Tripping with the Dog People
Okay, so Gary Jennings’s Aztec
So you know how anyone can post on Wikipedia, and you don’t know if what you’re getting is completely accurate? Well, try searching “chichimeca” on Yahoo! You should come up with a Spanish Wikipedia article on the Chichimeca, and Yahoo! offers a cute little service to translate the article into English. Imagine how many inaccuracies you end up with using that little trick.
Regardless, I thought this was interesting. From what I gathered, the name Chichimeca started out a derogatory term, much like the word “barbarian,” making fun of the incomprehensible language of these dirty desert dog people. When I think of the Barbars, I picture these two cocky Roman soldiers with their helmets and their armor, laughing and making fun of their backward foes. One Roman says to the other Roman, “Bar bar bar bar, hee hee, bar,” and the other Roman says, “Yeah I know, right? Bar bar friggin bar.”
But even more interesting than how they got their name were the tales Gary Jennings told of the Chichimeca and their peyote. The medicine men at the top of the social ladder got to actually eat the peyote and then trip their balls off. Then the next rung down could drink the urine of the medicine men, and they could trip too. Then the next rung down and so on and so on. The people at the bottom of the ladder hardly trip at all. I guess because they’re already sitting on the ground (and they’re drinking pure pee).
Aztecs rule!