Social networks are full of posts that try to keep us in them, or in any case that we consume some other product. Only some publications save us from that, like those that sometimes ask you to go out and see the moon. That satellite in which we could not live is there every night, sometimes less visible than others, but without a doubt when it decides to give us a show, it is capable of surprising us, no matter how many years we have been looking at it.
Understanding it is impossible, it only remains to admire it and surprise us again and again. Even today, thanks to technology, we can be amazed at how unknown it can be to our eyes when we see it through a lens.
But we are not the only ones fascinated by it. Ancient civilizations also gave meaning to that sphere in the sky which, from here, appears to have a rabbit on it. One of the most advanced civilizations of the pre-Columbian period believed that the moon had a rabbit thanks to the compassion of the god Quetzalcoatl. Today it seems like a children’s story, however it is important to understand that just as today we have myths that are difficult to put into context, in the past Mayan beliefs were ways of explaining the world to the population.
“Quetzalcóatl, an imposing and good god, traveled the world in the form of a man, tired from walking all day, he noticed that his appetite increased, but he continued on his way, until the stars began to shine and the Moon peeked out. God decided to sit on the edge of a tree, where he contemplated a rabbit.
-What are you eating? she asked him.
I am eating grass. Do you want some?
-Thanks, but I don’t eat grass.
-What are you going to do then?
-Perhaps to die of hunger and thirst.
The little rabbit approached Quetzalcóatl and told him;
-Look, I’m just a bunny, but if you’re hungry, eat me, I’m here.
The benevolent god, surprised by the reaction of the bunny, told him:
-You will not be more than a bunny, but everyone, forever, has to remember you.
And he raised it high, very high, to the Moon, where the figure of the rabbit was stamped.
Then the god lowered him to earth and said:
–There you have your portrait in light, for all men and for all times”.
In school, history is used to learn dates and facts, but stories like these should be part of our understanding of life and the past. In the myths we find our essence as humanity and through them we can recognize ourselves beyond the differences.