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Fire and Sacrifice in Mesoamerican Myths and Rituals

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Fire and Sacrifice in Mesoamerican Myths and Rituals See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325153326 Fire and Sacrifice in Mesoamerican Myths and Rituals Chapter · January 2018 CITATIONS READS 2 950 1 author: Oswaldo Chinchilla Yale University 61 PUBLICATIONS 286 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Oswaldo Chinchilla on 15 May 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. In Smoke, Flames, and the Human Body in Mesoamerican Ritual Practice, edited by Andrew Scherer and Vera Tiesler, pp. 29-53. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 2018 2 Fire and Sacrifice in Mesoamerican Myths and Rituals OSWALDO CHINCHILLA MAZARIEGOS ccording to Bernardino de Sahagún’s in other accounts of the origin of the sun and the Ainformants, one of the seventy-eight buildings moon. (For colonial Nahua versions of the myth, of the Templo Mayor precinct of Mexico was called see Bierhorst 1992:147–149; Mendieta 1973:50; Ruiz Netlatiloyan. They explained: “There were burned de Alarcón 1984:70–72; Sahagún 1950–1982:bk. 7:3– the ixiptla of those who were named Nanahuatl 8; Tena 2002:153–155, 181–185.) and Xochicuaye” (modified from López Austin This ritual was not described in more detail 1965:89).1 The terse description leaves many ques- elsewhere, so Sahagún’s description of Netlatiloyan tions open. When did this event happen in the provides the only extant testimony of what may yearly ritual cycle? Did it involve human sacrifice? have been an impressive reenactment of a key cos- Should the word ixiptla be understood in this con- mic juncture. While important, the question of text as referring to images of gods, made from whether the ixiptla burned at Netlatiloyan were wood or other materials, or to human imperson- human impersonators is irrelevant to the broader ators who were burned at that building, either dead problem that I will address in this essay: the inter- or alive? In a comprehensive study of Aztec feasts, play between myth and ritual in Mesoamerican Michel Graulich (1999:209–210) suggested that religion, art, and archaeology. The broader ques- the text referred to impersonators of the solar and tion is whether mythical passages found expression lunar heroes, who, according to myths recorded in rituals, and whether there is evidence of those by Sahagún and other writers, died by throwing rituals, either in the archaeological record or in themselves in a blazing pyre or oven. Nanahuatl pictorial and textual sources. To address this prob- was the name of the solar hero and Graulich sug- lem, I will explore mythical passages that recount gested that Xochicuaye was an alternative name the fiery death and transformation of gods, and for the lunar hero, known as Tecciztecatl or 4 Flint search the available sources for evidence of ritual 29 performances that reenacted or alluded in various desirable, as it often yields productive and stimu- ways to the immolation of gods. lating results. A survey of Mesoamerican myths reveals two Religious rituals have multiple correspon- major episodes that involved fiery death: (a) the dences with mythical beliefs and narratives (see sacrifice of the solar and lunar heroes—sometimes Segal 2005:366–369 for a summary review of the- only one—who jumped into a blazing pyre or oven ories of myth and ritual). The study of myths has and emerged as luminaries; and (b) the death of proved relevant for the interpretation of histori- an old goddess who was burned in a sweat bath, a cally attested rituals and archaeological contexts house, or a burning field. The immolation of the related to religious ritual in the New World (Bauer solar and lunar heroes is a celebrated mythical 1996; Brown 1997, 2003; Fogelin 2007:63–64; López passage, repeatedly described in colonial sources Luján et al. 2010). But the correspondences are that include the Popol Vuh and Spanish and Nahua not straightforward, partly because rituals do not texts from Central Mexico. This act is also attested simply replicate the incidences of mythical narra- in widespread modern versions collected across tives. In a detailed study of Mesoamerican myths, Mesoamerica, which will be cited and described Alfredo López Austin (1993:86) envisioned the rela- in the following pages. Equally widespread, but tionship between myth, ritual, and narrative as a much less known, is the episode that describes the triangle, in which beliefs occupy the dominant fiery death of an old goddess. While not recorded vertex. They are the source of mythical knowledge in writing before the twentieth century, it seems that may find expression in multiple ways. Both quite widespread across Mesoamerica, as attested narrative and ritual provide expressive outlets for in numerous narratives recorded in modern com- mythical beliefs. They relate to each other, while munities (cited below). The myths of the old god- maintaining their distinctive structures, media, dess shed light on aspects of Mesoamerican rituals functions, and histories. Mythical beliefs can also associated with childbirth and the sweat bath. become manifest in other ways, such as magical spells, plastic representations, and written texts (as distinct from oral narratives). Myth and Ritual in A correspondence between myth and ritual Mesoamerican Archaeology is generally acknowledged in Mesoamerica, and is especially evident in the case of the sixteenth- Lars Fogelin (2007:56) distinguished two ap - century Mexica and other Nahua peoples of Cen- proaches to the archaeology of religious ritual. tral Mexico, thanks to the availability of both The first delves into the structural and symbolic textual and archaeological records. As Graulich aspects of ritual, informed by ethnohistoric and (1999:195) noted, sixteenth-century Spanish writers ethnographic information. The second empha- were aware that the Mexica monthly feasts com- sizes practice, and relies on material remains to memorated major mythical passages—not unlike reconstruct the actions and experiences of the Christian feasts. Thus, Motolinía (1970:26) affirmed participants in ancient ritual events. Rather than that Panquetzaliztli was “the feast of the birth of exclusive categories, these approaches are best Huitzilopochtli from the virgin,” alluding to the understood as complementary to each other. The god’s mythical birth, which resulted from his distinction relates to the availability of written mother’s magical pregnancy. Sahagún’s informants sources and to the relative resilience of religious concluded their narrative of Huitzilopochtli’s birth beliefs and practices, from ancient to historic at the mountain of Coatepec by asserting its cor- and modern communities. While the untested respondence with the rituals that were dedicated assumption of continuity is unwarranted, the to the god: “Hence they made offerings to him; careful examination of links between ethnohis- hence they honored him, they exerted themselves toric, ethnographic, and archaeological data is for him . And this veneration was taken from 30 chinchilla mazariegos there, Coatepec, as was done in the days of yore” 1989). Neither the colonial accounts nor the mod- (Sahagún 1950–1982:bk. 1:5). Archaeological exca- ern narratives replicate more ancient versions in vations have shown that the Great Temple itself every detail, but there are continuities, especially replicated the fabled mountain, and that specific at the level of the nodal subjects. The term derives parts of the temple were named after locations that from López Austin, who proposed a basic distinc- were mentioned in the myths (López Austin and tion between the “heroic” and “nodal” subjects López Luján 2009:246–252; Seler 1996:96). Johanna of myths. Heroic subjects form the outer layer of Broda concluded: “The festivals dedicated to the myths. They consist of the adventures of gods and Aztec patron deity during the annual ritual cycle heroes that form the storyline of mythical narra- were precisely those related to mythical drama of tives. The names of characters, locations, and spe- the solar deity as well as of the historical destiny cific incidents belong to this level of analysis. They of the Aztec ethnic group” (Broda, Carrasco, and are especially labile, and they may easily change Matos Moctezuma 1988:73). This does not imply when myths are transmitted among storytellers, that the Mexica rituals were simple reenactments adapted to new situations, or translated to differ- of the contents of mythical narratives. Numerous ent languages and cultural settings. A deeper layer components of the ritual feasts find no parallel in of analysis involves the nodal subjects, which form the extant mythical narratives, while others relate the underlying structures of myths and tend to more or less closely with mythical episodes, or remain stable through time, resisting changes that allude to them in metaphorical ways. may affect the heroic subjects. The nodal subjects The relative wealth of colonial written sources of myths can be identified through comparisons on Nahua myths and rituals has no parallel else- of parallel versions, in search of parallel episodes where in Mesoamerica. In the Maya area, the Popol that reveal the deeper and more resilient compo- Vuh and other highland Guatemalan texts con- nents of myths (López Austin 1993:247–259, 2001). tain records of myths, but they provide no detailed The distinction is relevant for comparing narratives descriptions of the related rituals. Another source with other forms of mythical expression, includ- of information are Classic
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