images of the common man in the codex n. · images of the common man in the codex borbonicus n. c....

1

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MAN IN THE CODEX BORBONICUS

N C CHRISTOPHER CoUCH

The Codex Borbonicus is one of the great masterpieces of Aztec art the largest and most beautiful manuscript in the Aztec style that is still extant Each of its 36 pages contains complex and colorful paintings dealing exelusively with calendrical material In its two major secshytions the manuscript presents the tonalamatl the 260-day divinatory calendar and the festivals of the eighteen divisions of the solar year 1

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Codex Borbonicus is the fact that the information in the manuscript is presented solely through pictorial means in the native manner The few notes made on it in Spanish appear to have been added later and are frequently in error (Paso y Troncoso 2-22)

The study of Aztec art has usually focussed on major wodcs created for the poliacutetical ends or other uses of the upper elasses Previous studies of the C odex Borbonicus have treated the manuscript in a similar way However Aztec art ineludes a whole spectrum of types of objects ranging from unique and impressive monuments like the Calendar Stone made for the poliacutetical and religious uses of the elite classes down to quite humble objects like figurines made in the thoushysands for the everyday religious uses of the ordinary people

The Codex BorbonicU8 painted on nanve paper in a screenfold fonnat originally consisted of forty pages the first two and last pages are missing but their contenta can be reconstructed Each page is between 39 and 40 centimeters square the next-Iargest Aztec manuscript the Aubin TonaIamatl has pages measuring 24 by 27 centimeters (GIass and RobertSOn) The BorbonicU8 includes four distinct sections The two major ones are the tonalamatl p 1-20 (the first two pages can be reconstructed from the very similar Aubin Tonalamatl) and the festival section p 26-33 The two smaller sections are a correlation of the fiftytwo year cycle with the nine Lords oiacute the Night p 21 and 22 and a list of the year dates for the fifty-two year perlod p 37-40

90 N C CHRISTOPRER COUCR

No preconquest Aztec manuscript survives Apart from the amprshybonicus our knowledge of manuscripts derives from a small group of early colonial works with pictures painted in native styles showing varying degrees of European influence and written explanations in Spanish From references in the written sources we know that mashynuscripts were used for a number of different purposes They were used for the recording of bistory keeping track of tribute exacted from the provinces of the empire and even for sending messages The information in preconquest manuscripts was recorded not in writing but in a complex system of symbols of glyphs Thus manuscripts would usually have been read and used only by persons who had been edushycated in the priestly schools a kind of education normally available only to the children of the upper classes

AIthough the knowledge of reading manuscripts was limited to the educated members of the upper classes calendrical rnanuscripts like the Codex Borbonicus played a role in the lives of everyone T onashylamatls like the one in the first part of the codex recorded the 260-day divinatory calendar Each day in this cycle had a name and a number and fell under the influence of certain deities Each person from noblest lord to humblest commoner took the name of bis birth day as part of bis own n~e The good or bad fortunes told by the days of this cycle were used for advice on the best times for rnarriages for the sowing of crops and other important matters The omens and pronostications contained in the tonalamatl were available to every member of Aztec society Each district of the larger cities each small community had not on1y the priests attached to local temples but also a special class of diviners called tonalpouhquiJ to interpret the omen of the days

The 260-day divinatory calendar was uniform throughout the Aztec empire therefore interpretation of this part of the calendar as preshysented in the Codex Borbonicus is relatively straightforward However the eighteen festivals carried out at twenty-day intervals in the 365-day solar year varled widely in different localities (Broda 1969) AIso different social groups participated in the festivals in different ways The lack of a text to explain the images of this section and the lack of a provenance for the manuscript have made its interpretation difshyficult Past writers have assumed that the festivals depicted in the Coshydex Borbonicus show through symbols and complex drawings the ceremonials as they would have been carried out in the main temple precinct of a large community such as Mexico-Tenochtitlan

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MAN Il

Other early colonial pictorial and lit Florentine Codex and Duraacutens writIacutel the festival section of the codex Th corporate information gathered over localities and thus provide a syntheti sources particularIy the very full ac describe lengthy and complex ceren with most of the ritual activity takin cinct The focus is on the activities of political and military classes The SOl

monies described took place in Tene company most of the accounts usua adding no information beyond that presents its illustrations in a standarclli of figures illustrating each festival e two attendants The major exceptio riaes a pre1iminary version oiacute the prepared in the single cornmunity of tions feature a large number of figure of native pictorial conventions and the accompanying Nahuatl texto

The images of the Codex Borbomc other early colonial accounts of the fiexcl ( 1959) has demonstrated that it is a the earliest source we have on thes is remarkably free from European about the festivals is given entire1y tb teristics suggest that it is also the acc traditions of recording information sizing tendencies that characterize compiled by friars educated in a 1 tllat it r~presents the festival cyc1e community The Borbonicus festival and complexity They range from figures performing different activi~~ that appear to represent one actiVlI different types of participants are e and priests to barefoot commoners

Rather than focussing on the UD

cript and the actual contents of tll

lISTOPHER COUCH

uscript survives Apart from the Borshyanuscripts derives from a small group ctures painted in native styles showing influence and written explanations in he written sources we know that mashylber of different purposes They were tory keeping track of tribute exacted re and even for sending messages The anuscripts was recorded not in writing bols of glyphs Thus manuscripts would ied onIy by persons who had been edushyil kind of education normally available iexclgter c1asses

reading manuscripts was limited to the )er c1asses calendrical manuscripts like a role in the lives of everyone T onashypart of the codex recorded the 260-day in this cyc1e had a name and a number of certain deities Each person from moner took the name of his birth day ~ good 01 bad fortunes told by the days nce on the best times for marriages for er important matters The omens and fue tonalamatl were available to every ach district of the larger cities each ly the priests attached to local temples lers called tonalpouhqui to interpret the

mlar was uniform throughout the Aztec Dn of this part of the calendar as preshys is relatively straightforward However ut at twenty-day intervals in the 365-day lifferent localities (Broda 1969) Also pated in the festivals in different ways the images of this section and the lack lSCript have made its interpretation difshyled that the festivals depicted in the Coshyh symbols and complex drawings the vebeen carried out in the main temple y such as Mexico-Tenochtitlan

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MANIN THE CODEX BORBONICUS

Other early colonial pictorial and literary sources such as Sahaguacutens Florentine Codex and Duraacutens writings have been used to interpret the festival section of the codex These other sources frequently inshycorporate information gathered over a period of years in a variety of localities and thus provide a synthetic view of the ceremonies Such sources particularly the very full account in the Florentine Codex describe lengthy and complex ceremonies for each festival usually with most of the ritual activity taking place in the main temple preshycinct The focus is on the activities of the highest levels of the religious political and military classes The sources usually state that the cereshymonies described took place in Tenochtitlan The pictures that acshycompany most of the accounts usually serve merely as illustrations adding no information beyond that given in the texts Each source presents its illustrations in a standardized format with a limited number of figures illustrating each festival often a patron deity and one or two attendants The major exception is Sahaguacutens Primeros M emoshyriales a preliminary version of the encyelopedic Florentine Codex prepared in the single cornmunity of Tepepulco Hidalgo Its illustrashytions feature a large number of figures retain a relatively large number of native pictorial conventions and present information not given in the accompanying Nahuatl texto

The images of the Codex Borbonicus differ in significant ways from other early colonial accounts of the festival cyele Although Robertson ( 1959) has demonstrated that it is a postconquest work it is certainly the earliest source we have on these festivals The style of painting is remarkably free from European influence and the infonnation about the festivals is given entirely through the pictures These characshyteristics suggest that it is also the account that is elosest topreconquest traditions of recording information It may also be free of theacute syntheshysizing tendencies that characterize the other accounts which were compiled by friars educated in a European tradition It is possible that it rtpresents the festival cyele as it was carried out in a single community The Borbonicus festival illustrations very greatly in format and complexity They range from complex images involving many figures performing different activities to simple images with few figures that appear to represent one activity or to function as signs Many different types of participants are depicted from deity impersonators and priests to barefoot commoners

Rather than focussing on the unique characteristics of the manusshycript and the actual contents of the illustrations previous studies of

91

92 N C CHRISTOPHER COUCH

the festival depictions in the eodex Borbonicus have treated the images as though they were illustrations for a text which commentators have tried to supply from written sources 2 The reasons for doing so seem clear and indeed somewhat compelling The size and beauty of the rnan~script together with the role played by the Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli in the festivaIs depicted and the appearance of the New Fire Ceremony led most writers to associate it with the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (Paso y Troncoso 14 Caso 44)3 The availashybility of the relatively complete and systematic account contained in Sahaguacutens Florentine Codex which describes the ceremonies as taking place in the Templo Mayor precinct was the most natural source to tum to for explanations of the images

The unique characteristics oiacute the codex however suggest that a different method of analysis is called foro In my study of the eodex Borbonicus 1 took the images as the primary source attempting to read them as pictorial statements This analysis gives a very different picture of the festivaIs shown in the Borbonicus The significant features that emerged from tbis analysis included the major role played by commoners in the festivaIs the variety of location~ ~ which feStival activities take place and the focus on a group of deltIes most of whom are directly related to agricultural activities These characshyteristics suggest that the Borborncus festival section offers ~ uni~ue perspective on Aztec religion enabling us t~ see it from t~~ vle~mt of the commoners in whose lives and agncultural actlvltles re1igiexclon played a central role and from the viewpoint of those priests whose re1igious activities most closely reflected the conceros of the cornmoners

In examining the images of the eodex Borbonicus 1 first focrulled on the differences between the Tlacaxipehualiztli illustration (fig 1)

11 Previous studies of the Coda Borbonicus whieh closely follow the descriptions in the Florcntine Codex inelude those by Paso y Troncoso (898) Hamy (1899) and Novotny (1976) A1though his commentary has yet to be pulished it ~s desr from Casos (1967) published studies which use the Borbomcus that bis view of the manuseript generally agrees with that of Paso y Troncoso Br~wn (977) and Nicholson (nd and 1974) take different views of the manuscnpt but their studies are limited

8 NichoIson (nd and 1974) presents a thorough discussioD of the possibility that the manuscript may have originated in the area of Culhuacan

Paso y Troncosos study (898) is the most extensive and eloquent work on the Borbo1lIacutecus and makes the most thorough use of the Florennne Codex accounts However his careful use of aIl sources available to him linguistic knowledge and clea~ presentation oiacute many issues make his work the indispensable startiacuteng poiacutent for further studies

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MAN IN

and the other pictorial and written a pehualiztli was the major occasion for of the empire At this time warriors them for sacrifice and were honored f 219-20) Illustrations of this feast usua wamors Two examples from the e and Sahaguacutens Primeros Memoriales ( torial sacrifice of captives Each sho~ feather-decorated club and tied to a a costumed warrior who carries an 01 pearance of the sacrificial stone and illustration of the skull-rack and sacri that the rites depicted took place in ti riors and nobles presento

The Borbonicus illustration gives a festival No warriors appear rather

cngaged in a single rite The figure or of Xipe Totec He is one of a group o Xaacutepeme who were chosen by the SUCj

to wear the costume of Xipe as they and begging during the festival 1

of a sacrificed captive

The other figure a ppears to be a com wears a plain white maguey paper J

ntildeis anns and make offerings of foods -ocholli the double maize ears and a

The common people believed that 1 Mere very beneficia They would go up 10 ask them to hold their children in tl

bless their homes In retum for tl give the Xipeme offerings of foo

tlr of the season (Duraacuten 182-83 S

Thus the image representing the fest eodex Borbonicus depicts a rite tha

a rite concemed with the horne al

fertility5 There could hardly be a ~

Paso y Troncoso identifies the offerings beiacuteng representing the begginig oiacute alms by dancinl children which was done for the people by t (109) bull

i

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MAN IN THE CODEX BORBONICUS 93

nages and the other pictorial and written accounts of the feast TIacaxishyhave pehualiztli was the major occasion for honoring the military hierarchy seem of the empire At this time warriors who had taken captives offered lIacute the them for sacrifice and were honored for their prowess (Broda 1970 deity 219-20) Illustrations of trus feast usually depict ceremonies involving

f the warriors Two examples from the Codex Magliabechiano (fig 2)Aztec and Sahaguacutens Primeros Memoriales (fig 3) both show the gladiashyvaila torial sacrifice of captives Each shows a captive armed onIy with a led in feather-decorated club and tied to a round sacrificial stone facing aking a costumed warrior who carries an obsidian-bladed club The apshyrce to pearance of the sacrificial stone and in the Primeros Memoriales

illustration of the skull-rack and sacrifices on temple steps indicate that the rites depicted took place in the temple precinct with warshyhat a riors and nobles presentoCodex

ing to The Borbonicus illustration gives a very different image of the ferent festival No warriors appear rather three commoners are shown ificant engaged in a single rite The figure on the right is an impersonator r role of Xipe Totec He is one of a group of poor mendicants called the which Xipeme who were chosen by the successful warriors and allowed ~ most to wear the costume of Xipe as they went through the streets dan haracshy cing and begging during the festival This costume included the skin tmique of a sacrificed captive wpoint The other figure appears to be a commoner because he is bardoot eligion and wears a plain white maguey paper mantle He carries a child in whose his anns and make offerings of foods associated with the festival

Qoners -ocholli the double maize ears and a special bread )CU$ed The common people believed that the blessings of the Xipeme fig 1) were very beneficia They would go up to the beggars in the streets

to ask them to hold their children in their arms and to come into ~tions in and bless their homes In return for these benedictions the people (1899) would give the Xipeme offerings of foad and of the first fruits and ed it is

that bis flowers of the season (Duraacuten 182-83 Sahaguacuten 1950-789 70) i Brown Thus the image representing the festival of Tlacaxipehualiztli in~uscript

the Codex Borbonicus depicts a rite that took place in a residential llty that street a rite concerned with the home and with human and agriculshy

tural fertility 5 There could hardly be a greater contrast with the warshy~ on the ~ounts 5 Paso y Troncoso identifies the offerings heing given and interprets the image as iexclowIedge representing the begginig oiacute aIms by dancing and frightening and bIessing the i startmg children which was done for the people by those called Xipeme or Tototektin iexcl

(109) bull

94 IMAGES 01N C CRRISTOPRER COUCR

like rites in the central square described and illustrated in most other sources

The importance of the agricultural cycle in the festivahiexcl depicted in the Codex Borbonicus can aIsoacute be seen in the number of depictions of TIaloc the god of rain the most andent and important agricultural deity In this manuscript TIaloc is shown as the major deity of five of the eighteen festivals Three of these appear early in the annual cycle at the beginning of the growing season when petitions for rain were particularly important

The depiction of the festival caBed Huetozoztil great vigil (fig 4) two months after l1acaxipehualiztli is remarkable for the detail with which it shows the rites for TIaloc and activities of commoners TIaloc appears in a temple atop a hill indicated by a conventionalized signo Four figures approach the temple The two upper figures_are carrying out an important ritual for rain that was repeated in the several months before the rainy season the sacrifice of children lo

TIaloc One carnes a paper banner and the other carnes a staff decorated with rubber-spattered paper sacred to rain deities The Iatter figure carries a child on his back in a shawl The infant wears a quetzal feather headdress showing that he is to be sacrificed to l1aloc (Sahaguacuten 1950-78 2 43) The two lower figures are commoners barefootand wearing plain white garments They are bearing two of the most characteristic offerings made by commoners to their local temples The male figure carries a bundle of torches and the female carries a basket of sorne type of bread On her back she carries her own child In contrast to the infant above which wears the sacrifidal feather and a paper headdress associated with rain deities this child is unadomed This depiction of a mother and child may relate to a rite of this month described by Duraacuten (422-24) in which all children bom in the preceding year were brought to a temple for purification

The onIy other depiction of child sacrifices for rain appears in Sahaguacutens Primeros Memoriales (fig 5) illustrating the first festival of the year It shows a similar procession with one figure carrying a child sacrifice in rain deity garb and other ce1ebrants carrying a rattle staff a sacrificial knife and banners It is interesting to note that rather than showing a single priestly procession the Borbonicus illusshytration shows two ceremonies one involving religious practitioners and one involving commoners with equal emphaacutesis

The next festival shown in the Codex Borbonicus also presents

ceremonies involl This festival is pochuiliztli or In one ceremom impersonators who are says of the

ornoble ~~

95

I


ceremonies involving priests and commoners in parallel ways (fig 6) This festival is usually called Toxcatl but an alternate name Teposhypochuiliztli or incensing seems more appropriate to the image In one ceremony a figure incenses four magnificently costumed deity impersonators Above a smaller figure incenses five seated commoners who are barefoot and wear plain white maguey garments Duraacuten says of the incensing ceremony

priests from the wards went from home to home with inshycense bumers in their hands and even though the master of the house was most humble [the priest] would incense the entire house (427)

The group of commoners includes figures representing both sexes three men and two women The parallel presentation suggests nearly equal importance was attached to the ceremony for the cornmunity of cornmoners and to the honoring of the deity impersonators

The depiction of the feast Huetecuilhuitl great feast of the lords (figmiddot 7) features a similar group of commoners An impersonator representing a deity who personified the tender maize ears that were growing in the fields was sacrificed at this time usually identified as Xilonen This was also the time of year when the stores of maize from the last harvest were very low when dried maize was costly then there was much want it was hard to gain a livelihood many then were our dead (Sahaguacuten 1950-78 2 93) For this festival the nobles and rulers would make a certain quantity of maize available to the poor of Mexico (ibid 91) to the macehuales (Motoshyliniacutea 52) usually distributed in the forro of a gruel or porridge

Other pictorial sources on the festivals generally show one of two images for this festival either a depiction of Xilonen or of a noble holding a jade disk The Borbonicus shows an image of the coro god Oenteotl seated on a litter decorated with maize ears and a maize stalk with new ears xilotes at the topo Below the dais is a group of four cornmoners waring plain maguey garments and holding out bowls to receive their ration of porridge This group of four figures two maleand two female probably symbolizes the whole community of cornmoners the figure aboYe the deity probably represents a priest or noble directing the feasing

The only other image in the accounts of the festivals that is at all comparable to the Borbonicus illustration appears in the Florentine


eodex (fig 8) but it seems to show weIl-dressed figures eating before a decorated house while a group of commoners indicates hunger by pointing to their mouths

The importance of the agricultural cyc1e in the Borbonicus festival section is seen in the depiction of the harvest festival which extends over four pages - al1 the other festivals occupy either a single page or a half-page Although no commoners appear in the Borbonicus depiction of Ochpaniztli a number of aspects set it off from the written and other pictorial accounts of the feasts Other sources emphasize the sacrifice of an earch goddess Toci or Teteoinnan while the central focus in the Borbonicus is on the sacrifice and flaying of an impersonator of a maize goddess In the third scene of the ge4

quence (fig 9) the cliacutemax of the festival a priest wearing the skin and costume of the maize deity impersonator stands on a low platfonn flanked by four priests in similar paper costumes with Tlaloc masks in their headdresses A group of phallic dancers impersonating memshybers of the Huastec tribe go around the platfonn A relativdy small and static image of Toci appears below holding a broom in one hand In the next image the skin of the maize goddess impersonator is placed on a dais covered with rubber-spattered papersgt surrounded by celeshybrants wearing Tlaloc masks

There is no hint of the participation of warriors nobles or any other group besides priests in the rituals depicted Broda (1970) has suggeste9 that there were clear marcial overtones in the sacrifice of the Toci impersonator as described in the sources The single image of Toci in the Borbonicus depiction lacks the martial accoutrements spears and shields and spears which appear in the other pictorial sources The ceremorues depicted in the Borbonicus with their public celebration of phallic figures connected with the fertile lands of the Golf Coast their emphasis on the sacrifice of a maize goddess and their demonstration of the intimate relationship of rain gods and maize can almost certainly be interpreted as being concemed eX4

clusively with themes of fertility and agricultural abundance

Another important festival which took place in autumn was Queshycholli the feast in honor of the god of hunting Mixcoatl This is the only festival with two named divisions (Duraacuten 147) in the Borshybonicus a thin gray line divides the page (fig 10) The primary event of the feast as described in written accounts was a ritualized hunt in the countryside carried out by groups of nobles dressed in the

CHRISTOPHER COUCH

lS to show well-dressed figures eating before group of cornmoners indicates hunger by

griculturaI cycle in the Borbonicus festival tion oiacute the harvest festival which extends other festivals occupy either a single page no corrunoners appear in the Borbonicus a number of aspects set it off from the

11 accounts of the feasts O ther sourc n earch goddess T oci or Teteoinnan while rbonIacutecus is on the sacrifice and flaying of le goddess In the third scene of the seshyl of the festival a priest wearing the skin eity impersonator stands on a low platform imilar paper costumes with Tlaloc mask lp of phallic dancers impersonating memshy0 arollnd the platform A relatively small pears below holding a broom in one hand )f tbe maize goddess impersonator is placed gtber-spattered papers surrounded by celeshy($

partlClpation of warriors nobles or any in the rituals depicted Broda (197 O) has lcar martial overtones in the sacrifice of escribed in the sources The single image lepiction lacks the martial accoutrements ars which appear in the other pictoria picted in the Borbonicus with their public ~ connected with the fertile lands of the s on the sacrifice of a maize godd the intimate relationship of rain gods and 1 be interpreted as being concem ed exshyility and agricultural abllndance

II wruch took place in autllmn was Q ueshythe god of hllnting MixcoatI T his is the ~d divisions (Duraacuten 147) in the Barshyvides the page (fig 10) The primary )ed in written accounts was a ritualized led out by groups of nobles dressed in the

Fil 1 Codex Burhancls 11 le lt lI r(tlxiiexcliChIWlizrli I iexclrom Codex Borbonicu s 197oacutel

q1tJ1 mOf~ ampia -XSalUacute ~to tiaca Xi pruautt4 cs Jta fidlashy

riexcl IZ rode~ Magliahehiono fo l 30 Tlacaxi Wll ali[iexcl fro m (Uln j[ald i ab~rhia lo 19 0)

Fig 4 Codex Boroacuteonea 25 Hu e ilOZOl

Fig 3 Prim eros Memoriales ca p 1 foI 250 T Tlucax iJeualizlli (frorn Sahaguacuten 1974 laacutem 2)

Fig 5 Primeros Memoriales car 1 foL 250 L Qnauitlehua (from Sahaguacuten 1974 laacutem l

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e n wYI jiexclL6I u l)ileljrs WOJ ~ vmpiexcliexclmvni) 1 OSl 1deg1 1 de) iexcl) V lOlIImiddotgtWltgt ~ o- ~ e eo

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iexcl- -J ~ ~ ~ 3 1

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rjx ii ~ -J ~~

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it~ O - r gtshy- Cl ~ i-J 3 e

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Pipo fl Flurcntine Codex Book 2 Chapte 27 Ueilecuilhuitl (from Sahaguacuten 1950-7l illllstralions followi ng p 102 no 27)

(LZ middotou GO middotd JlIolloJ lO

aL-OSoacute ul)ileyeS W01J) ]1nll11nJdl1Jn u Iltluuy) z

l

IMAGES OF THE COIllMON MA IN THIl

garl of MixcoacuteatI Succ fuI hunters were characteristics accoutrements (Motoliniacutea below the clividing line may represent thl

oups of i olated objects aboye them mal tho e who took game - Mixc6atls headd bag apparently associated with this Ieast (

In contrast to the written sources the B01

the econd baH oiacute the feast wruch took pIad ing hows a ring of dancers who are barefoot ma~lle~ capes They wear the black paint al

heddre middot of the hunting god Mixcoacuteatl Buj below they wear plain white feathers not offer spitted rabbits to an idol or imperson humble rabbits ontraltt with the deer whi( f[ered te the idols Tbe two women

ami carry their children on heir back The indicate that commoners participated in th to Iixcoacuteatl probably to ask rus aid in thein

Jthough it appears in the festival section th _ ew Fire Ceremon (fig 11) is not om T

fe ts The kindling oiacute the new fire took pIe I running of the two counts of the days the hld gone through one omplete cycle - tha WJo a tinle of cosmic danger when the world ime in the past and th rituals carried out i

of ~ ltXico All of the fires in the valley wer wept old idoIs and pottery were discardcd

oiacute priests garbed as major deities went out f Hill (Ir tlle Star wruch lay to thc south nea 11 the middle of the night after it was c1ear 1 had not come the ncw Ere was made by a pI1 carried to aU the templ in the valley iacute

of all the peopIe (Saha n 1950-78 7 25shy

1 he central image n this page shows f UJ

bundles of torches into a fire in a large brl alIed year bundles each contains thirte n 1

four oiacute them equa the fifty-two years of the

It is triking that in addition to the magni an the fire priests in the temple the Bo letailed and anecdotal way the activities of t

IMACES OF THE COMMON MAN IN THE CODEX BORBONICUS 97

garb of Mixcoacuteatl Successful hunters were reward-ed with Mixc6atls characteristics accoutrements (Motoliniacutea 69) The four figures below the dividing Hne may represent the nobles while the three groups of isolated objects above them may be the rewards given to those who took game - Mixc6atls headdress spear and a special bag apparentIy associated with this feast (Kubler and Gibson 32)

In contrast to the written sources the Borbonicus image emphasizes the second half of the feast which took place in the town The paintshying shows a ring of dancers who are barefoot commoners wearing plain maguey capes They wear the black paint around the eyes and feather headdress of the hunting god Mixc6atl But in contrast to the nobles below they wear plain white feathers not eagle feathers and they offer spitted rabbits to an idol or impersonator of the deity These humble rabbits contrast with the deer which the nobles hunted and offered to the idols The two women make offerings of bread and carry their children on heir backs The Codex Borbonicus image indicates that commoners participated in the feast making offerings to Mixc6atl probably to ask his aid in their hunting

Although it appears in the festival section of the Codex Borbonicus the New Fire Ceremony (fig 11) is not one of the eighteen monthly feasts The kindling of the new fire took place when the simultaneous running of the two counts of the days the divinatory and the solar had gone through one complete cyele - that is every 52 years This was a time of cosmic danger when the world might end as it had four times in the past and the rituals carried out involved the entire Valley of Mexico AH of the fires in the valley were doused the houses were swept old idols and pottery were discarded At nightfall a procession of priests garbed as major deities went out from Tenochtitlan to the Hill of the Star which lay to the south near the city of Culhuacan In the middle of the night after it was elear that the end of the world had not come the new fire was made by a priest using a fire drill and was carried to all the temples in the valley and thence to the homes of aH the people (Sahaguacuten 1950-78 7 25-32 MotolinIacutea 49)

The central image on this page shows four fire priests placing four bundles of torches into a fire in a large brazier These are usually caHed year bundles each contains thirteen brands and together the four of them equal the fifty-two years of the cyele

It is striking that in addition to the magnificent god impersonators and the fire priests in the temple the Borbonicus shows us in a detailed and anecdotal wa) the activities of the people at this critical

7


time Three different scenes appear at the lower right Above and below we see families huddled together in front of their houses waitshying ariacuted watching to see the new fire spring up - or for their world to end The men are armed with spears and all the figures wear maguey leaf masks It was believed that if the world ended many people would turn into fierce beasts and the masks were worn to keep this from happening In the lower house a child sits on a womans lap small children were kept awake to keep them from turning into mice Pregnant women were be1ieved to be the most dangerous for if the world ended they would turn into female monshysters called tzitzimime They were placed inside granaries and in the Borbonicus we see a pregnant woman shown inside a ceramic granary in a unique x-ray view guarded by a warrior carrying a shie1d and an obsidian-bladed war club

Although it contains many e1aborate depictions of ceremonies inshyvolving numerous priests and deity impersonators it is clear that the agricultural cycle and the importance of re1igion in the lives of the common people and agriculturalists are the central concerns of the festival cycle depicted in the Codex Borbonicus This is demonstrated in the emphasis placed on ceremonies concerned with rainfall as shown in the numerous depictions of TIaacuteloc and in the extended depiction of the harvest festival the climax of the agricultural year Commoners both male and feme1e and thus possibly representing the whole community are depicted engaging in re1igious activities in a number of cases they appear making offerings at a Tlaloc temple in Huetozoztli being incensed by a priest in Toxcatl receiving desshyperately needed provisions in Huetecuilhuit1 and honoring Mixcoacuteatl god of the hunt in Quecholli Even the depiction of the New Fire Ceremony includes the associated activities of the people

Preconquest Central Mexican religion was clearly a complex system with numerous important political military and economic functions For the community whose festivals are depicted in the Borbonicus however it was a system intimately re1ated to the agricultural and natural cycles a means of assuring the abundance of rainfall and the success of agricultural endeavors Its poliacutetical and rnilitary functions were of only secondary concern - so secondary in fact that to illustrate the major ce1ebration of military success TIacaxipehualiacuteztli the image chosen is one related to the blessing of children a celebration of human fertility which took place in the streets and homes of the community

IMAGES OF

1970

IMAQES OF TIlE COMMON MAN IN TIlE CODEX BORBONICUS 99

BIBLIOGRAFiacuteA

Broda Johanna 1969 The Mexican Calendar as Compared to Other Mesoamerican

Systems Acta Ethnoloacutegica et Linguumliacutestica No 15 Vienna

1970 Tlacaxipeualiztli A Reconstruction of an Aztec Calendar Festival iacuterom Sixteenth Century Sources Revista Espantildeola de Antropologiacutea Americana v 5 p 197-274

Brown Betty Ann 1977 European Influences in Early Colonial Descriptions and Illustrashy

tions oiacute the Mexica Monthly Calendar PhD dissertation University oiacute New Mexico Albuquerque

Caso Alfonso 1967 Los Calendarios Prehispaacutenicos Meacutexico UNAM Instituto de

Investigaciones Histoacutericas (Serie de Cultura Naacutehuatl Monoshygrafiacuteas 6)

i ~ Codex Borbonicus

1976 Codex Borbonicus (Codices Selecti 44) Comrnentary by Karl Anton Novotny Graz

Codex Magliabechiano 1970 Codex Magliabechiano CL XIIl3 (BR 232) (Coacutedices Seshy

lecti 23) Cornmentary by Ferdinand Anders Graz

Couch NC Christopher nd The Festival Cycle oiacute the Aztec Codex Borbonicus Masters

essay Columbia University New York 1980

Duraacuten Diego 1971 Book of the Cods and Riacutetes and the Ancient Calendar Transshy

lated and edited by Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden Norman

Glass John B with Donald Robertson 1975 A Census oiacute Native Miacuteddle American Pictorial Manuscripts

Handbook 01 Middle American lndians v 14 p 81-252 Austin

Harny Ernest Theodore 1899 Codex Borbooicus commentalre explicatif 24 p Pariacutes

Kubler George and Charles Gibson 1951 The Tovar Calendar An lllustrated Mexican Manuscript af

ca 1585 (Memoirs oiacute the Connecticut Acaderny oiacute Arts and Sciences v 11) New Haven


Motoliniacutea (Toribio de Benavente) 1971 Memoriales o libro de las cosas de la Nueva Espantildea Meacutexico

UNAM Instituto de Investigaciones Hist6ricas

Nicholson HB nd The Provenience of the Codex Borbonicus An Hypothesis

Paper delivered at the 39th International Congress 01 Amencanshyists Lima 1970

1974 Sorne Remarks on the Provenience of the Codex Barbonicus Adeva Mitteilungen Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt No 40 p 1418

Novotny Karl Anton 1976 Codex Borbonicus Herkunft und Inhalt de Codex Borbonicus

23 p Graz

Paso y Troncoso Francisco del 1898 Descripcioacuten historia y exposicioacuten del coacutedice pict6rico de los

antiguos Nauas que se conserva en la Biblioteca de la Caacutemara de Diputados de Pariacutes Florence

Robertson Donald 1959 Mexican Manuscript Painting of the Early Colonial Periodo

New Haven

Sahaguacuten Bernardino de 1950-78 Florentine Codex General History of the Things of New Spain

Translated by Arthur J O Anderson and Charles E Dibble 12 books in 11 volumes Santa Fe

1974 Primeros Memoriales de Fray Bernardino de Sahaguacuten Textos en naacutehuatl traduccioacuten directa proacutelogo y comentarios por Wigberto Jimeacutenez Moreno Meacutexico INAH Consejo de Histoshyria (Coleccioacuten Cientiacutefica 16)

~

EL ARTE ~

Hasta hace poco ~ principalmente de Jt indagacioacuten arqu mexica y el mismo ilustrar la informa

El tema de la Corteacutes con tan PO cuhzoma vacil6 eacuten ser un dios que defensa militar

90 N C CHRISTOPRER COUCR

No preconquest Aztec manuscript survives Apart from the amprshybonicus our knowledge of manuscripts derives from a small group of early colonial works with pictures painted in native styles showing varying degrees of European influence and written explanations in Spanish From references in the written sources we know that mashynuscripts were used for a number of different purposes They were used for the recording of bistory keeping track of tribute exacted from the provinces of the empire and even for sending messages The information in preconquest manuscripts was recorded not in writing but in a complex system of symbols of glyphs Thus manuscripts would usually have been read and used only by persons who had been edushycated in the priestly schools a kind of education normally available only to the children of the upper classes

AIthough the knowledge of reading manuscripts was limited to the educated members of the upper classes calendrical rnanuscripts like the Codex Borbonicus played a role in the lives of everyone T onashylamatls like the one in the first part of the codex recorded the 260-day divinatory calendar Each day in this cycle had a name and a number and fell under the influence of certain deities Each person from noblest lord to humblest commoner took the name of bis birth day as part of bis own n~e The good or bad fortunes told by the days of this cycle were used for advice on the best times for rnarriages for the sowing of crops and other important matters The omens and pronostications contained in the tonalamatl were available to every member of Aztec society Each district of the larger cities each small community had not on1y the priests attached to local temples but also a special class of diviners called tonalpouhquiJ to interpret the omen of the days

The 260-day divinatory calendar was uniform throughout the Aztec empire therefore interpretation of this part of the calendar as preshysented in the Codex Borbonicus is relatively straightforward However the eighteen festivals carried out at twenty-day intervals in the 365-day solar year varled widely in different localities (Broda 1969) AIso different social groups participated in the festivals in different ways The lack of a text to explain the images of this section and the lack of a provenance for the manuscript have made its interpretation difshyficult Past writers have assumed that the festivals depicted in the Coshydex Borbonicus show through symbols and complex drawings the ceremonials as they would have been carried out in the main temple precinct of a large community such as Mexico-Tenochtitlan

IMAGES OF THE COMMON MAN Il

Other early colonial pictorial and lit Florentine Codex and Duraacutens writIacutel the festival section of the codex Th corporate information gathered over localities and thus provide a syntheti sources particularIy the very full ac describe lengthy and complex ceren with most of the ritual activity takin cinct The focus is on the activities of political and military classes The SOl

monies described took place in Tene company most of the accounts usua adding no information beyond that presents its illustrations in a standarclli of figures illustrating each festival e two attendants The major exceptio riaes a pre1iminary version oiacute the prepared in the single cornmunity of tions feature a large number of figure of native pictorial conventions and the accompanying Nahuatl texto

The images of the Codex Borbomc other early colonial accounts of the fiexcl ( 1959) has demonstrated that it is a the earliest source we have on thes is remarkably free from European about the festivals is given entire1y tb teristics suggest that it is also the acc traditions of recording information sizing tendencies that characterize compiled by friars educated in a 1 tllat it r~presents the festival cyc1e community The Borbonicus festival and complexity They range from figures performing different activi~~ that appear to represent one actiVlI different types of participants are e and priests to barefoot commoners

Rather than focussing on the UD

cript and the actual contents of tll

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images of the common man in the codex n. · images of the common man in the codex borbonicus n. c....

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