Beni

Beni was born on August 31, 989 in a Zapotec-speaking village in the high country north of the Oaxaca valley. Her family held a commoner house plot and worked milpa fields under local rulers who took labor and goods. At home they fed the ancestors with small offerings: a pinch of ground maize, beans, and copal resin burned on a shard near the hearth, with short spoken petitions.

Her father, Benh, farmed and carried loads along the footpaths to nearby markets. Her mother, Dani, spent long hours at the grinding stone, hands white with lime from treated maize. They shared a compound with Benh’s mother Naa and Dani’s sister Guii. An older brother, Xhu, had been born the year before and died before he could sit; his name stayed in the household’s quiet talk when the copal smoke rose.

Beni walked early and pushed into people’s space. She followed adults across the packed earth yard, loud and insistent, grabbing at anything new. In February 991 Benh returned from a carrying trip with cord and a small gourd cup. Beni ran at him shouting her short word for him, then clamped both hands on the cord. When Guii lifted it away she screamed, clawed at it, and threw herself back, then latched onto Dani’s skirt and refused to let go.

Late that summer a new baby, Zani, was swaddled and set near the hearth. Beni pressed in close, tried to wedge between Dani and the infant, and jabbed at the wrappings. When Naa took her by the shoulder to turn her aside, Beni swatted at her hand. The baby wailed; Beni wailed louder.

After the rains eased, Beni developed sudden diarrhea. For two days she could not keep down water. On September 23, 991, she stopped breathing. Her body was washed, wrapped, and placed in the ground near the household’s burial area. Dani and Naa burned copal and set a small bit of maize dough beside her.