‘Ancient Night’ is a new twist on old Mesoamerican legends

Art © 2023 David Álvarez

A decade ago, Mexican illustrator David Álvarez took a trip and got the idea for his children’s book, Ancient Night.

Spain — the cities, the culture — reminded him a lot of home. The similarities made him want to research the history of Mexico and Central America before the Spanish conquest.

So Álvarez started reading. He came across many myths, including one that stuck with him: the story of the rabbit and the moon.

According to legend, the dark spots on the moon are the tracks of a rabbit. But how did the tracks get there? People in Mesoamerica have several different stories.

Some claim the rabbit was hurled there to lessen the moon’s glow.

In other tales, the rabbit is the caretaker of the moon.

Or the rabbit is a child of the moon, who runs away and has to be returned by the sun.

“It was from that myth that I started looking for more information on mythology,” says Álvarez, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter. “I found out about the relationship between animals and symbolic actions that are attributed to them.”

Álvarez realized he could use animals to illustrate a story about human nature that would be rooted in the legends of Indigenous people. He began work on what would become Ancient Night — a unique story based on several different mythologies, including that of Lord Opossum, who is said to have ruled the earth in a time before humans lived in cities.

Álvarez’s illustrations were first published as a wordless book. Earlier this year, author David Bowles added the text — in both English and Spanish.

“I said yes before I actually thought about what that meant,” says Bowles. “Taking a wordless text and translating it into English…