Our February design was created by young Mexican artist Julio Mendoza, and celebrated Indigenous resistance to Spanish colonialism in February 1517.
The back of the shirt represents a Maya warrior wearing a jaguar helmet. For the Maya, the jaguar represented power, ferocity and valour; the embodiment of aggressiveness. The Maya word muuk’ means fuerza in Spanish respectively – strength or force in English.
The front of the shirt features a corn in the shape of an arrow referring to famous Maya leader Nachán Can. It is said that when Spanish invaders sent a messenger to get tribute from Nachán Can, he sent back a message saying that the only tribute he would give to the Spanish would be turkeys in the shapes of spears and corn in the shape of arrows.
The arrow also features the year of the battle against Hernandez de Cordova, who set out from Cuba to Mexico in February 1517 in order to find Indigenous peoples to enslave. But he was defeated by Maya fighters and forced to retreat, soon dying from his wounds.
Proceeds from this month also helped fund projects for Indigenous autonomy.
