Walking the Stations of the Cross, the Christian faithful re-create the Passion, following the sorrowful path of Jesus Christ from condemnation to crucifixion. While this devotion, now so popular in the Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations, first emerged in Jerusalem and began spreading through Western Europe in the fourteenth century, it did not assume its current form, and earn the Church's formal recognition, until almost three centuries later. It was at this time, in the last decades of the seventeenth century, that a Franciscan friar in colonial Mexico translated a devotional guide to the Stations of the Cross into the native Nahuatl. This little handbook, Fray Agustin de Vetancurt's Via crucis en mexicano, proved immensely popular, going through two editions, but survives today only in a copy made by a native scribe from Central Mexico. Reproduced here in Nahuatl and English, Vetancurt's handbook offers unique insight into the history, the practice, and the meaning of the Stations of the Cross in the New World and the Old. With the Via crucis en mexicano as a starting point, John F. Schwaller explores the history of the development and spread of the Stations of the Cross, placing the devotion in the context of the Catholic Reformation and the Baroque, the two trends that exalted this type of religious expression. He describes how the devotion, exported to New Spain in the sixteenth century, was embraced by Spanish and natives alike. For the native Americans, Schwaller suggests, the Via crucis resonated because of its performative aspects, reminiscent of rituals and observances from before the arrival of the Spanish. And for missionaries, the devotion offered a means of deepening the faith of the newly converted. In Schwaller's deft analysis-which extends from the origins of the devotion, to the processions and public rituals of the Mexica (Aztecs), to the text and illustrations of the Vetancurt manuscript-the Via crucis en mexicano opens a window on the practice and significance of the Stations of the Cross-and of private devotions generally-in Mexico, Hispanic America, and around the world.

The Mexica (Aztecs) used a solar calendar made up of eighteen months, with each month dedicated to a specific god in their pantheon and celebrated with a different set of rituals. Panquetzaliztli, the fifteenth month, dedicated to the national god Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird on the Left), was significant for its proximity to the winter solstice, and for the fact that it marked the beginning of the season of warfare. In The Fifteenth Month, John F. Schwaller offers a detailed look at how the celebrations of Panquetzaliztli changed over time and what these changes reveal about the history of the Aztecs. Drawing on a variety of sources, Schwaller deduces that prior to the rise of the Mexica in 1427, an earlier version of the month was dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), a war and trickster god. The Mexica shifted the dedication to their god, developed a series of ceremonies - including long-distance running and human sacrifice - that would associate him with the sun, and changed the emphasis of the celebration from warfare alone to a combination of trade and warfare, since merchants played a significant role in Mexica statecraft. Further investigation shows how the resulting festival commemorated several important moments in Mexica history, how it came to include ceremonies associated with the winter solstice, and how it reflected a calendar reform implemented shortly before the arrival of the Spanish. Focused on one of the most important months in the Mexica year, Schwaller's work marks a new methodology in which traditional sources for Mexica culture, rather than being interrogated for their specific content, are read for their insights into the historical development of the people. Just as Christmas re-creates the historic act of the birth of Jesus for Christians, so, The Fifteenth Month suggests, Panquetzaliztli was a symbolic re-creation of events from Mexica myths and history.

The founding of la Villa Rica de la Veracruz (the rich town of the True Cross) is prominently mentioned in histories of the conquest of Mexico, but scant primary documentation of the provocative act exists. During a research session at the Spanish archives, when John Schwaller discovered an early-sixteenth-century letter from Veracruz signed by the members of Cortes's company, he knew he had found a trove of historical details. Providing an accessible, accurate translation of this pivotal correspondence, along with in-depth examinations of its context and significance, The First Letter from New Spain gives all readers access to the first document written from the mainland of North America by any European, and the only surviving original document from the first months of the conquest. The timing of Cortes's Good Friday landing, immediately before the initial assault on the Aztec Empire, enhances the significance of this work. Though the expedition was conducted under the authority of Diego Velazquez, governor of Cuba, the letter reflects an attempt to break ties with Velazquez and form a strategic alliance with Carlos V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. Brimming with details about the events surrounding Veracruz's inception and accompanied by mini-biographies of 318 signers of the document-socially competitive men who risked charges of treason by renouncing Velazquez-The First Letter from New Spain gives evidence of entrepreneurship and other overlooked traits that fueled the conquest.

Don BartolomE de Alva was a mestizo who rose within New Spain's ecclesiastical hierarchy when people of indigenous heritage were routinely excluded from the priesthood. In 1640 and 1641 he translated several theatrical pieces from Spanish into Nahuatl, yet this prodigious accomplishment remained virtually unknown for centuries.Nahuatl Theater, Volume 3 presents for the first time in English the complete dramatic works of Alva, the only known plays from Spain's Golden Age adapted into the lively world of Nahuatl-language theater. Alva's translations-"The Great Theater of the World," "The Animal Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide," "The Mother of the Best," and a farcical intermezzo-represent ambitious attempts to add complex, Baroque dramatic pieces by such literary giants as Lope de Vega and Pedro CalderOn de la Barca to the repertory of Nahuatl theater, otherwise dominated by sober one-act religious plays grounded in medieval tradition. The Spanish sources and Alva's Nahuatl, set on facing pages with their English translations, show how Alva "Mexicanized" the plays by incorporating Nahuatl linguistic conventions and referencing local symbolism and social life. In their introductory essays, the editors offer contextual and interpretive information that provides an entrEe into this rich material. As the only known adaptations of these theatrical works into a Native American language, these plays stand as fine literature in their own right.

In the late sixteenth century, after the Council of Trent and the Catholic Reformation, the confessional became a key means to improve morals and religious life - and, for the Catholic clergy of New Spain, a new avenue through which they might reach the consciences of Spaniards and improve their treatment of indigenous peoples. To this end, the bishops of the province of Mexico drafted a directorio in 1585 to guide the priesthood in fulfilling its duty according to current ecclesiastical ideals and social realities. That document, published here in English for the first time, offers an unrivaled view of the religious, social, and economic history of colonial Mexico. Though never widely circulated, the Directorio para confesores (Directory for Confessors) contains an encyclopedic description of life in Mexico three generations after the European invasion. In addition to summarizing sixteenth-century Spanish concerns in the provinces, the Directory offers insight into the Catholic Church's moral judgments on many aspects of colonial life. Translated by distinguished scholar Stafford Poole, the document embodies a remarkable knowledge of scripture and law and reflects the concerns of the Spanish crown and what was happening in New Spain. The Directory instructs its clergy audience in the proper methods to combat superstition among the Spaniards, helps them navigate the variety of business contracts used in Creole society at the time, and details the obligations of those in various social stations, from viceroys to tavern keepers. It also condemns the forced labor of native people under the repartimiento system, especially in the mines. Rendered in clear prose and illuminated with helpful introductory chapters by Poole and John F. Schwaller, extensive annotations, and a glossary of terms, this volume offers unparalleled insights into life and thought in sixteenth-century New Spain.