Mayahuel y Los 400 Conejos

Bar Los 400 Conejos on Chapultepec

Hot Goddess Mayahuel

The benefits of Tequila

Mayahuel y Los 400 Conejos

July 21, 2012

By: Gina Yoryet Román

When I first heard of a small town of 35.000 inhabitants called Tequila the first thing I was curious about was a statue of a woman with a nice rounded and abundant rack that once appeared wearing a shiny-laced red bra.

Rumor has it that the woman represents Mayahuel, the goddess of maguey and drunkenness which according to Mexican legend goes something like this:

Mayahuel was a star, granddaughter of Tzitzímitl God of the stars and the night sky. So says one version of mythology that God Quetzalcóatl ascended to heaven, enamoured Mayahuel and convinced her to descend to earth with him shaped as branches to conceal themselves from the Tzitzimime (the other stars).

When Tzitzímitl found out he was at rage, came down to earth and sought for the lovers, when she found the branch concealing Mayahuel, she destroyed it yet leaving the one hiding Quetzalcóatl intact.

Once they left, he grabbed her beloved’s remains and buried them where a plant named maguey sprouted.

Source

Mayahuel has since been portrayed as having many breasts to feed her many children, Los 400 Conejos and Ron Cooper of Del Maguey mezcal producers, Doctora M. P. G. L., Researcher and Professor at Universidad de Guadalajara and E. M. (Who I met and interviewed at the primer foro de agave in March where norma 186 was disputed) owner of Los 400 Conejos Bar on Avenida Chapultepec corroborated to the story.

Los 400 Conejos

E. M’s bar was named Los 400 Conejos after the legend behind the inebriating drinks of tequila, mezcal and pulque to keep the story alive; that which he loves telling his clients when they pay a weekend visit as very few are acquainted with it.

According to mythology, Los 400 Conejos are the children of Mayahuel, the goddess of fertility and of pulque making maguey and that which all the agave distills have embraced as their own deity but in reality her story originated in the core of México representing pulque more so than other drinks.

400 is not a literal term, it was chosen by the Nahuatl to express many of something, a high number, in other words, we can say, “so many rabbits or thousands of rabbits.”

On the other hand 400 also represents the Aztecs´ many forms to get intoxicated with pulque and being liberated. For instance, we can find el llorón - the weeping, el platicador –the talkative, el efusivo – the effusive, a few of the countless intoxication states depending on your mood swings making drunkenness very diverse.

As far as the term rabbits, it was also appointed by the Aztecs symbolizing the transition of hallucination when drinking pulque. Therefore they chose the rabbit as an emblem to represent that state since it was believed that pulque created delusions.

E. M. interview:

Gina: ¿Por qué escogiste el nombre Los 400 Conejos para tu bar?

E. M. Porque en la mitología Azteca, Nahuatl, Los 400 Conejos son los 400 hijos de Mayahuel, la diosa de la fertilidad y del maguey pulquero que ahora todos los destilados de agave la han empezado como a acoger como una diosa propia aunque en realidad fue del centro del país y más hacía el pulque.

La expresión 400 no es literal, 400 como un número definido sino es una expresión de cantidades de mucho, de exageración, o sea tantos conejos podrían decirse o miles de conejos.

Los Nahuatl se escogieron ese el 400 como una expresión de muchos.

Y en esta historia mitológica, estos 400 hijos de Mayahuel la diosa de la fertilidad son a su vez las 400 formas que tiene el pulque de emborracharte. El llorón, el filosofo, el platicador, el efusivo, los estados de embriaguez que depende de tu estado de animo puedes tener una embriaguez, diversa.

Simplemente se habla de una manera general de las tantas formas de emborracharte. Yo dije unas por ejemplo pero no están documentadas.

Gina: Bien, la cantidad son 400 para expresar muchos, miles, exageración pero ¿Por qué conejos?

E. M.

El conejo era para los Aztecas la transición a la alucinación y al beber pulque como se creía que alucinabas, se escogió al conejo como el animal que representaba este estado. Es una historia de la mitología Azteca. Hay muy poca mitología de nuestros antepasados.

Ron Cooper, of Del Maguey mezcal producers, was quoted in Metro Active as saying,

"The Aztec's 400 gods of pulque were representative of the infinite forms that intoxication takes. The native culture was sensitized to the immense release of being in an altered state - it's considered liberating."

Pulque was originally used in religious festivals, dedicated to the god Ometotchtli - Two Rabbit (one of the Centzon Totochtin, or 400 rabbits; Tochtli, or Ometotchli, was also a figure in the Aztec calendar - day eight of the 20-day cycle). There was no "One Rabbit." When they looked at the moon, the Mexica saw a rabbit in its face.

Centzontotochtin 400 Rabbits: the many different ways of becoming inebriated.

The festivities that were held on the day of Two Rabbit were in honour of the principal pulque deity, Izquitécatl, and other gods related to the inebriating drink. A large statue dedicated to the god had a bowl of pulque set in front of it, and within it lay cane straws for sucking the fermented liquid.

Old people and warriors drank from the stone bowl, called a Ometochtecómatl, or Two Rabbit Bowl. Aztec lore described the many ways of getting drunk to be ‘infinite’, like 400 rabbits, or the stars in the sky. If a drunk man died, he was said to have been ‘rabbited’, emphasizing that there were many outcomes to getting drunk.

Here are a few of the Centzontotochtin...

Falling asleep with your head on your chest - a rather mild reaction to drunkenness.

Some cry rivers of tears or find their solace in song.

Others speak to themselves, are spiteful to others or pretend to be great and rich even when they aren’t.

A drunk man might become suspicious of everyone, or accuse his wife of being wicked. If a person laughs near him, he will think he is being made fun of.

Inebriated women might fall on the floor and sleep there, their hair loose and untidy - very bad behaviour!

Most of us are oblivious to the legend behind tequila the drink, that’s why The Road to Tequila’s main purpose is to educate Anglos and many others. After having working in this project for almost two years, I’ve discovered a lot of important information about tequila. Actually each project I’ve been involved with since 2007 has educated me in many ways.

Collaborating with El Consejo Regulador del Tequila – The Tequila Regulatory Council in various projects since 2008.

Translating some video files and subtitles for Tequila Quiote.

Doing simultaneous translation for a group of foreign investors and local deputies and witnessing una cata professional - a professional tequila tasting in the Jose Cuervo underground, drinking the aged Cuervo family reserve was quite an experience. I am not a heavy drinker but that day was very particular because I learned new smells of the same tequila, new flavors and ways to drink it. It was amazing!

El primer foro de Agave on March 26 opened a can of worms injecting even more information in my cabezita which is about to burst with so much data.

Interviewing many MYPYMES (Micro y pequeñas y medianas empresas) representatives en el ambito tequilero – Starting, small and medium sized companies in the tequila industry.

And last but not least, I was invited by an Australian writer and Tequila distillery owner to represent Mayahuel for the book he’s creating giving life to the Goddess mother of 400 children and the infinite numbers of getting inebriated.

My slogan was once, “Success is my destiny.”

Now it is, “Success and Tequila are my destiny,” because a great part of my translation/interpretation work as of five years + ago has revolved around tequila and what lies behind this emblematic alcoholic beverage.

¡Salud!

Todo con medida, nada con exceso