In Citlalmachiyotl / The Star Sign: A colonial Nahua Drama of the Three Kings

In "The Star Sign" we see traces of the Bible, early and medieval Christian legend, medieval theather, the Franciscan evangelization of Mexico, the performative nature of Nahua religion, and Nahuas' appropriation of Christian discourses for religious and political legitimation. We see archaic, formal Nahuatl, replete with honorific speech, parallel constructions, and metaphors, not jus preserved in an archive but scripted for dozens of eighteenth-century actors to proclaim aloud to their entire community and any number of visitors. We see an exuberant, festive religious practice developed and perpetuated by colonized people through their own initiative and means. And we see a controversial practice that provoked the disapproval and even disgust of colonial authorities who sought to exert their control over the colonized population by rejecting and policing indigenous forms of Christianity. (Louise M. Burkhart, Introductory study).