The Smithsonian's new Museum of the American Indian opened this week, and Washington welcomed representatives of native tribes from around the U.S. Tribes represented included the Lenape of Connecticut, the Chickahominy of Virginia and, rather unexpectedly, the Aztecs - of San Francisco. From the Associated Press: "A group of five White Mountain Apache Indians from White River, Ariz., added to the drumbeat with shaking metal balls around their shoes. ... Nearby, Aztec Indians from San Francisco danced with feathers stretching six feet above their heads." The Aztecs sure have come a long way since I first learned about them in grade school. I thought they had been conquered and later culturally subsumed by centuries of Spanish colonial rule. It seems they just moved to the Bay Area, waiting for their museum to open. I wonder how you say "You go girl!" in Nahuatl.
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