What Language The Migrant Mother Is Speaking In Dark Winds Season 3 Episode 1: Mixtec Explained

Dark Winds

InDark Windsseason 3 , sequence 1 , Bernadette Manuelito questions a migrant female parent and her daughter , and viewers may have inquire what language the mother is speaking . As a newBorder Patrol agent inDark Windsseason 3 , Bernadetteis shinny with the job and the insensibility it often command . While the migratory mother and her girl are not lasting members ofDark Windsseason 3 ’s cast , the few fundamental interaction they have with Bernadette sets up her plotline for the entirety of the season , as she suspects the women are being traffic .

Even if the female parent and her daughter had n’t get along , Bernadette would still have detect herself not quite meet into the civilisation of the Border Patrol post . It ’s not in her nature to turn a unsighted eye to the distress of others , and the compassion she testify the female parent and girl is validation of that . Beyond kick off Bernadette’sDark Windsseason 3 story , however , the female parent add together a poignant and diachronic layer to the worldbuilding of the season , lead off with the oral communication she ’s speaking .

The Migrant Mother Is Speaking Mixtec In Dark Winds Season 3, Episode 1

Mixtec Are The Third-Largest Indigenous Group In Mexico

During the clink questioning view , eagle - eyed – or rather , eared – viewers belike noticed that while the girl was speaking Spanish , the mother was address something that sound exchangeable but was not quite the same . As the mother bulge urgently conveying something to Bernadette , the new Border Patrol agentive role is clearly frustrated because she does n’t understand , so the trivial young lady starts speaking to Bernadette in Spanish , which she does read , albeit not as fluently .

caption revealthe speech the mother is speak in theDark Windsepisode is Mixtec , which is the words of the Mixtecs ( or Mixtecos ) , the third - large Indigenous Mexican group in the body politic . The Mixtecs refer to themselves as Ñuu Savi , or " People of the Rain " ( viaMixtec.org ) . Historically , the Mixtec people have fill the south - cardinal region of Mexico known as La Mixteca , which covers parts of Pueblo , Guerrero , and Oaxaca . Today , it ’s guess that up to 500,000 citizenry still address some mutation of Mixtec ( viaEndangered Language Alliance ) .

Dark Winds Season 3 Is Honoring Indigenous Mexican Culture In Thoughtful Ways

The Cast & Crew Made A Point To Incorporate More Indigenous People Into The Show This Season

The inclusion of the Mixtec oral communication in the episode is just one of the many serious-minded and venerating ways thatDark Windsseason 3 is taking pains to honour Indigenous Mexican civilisation and attach it to Navajo culture . It ’s virtually insufferable to completely split Indigenous Mexican polish from aboriginal American and Indigenous American civilisation in the Southwest . While most Mixtec citizenry today dwell in Mexico , there are also large population in the Southwest United States . Mesoamerican culture like Mixtec and others have been in an elaborate way tied to autochthonic multitude in the U.S. through similar history , co - mingled finish , and genic ties .

Dark Winds season 3 has struck a much benighted tone than previous seasons . Sadly , that darkness extended to the loss of one of the plastic film residential district ’s own .

For example , Dark Windsseason 3 illustrates how the Navajo Ye’iitsohis extremely similar to the Chicano folktale of La Llorona , with both entity haunting the arroyo of the Southwest . Latino names have been scatter throughoutDark Windsfrom the start , from Manuelito to Gordo Sena . Like the Navajo people , the Mixtec have faced challenge throughout their history of conquering , displacement , and a scrap to keep their language and culture from being erased . While Bernadette empathizes with the migratory female parent and girl on a human level , through them , she also belike sees reverberation of the story and rigorousness face by her own Navajo people , which is why they resonate with her so strongly .