Mexico is an inexhaustible source of wealth and beauty, a destination to which you should always return because it always has something new to offer. But if we take something from their lands, it is with their people, with their popular folklore. Its history, the one told by its locals, is not limited to mere lists of data, numbers and names of winners and losers, but in them there is soul, romanticism, mysticism and a wonderful dreamlike imagination.
Surely the history books narrate many events in the course of the times of the lands of Oaxaca, but our constant curiosity has wanted to dwell on the flower that houses its shield: a wild lily. In this article, we want to discover its origin which was born from the hand of a legend: the legend of the princess Donají.
The Mexican legend that revives the past of the state of Oaxaca
- If we let tradition speak and move to before the arrival of the Spanish, we find an Oaxaca governed by two groups of conflicting indigenous people: the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs. Although at first they had joined forces against a common enemy, the Mexica, who had tried to annex the land to their empire, now discord reigned between the two peoples who had shared so much. The estrangement was greater and greater and small quarrels ended up leading to a bloody battle.
- This is the setting in which Princess Donají (“big soul”) was born, daughter of the Zapotec leader Cocijoeza, ruler of the city of Zaachila and protagonist of this Mexican legend. And in a violent world, her birth chart could not predict anything good. This is how the priest Tibbot of Mitla predicted a tragic end for the little girl: she would be sacrificed for love and for the salvation of her people from her.
- The war was raging in the region. The land claimed the blood of both sides. But one day, in one of the many clashes, the Zapotecs seized a Mixtec warrior and brought him before the king. Wounded, he was healed by the young princess Donají, who discovered that it was also Prince Nucano. She not only healed her wounds, but she also gave him all her love from her.
- They both loved each other, but they also loved and respected their respective conflicting peoples. For this reason, Donají ended up releasing Nucano so that he could return to the fight with his people. And it is that life is full of impossible loves (here it is a long sigh for the most romantic).
- With love in their hearts, both princes worked to end the fighting and achieve peace. With tenacity and patience they succeeded. Both peoples would sign peace. Perhaps the monk Tibbot was wrong in predicting the fate of our princess. Are you on tenterhooks? Keep reading.
Princess Donají and the sacrifice for her people
- The Mixtecs, more suspicious than the Zapotecs, imposed a condition on their peace: Princess Donají had to be handed over as a hostage to guarantee the word given by their king. And so it was done. But the young princess did not want to be anyone’s pledge and even with Nucano in her heart she put love for her people before her own life. That was how she decided to notify the Zapotec warriors that at nightfall her jailers would take her to Monte Alban. The ambush was set. Under the stars of the night, the Mixtecs were surprised and defeated by the troops of the Zapotec king. But not before the Mixtecs had time to take revenge by sacrificing Princess Donají.on the banks of the Atoyac River where she was buried without revealing the exact place. Tibbot was not wrong (Ohhh!!).
- In time, it was a shepherd who found a beautiful wild lily. When trying to tear it from its roots to maintain all its splendor, he discovered that it was born from a beautiful head that remained intact, without deteriorating, as if it were only sleeping. Thanks to the rich decorations that it presented, they quickly realized that it belonged to the princess Donají. His body was transferred to the temple of Cuilapan, where today he rests with his beloved Nucano, who ended up ruling over the Zapotec people without ever ceasing to love the princess. With the arrival of the Spanish and her Catholicism, Princess Donají was baptized as Juana Cortés to add more devotees to the religion.
- This is how the shield lily of Oaxaca is not a simple flower. On the contrary, it is a symbol of love for a people, of sacrifice to defend an inherited land that cost blood and that was cared for and fought with all the effort in the world. And so that it does not fall into oblivion, the dramatization of this beautiful story is the finishing touch of the Guelaguetza, the most important festival in Oaxaca. You must not miss it!