rituals of power ... by manuel hermann

7/22/2019 Rituals of Power ... by Manuel Hermann

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LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN,LITERA TURES JOURNAL

JIA Review of American Indian Texts and Srudics

Vol. 24, No. 2, Fall 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mesoamerican Manuscripts PageRituals of Power in The Mixtec Codices by ManuelHermann Lejarazu 125Codex Azcatitlan and the Work of Torquemada: AHistoriographic Puzzle in Aztec-Mexica Sourcesby Mara Castaeda de la Paz

151

ArticleVictor Montejo's El Q'anil: Man ofLightning and Maya 195Cultural Movements by Gabriel EstradaBook ReviewsMaya Kaqchikel Linguistic and Cultural Revitalization. 212Reviews by Emilio del Valle Escalante of(l)La tz awdch? Introduction to Kaqchikel Maya

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According to numerous old accounts, power and religionhave been connected from the earliest times. This appears to havebeen true from the very creation of the world, and for manytraditional societies, the bond cannot be broken. For centuries,rulers, kings, and sovereigns have held power by divine grace.Rituals associated with the holding of office have always beenfundamental to the lives of all rulers because they provide notonly access to temporal power but, even more fundamentally, to amagic-religious power that allows contact with the supematuralforces of the gods. In such Mesoamerican societies as the Mix-teca, rulers maintained an active participation in various aspectsof religion. On several pages of the Mixtec codices numerousrulers are shown carrying out diverse ritual practices. For exam-ple, they perform auto-sacrifices, make such offerings as tobacco(or picietei, burn copal in temples, drink pulque, enter caves, etc.This demonstrates the participation of the religious and magicauthorities in a wide range of activities that also sustained theirpower. Of the rites that were carried out by Mixtec sovereigns, inthis article we will analyze only those that are related to theirenthronements and those that signify an important change ofstatus. Indeed, rituals of power not only prepared a dignitary toexercise control but also constituted the individual's completetransformation into a holy human being. The rites of powerrecorded in Mixtec codices are very concise, because they present

RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEC! CODICES 125!iIRituals of Power in

the Mixtec CodicesManuel Hermann Lejarazu

Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores enAntropologa Social


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126 LATIN AMERlCAN INDIAN LITERA TVRES JOURNALIIionly the culminating moment of the ritual; but we believe that

through iconographic analysis and comparisons with the avail-able historical sources, these images can help us to understand thenature of the rites of power that are represented.

Conceming ceremonies that pertain to enthronement andaccession to noble status, we have found threelwell-documentedexamples in the codices that can be interpreted unequivocallywithin the group of scenes that constitute the narratives of thetexts. The first ofthese is a ritual in which the ruler, before takingpossession ofhis dominion, appears as a priest who offers tobaccoand copal before the sacred bundle of his town. As recorded onseveral pages of Codex Selden, this action was performed by thelords of Jaltepec, in the Mixteca Alta. The second ritual that wehave classified is related to the turquoise nose piercing ceremony,which is well-known in the Nahuatl world as "the ceremony ofbecoming tecuhtli." This event is widely documented in bothMendieta, and Torquemada, and theHistoria Tolteca-Chichimecaand the Relacin Geogrfica de Cholula, among others. Thisritual of power was enacted by very few ruling Mixtecs, amongwhom the most famous were Lord 8-Deer Jaguar Claw (1063-1115 d. C.) and Lord 4-Wind Yahui (1092-1164). Finally, 1recognize a third type of ritual that is recorded in several Mixteccodices, including Bodley, Becker 1, and Vindobonensis, thatconsists of a ceremony in which the ruler dresses in a special redcostume, wears a crown of flowers on his head, and offers apulque vessel to a group of priests, or even to deities that accom-pany him during the enthronement. The three ritual s are repre-sented during the lives of various rulers, but they are particularlyclear in the cases of such personages as 8-Deer and 4-Wind, due totheir great importance in the pre-Hispanic history ofthe Mixtecs.The Ritual in the Presence of the Sacred Bundle

This enthronement rite is related in considerable detail inseveral pages of the Codex Selden. The rulers involved seem tohave had to go through a form of priestly initiation, or to have

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RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEOCODICES 127I!IIprofessed as priests in their temple, before marrying and taking

possession of the rulership. Future rulers are usually representedin two ways. One is that they are shown semi-nude, with bodiesthat are completely gray and draped with ropes of thoms thatsymbolize self-sacrifice. The candidate carries out activities thatare entirely priestly, such as buming copaf in a censer and tbrow-ing tobacco (picietl) toward the sacred bundle that has beenplaced inside the temple (fig. 1). The second type of repr~sen-tation usual1y depicts lords in a tunic-like garment, or xicolli, thatis white with a series of dispersed black dots. These figures arealso painted completely gray and, like the previously mentionedlords, wear the top knot hair style. In turn, they offer tobacco andhold censers that spread smoke before the sacred bundle. In spiteof these slight differences, we believe that this is the same ritualcarried out by different dignitaries throughout Codex Selden, andtherefore the scenes may reflect only formal variations. It is quitepossible that the lords of Jaltepec, in addition to offering copaland tobacco to the sacred bundle, also carried out autosacrifices toit as part of their rituals of accession.

The bundle represented in Codex Se/den is drawn with thefigure of the uhu (fig. 1). The uhu bundle seems to have had aspecial cult in the Mixtec town of Jaltepec; however, it alsoappears on numerous occasions in Codex Colombino and inCodex Bod/ey, which come from different towns. Within theliterature of Mixtec studies it is known as uhu, the being or spiritof the earth that lives in nature and can appear in rivers, springs,stones, and roads, or in the milpa (Jansen 1980:35). It is alsoregarded as a protector of planting, and it is the owner of themountains and caves. In the Mixtec codices the uhu is usual1yrepresented as a small antbropomorphic figure that is red or ocherin color that is painted with small rectangular projections aboveits head or around its body, perhaps to symbolize a stony or roughtexture. The uhu usual1y appears without arms or legs, but itretains the human-like traits ofround eyes and a line ofteeth in itsmouth. In fact, it is in Codex Se/den that we find the greatest num-

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128 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERA TpRES JOURNAL!

Figure 1. Lord 3 Rain makes offerings to the Sacred Bundlein Jaltepec. Codex Se/den 5-U (after Jansen and Prez Jimnez 2000).

ber of uhu bundles, which are placed not only in temples but alsoin other contexts.

As we have seen so far, future rulers of Jaltepec had tocarry out diverse priestly rites and self-sacrifices inside the templeof their own town before assuming rulership. This aspect of theenthronment ceremony seems to coincide with the data gatheredby the Spanish chronicler Antonio de Herrera on the customs ofthe Mixtec caciques when they had to enter some temple:

Acostumbraban, que todos los Caciques Maiorazgoshavian de ser un Ao Frailes. Llegado el Dia del Abito,le acompaaba el Papa, i todo el convento, i los seo-res, con sus musicas de Atambores .... en llegando alTemplo, le desnudaban, iponan unos paete s untadosde cierta Goma, e le ponan otra Manta diferente, i elPapa le daba un cautillo de Lancetas de Pedernal parasacar sangre de la Lengua, i de las Orejas, para servir los Dioses; untavanle la frente, los carrillos, pechos, iespalda con Hojas de Beleo, i con esta uncion que-daba santificado, i estaba el Ao en el Monasterio;adonde era Castigado i enseado sin regalo, pasandolos trabajos de obediencia, i Abstinencia. Pasando el

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RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEq CODICES 129!. Ao iban por l con gran alegria, i pompa, i poniendole

su primer Abito, lebolvian su casa, i lo llevaban baar, iquatro Doncellas, Hijas de Caballeros, le laba-ban el cuerpo con Jabon, porque iba mui negro de

IHumo de la Tea, como andaban de ordinario los Sacer-dotes, que parecan Negros de Etiopi,.1

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This extraordinary quotation from Antonio de Herreracoincides perfectly with what we have seen in Codex Seldenbecause the candidate for rulership carries out a series of asceticpractices for the purpose ofbecoming a holy man, endowed withspecial powers and totally qualified to govem. Thus, the Mixteclord left his previous status as son, or the sovereign's successor,and entered a stage of religious transition upon carrying outpriestly practices before the most important religious symbol inhis town, the sacred bundle. Upon completing this he was quali-fied to take power and become a ruler, or yya. In this way, then,the rituals for the taking power by rulers transformed the newsovereigns into holy human beings, imbued with special powersthat helped them to intervene in the world and maintain balance inthe cosmos.The Ceremony of the Turquoise Nose Ornament

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Although the ceremony for elevation to the rank oftecuhtli was not cornmon among the pre-Hispanic Mixteca, wehave decided to include it precisely becauseof its specialcharacter in the history recorded in the codices. The two greatmoments during which this ceremony is represented occurredduring the lives of 8-Deer Jaguar Claw and 4-Wind Yahui. It is inCodices Nuttall, Bodley and Colombino-Becker that the cere-mony "to make tecuhtli," which consisted of the piercing of theseptum to allow the wearing of a nose omament of turquoise, isshown in detail (fig. 2).

As several sources indicate, this ritual was most com-monly carried out among the Nahua of Tlaxcala, although it was

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130 LATlN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERP{fURES JOURNAL!Ialso practiced in Huexotzingo and Cholula. There was some

regional variation in terms of details, but it was executed in thesame general manner (Carrasco 1966:135). According to FriarGernimo de Mendieta, the title of tecuhtli, was gained by theparticular merits that some king or nobleman had achieved, ~-though, according to the documents published by Pedro Carrasco,a merchant or someone else who did not belong to a high lineagewas sometimes permitted to become tecuhtli. In Mexico orTlaxcala, if he was not a "principal of well-known lineage or lot[it] could not be so" (Carrasco 1966: 135; Mendieta 2002, 1:285).

Figure 2. Nose piercing ceremony for 8 Deer.Codex Nuttall 52-1Il (after Anders, Jansen, and Prez Jimnez 1992).

The nose piercing ceremony was the most important in aseries of initiation rituals that had to be completed by the indi-vidual. According to Mendieta, the applicant had to go throughfour days of penance, fasting, self-sacrifice, and the making ofofferings to the gods. These first four days were the hardest,because afterward the candidate could ask for permission to move


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RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEC CODICES 131i

. Ito tbe nearest temple in bis own neighborhood to continue tbepenances and fasts tbat bad to be fulfilled over an entire year(Mendieta 2002, 1:285-286). Finally, at tbe end of tbe year (ortwo, according to tbe limits of bis financial situation) tbe futuretecuhtli returned to tbe main temple so tbe priests could give,bimnew blankets witb tbe insignias ofbis ra~. His bair was also tiedwitb a ribbon tbat beId featbers, and tbey gave birn a bow in bisleft band and some arrows in tbe rigbt. Tbe event culrninated in afeast and a great celebration.

In the case ofLord 8-Deer, tbe interesting question is wbya Mixtec was rewarded witb a foreign title tbat was not granted inbis borne area. Tbe 1eader did not belong to tbe lineage of therulers and, even tbougb bis parents were of tbe noble class, tbeywere not frorn tbe ruling lineage of Tilantongo. Tberefore, tbeopportunity for 8-Deer to become a sovereign was almost non-existent. It was only tbrougb a successful rnilitary career and pro-found religious preparation tbat 8-Deer acquired tbe necessaryqualifications for bolding power. However, we sbould also callattention to tbe interest that 8-Deer could have bad in receivingthe nose omarnent. Ifhe was already ruler ofthe prestigious townofTututepec, what did this rank rnean to hirn?

According to the Relacin Geogrfica de Cholula, rulersand kings carne there for confirmation of their lordships andtowns, in order to return later to take possession of their lands(Acua 1985,2: 130-131). It is probable, then, that the nose pierc-ing ceremony in Cholula had a different rneaning frorn the ritualthat took place in Tlaxcala or Mexico. For the Tlaxcala people, thetecuhtli rank rneant an important prornotion in the social andpolitical scale because the new tetecuhtin were each made lord ofa teccalli, and they had control of a certain quantity of peopleallocated to their palaces. The new tetecuhtin who bad acquiredtheir ranks due to rneritorious service in warfare could not will thepositions to their sons, and only the suprerne lords, or tlahtoque,awarded titles obtained in this rnanner. The tetecuhtin, therefore,ternporarily benefitted frorn their lands and the corresponding


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132 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURES JOURNALi!ipeople who paid tribute and delivered services to them (Carrasco

1966:142).Lord 8-Deer was already ruler of an important place in the

Mixtecan Coast, for which he surely received tributes andservices from subjects in that region. Therefore, we cannotcompare his situation with what happened among the Tlaxcalatetecuhtin in the sixteenth century. Evidently the real interest of

8-Deer was to gain coritrol of Tilantongo and to become recog-nized as the new sovereign of the Mixteca Alta. Codex Bodley(pages 9-II and lO-U) and Codex Colombino (page 13) seem toindicate that the turquoise nose piercing ceremony was granted to8-Deer on account of his military accomplishments during theconquest of the Hill of the Moon. On the other hand, CodexNuttall does not mention this conquest and appears to show onpage 52 that the recognition instead indicates collaboration andalliance among those of the same rank due to the major militarycampaigns carried out by 8-Deer.

After a long journey recorded in Codex Colombino,8-Deer arrived at the city ofCholula to receive the nose omamentfrom 4-Jaguar, the important ruler-priest of this place (fig. 2).2The destination of 8-Deer, represented in the codices as the Placeof the Reeds, has been object of diverse identifications by severalscholars. Alfonso Caso, for example, thought it was the archaeo-logical site of Tula, Hidalgo. On the other hand, Mary ElizabethSmith (1973a:70) identified it as Tulixtlahuaca of Jicayn, a townnear to the Coast. Maarten Jansen (2006: 181-186), proposes thatit is Tollan-Cholollan, the great Toltec metropolis that was at itspeak at the moment when 8-Deer received the nose ornamento 1agree with Jansen's identification because documentation foundin several sources correlates the Place ofthe Reeds with Cholula.

The nose piercing and title provided 8-Deer with a veryimportant external symbol of legitimacy that supported theconsolidation of his position in the Mixteca Alta and his founda-tion of a new dynasty in Tilantongo (Byland and Poh11994: 148-


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RITUALS OF POWER IN THE M1XTEClCOD1CES 1331II149). Thus, for 8-Deer the turquoise nose ornament meant not

only recognition ofhis new lineage but also ack:nowledgement ofa new political system that challenged the old lineages of theMixteca. It is very probable that 8-Deer had never been recog-nized as a true ruler by members of the trapitionallineages, ~ohehad to rely on external symbols of legitimacy along with internalsymbols of prestige and power granted by the gods, such as thesacred bundle s and the cosrnological staff. For exarnple in CodexBodley (page 9-1) and Codex Nuttall (page 53) 8 Deer appearswith the cosmological staffthat represents the sacred power oftheMixtec sovereign. An indication that 8-Deer was the founder ofhis own lineage can be seen in the list of Teozacoalco rulers inCodex Nuttall (pages 27 to 29). His successors, frorn his son(4-Dog) through his grandson (13-Eagle), are shown in a straightline, and each of them wears the nose ornament as a symbol ofrank. Therefore, to the Mixtecs, the turquoise nose ornamentcarne to signify heredity and the exc1usive insignia of a lineage.

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The Pulque-drinking Ritual

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We have interpreted the pulque-drinking ceremony as aritual of power on account of its particular characteristics.' Theceremony has been documented in the lives of 8-Deer and4-Wind, but we do not discount the possibility of its practice byother Mixtec lords. When the event occurs in the case of 8-Deer,we find him at the summit ofpower, after the conquest ofPlace ofXipe Bundle and just before his first marriage. On page 12 ofCodex Becker 1, 8-Deer appears in an important scene, seated onhis great throne in a magnificent palace. He offers a pulque vesselto several individuals who seem to give hirn various iterns ofceremonial c1othing. Included are a red xicolli (tunic) withwarpath-sign edging, a garland of flowers tied with a rope, and asmall staff or fan with a straight black feather and three quetzalfeathers. Later, when 8-Deer receives his nose omarnent, he wearssome ofthe objects that were presented to him by the visitors.

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!134 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERAIT'URES JOURNAL

Figure 3. 8 Deer wears a xicolli with oval head glyph.Codex Becker 1 (detail, page 12),

drawing by Dinorah Lejarazu R. (after Codices Becker IIII 196).As can be seen in Figure 3, 8-Deer uses the gifts during

the page 12 pulque ceremony. The garland of flowers is on hishead, and the fan with the black feather, evidently from an eagle,is above it. He wears the redxicolli. The crown offlowers as wellas the headdress and the xicolli with the warpath glyph areelements that are associated with the personages involved in thisritual along with 8-Deer. Therefore, we think that these threeelements are part of the same ceremony and that it involved theritual of drinking pulque. It is possible that the xicolli with thewarpath glyph is a costume that involved 8 Deer in new duties inwarfare. The tacu glyph as symbol of royal power. An elementthat is wom only by 8-Deer merits special attention. This is asmall glyph-like form that on page 12 of Codex Becker 1 marks

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RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEC;CODICES 135!

the red xicolli (fig. 3). Despite dcterioration of the originaldrawing, it is possible to distinguish a small oval head with an eyeand a line of teeth. Along the top, this head also has a volute withlittle circles that seem to be attached to a larger blue circle. Theentire motif rests on a red, rectangular base that has verticallinesbelow. I

~!!!!!!!~'Figure 4. Temazcal (left) and temple (right) with oval head glyphs.Codex Vindobonensis, pages 15 and 16.(after Anders, Jansen, and Prez Jimnez 1992).

In Codex Vindobonensis page 6 (fig. 4, right), we findclearer examples ofthe small head motifthat we are analyzing. Ason page 12 of Becker.' one eye and the teeth ofthe profile can beseen. The head also has a volute in its upper part and it is unitedwith a blue circle on which a small grouping offeathers is placed.This it is not the only representation ofthe distinctive assembly inCodex Vindobonensis, as it also appears, for example, above atemazcal (steam bath) on page 15 ofthe same codex (fig. 4, left).A similar, small profile head is found on page 29 of CodexEgerton. Once again we see an eye, a nose indicated by a curledform, and a line of teeth, in this instance contained in an ovaloutline (fig. 5). Along the right of the head, there are a trilobeddesign and two volutes that frame the head. The trilobed designrepresents an ear, which suggests that the blue circles in theBecker and Vindobonensis codex examples are earrings.


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136 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERf\ TURES JOURNALi!II

Figure 5. Oval head glyph as a personal name. Codex Egerton,page 29, drawing by Dinorah Lejarazu R.. (after Codex Egerton 1965).In Codex Bodley (on page 25-IV) we find the same glyph

like an oval head with teeth, but with an eye that is black in colorand with a small base that has three circles under it. This exampleretains the volute above the headand the earring, on the right side,that holds a jade decoration (fig. 6). This glyph appears ninetimes, throughout Codex Bodley and Codex Selden, in the per-sonal names offemale members ofthe nobility ofTilantongo andJaltepec. For example, Lady 13-Wind, wife ofthe ruler ofTilan-tongo, 6-Deer Rain-Copal, takes as her personal name the ovalhead that lies above a split hill. However, in the Map o/ Teoza-coalco, the same personal name was interpreted by the painter as ahuman head, since Lady 13-Wind is accompanied by the drawingof a head inside a hill. The same situation occurred in the case ofthe nickname of 6-Rabbit, daughter of the 9-Serpent, ruler ofTilantongo, because on Codex Vindobonensis reverse (page XII-1), her personal name is a drawing of ahuman head accompaniedby a representation of jade. In Codex Bodley (page 16-IV), the


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RITUALS OF POWER IN THE MIXTECCODICES 137IjI

Figure 6. Lady 6 Rabbit shown with her oval head glyph personal name.Codex Bodley 25-IV, drawing by Dinorah Lejarazu R. (after Caso 1960).same lady is represented with a personal name that is more tra-ditional in style due to an oval head glyph with jade decoration.

Is it possible to identify the Mixtec name represented bythis rare glyph? Fortunately it is, as there are the glosses in thecodices Egerton and Muro that set forth the reading. Indeed, inaccordance with these documents, the gloss that transcribes themeaning of the oval head glyph refers to the word tacu, that,linguistically speaking, works as the noun nuc1ei in syntacticconstructions of the personal names of the lords of the CodexEgerton. In a previous artic1e (Herrnann Lejarazu 2004) wethoroughly analyzed the linguistic and syntactic structure of the


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138 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITEl}ATURES JOURNAL .IiMixtec nickname, or personal name. In that work we pointed out

that the word tacu appears six times in the personal names of thelords ofthe Codex Egerton, and once in those ofthe Codex Muro.In almost all the examples this word is associated with femalenames, and only once is it a component of a male name. On sixoccasions the lexical unit tacu occupies th~ position of the nounnuclei in the structure N N + M (N) and in the form N N + M (Tr.V - OBJ).4 The glosses are:tacu chicachyy (fOUTimes in Codex Egerton, pages 5, 16,27 Y29 )NN+M(N)"Tacu Sun" chicachyy, Suntacu sisi? taadivi (once in Codex Egerton, page 9 )NN+M (Tr.V - OBI)"Tacu goes through the heaven" sisi, to go through; taadivi, heavenchacu nicana uhu (once in Codex Muro, page 5)NN+M (Tr. V - OBI)"Tacu come up of the uhu" nicana, to come up; uhu, sacred, GodAnd only once as modifier in the structure N N + M (N+N):aa tacu siy y ' (oncein Codex Egerton,page 19)NN+M(N+N)"Coyote of the Tacu of blood"aa, coyote; siy y ', blood

But what does the word tacu mean? According to theFrancisco de Alvarado Vocabulary and to the Arana and SwadeshDictionary, there are several possibilities. Nevertheless, let usremember that the different meanings are related to differences inthe tone puns in Mixtec language that were not recorded by thefriars during the sixteenth century. From these compilations, weleam that tacu can mean "to hear, to consent, to know, to be bom,to live, to draw, to paint, written, and book" (Arana and Swadesh1965:123).

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,RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEC CODICES 139I,jI

Figure 7. Personal name Tacu Chicachyy, oval head andsun disk glyphs. Codex Egerton, page 27,drawing by Dinorah Lejarazu R. (after Codex Egerton 1965).

However, none of these meanings seems to correspondwith the personal names mentioned, although some of thesewords could with difficulty give us an appropriate meaning for thenames written in the Muro or Egerton codices. But, withoutdoubt, only the glyphic element can help us to better understandthe meaning of this word. Mary Elizabeth Smith (1973b:68) hasalready recognized that the word tacu describes the oval, head-glyph in the personal names in the Egerton Codex, which arefound on pages 5, 16,27 Y29 (fig. 7). Nevertheless, as she herselfmentions, it is difficult to decide which meanings ofthe word tacurefer to this figure. In her study of the Codex Egerton, ViolaKnig (1979:157) realized this same problem, and she thinks themeaning of tacu is "alive." Hence she translates the personalname tacu chicachyy as "Alive Sun." This interpretation issupported by a comment on Codex Edgerton by Maarten Jansen(1994:143-191) that translates this nickname as "alive Sun," or


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140 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURES JOURNALIiI

"Sun [that] lives." In our opinion, t~e word tacu cannot betranslated as "alive" or "live" because the position that it has inthe structure ofthe syntax ofthe personal names is that ofthe nounnuclei and not that of an adjective or verbo That is, due to the

Iforms N N +M (N) and N N +M (Tr. V -OBJ), the word tacucannot be translated as a verb, since that is not its position in thestructure ofthe personal names. Therefore, the word tacu doesn'tmean "live," nor is it represented in the oval head glyph. But whatis its meaning?

Perhaps interpretation in other contexts may help clarifythe interpretation. Some scholars like Alfonso Caso and MaartenJansen have not related the name tacu to the small head glyph,interpreting this element as an ear of com, or a seed for this plant.For example, Caso has pointed out that in Codex Selden there area group of tunics that accompany the scene of the ritual bathinvolving Lady 6-Monkey and Lord ll-Wind (fig. 8). Amongthem: "there is a xicolli decorated with an ear of com, whichseems to be a symbol of royal power, as represented in othercodices" (Caso 1964:82). The element identified by Caso as anear of com seems, indeed, to be linked with a group of symbolsthat allude to power. However, it does not appear that the tacuglyph represents an ear of com, because there are numerous clearexamples of the form in Mixtec codices that are very different.

5On the other hand, Maarten Jansen describes the same figure as aseed or tooth of com, but does not explain its meaning (Jansen,and Prez Jimnez 2000: 133). Later we wiU retum to this theme,but for the moment, we analyze other contexts.

The objects represented on page 7 of Codex Selden (fig. 8)are very similar to those on page 12 of Codex Becker l. The xicolliwith tacu glyph and the feather elements that appear in Selden, arethe same ones that 8-Deer wears in the pulque-drinking ceremony(fig. 3). Therefore, we begin to see the same elements used in arecurrent way in other contexts in the codices. Another exampleoccurs in a series of ceremonies that 4-Wind carries out in front ofseveral Gods, just before getting married. In Codex Bodley pages


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!RITUALS OF POWER IN THE MIXTECi CODICES 141i!

Figure 8. Lady 6 Monkey and Lord 11 wind during their ritual bathin the river. Codex Se/den, page 7-1(after Jansen and Prez Jimnez 2000).

29-V, 30-V, 31-V and 32-V we again observe the red xicolli withtacu glyph, a garland of flowers on 4-Wind's head and theoffering of a pulque vessel, with a grain of cocoa added. Theinteresting connection among this group of elements is that theyall represent the moment that precedes the first marriages of the

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I142 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURES JOURNAL

IiIipersons involved in this ceremony. Tbe pulque-drinking cerc-

mony was carried out by 8-Deer before marrying for tbe first time,and the same event bappened in tbe life of 4-Wind, as well as tbecouple formed by Lady 6-Monkey and Lord l l-Wind, and even8-Deer's fatber (Lord 5-Alligator Rain-Sun), \

We believe one of tbe keys to unJerstanding tbis ritualcomplex is undoubtedly found in tbe date or day on which tbis

ceremony was carried out. Indeed, on most occasions, tbepictorials specify tbe day 7-flower as the date for tbe ritual of tbepulque-drinking, The event was recorded tbis way in CodexBecker 1, in Codex Selden (fig. 8) and in Codex Bodley, altbougbin this last codex, Lord 4-Wind performs this ceremony on otherdays tbat correspond to tbe names of tbe deities tbat accompanyhim in the ritual. Tberefore, we propose tbe bypotbesis tbat tbepulque-drinking ceremony was a pre-rnarital ritual of power forthe new ruler tbat was carried out on the day 7-flower. We alsobelieve that tbis ritual in tbe assumption of power bad as its maindeity 7-Flower, an advocation oftbe god Xocbipilli, god ofmusicand flowers, to whom pulque and decorations of flowers wereoffered. The god 7-Flower appears as a patron ofwriting and ofthe region of tbe Sun, according to page 18 of the Codex Vindo-bonensis. Father Jacinto de la Sema (1987:350) also reports that7-Flower was the inventor of the paintbrush, wbich agrees withthe conception of the ancient Mixtecs. For tbe Nabua of CentralMexico, on the day 7-flower all painters and weavers carried outfestivities and made offerings to the god 7-Flower to requestsuccess from him for their work related to weaving and painting(Sahagn 2002, vol. 1, book 2, chapter 19:170).

According to Sabagn, Macuilxchitl-Xochipilli wasmainly a god for those who lived in the houses of tbe centralMexican lords or in tbeir palaces; tbus tbere was a close rela-tionship between tbe nobility and tbis deity (Sabagn 2002, book1, cbapter 14:90). Although we do not bave colonial chronicles orother data conceming the Mixtecs in pre-Hispanic times, we cansurmise that tbe importance of the god 7-Flower was probably

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,RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEG CODICES 143I,

iIsimilar to that ofthe pre-Hispanic Nahua. The deity seems to have

been patron of the pulque-drinking ceremony involved in a ritualof power for the Mixtec ruling class, since it was carried out on theday that corresponded to its calendrical name. This indicates thatthe Mixtec rulers clearly connected the ritual with this patrond . Ierty. 1

On page 25 of Codex Vindobonensis a great ceremopy isrepresented in which diverse deities, among whom are 7-Flower,9-Wind Quetzalcatl, 9-Grass and the Sun god l-Death, drinkpulque. An interesting theme in the scene is that most of the godsare dressed in red xicollis, and they wear crowns of flowers ontheir heads, just as we have seen in the cases of 8-Deer and4-Wind. Apparently the pulque-drinking ceremony was institutedby the gods during a primordial era. The first ritual was carried outduring a time before the birth of the Sun and man, established bythe gods, to be repeated by future rulers prior to their marriageceremomes,

Maarten Jansen (1982:194-195) points out that the pulque-drinking ritual served to confrrm royal status and power.However, he does not clarify why this ceremony had to be carriedout by rulers before their first marriage. From our point ofview,this situation could be explained by the presence of the tacuglyph, since we find it as an important iconographic elementlinked to the ceremony ofpulque drinking. Ifthis glyph, as Jansenmentions, may represent a seed or kemel of com, it could in ouropinion be a very particular kind of grain. We think the motif mayrefer to the grains of com used in divinatory readings in thecodices. Jacinto de la Sema (1987:404), for example, mentionsthat one of the main spells of the old natives was to use grains ofcom to carry out divination. According to this author, at themoment the grains of corn were thrown from the hand, the omenwas considered to be good or bad according to how the face of thegrain fell on the floor. That is to say, if the grain fell face up, theluck was good; but if it fell face down it was bad (De la Sema1987:404-405). (


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I144 LATIN AMERlCAN INDIAN LITERATURES JOURNALIi!

Although it is not possible to abshlutely prove the theory,we propose that the face or "face of the grain of corn" mentionedby De la Serna corresponds with the glyph tacu, which shows aface with eyes and teeth. Probably, the tacu glyph symbolizes theIgrain of corn used only for divination. In other words, tacu; is thename of the grain deified in the religious practice of "tossing forluck." A fact that could corroborate out hypothesis is found inmodern Puebla, in the place now known as Sierra Negra. Severalshamans there still practice divination with grains of corn, andthey conceive of the grains of corn as live beings to which can beconsulted.

As we have seen, a close relationship exists between thetacu glyph and the rituals of power that were dedicated to the god7-Flower. Therefore tacu, which represents a deified grain ofcorn, could symbolize fertility and procreation. Thus the rulershad to carry out the pulque-drinking ceremony before their firstmarriage to guarantee heirs. The hand, the omen was consideredto be good or bad according to how the face of the grain fell on thefloor.

On the other hand, Sebastian van Doesburg (personalcornmunication, August 2006) has pointed out to me the possi-bility that the tacu glyph could coincide primarily with the Nahuaconcept of tonalli, because the word "soul" was recorded assadzatacuahayniyodza, tacuaha in Alvarado' s (1962: f.21v)Mixtec vocabulary, a word that could be better transcribed assadza-tacu-aha-ini and yodza-tacu-aha. My tentative trans-lation ofthis word would be "to make the heart live," "to make theheart hear," "to make the heart sound." Yet there is not a clearequivalence of these traits with the ...concept of tonalli that,according to Lpez Austin (1996, 1:223), is the psychic entity thatis regarded as a force or vital fluid that resides in individual'shead. However, there is a possible interpretation in the Mixtecword "spirit, that which gives life," recorded as yyo ini (Alvarado1962: 122r). This also means "heart," "inside," and "to be hot."Among the Nahua, the heart was the center in which another of

(

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RITUAL S OF POWER IN THE MIXTEci CODICES 145!II

the psychic entities resides, which may be comparable to ini forthe Mixtecs. Nevertheless, there are noMixtec data that lead us tothink in terms of a group of entities similar to the ones identified

Iby Lpez Austin for the Nahua. The terms toyola, teyola, andyoliliztl, which are recorded in Molina's \jocabulary, correspondto the terms "soul or souls" and "spirit or blow" that Lpez Austintranslates as "our living," "the living of people," and "that whichlives." These are terms that rather could correspond to sadza -tacuaha ini, "that which makes the heart live." However, there is nocorrespondence between tacu, "to live" and ini, "heart," since inMixtec they are not similar terms. Moreover, as we have seenthere are numerous complications within the syntactic structure ofthe Mixtec personal names in that tacu can not to be translated asverbo

ConclusionsIn this article it has been possible to establish the im-portance of the ritual s of power as fundamental acts in the lives of

all rulers. The ceremonies dedicated to enthronement and acces-sion to noble status that were recorded in the pictorial manu-scripts show us the diverse nature of the rites of power and theirmeanings. The ritual before the sacred bundle, for example,involved for the Mixtec lord a stage of religious transition in thepresence of the most important religious symbol of his town. Onthe other hand, although the nose piercing ceremony was a riteintroduced to the Mixtecs by the lord 8-Deer, it was a veryimportant symbol ofpower for the lineage rulers ofthe dynasty ofTeozacoa1co.

The pulque-drinking ceremony was also a ritual of powerfor the Mixtec ruling class, but its nature was apparently related tofertility and procreation.to guarantee heirs to the throne. Never-theless, we must accept that this interpretation depends on themeaning of the tacu glyph associated with the pulque-drinkingscenes. In our opinion, the tacu glyph did identify a personal nameas a symbol of royal power. (The nickname tacu was almost


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146 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERA TURES JOURNALIi!Iexclusively used for Mixtec women, but at'the same time tacu was

the name ofthe deified grain of com used for divination. This maymean the tacu name was related to women because femaleshamans practiced divination, although further evidence is neces-sary to reach a conclusion concerning this point.

1

Acknowledgements1would especially like to thank Merideth Paxton for checkingrny translation to English and for her help in the publication of thisarticle. Also, 1would like to thank Laura E. Romero for informationobtained during her ethnographic research in the Sierra Negra, Puebla.

Endnotesl. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Historia general de loshechos de los castellanos en las islas y tierra firme de el Mar Ocano.Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Guarana, 1944, dcada 111,libro 3,cap. 13, pp. 168-169. It was the cust0nt that all the CaciquesMayorazgos had to be friars for one year. Upon the arrival ofthe day ofthe habit, the Pope accompanied hirn, and the whole convent, and thelords, with drurn music ... on arriving at the templ" they undressedhim, and placed on him some cloths anointed with certain rubber, andthey put on him another different blanket, and the Pope gave hirn a tubeof lancets offlint for taking blood from the tongue, and from the ears, toserve to the Gods; they anointed his forehead, cheeks, chest and backwith leaves of Beleo, and with this unction he was sanctified, and hewas for the year in the Monastery; where he was punished and taught

without special treatment, passing through the labors of obedience, andabstinence. Upon the passage of the year, the priests went for him withgreat happiness, and pomp, and putting on him his first habit, theyretumed him to his house, and they carried him to bathe, and fourmaidens, Daughters of Lords, washed his body with soap, because hewas smudged with Tea Smoke, as was ususal for the Priests, whoresembled Negroes ofEthiopia.


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!. !2. Although the lord 8 Death figure' appears in this figure,

perhaps a priest, to perforrn the nose piercing ceremony for 8-Deer.3. We apparently have no inforrnation in other sources toclarify the meaning of these scenes in the pictorials,4. Key: M = ModifierN=NounN N = Noun Nuclei

1OBl = ObjectTr.Iv.= Transitive VerbI5. For example, in Codex Vindobonensis, page 26, there aremany representations of the ear of com growing of on a maize plant

associated with rain festivities.

References CitedAcua, Ren (editor). Relaciones Geogrficas del siglo XVI:

Tlaxcala. 2 vols., Mxico: Universidad Nacional Autnoma deMxico,Instituto de Investigaciones Antropolgicas, 1985.Alvarado, fray Francisco de. Vocabulario en lengua mixteca.

Reproduccin facsimilar con un estudio de Wigberto Jimnez Moreno.Mxico: Instituto Nacional Indigenista. Instituto Nacional de Antro-pologa e Historia, 1962.Anders, Ferdinand, Maarten Jansen y Gabina Aurora Prez.

Origen e historia de los reyes mixtecos. Libro explicativo del llamadoCdice Vindobonensis. (Cdices Mexicanos, I). Espaa, Austria,Mxico: Sociedad Estatal Quinto Centenario, Akademische Druck-undVerlagsanstalt, Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1992.-. Crnica Mixteca: el rey 8- Venado Garra de Jaguar y la dinasta deTeozacoalco-Zaachila. Libro explicativo de/llamado Cdice Zouche-Nuttall. (Cdices Mexicanos, II). Espaa, Austria, Mxico: SociedadEstatal Quinto Centenario, Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt,Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1992.

Arana, Evangelina y Mauricio Swadesh. Los elementos delmixteco antiguo. Mxico: Instituto Nacional Indigenista - InstitutoNacional de Antropologa e Historia, 1965.


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148 LATIN AMERlCAN INDIAN LITERATURES J0l!RNAL!IByland, Bruce E. y JoOOM. D. Pohl. In the Realm o/ 8-Deer:

The Archaeology o/ the Mixtec Codices. Norman and London: Unive-rsity of Oklahoma Press, 1994.Carrasco, Pedro. "Documentos sobre el rango de tecuhtli entrelos nahuas tramontanos", Tlalocan V, no. 2 (1966):133-160.

1Caso, Alfonso. "El Mapa de Teozacoalc." Cuadernos Ameri-canos VIII, no. 5 (1949):145-181.-. "Explicacin del reverso del Cdice Vindobonesis." Memoria de ElColegio Nacional V, no. 5 (1950):9-46.-. Interpretacin del Cdice Bodley 2858. Mxico: Sociedad Mexicanade Antropologa, 1960.-. Interpretacin del Cdice Selden 3135 (A.2). Mxico: SociedadMexicana de Antropologa, 1964.-. Interpretacin del Cdice Colombino y las glosas del CdiceColombino por Mary Elizabeth Smith. Mxico: Sociedad Mexicana deAntropologa, 1966.

Codices Becker IIIl. Edited by Karl A. Nowotny, Graz, Austria:Akademische Druck -und Verlagsanstalt, 1961.Cdice Borgia. Comentarios al Cdice Borgia por EduardSeler. 3 vols. Mxico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica, 1980.Codex Egerton 2895. (Codices Selecti, 7). Edited by Cottie A.Burland. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck -und Verlagsanstalt, 1965.Cdice Muro (See Hermann Lajarazu 2003)Cdice Selden (See Caso 1964)Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus l. Vollstandige faksirnileausgabe im original format. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-undVerlagsanstalt, 1974.Codex Vindobonensis reverse (See Caso 1950)De la Serna, Jacinto, "Manual de ministros de indios para elcono- cimiento de sus idolatras y extirpacin de ellas," El alma

encantada, Mxico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica, Instituto NacionalIndigenista, 1987.Hermann Lejarazu, Manuel A. Cdice Muro. Un documento

mixteco colonial. Oaxaca, Mxico: Gobierno del Estado: de Oaxaca,


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Secretara de Asuntos Indgenas, 2003.-. "Antroponimia mixteca: anlisis, morfologa y representacinglfica," De historiograjia lingstica e historia de las lenguas. Coor-dinado por Ignacio Guzmn B., Pilar Mynez y Ascensin H. deLen-Portilla, 917-930 Mxico: Universidad 'Nacional Autnoma deMxico" Siglo XXI Editores, 2004.1Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de. Historia General de loshechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme de el mar ocano.Tomo IV, dcada III, libro 3, Buenos Aires, Argentina: EditorialGuarana, 1944.

Jansen, Maarten. Tnuhu niquidza yya. Temas principales de lahistoriografla mixteca, Oaxaca: Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca, 1980.-. Huisi Tacu: Estudio interpretativo de un libro mixteco antiguo:Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1 . (Incidentele Publicaties, 24).Amsterdam - Pases bajos: Centro de Estudios y DocumentacinLationamericanos, 1982.-. La gran familia de los reyes mixtecos: libro explicativo de loscdices llamados Egerton y Becker 11. (Cdices Mexicanos, IX).Mxico, Austria: Fondo de Cultura Econmica, AkademischeDruck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1994.-. "Los seoros de uu Dzaui y las expansin tolteca," RevistaEspaola de Antropologa Americana 36, nm. 2 (2006): 175-208.

Jansen, Maarten and Gabina Aurora Prez Jimnez. La dinastade Aute. Historia, literatura e ideologa de un reino mixteco. Leiden,The Netherlands: Research School CNWS, 2000.Knig, Viola. Inhaltliche analyse und interpretation von CodexEgerton. Hamburgo: Hamburgischen Museum fr Vlkerkunde, 1979.Lpez-Austin, Alfredo. Cuerpo humano e ideologa. Lasconcepciones de los antiguos nahuas. 2 vols. Mxico: UniversidadNacional Autnoma de Mxico, 1996.Mendieta, Fray Gernimo de. Historia Eclesistica Indiana. 2vols. Mxico: CONACULTA (Cien de Mxico), 2002.Molina, fray Alsono de. Vocabulario en lengua castellana ymexicana, y mexicana y castellana. Facsimile edition by MiguelLen-Portilla. Mxico: POITa,200l.


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150 LATIN AMERICAN INDIAN LI,TERATURES JOURNALIIISahagn, fray Bernardino de. Historia general de las cosas deNueva Espaa, 3a ed. Estudio introductorio, paleografia, glosario ynotas de Alfredo Lpez-Austin y Josefina Garca Quintana. Mxico:CONACULTA (Cien de Mxico), 2002.

Smith, Mary Elizabeth. Picture Writingfrom Ancient SouthernMexico. Mixtec Place Signs and Maps. N;bnnan: University of Okla-homa Press, 1973a. t-. "The Relationship between Mixtec Manuscript Painting and theMixtec Languague: A Study ofSome Personal Names in Codices Muroand Snchez Sols." Mesoamerican Writing Systems, edited byElizabeth P. Benson, 47-98. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 1973b.

Torquemada, fray Juan de. Los veinte y un libros rituales yMonarqua Indiana. 7 vols., 3ra edition; edited by Miguel Len-Portilla.Mxico: Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, 1975.

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rituals of power ... by manuel hermann

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