latin american essays maclas

An alternative myth is more indigenous in nature. This one is translated
from Josefina Pla’s (1998:57) work, Artesania Paraguaya. On the eve of getting
married, the son of a chief went hunting in the forest to acquire a jaguar skin to
give to the family of his beloved, that being the custom of the time. It would
prove his courage and ability to hunt and care for his future family. He did not
return. When his body was finally found along side the corpse of a jaguar,
people were surprised to find it covered in a strange shroud: a spider had woven
a web over the entire body. The bride to be, who had not stopped mourning for
her promised spouse, was greatly moved by its beauty. She wanted to imitate
the spider’s lace in order to cover the grave of her dead lover. She worked on it
for several months before it was finished. This was the first ñandutí.
References Cited
Barrett, William E.
1952 [1936] Woman on Horseback, The Story of Francisco Lopez and Eliza
Lynch. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Bouvier, Léon
nd Paraguay. Paris: Achevé d’imprimer sur les Presses des Editions Delroisse.
Chaves, Julio Cesar
1942 El supremo dictador. Buenos Aires: Editorial Difusam.
De Guzmán, Ruiz [Ruy] Díaz
1962 La Argentina, An Account of the Discovery of the Provinces of Rio de la
Plata from 1512 to the Time of Domingo Martinez de Irala. Buenos Aires:
Estrada.
Domínguez, Manuel
1946 [1918] El alma de la raza. Buenos Aires: Editorial Ayacucho.
Ganson, Barbara
2003 The Guaraní Under Spanish Rule in the Río de la Plata. Stanford University
Press.
González, Gustavo
1967 Ñandutí. Asunción: Estudios Antropológicos del Ateneo Paraguayo.
Kellogg, Susan
2005 Weaving the Past, A History of Latin America’s Indigenous Women from
the Prehispanic Period to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press.
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