Purépecha · Lake Pátzcuaro, Mexico
The Purépecha: the origin of their kingdom in the Relación de Michoacán
October 21, 2026 · 11 min · Audio in Spanish, English, Portuguese
At a feast by Lake Pátzcuaro, the high priest of the Purépecha stood up and told, until nightfall, the story of their ancestors. We listen, slowly, to that story: the story of Taríacuri, as kept in the Relación de Michoacán.
A god who asked for firewood for his fires, a fisherman from the island of Jarácuaro who turned out to be kin, an orphan raised by old priests, an eagle whistle at midnight, two nephews who left firewood at the temple door, and three mounds of earth at dawn: Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio and Tzintzuntzan.
Chapters
- 0:00The story told standing up
- 0:54A book with 44 paintings
- 1:48The feast of the arrows
- 2:37Firewood for Curicaueri
- 3:29The box beneath the oak
- 4:22The fisherman of the island
- 5:07The door of the sky
- 5:50The boy who brought firewood
- 6:37Beyond the sierra
- 7:17Firewood at the temple door
- 8:06"Three lords you shall be"
- 9:00Three mounds of earth
- 10:01What the petámuti remembered
