Thread: can anyone translate from this art piece?

This is still just a terrible mess, but it is Mexican. That's the one thing I'm reasonably sure about. The word "jicara" gives it away. I was a little embarrassed when it was pointed out that all I had to do was read it out loud to decipher two phrases. I always seem to forget that. Like "como seyaman"? As soon as someone else pronounced it, it was so obvious it was "como se llaman". I mean, duh. The author is José Benitez Sanchez. The very last line is "Silent Walkers". I still do not understand how "iyani" has anything to do with "llorar", but I was assured by two people that it does.

Los diose tienen vida para entregar espiritud y la diosa abre su mente y su pensa miento y iyoni y forma su cuerpo y su tres mondo los pies y el estomago y su cabeza y su Respiracion La mujer anciana tiene su cuatropuntos cardinales al mondo y un sentro en donde nació y quedo una jicora y una flecha que es ombre y la mujer del anondo asi recono semo a los lugars sagrado y es mienica es su espejo de los diose en donde se conoce y como seyaman de cado uno de los diose.


The gods have life to deliver spirituality and the goddess opens your mind and thought and tears and forms your body and your third world (?) your feet and your stomach and your head and your breath. The old woman has your four cardinal points to the world and a center which was born and remained a water gourd and an arrow that is man and the woman (delanando?) so, she recognizes me to the places. Sacred and it is (mierica?). It is a mirror of the gods by which you know the name of every one of the gods.

That second one is in South Carolinian.

But I have another piece of the puzzle. (delanando?) = del mundo = of the world

I’ve been told this isn’t necessarily from Mexico, and is unlikely to be from central or north Mexico. It could be as far south as El Salvador. I gather “jicara” is used south of the Mexican border, and the dialect south of Mexico is more likely to show deletion of the final s – especially El Salvador.

Original as best I can make it out:

Los diose tienen vida para entregar espiritud y la diosa abre su mente y su pensa miento y iyoni y forma su cuerpo y su tres mondo los pies y el estomago y su cabeza y su Respiracion La mujer anciana tiene su cuatropuntos cardinales al mondo y un sentro en donde nació y quedo una jicora y una flecha que es ombre y la mujer del anondo asi recono semo a los lugars sagrado y es mienica es su espejo de los diose en donde se conoce y como seyaman de cado uno de los diose.

What I think it means in Spanish:

Los dioses tienen vida para entregar espiritualidad y la diosa abre su mente y sus pensamientos y llori (?) y forma su cuerpo y su tres mundos, los pies y el estomago y su cabeza y su respiración La mujer anciana tiene su cuatro puntos cardinales al mundo y un centro en donde nació y quedó una jícara y una flecha que es hombre y la mujer del mundo. Así reconocemos a los lugares sagrados y es única es su espejo de los dioses en donde se conoce y como se llaman de cado uno de los dioses.

What I think it means in English:

The gods have life to deliver spirituality and the goddess opens your mind and thoughts and tears and forms your body and your three worlds, your feet and your stomach and your head and your breath. The old woman has your four compass points of the world and a center which was born and remained a container and an arrow that is man and the woman of the world. Thus we recognize the sacred places. She is the only one, and a mirror by which you know the name of every one of the gods.


José Benitez Sanchez
Of the community Virranica
Zita Kua
Silent Procession