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Sociopolitical Aspects of the Aztec Feast of Toxcatl

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Sociopolitical Aspects of the Aztec Feast of Toxcatl Power, Performance and Propaganda – Sociopolitical Aspects of the Aztec Feast of Toxcatl zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades eingereicht am Fachbereich Fachbereich Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften der Freien Universität Berlin im 2012 vorgelegt von Izabela Wilkosz Berlin 2014 1 1. Gutachterin: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ingrid Kummels 2. Gutachter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Rinke Tag der Disputation: 28.11.2012 2 Contents CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 7 1.0. General introduction ................................................................................................................ 7 2.0. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 11 3.0. Further research questions .................................................................................................... 15 4.0. Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli............................................................................................. 19 5.0. Ixiptla ...................................................................................................................................... 23 6.0. Terminology ............................................................................................................................ 25 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................................ 28 TOXCATL IN SIXTEENTH- AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SOURCES .................. 28 1.0. Foreword to the description on primary sources ................................................................... 28 2.0. Codex Magliabechiano ........................................................................................................... 31 3.0. Codex Borbonicus ................................................................................................................... 33 4.0. Memoriales o libro de las Cosas de la Nueva España y de los naturales de ella ................... 38 5.0. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún .................................................................................................. 40 5.1. Primeros Memoriales ............................................................................................................. 44 5.2. The Florentine Codex ............................................................................................................. 49 5.2.1. Illustrations depicting Toxcatl in the Florentine Codex ....................................................... 62 6.0. Fray Diego Durán .................................................................................................................... 67 6.1. Book of the Gods and Rites and The Ancient Calendar .......................................................... 71 7.0. José de Acosta and Juan de Tovar ......................................................................................... 94 8.0. Juan Bautista Pomar ............................................................................................................... 95 8.1. Relación de Texcoco ............................................................................................................... 97 9.0. Monarquía Indiana ................................................................................................................ 99 10.0. Preliminary conclusions ...................................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER 3 ...................................................................................................................................... 110 CONTEMPORARY THEORIES ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TOXCATL .................... 110 1.0. Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 110 1.1. The name of the veintena in Nahuatl ................................................................................... 111 1.2. Toxcatl equivalents in other indigenous languages ............................................................. 112 2.0. Modern interpretations of Toxcatl ....................................................................................... 113 2.1. Eduard Seler ......................................................................................................................... 113 3 2.2. Konrad Theodor Preuss ........................................................................................................ 115 2.3. Laurette Séjourné ................................................................................................................. 117 2.4. Burr Cartwright Brundage .................................................................................................... 118 2.5. Doris Heyden ........................................................................................................................ 120 2.6. Davíd Carrasco ...................................................................................................................... 121 2.7. Inga Clendinnen .................................................................................................................... 122 2.8. Michel Graulich..................................................................................................................... 125 2.9. Guilhem Olivier ..................................................................................................................... 127 3.0. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 4 ...................................................................................................................................... 132 AZTEC RITUAL IN THEORY AND PRACTICE – THE TOXCATL FEAST OUTSIDE TENOCHTITLAN ............................................................................................................................. 132 1.0. Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 132 2.0. Notes on the definition and the function of a ritual ............................................................ 133 3.0. The Aztec Empire – the center versus the province ............................................................. 138 4.0. Problems of the Aztec solar calendar xiuhpohualli .............................................................. 143 4.1. European influences ............................................................................................................. 144 4.2. The veintenas and their variants .......................................................................................... 145 4.3. The timing of the festival ...................................................................................................... 145 4.4. The beginning of the year ..................................................................................................... 146 4.5. The position of the nemontemi ............................................................................................ 146 4.6. The problem of the intercalations and the agrarian calendar ............................................. 146 5.0. Descriptions of the Toxcatl celebrations – research questions............................................ 147 5.1. Toxcatl in the agricultural areas of the central Aztec Empire .............................................. 152 5.2. Toxcatl in Tepepulco - a provincial urban center ................................................................. 159 6.0. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 167 CHAPTER 5 ...................................................................................................................................... 169 POWER; PERFORMANCE AND PROPAGANDA – TOXCATL CELEBRATION IN TENOCHTITLAN ......................................................................................................................... 169 1.0. Foreword .............................................................................................................................. 169 2.0. Tenochtitlan as an actor in the ceremony ............................................................................ 171 2.1. Demonstration of wealth and power ................................................................................... 171 3.0. Tenochtitlan and the ixiptla as the axis mundi .................................................................... 174 4.0. The living image and the speaker – representatives of Tezcatlipoca in Toxcatl .................. 178 4.1. Tezcatlipoca – tlatoani – ixiptla ............................................................................................ 178 4 4.2. Death of the ixiptla – its symbolism and significance .......................................................... 188 4.3. Ixiptla as a paragon............................................................................................................... 194 4.3.1. Titlacauan versus the Aztec concept of masculinity ......................................................... 196 4.3.2.
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