The ocarinas of Grandmother Ixmukanee.

Grandmother Ixmukanné tells the story that in the constellation of the turtle, there exists a city built upon three suns known as the Three Stones of the Universe. In the heart of the city, there is a grand square, and at its center, a colossal fire that never extinguishes, a flame that has existed since the time of our grandparents’ ancestors. This square is encircled by the palaces of the cosmic lords.

The inhabitants would extract star-stuff from the grand fire in the square. They would mix and shape it, then forcefully hurl it into space; this was the labor of the ancient lords, their will. The mightiest among them would cast stars of various sizes and colors, while the smaller ones would end up hurling planets, rocks, comets, and other beautiful things that populated the universe.

The grand ladies dedicated themselves to keeping time and weaving the fabric of the universe, which was resilient and could be stretched many times, infinitely, because they never ceased to weave and count. To accomplish their task, they would sit with their grand looms in the palace chambers, and everyone respected and admired them for their profound knowledge and skill. That’s why they were the city’s advisors.

Ixmukanné wasn’t very different from the children we know today. She enjoyed her friends and playing in the city’s courtyards, carving stones, and stacking stardust on the reddish ground. It wasn’t a very colorful place. Ixmukanné would always imagine creatures that didn’t yet exist swirling around her, and she tried, with words, to sketch them for her friends, who didn’t always understand her.

In the city, one could only find stardust for creating grand things, enormous things, but she had small hands and ideas brimming with new life. She envisioned more colors, and things that moved differently, small things in many forms, desiring more scents and flavors. Her mind and heart never ceased to generate ideas because her creations yearned to exist and fill the empty spaces.

Ixmukanné, restless and always in motion, confided her desires to her own grandmother, an ancient denizen of the universe, whose name no one remembers how to say anymore. She listened to the child with tenderness, and in her wisdom, saw her hidden talent and potential, so she whispered, “Beloved daughter, I will tell you a secret, beyond the city of the three stones, there are things to discover and places to search for your heart.”

Motivated and very curious, Ixmukanné decided to descend the starry staircase at the end of the grand square. After walking for a long time through the weaving of the grand ladies, she arrived at a fiery place, filled with volcanoes and all kinds of stones, wind and seas, things she had never seen before. Everything was in motion, but she realized there were few colors, scents, and shapes.

Among wild places, Ixmukanné reached a massive rock and asked for permission to work with it, but the rock replied, “You have very small hands, and we are tough, carved by mighty hammers and chisels. You won’t be able to shape us. Let us sleep...” Ixmukanné felt disappointed, but she didn’t give up. She continued walking until she arrived at a vast ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see.

She asked the water for permission to work with it, but the waves replied, “You can’t contain us; if you take a bit of us, we’ll slip through your fingers. You need very large hands to shape us. Let us keep filling the empty spaces, don’t disturb us...“. Ixmukanné then approached an active volcano and requested permission from the lava, but the same thing happened.

The lava replied that she would get burned if she tried and that she should let it flow because its job was to harden the earth... After asking for permission from various materials, she felt sad because her hands wouldn’t allow her to work with them. They were all big, hard, cold, or hot. Despondent, she sat down to cry in a cold and damp place when she heard a voice ask her, “Why are you crying, child?”

She, looking at where she was sitting, noticed that a red and shiny earth was speaking to her. Ixmukanné replied, “I’ve been walking for a long time, searching for something to shape the ideas in my heart, but everything is difficult for my hands, and they won’t cooperate.” The earth said to her, “Rise, I want to show you something,” and when Ixmukanné stood up, it said, “Look at the place where you were sitting.”

Ixmukanné immediately noticed that her hands, feet, and the rest of her body had left marks in the place where she was sitting, and she instantly understood that this was the material she had been seeking. She asked if she could work with it, and the material granted her permission, revealing its name. Mud could be molded with water; it was the dust of the rocks, it could be heated by fire, and when it cooled, it hardened... It brought everything together!

From the mud, new forms began to emerge. She combined materials to create colors, studied how to give life to her ideas, and after much effort, she saw that in her hands dwelled very special creatures, small, diverse, and colorful. Some created music, and she called them ocarinas because she breathed life into them by blowing. That’s why from the beginning, they were a creation of the wind. She was so happy that she didn’t notice the passing of time.

Ixmukanné had spent a long time learning, and she thought her grandmother would be worried. So, she decided to send a message using the most beautiful ocarina she had crafted. She took a small jade stone and shaped it into a heart to bring her creation to life, naming it Colibrí, the messenger arrow, because it was fast and beautiful. Since then, it became the Colibrí’s job to carry the messages of the grandparents.