MUERTEC 2008: Ammyt, Diosa Egipcia

Cada año, en la penúltima semana de Octubre, el Departamento de Comunicación y Lenguaje del Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Toluca, trae para el público una mezcla de las culturas y tradiciones del mundo. Todo un bufete de intrigas, misterios, leyendas y magia al alcance de su mano.

En una sociedad donde las culturas se entremezclan y se pierden, MUERTEC es la encarnación de la ilimitada capacidad de la ilimitada imaginación humana, donde se reúnen todas las explicaciones habidas y por ahber al mayor enigma que ha aquejado al ser humano desde su misma aparición, "¿Qué ocurre cuando fallecemos?", cuestionamiento inmemorial que jamás ha podido ser completamenete satisfecho por la Ciencia.

BIENVENIDOS A EGIPTO

Egipto, tierra mística, cultura milenaria. El perdurante testamento de la capacidad del ser humano y del poderío de los hombres...

A las orillas del Río Nilo, en las lejanías de los continentes Europeo y Africano, se forjó una civilización poderosa, rica en tradición y cultura. Una de las primeras civilizaciones completamente sedentarias. Sus conocimientos, sus avances, sus grandes logros arquitectónicos, hicieron de la civilización egipcia una de las más sorprendentes de todos los tiempos. Pero la faceta más apabullante de su poderíohan sido sus temibles omnipotencias religiosas. Y de entre ellas destaca la perturbadora deidad híbrida, Ammyt.

Llamada "la devoradora de muertos", Ammyt es la gloriosa justiciera del Litigio Final.

AMMYT EN EL JUICIO DE OSIRIS

De impactante apariencia es Ammyt: Con cabeza de cocodrilo, torso de león y cuartos posteriores de hipopótamo, esta deidad antigua personifica por sí misma el terror humano hacia aquello que menos conoce: La muerte.

En el Duat, inframundo egipcio, existe una balanza delatora cuya función es comparar el peso del corazón del reciente difunto. Segun los antigos egipcios, el corazón era el depositario de los actos pasados, la conciencia y la calidad moral de los individuos, y en el Juicio Final debía medirse sobre la balanza contra la pluma de Maat, (diosa de la Verdad, la Justicia y la Armonía Universal). Tot, el juez de esta querella, dictaba inapelable sentencia: Si el corazón del difunto era más pesado que la pluma, caería de la balanza hacia las fauces de la feroz diosa Ammyt, donde era devorado, asegurando así que ésta pieza humana no reencarne jamás, por el bien del resto de la civilización.

AMMYT Y OTRAS DEIDADES

HOY...

Dioses paganos, alterados en las diferentes culturas, a través del globo y de los tiempos. A la fecha, se cree que han desaparecido; así lo parece. Pero no es así.

Bajo diferentes nombres, o incluso solo como un peso en el pecho de cada ser humano, Ammyt y otrs dioses de la humanidad existen y sobreviven como los temores humanos que una vez llegaron a personificar. Los menos creyentes dicen que no existen estos dioses. Sin embargo, debo cuestionarlos, ¿no sienten terror por algo? Porque si es así, los dioses están presentes. Sin nombre, sin materia, ocultos en los más profundo de nuestro ser, habitan estos mitos... estas leyendas... estas mentiras que se vuelven verdades.

Throughout the History of the United States of America:A brief analysis of life during the time of the colonies

From the very moment of the arrival of the English to American land in April 26th, 1607, and up to the Independence movement in July 2nd, 1775, life changed drastically for the Indian groups that lived in the northern part of the American Continent. The intention of this paper is to enhance the differences between life before, while and after the Colonization of the US for the Native Americans, for the English who lived in America, and for the slaves who came from Africa, for all these races together are part of what today we know as the American culture.
1607, a year of expedition, of expansion. It was the year when England finally sought to conquer land in America, as a result of Queen Elizabeth’s victory over the Spanish Armada. This expansion was due to two main reasons. One, the search for new land to grow crops, since in England land was devoted to the profitable market of cotton and the origin of the scare on food for the English people. The other one, to find in America the promise of freedom of religion, a place where followers of different doctrines could live safe from the Anglican Church’s eyes.
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Once the thirteen colonies were functioning, in fact even before they were all established, life began to change for the American Indies. Following, there are some characteristics of their lives once the English came to “share” their territories.
The English had a very different way of colonizing their new territories. They came and established in the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and began expanding towards the center of the country. This situation supposed a kind of shift from part of the Natives, even though the English paid to get land from them. While many moved away from the white population, some others were inducted into the new communities. Thus, their lifestyle suffered the first change, adapting from one culture to another.
Before the arrival of the English, Native Americans lived in scattered settlements. Due to their geographic location, they were mostly nomadic and fierce warriors. They lived in harmony with nature, and worshipped its elements as their divinities. They lived basically on recollection and hunting, but not many of them developed agricultural skills due to the poorly conditioned soil they inhabited.
But with the arrival of the colonists, Native Americans began to be siphoned from their lands. Nevertheless, few were the issues based on these matters –though they did exist-, for English colonists paid for the territories they took from the Natives. However, the European Imperialist countries were far from satisfying their thirst for power. And, in those times, power meant domain.
In order to block out a possible threat from the Spanish colonies in the south, Georgia was founded. It was basically meant as a barrier that would mean resistance and protection for the other 12 English colonies. It was inhabited by the most heinous humans England could get her hands at. Population was well-defined into races in the future United States from the very start.
Unlike southern colonies, English people did not have the costume of mixing with the native race, at least not from the beginning. Mostly, families came together, for the head right system granted land to new arrivals as a strategy for attracting colonists. Of course, this was a special feature reserved for the English exclusively. The strategy obviously proved effective: Eventually, colonists stopped being military population only. And by so, a new kind of population was soon required.
As wealthy English began to arrive, commodities such as laborers, servants and slaves proved necessary. For attracting them to travel to the Americas, a deal such as the head right system was proposed: If a wealthy-enough family paid the one-way ticket for a servant, and he or she paid his or her patrons back with a few years of servitude, the said servant would –if desired- be freed. Also, after 12 years of the establishment of the new colonies, African slaves were being brought to Virginia and the rest as newly servants, with some of the rights reserved for original English servants. Of course, they were not given land when freed, which was the cause of the start of delinquency and poverty in the region. Nevertheless, from that moment on, the Land of Freedom started gaining its pseudonym.
Throughout the years, from the moment of the establishment of Virginia and up to the moment when the United States if America got their independency back in 1775, things changed for the population. Even today, they keep changing. This shows us that evolution is the only way to go ahead in life, especially for a country that has lived through the years… and promises to keep going…