacher at the school, began teaching Nahuatl and the Aztec calendar to his students in 1995. But in the same way that the Spanish did away with the Aztecs, the need to prepare students to take the state mandated achievement tests purged the Native American language from the curriculum. “The first year I did it without telling anybody,” recalls Aceves.

The need for repair is evident on the Aztec Calendar. But, how should the City go about doing the repairs? (Kristopher Rivera/Borderzine.com)

Montezuma’s revenge – Tower of Babel replaces the Aztec Calendar

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EL PASO – After 58 years of exposure to the sandblasting winds rolling off the Franklin mountains, cracks have appeared on the Aztec Calendar in downtown El Paso as if a hard-riding Juan de Oñate had used it for jousting practice. But repairing the artifact that the Mexican consulate gave El Paso in 1953 as a symbol of friendship and respect is problem as complex as the ancient designs on the calendar itself. The calendar must be removed from its location in order for the Mexican consulate to agree to repair it but moving it could result in further, perhaps irreparable, damage. The city fathers want to relocate it to an indoor facility but activists want none of that. “We were all appalled so we did our research…and it is in fact, there’s contracts to remove it and give it to the Consulate,” activist Cemelli De Aztlán said.