Dear All,

Please take a good look at the Mexican flag:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Mexico.svg

If you look closely, you will see "an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake."

Q: Now, what does that symbolize?

A:
The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle and a serpent, which is now Mexico City.

The Coat of Arms is charged in the center of the flag*, and was inspired by an Aztec legend regarding the founding of Tenochtitlán. According to popular legend, the Aztec people, then a nomadic tribe, were wandering throughout Mexico in search of a sign that would indicate the precise spot upon which they were to build their capital. Their war god Huitzilopochtli had commanded them to find an eagle perched atop a prickly pear cactus (nopal in Spanish) growing on a rock submerged in a lake. The eagle would have a serpent trapped in its mouth that it had presently snatched. After two hundred years of wandering, they found the promised sign on a small island in the swampy Lake Texcoco. Here they founded their new capital, Tenochtitlán, which later became known as Mexico City, the current capital of Mexico.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mexico
*The crucial importance of this Aztec Empire theme is clearly shown by the literally central placement of the Aztec Eagle on the Mexican" flag.


And regarding Tenochtitlán, the Aztec Capital:

In the center of the city were the public buildings, temples and schools. Inside a walled square, 300 meters to a side, was the ceremonial center. There were about 45 public buildings including: the main temple, the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the ball game, the tzompantli or rack of skulls, the temple of the sun, the platforms for the gladiatorial sacrifice, and some minor temples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitl ... _buildings


And regarding Tenochtitlan's "Main Temple", for human sacrifice:

The Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). The temple rose 200 ft above the city's ritual precinct, surmounted by dual shrines to the deities Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun) and Tlaloc (god of rain and fertility)... A stucco relief depicting a tzompantli, or "skull rack", decorated one platform leading to the temple... The temple was enlarged several times, and for the last time in 1487, when between 3,000 and 84,000 people were sacrificed over 4 days during its reconsecration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyra ... nochtitlan


And regarding the "Tzompantli" skull racks:

there were at most 60,000 skulls on the Hueyi Tzompantli (great Skullrack) of Tenochtitlan. There were at least five more skullracks in Tenochtitlan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzompantli


So, when Mexicans" hoist the Mexican Flag — ie, the Eagle of the Aztec Empire — on American soil, do you understand what they are saying?