UC Santa Barbara rEvista: A Multi-media, Multi-genre e-Journal for Social Justice

Title Case Study for the Development of a Visual Grammar: and Maguey as Teotl in the Directional Tree Pages of the

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Journal rEvista: A Multi-media, Multi-genre e-Journal for Social Justice, 5(2)

Author Lopez, Felicia

Publication Date 2017

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eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Case Study for Development of a Visual Grammar: Mayahuel and Maguey as Teotl in the Directional Tree Pages of the Codex Borgia

Felicia Rhapsody Lopez, University of California Santa Barbara

“The books stand for an entire body of my current examination of the Codex indigenous knowledge, one that embraces Borgia, I seek to further the decolonial both science and philosophy.” – Elizabeth project of recovering Indigenous Hill Boone (2007:3) knowledge through methods that center Mesoamerican voices, docu- The results of the invasion and ments, and language.1 colonization of the Americas include Mesoamerican scribes created a wide not only widespread genocide, but also variety of texts (from historical, to the destruction of Indigenous texts and topographical, to ritual) containing culture. Today only 12 codices from maguey iconography, which draw upon Precontact Central remain. the cultural symbolism, metaphor, and Among these are a group of six, defined scientific understanding of the plant by their similarities in iconographic and of the teotl2 Mayahuel in order to style, content, and geographic region of provide a rich and layered meaning for origin, called the Borgia Group, so their Indigenous readers. The named for the Codex Borgia, the most metaphorical connections between iconographically detailed of the group, Mayahuel and maguey drawn on Codex which in turn was named for Italian Borgia page 51 reveal what I develop Cardinal, Stefano Borgia, who possessed here: an internal visual grammatical the document before his death and structure, which in turn allows for the before its gifting to the Vatican Library, identification of the primary tree on where it now resides. None of the six Codex Borgia page 51 as Mayahuel/ Borgia Group documents, it should be maguey, rather than corn, as it has been noted, are still within or near the interpreted by previous scholars (Seler communities that created them, but 1963; Nowotny 2005; Boone 2007; rather are kept in various libraries, Byland, Diaz, and Rodgers 1993). In the museums, and universities in Europe. In process of outlining the methods for my examination of Precontact Central this identification, my first goal is to Mexican codices, both in general and in uncover the linguistic complexity of

1 For her work outlining some of the ways to variety of meanings not found in decolonize the studies of and by Indigenous Mesoamerican belief systems, and the use of people, I am indebted to Linda Tuhiwai Smith this common translation has led to and her 1999 book, Decolonizing misunderstanding about Mesoamerican Methodologies: Research and Indigenous cultures. One of the functions of this paper will Peoples. be to continue to explore the complex meaning 2 Although the common Western translation of of teotl apart from Western constructions, and the word teotl is given as ‘god’ or ‘goddess,’ I I will specifically return to the word itself in the have intentionally resisted these words and penultimate section: Mayahuel/Maguey as will instead use the word teotl throughout this Teotl. paper. The words ‘god’ and ‘goddess’ contain a 42 Lopez

Figure 1: Codex Borgia 49 with labeled overlay (all illustrations redrawn by Justin McIntosh based on facsimiles of the original Codex Borgia)

Ancient Mesoamerican pictorial texts. thus shedding further light on the Here I rely on a familiarity with local nature of “deity” within languages and cultures. Based on this more generally. understanding, I examine Mayahuel/ Through the identification of maguey as a case study for the ways in patterns in meaning and association which iconography can be read and using sources and linguistics, I understood as a language with its own present here a new method of reading complex set of grammatical elements. these pictorial texts, which provides Lastly, I use this visual grammar to draw tools for further research and upon various stories, myths, and decipherment. histories related to Mayahuel/maguey in order to understand her role as teotl, Background rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 43 The Codex Borgia is a traditional scholars as representations of the Mesoamerican book made of a directions east, north, west, south, and continuous single sheet, folded center (Seler 1963:2:85-103; Nowotny accordion style upon itself forming 76 2005:34; Boone 2007:121-131; Anders et al pages. The physical form of the book 1993:261-277; Hernández and Bricker allows for multiple consecutive pages to 2004:299-320; Hernández 2004). be viewed simultaneously. Pages 49 Eduard Seler (1963: 2:85-103) was the through 52 and the right side of 53 of the first to recognize that these pages are Codex Borgia follow a similar pattern, analogous to the frontispiece of the and were likely folded out to allow an Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, wherein trees indigenous reader to view pages 49 representing east, north, west, and through 54 as a single and complete set south surround a central figure. The of pages. 3 Each of the pages, from page detailed imagery put forth by the 49 through 52 and the right side of 53 of original Mesoamerican scribes suggests the Codex Borgia, follows a similar to many of these same scholars above pattern of separate panels. Each of pages that the trees depicted correspond to 49 through 52 (which are read from plants indigenous to the regions of and right to left) is broken up into two parts: around Mesoamerica (Seler 1963:2:85; a large lower panel that takes up about Nowotny 2005:34-36; Boone 2007:114; two-thirds of the content; and an upper Anders et al 1993:81). Previous panel that is further separated into two interpretations of CB51, have identified smaller panels. (Figure 1) 4 The first this region as the West and its tree as a half of page 53 shares a similar pattern, young corn plant (Seler 1963:2:87; with the bottom half containing a tree Nowotny 2005:35; Boone 2007:123; in the same general form as the primary Byland, Diaz, and Rodgers 1993:xxvii). trees (C7) seen in the other pages, yet While there is certainly some evidence with only one page above this image. for these proposals, my own research Many scholars have addressed these two using iconographic, cultural, and portions, top and bottom across the four linguistic evidence suggests that this and a half pages, separately (Seler 1963; tree is instead a flowering, mature Boone 2007; Anders, Jansen and Reyes maguey. 1993), and for the majority of this Early twentieth century German research, I am following this trend. In scholar of Precontact Mesoamerica, this paper, I primarily focus on the Eduard Seler, was the first European to bottom portion of these pages, each of produce an extensive study the Codex which centers on a tree with a bird Borgia. As Elizabeth Hill Boone (2007:7) perched atop its forking branches. states, “He described, identified, and The trees and the pages upon which interpreted just about every image in they appear, have long been read by the codices. Most of Seler’s specific

3 Page 53 of the Codex Borgia, in addition to manuscript suggests that these six pages were containing patterns that mirror those on pages viewed simultaneously. 49 through 52, contains part of the Venus 4 High-resolution color images of the Table that appears on page 54. Because page illustrations for this article can be viewed 53 shows no physical evidence of having been online at: folded in half, the physical layout of the http://www.chicomoztoc.com/images-for- chapter-3-case-study-of-a-visual-grammar/ 44 Lopez readings of individual iconographic Nowotny sought to incorporate details have been accepted by ethnographic data collected largely subsequent scholars and remain from Indigenous people of Central fundamental to all later research.” Seler Mexico in the early 20th century and use was the first scholar to identify the tree that data in his analysis of and illustrated on page 51 (Figure 2) as an comparisons to the imagery within the immature maize plant—i.e. one that codices. As George A. Everett and had not yet yielded corncobs or other Edward B. Sisson, the translators of his visible fruit. He noted that the black work Tlacuilolli (2005:xx), state: “In stripes on the yellow and brown tree particular, [Nowotny] offers well- resemble the face paint of the maize reasoned and insightful alternatives to god, Cinteotl, reasoning that, by the astral interpretation of the great association, the plant represented here master Eduard Seler.” Despite his goal of was a form of maize. In fact, two black challenging Seler and his students in zigzagging lines, one thick and one thin, their tendency to seek astral do appear on representations of Cinteotl significance within the Codex Borgia, in within the Codex Borgia, on plates 14, 15 his original Tlacuilolli, Nowotny and 57, so Seler’s assertion is not (2005:35) describes the tree at the without evidence. bottom of page 51 as, “a corn tree with a Seler (1963:2:87), within this visual large star,” showing that he seems to decipherment, goes on to assert that the agree with Seler’s interpretation. Yet by centerpiece of the tree represents a sort 1976, in labeled overlays Nowotny of transforming star. He states: provided to accompany a newly available Codex Borgia facsimile (the [H]ay en el tronco un dibujo extraño: Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt una raíz ancha y dos flores flanqueadas de espinas; los pétalos (muy alargados) facsimile), Nowotny offers an de las flores se levantan, a su vez, sobre alternative reading. Written in the espinas. Como conjunto el dibujo tiene position of the tree he previously aspecto de un ojo-estrella –o un ojo- identified as a corn tree with a star, rayo transformado en flores. Nowotny (2005:116) simply writes “Quetzal Flower Tree” and makes no Through this reading, Seler presents the mention of stars or other tree emblems. West as being characterized by what he While the likely reasoning behind identifies as a young maize plant with a Nowotny’s re-identifying this as a star icon at its center. This assessment quetzal flower tree come from the visual follows the early twentieth century similarity between representations of trend that found astronomy throughout quetzal feathers and the foliage of the Mesoamerican art and writing (Aldana tree, as both appear as curved green 2011; Aveni 1999; Bricker 2001; Carlson outshoots, Nowotny does not provide 1991; Hernández and Vail 2010; Wells explanation nor support for his 1991). identification within this facsimile or Karl A. Nowotny, an Austrian scholar elsewhere. of Mesoamerica who began publishing Nowotny’s interpretation is in the field about 50 years after Seler, challenged by the translators also identified this tree as a corn plant, themselves. In Everett and Sisson’s though not consistently. In his work, footnotes (2005, 328n111), they disagree rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 45

Figure 2: Detail of the primary tree/bird [C.7.] from Codex Borgia 51 (J. McIntosh) with Nowotny’s interpretation writing: the Mayan Madrid Codex as evidence “This appears to be a plant, perhaps a for cross-regional scribal commun- maguey, and not a star.” Elizabeth ication. In their work, they follow Seler’s Boone (2007:123), in her comprehensive original interpretation that this page overview and examination of the represents a maize plant, and they make “general principles” of the codices no mention of the iconography on the within the Borgia group, follows the trunk of the tree. At this point, latter interpretation by identifying the therefore, we are left without clear Western tree as a flowering corn plant consensus and without an agreed upon with maguey—and not a star—at its method for interpretation. center. More recently, Christine Hernández and Gabrielle Vail (2010) Mayahuel ~ Cinteotl, Maguey ~ outlined similarities between codices Maize5 within the Borgia Group of Mexico and

5 The symbol, ~, has multiple meanings in mean that these figures have a rough mathematics. I use it here as a form of glyph to equivalence in some ways but not others, 46 Lopez Underlying the published interp- this woman (Mayaguil) Cinteotl sprung retations of the plant/tree of CB51 is an whose name signifies the origin of the implied ambiguity between the gods; giving us to understand, that from representation of corn and that of the vine which bears the grape the gods maguey. I have found this ambiguity derived their origin.”8 Here, the reflects an overlap in representation chronicler suggests that Mayahuel is a within other codices and within mother figure for the “gods,” for corn as mythohistorical narratives. The Cinteotl, and therefore for the conflation of maize and maguey, for indigenous populations in general. example, shows up in another book in Additionally, this passage affirms the the Borgia Group, Codex Rios (also strong connection between Mayahuel called the Codex Vaticanus A). Within and Cinteotl, and suggests the the Codex Rios, Mayahuel and Cinteotl possibility of the overlap in the are represented as sharing the eighth representation of maguey and corn as , the eighth grouping of 13 tonalli well. (13 days) within the larger 260-day Just as corn is cited as the crop that tonalpohualli6 year. Within this part of allowed Mesoamerican groups to the text, images of corn and Cinteotl, become sedentary and thrive culturally, the teotl of corn, are accompanied by the maguey plant had nearly limitless glosses describing Mayahuel, who is uses for the Pre-Contact people of identified as the mother of corn, and Mesoamerica. Maguey could provide octli (called in Spanish), the food, unfermented drinks, honey-like fermented juice of the maguey. The syrup, octli (pulque), , description for Mayahuel explains that, textiles, artisan tools, weapons, according to indigenous advisors, she implements for ritual use, building has four hundred7 breasts with which to supplies, paper, clothing, rope, and feed and nourish many. However, the more (Ortiz de Montellano 1990). Such description for Cinteotl, rather than scientific and practical knowledge of focusing exclusively on corn, continues plant uses impressed early Spanish to focus on Mayahuel and her maguey chronicler Francisco Hernández, who in by outlining the affects of the “vine” and 1577 stated that a single maguey could “wine” of the indigenous populations, continue to reproduce and ultimately maguey and octli respectively. Beside support an entire community. “This the image of Cinteotl, the chronicler plant, by itself, could easily furnish all states, “‘wine changes the heart’, since it that is needed for a simple, frugal life caused these people to believe that from since it is not harmed by storms, the much in the way the symbol is used in 7 The word in Nahuatl commonly translated as comparison of similar triangles in geometry. 400, centzontli, also means innumerable, 6 Within Mesoamerica, two calendar years run much in the same way as “a ton” in English simultaneously. One, the tonalpohualli, counts means 2,000 pounds or very large amount. out 260 days. The other, the xiuhpohualli, 8 Pohl, John MD. “A Colonial Era counts out 365-day years. Within a given Decipherment of Codex Rios, (Borgia Group).” tonalpohualli, there are 20 trecena, or 20 FAMSI. Accessed June 17, 2014. groups of 13 days, to make 260 days. For a more http://www.famsi.org/research/pohl/jpcodice thorough look at the tonalpohualli, see Boone s/rios/. (2007). rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 47

Figure 3: Detail of Mayahuel/maguey from Codex Laud 9 (J. McIntosh) rigors of the weather, nor does it wither produces have the power to sustain life in drought. There is nothing which gives in a manner that is most often a higher return.”9 Maguey still serves as associated with corn. While corn a means of survival for many living in domestication began as early as the deserts of Mesoamerica today, 7000BC,10 the roots of Mesoamerican where octli is consumed in place of agriculture began with the regular water. In her ability to provide for the harvesting of maguey an estimated 1,600 people, the maguey and the octli she years earlier.11 Culturally and historically

9 F. Hernández, 1959; vol. 1, 348-349, as quoted National Academy of Sciences 99, no. 9 (April and translated by Bernard R. Ortiz de 30, 2002). Montellano, 1990, 110. 11 Zizumbo-Villarreal, Daniel, and Patricia 10 Matsuoka, Yoshihiro, Yves Vigouroux, Major Colunga-GarcíaMarín. “Origin of Agriculture M. Goodman, Jesus Sanchez G, Edward and Plant Domestication in West Buckler, and John Doebley. “A Single Mesoamerica.” Genetic Resources and Crop Domestication for Maize Shown by Multilocus Evolution 57, no. 6 (2010): 813–25. Microsatellite Genotyping.” Proceedings of the 48 Lopez we can understand this to mean that described and represented in the Codex maguey served as a reliable food source Rios likely remains. similar to corn and previous to corn. Maguey’s role as a food source, in allowing for a sedentary lifestyle for larger populations prior to the adoption of agricultural dependence on corn, resonates with Mayahuel’s depiction as a mother with four hundred breasts, able to feed her innumerable children. Similarly, within the Codex Laud (another manuscript within the Borgia Group), Mayahuel and Cinteotl are depicted together. Cinteotl is presented here sitting upon a chair under a brown tree. His legs are not visible under his attire, and he holds, in his only visible arm, a single sharpened bone. Mayahuel, on the adjacent page (Figure 3), sits naked in a position suggestive of the mamazouhticac, or “hocker,” Figure 4: Detail of the animated day sign [C.1.] position associated with childbirth,12 from Codex Borgia 51, highlighting a repeating and her blue-green, and maguey plant is symbol, the Mayahuel Band (J. McIntosh) in full bloom with the red-tipped spines Current Readings of CB51 of the plant extending to her right and Comparing the flowering tree on page 51 left, and the “tree” and flowers of the of the Codex Borgia to the corn plant maguey extending above her head. Here found on plate 53 of the same text she squats atop a snake and turtle’s reveals obvious similarities and shell, which is suggestive of an differences. One similarity is the alternative name for her found in presence of a variant of what I call a Sahagún’s (1997:110) Primeros Mayahuel band (Figure 4). This band Memoriales: Texcacoac Ayopechtli, or appears in six places upon the tree of “Mirror-Snake Tortoise-Bench.” This this page, once on the Day Sign in the alternate name is given as part of a song far-left corner of the main cell upon the dedicated to her—a song sung to ease page, and once on an animal contained the pains associated with giving birth. within the secondary tree to the And though there are no accompanying immediate right of the Day Sign. This glosses within the Codex Laud to iconographic repetition suggests explain the connection between the ideological connection between these representations of Mayahuel and images. The two animals that share this Cinteotl, the maternal connection Mayahuel band are the cipactli

12 See , page 13. Also, see Nicholson (1954, 166;1967, 82) and Matos Moctezuma (1997, 22-23). rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 49

Figure 5: Detail the central corn/maize tree from Codex Borgia 53 (J. McIntosh)

(crocodile) and the michin (fish). ideas, relying on isolated similarities Various codices support the ideological such as these in iconography as the basis associations between Mayahuel and for identification leads to an illicit both the michin and cipactli, which I minor fallacy. For example, one story of will discuss below. explains that his foot was A variation of this Mayahuel band bitten off, and in iconographic also appears within the central corn tree depictions, Tezcatlipoca is often shown on page 53 (Figure 5), albeit with with a missing foot that has been different colors. Seler (1963:2:87) replaced with a mirror. While this is one practices this method of decipherment method of identifying Tezcatlipoca, we in his identification of this plant as corn, should not assume that all figures who wherein one similar element is seen in are missing a foot or who are adorned various places and can therefore be used with mirrors, even in place of a missing as a way to decode otherwise veiled foot, necessarily represent Tezcatlipoca, meaning. Yet while this method does especially if all other defining attributes provide clues about how the artists and are absent. For example, on CB51 in the communities conceptualized and upper right corner of the main cell, a represented a wide array of figures and cipactli is shown in the act of biting off 50 Lopez an individual’s foot. While this image similar elements is because of may suggest Tezcatlipoca, Seler ideological associations evidenced in (1964:54-55) identifies this individual as culture and language. Xochipilli, while Boone (2007:127) Rather than follow Seler’s lead in identifies him as Tlahuizcalpanteuctli attempting to identify this plant as corn based on his attire. Such differences in despite the absence of its corncobs—the identification suggest that scholars absence of its most distinctive feature— must often take a variety of a more straightforward interpretation iconographic details under would be that the absence of corncobs consideration, and the use of only a implies that this plant is not corn at all. single iconographic element in In the absence of corncobs, Seler’s identifying any given figure can often be criteria for establishing the tree on CB51 insufficient. as corn are the tree’s black stripes and While this method of interpretation flowers. We saw above Seler associates (in which an individual or a small the black stripes on this tree with number of emblems are used for similar stripes on the face of Cinteotl. identifying a larger whole) may lead to However, these identifying stripes of accurate conclusions in some instances, varying thickness are absent in the this method is also in large part representation of the corn tree on plate responsible for the current belief that 53, (Figure 5) and are likewise absent this tree represents a young corn plant. from any representation of a corncob The central tree on CB53, with its cobs producing corn plant within the Borgia of corn extending from various places Codex (such as those presented on throughout, is easily identified as corn. pages 20 and 24). Similar stripes to In the absence of corncobs, the similar those seen on the face of Cinteotl can auxiliary iconography in itself does not also be found on the maguey spines on identify this Western tree as a young most plants pictured in the Borgia version of the same. Much like the fish Codex (see pages 12, 16, and 48), as well and crocodile carry a similar element as on some representations of flowing (the Mayahuel band) as that of the water (see page 27). The flowers on both Western tree, I argue that the reason the of the trees that Seler identifies as corn Western tree and the Central tree carry do appear similar to one another, as

Figure 6: a) Detail of maguey from 40, b) detail of Mayahuel/maguey from Codex Fejervary-Mayer 28, c) detail of Mayahuel/maguey from Codex Borgia 16 (J. McIntosh) rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 51 both yield the tassels or “flowers” associated with the corn plant. Yet as similar as the flowers appear, they do show variation in the numbers of flowers and in the shape and number of auxiliary petals or leaves. These differences may be considered minor variations due to artistic style and are, in and of themselves, not justification for the dismissal of the interpretation that the tree on plate 51 Figure 7: Detail of the day sign malinalli from represents an immature corn plant. On Codex Borgia 18 (J. McIntosh) the other hand, artistic renderings of taxonomically classified as part of the maguey often include a flowering stalk 13 Poaceae or “true grass” family. that appears similar to a flowering corn It is also worth pointing out that, plant. For example, on plate 16 of the according to Frances Karttunen Borgia, in the upper right corner (Figure (1992:149), one of the Nahuatl words for 6c), Mayahuel appears seated in her the flower and tassel of maize is maguey. Above her head the flowering miyahuatl, which is phonetically similar stalk of the maguey appears again, as it to and therefore a possible mnemonic does in the Codex Laud, looking similar for Mayahuel’s name. This sort of visual to both of the trees pictured on the pun, which I will continue to address directional pages. Scholars agree that later, mirrors regular use of puns in this section of CB16 denotes Mayahuel Nahuatl poetry observed by Miguel and maguey, and none claim that a corn León-Portilla (1986) and the continued plant appears within the page. Cognates use of similar words in divination in the Codex Vaticanus B page 40 and among the Highland Maya witnessed by the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer page 28 Barbara Tedlock (1992). This potential (Figures 6a and 6b, respectively) show visual pun between miyahuatl and similar flowering shoots above the Mayahuel, in addition to ideological recognizable maguey plant. connections between corn and maguey Additionally, this maize flower, as and Cinteotl and Mayahuel, would depicted in the Codex Borgia does not justify the use of “corn flowers” in belong exclusively to the corn plant and identifying maguey rather than corn in the maguey. Rather, the same flower is this context. Therefore, the miyahuatl seen within the Day Sign for imagery likely functions as a visual Malinalli/Grass throughout the Borgia. marker clarifying the identity of the (Figure 7) This too makes ideological plant in a manner that is ideologically and scientific sense, as corn shares consistent with Mayahuel/maguey. So visual similarities with related grasses, while elements of corn do appear on especially before it produces corncobs, Borgia 51, the visual grammar of the and corn (maize) and teosinte (its page, as I will outline, supports the closest wild relative) are both

13 Lukens, Lewis, and John Doebley. “Molecular among Maize and Related Grasses.” Molecular Evolution of the Teosinte Branched Gene Biology and Evolution 18, no. 4 (2001): 627–38. 52 Lopez positive identification of this tree as of the International Style. In other maguey rather than corn. words, the use of shared stylistic and symbolic representations among Writing in Precontact Central linguistic groups such as the Mixteca Mexico and the Nahua in Central Mexico While decipherment of the writing allowed for understanding of texts styles of Mesoamerica has yielded regardless of spoken language. The use advancements in the way certain of this shared symbol set suggests a writing, specifically Mayan syllabic written lingua franca, much as Nahuatl writing, has been perceived, few had become the spoken lingua franca of scholars have acknowledged that the Central Mexico during the Postclassic writings found in texts such as the period. Codex Borgia qualify as a complete and Despite these widely accepted formal writing system. The style of the theories of cross-cultural, cross- Codex Borgia, often called the Mixteca- linguistic styles and symbols (Nicholson Puebla style, suggests that the codex and Keber 1994; Pohl 2003; Masson was written by people who spoke a 2003; Taube 2010), the written texts of Mixtecan language. This is misleading, Central Mexico continue to be classified as the exact location of its authorship as lacking in its ability to convey specific and therefore the linguistic group(s) its verbal messages to their readers. author(s) belonged to continue to be According to Elizabeth Hill Boone debated.14 The Codex Borgia embodies (2007:33): what Donald Robertson (1970) first Writing in central and southern called an “international style.” Elizabeth Mexico—as represented by the Boone and Michael E. Smith (2003) historical and religious codices—was went on to further explore the concept fundamentally pictorial. Although to of an international style by the east the Maya had developed a differentiating between what they call hieroglyphic script to represent words the Postclassic International Style and logographically and syllabically and to the Postclassic International Symbol reproduce phrases and sentences, the Set, in which the former refers to artistic , Mixtecs, and their neighbors and spatial conventions in artistic did not. Instead, their writing rendering and the latter refers to the use consisted of images that are spatially of symbols to present meanings that organized in various ways to create could be understood across linguistic visual messages that sometimes divides. For example, in (Figure 10), the parallel spoken language but do not symbols that run along the bottom of usually record it. the page are examples of the And while scholars such as Boone International Symbol Set, while the acknowledge that deeper meanings are style of representing people in profile embedded in the images presented in and with contour lines reveal an aspect these texts, few scholars have followed

14 Place of origin ranges from Tlaxcala, to Manuscripts.” PhD diss., Columbia, 2004, pp. Cholula, to Mixteca. For more on this debate 98-113. see Cassidy, Anne. “Divination By Image: The Borgia Group of Pre-Hispanic Mexican rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 53 early Mesoamericanist Joseph Marius Alexis Aubin, who, in 1849, identified the Nahuatl writing system as syllabic.15 However, recent research by Alfonso Lacadena (2008) and Marc Zender (2008) has convincingly argued that the written texts of Central Mexico meet the same criteria for a logosyllabic written language, such as Mayan, Egyptian, and Sumerian. According to Lacadena (2008:13-14, Figure 8: a) Detail of Tetzineuh from Codex 17), the three characteristics that Mendoza 2r, b) detail of Metepec from Codex Nahuatl writing shares with these other Mendoza 10r (J. McIntosh) logosyllabic languages are: 1) the use of names will often be represented with a logograms and phonograms to make up man’s haunches as a component. The word signs; 2) the use of logograms to presence of this glyphic component as a form rebus writing; and 3) the optional phoneme means that “haunches” is not use of phonetic complements to clarify included in the meaning of the word, logogram meaning. Within the logo- but rather a homophonous word, syllabic writing of Nahuatl, most of the syllable, or affix is meant instead. These signs (discrete iconographic elements or phonograms can then be used as a collections of iconography called glyph phonetic complement, as the –tzin- in blocks within a codex) represent Tetzineuh (Figure 8a), which I will logograms, wherein the image discuss further below. Logograms and corresponds to a word or set of words phonograms provide the basic building that share the meaning of the image blocks for any logosyllabic language. itself. In other words, the image of a hill These logograms, as stated, can be used in codices such as the Codex Mendoza in rebus writing as well, wherein the often serves as a logogram for the logogram used does not share the Nahuatl word tepe-tl, meaning hill, meaning with what is being wherein the –tl is a noun suffix that represented. This would be an example often is dropped when forming larger, of what I call a visual pun, wherein two compound words. (See Figure 8b) A words may sound similar or the same, phonogram, on the other hand, is a but their appearances are different. (An word part that creates a sound that is example of this can be seen in the not intended to play into the meaning of miyahuatl imagery as a stand-in for the word. For example, the Nahuatl Mayahuel mentioned above.) In word for a person’s hindquarters is tzin- Western culture this can be seen in tli, and when the names of people and informal notes, wherein people write places that have the sound -tzin- out in images “eye-heart-ewe.” In this (which, in addition to the example, the heart is a logogram that aforementioned meaning, is a common has the meaning of “love.” However, the honorific suffix), the glyphs of these “eye” and the “ewe” are images that do

15 Lacadena, Alfonso. “Regional Scribal the Decipherment of Nahuatl Writing.” The Traditions: Methodological Implications for PARI Journal 8, no. 4 (Spring 2008): 1-2. 54 Lopez

Figure 9: Detail from Codex (J. McIntosh) not share meaning with the Tlatelolco, the hill sign has a pair of words/word-sounds they are meant to teeth at its base and, as these teeth serve represent. Rather, they are merely as a phonogram for the syllable tla-, this homophones, but as such they are still additional element lets the reader know easily understood as having a direct that the word intended is tlatelli rather connection to specific spoken words. than the more common and similarly Finally, according to Lacadena represented tepetl (as it does not (2008), these logosyllabic forms of contain the syllable tla-). The location writing can incorporate the use of glyph for Tlatelolco in the Codex Xolotl phonetic complements to clarify which (Figure 9a) consists of three basic logographic meaning is intended. For elements: the hill shape, which could example, the hill sign represented represent a variety of words including earlier is most often representative of tlatelli and tepetl; the teeth the logogram tepe-tl. However, the iconography, which is tlantli in Nahuatl logogram for hill at times looks similar and here represents the phonetic to that for tlatelli and tetzcotl, which complement of tla-; and the pot or jar also signify types of hills. Since a single iconography, which is comitl16 in glyphic element may represent one of Nahuatl, and here represents the multiple sounds (or synonyms) or may phonogram –co. In the second example be mistaken for a similar looking (Figure 9b, the location glyph for glyphic element by the reader, a scribe Tepeyacac, consist of only two may choose to add a phonetic elements: the hill shape, which in the complement. According to Lacadena absence of a phonetic complement (2008) and Marc Zender (2008), these seems to default to the Nahuatl tepetl, phonetic complements disambiguate and a nose shape, which in Nahuatl is the reading of the glyphs. For example, yacatl. (Here, the final consonant –c is in the logogram for the place name of absent from the spelling. The omission

16 The word comitl undergoes a great deal of sounds in Nahuatl syllables transform into –n elision in standard use. As comitl is a noun, it sounds, and, when appearing at the end of a would rarely be found in its absolute form, but word, the –n is unvoiced. Therefore, comitl rather would lose its nominal suffix (-tl) before would be pronounced co, as seen in nocon, joining with a possessor. This first step turn pronounced noco, or my jar. For more on comitl into comi-. Additionally, a final short –i elision in Nahuatl, see Lockhart (2001). is always dropped, forming com-. Final –m rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 55 of syllables, sounds, and larger word phonetically…that offered in due parts seems to be a common practice, course the final evidence of reading which has made decipherment more their respective logograms. challenging.) As of this publication, no scholarly work Similar to the example of hill has attempted to read the Codex Borgia iconography, the presence of a maguey as a logosyllabic text. However, I assert, plant in logosyllabic writing can have through the recognition of the internal various meanings, and scribes added grammar between these sign blocks, or phonetic complements to distinguish discrete iconographic units, that this which intended word and meaning they does form a text that records spoken sought to represent. (I will discuss this words, as well as complex ideas. example in more detail below.) By analogy, an outline drawing of a four- Mayahuel = Maguey legged equine might be otherwise Mayahuel, as Michael E. Smith unidentifiable, but the addition of the (2003:203) points out, is widely regarded letter H can provide a clue to distinguish as a “fertility figure who personified the the drawing as one of a horse. maguey plant itself.” On Borgia 51, Within Lacadena’s (2008:2) Mayahuel, as personified maguey, is not compelling argument for the use of shown. However, Mayahuel does appear logosyllabic writing within Central in numerous other places within the Mexico lies one of the limiting factors in Borgia Codex and within other codices. the decipherment of the written In these representations of Mayahuel in language; primarily, even within the human form, she is identified by her documents that specifically list names physical connection to the maguey and places, and include Spanish glosses, plant. Mayahuel appears within her “what one finds is an overwhelming use maguey in a number of codices, of logograms.” This creates a challenge including the Codex Borgia, Codex for the decipherment because if a Laud, Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, and written language consists primarily of Codex Borbonicus. Her significance in logograms, the functions of those these texts can largely be understood by logograms can be overlooked and examining the context in which she misunderstood as a strictly pictorial appears. She most often appears in two “story-book” rather than as a contexts: as discussed previously, she logosyllabic writing system. Only with appears alongside Cinteotl in her the clues provided by syllabic phonetic human form as patron of the eighth writing does this recognition occur. trecena within the tonalamatl (the Such was the case with Maya writing written 260-day calendar); and as part of before its recent decipherment. As a set of five female figures who appear Lacadena (2008:18) points out in the suckling children. Within this second case of Maya writing, context, wherein Mayahuel suckles her It was precisely the substitutions at young, the codices suggest an Chichen Itza in which the name of the interchangeability wherein represent- deity K’awiil and words for ‘house’ and ations of Mayahuel’s human form and ‘fire,’ in addition to appearing in their maguey seem to convey the same statistically more common message to readers. In Codex Borgia [logographic] forms, are written page 16, within a set of suckling women, 56 Lopez Mayahuel is shown suckling a fish [the Mixcoa]. This Mecitli is Tlalteuctli (Figure 6c), whereas the parallel [Earth Lord]. And so we today who are pictorial passages, or cognates in the Mexica are not really Mexica but Codex Fejérváry-Mayer and the Codex Mecitin.” While the origins and Vaticanus B show Mayahuel suckling a meaning of the name Mexica are human child and a maguey (without her contested, this source supports a human form) suckling a fish, connection between the various respectively (Figures 6c and b). Chichimeca people and maguey as Some of the meaning of these figures, mother and sustainer, in a way that is and these discrepancies between them, similar to how Central Mexican Tolteca can be explained through an (or city-dwellers) saw corn as their life examination of Mayahuel within the source and sustainer. Codex Chimalpopoca, where she goes Returning to the codical by other names, including the name representations, the theme of sustaining Mecitli, which is commonly translated through suckling remains despite as Maguey Rabbit (though ‘citli’ can be changes in the way maguey and her translated as either rabbit or young are portrayed. That the cognate grandmother). Here as Mecitli, from the Codex Vaticanus B lacks Mayahuel/maguey nourishes and feeds Mayahuel’s human form, and yet the many, as she breastfeeds the Mixcoa— fish (like that seen in the Borgia) suckles the four hundred or innumerable inside of the maguey, illustrates the children (just as she is described in the interchangeability of her human and Codex Rios). Few of these innumerable plant forms her to a Mesoamerican children survive, and John Bierhhorst’s audience. Through the use of this translation of the Codex Chimalpopoca surviving story as a means of analysis, I (1998:9, 151) suggests that the sole argue that the three parallel codex surviving Chichimec among the Mixcoa images, of Mayahuel suckling a fish, of was named Mimich. In this way, Mayahuel suckling a human child, and Mimich acquires the role of symbolic of maguey suckling a fish, may be representation of the Chichimeca (the understood as conveying similar semi-nomadic Nahua groups from semi- narrative and symbolic meaning. arid areas northern of Central Mexico) The ideological and iconographic while also having a name that suggests a connection between Mayahuel and her connection with fish, mich-.17 That maguey is further emphasized in the Maguey and Mayahuel (also called Codex Mendoza. The name of a military Mecitli here) is mother figure and leader is given in roman letters as patron of Chichimeca people is further Teçineuh (which could be alternately supported in Bierhorst’s (1998:150) spelled Tetzineuh), which is translation of the Codex Chimalpopoca represented by a glyph combining the in its explanation of the origin of the maguey plant and the phonetic name Mexica (who also have complement –tzin (or in this case –çin), Chichimeca origins): “Mecitli suckled which is represented by hindquarters.

17 Mimich suggests a reduplication typical in the plural form of nouns, where fishes would be called mimichtin. rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 57 (Figure 8a) However, in this case the the conquest of Cuauhtitlan, Bierhorst’s maguey does not produce the me- (1998:92) translation cites both of these sound often associated with name consequences as signs of defeat: “This building within the Codex Mendoza, as was when they finally came and broke it does in the glyph for Metepec; the up the soil in the marketplace of the maguey forms a me- sound (using the Cuauhtitlancalque and planted it with root of the Nahuatl word for maguey, magueys and set fire to their temple.” metl), the hill or mountain (tepetl in Just as the concepts of conquest and the Nahuatl) is represented as a logogram, “expelling” of another are ideologically and the suffix –c signifying a place, is connected, the translation of Teçineuh absent or assumed. (Figure 8b) Since as “he who expels someone” closely the maguey plant does not function as a matches the meaning of the likely root phonetic element in the case of of Mayahuel’s name. Although the Teçineuh, as the me- sound does not translation of her name remains occur in the name, the maguey plant in contested, with scholars often arguing this text serves instead as a logogram for a wide range of etymologies,18,19 I with a more complex meaning. Frances argue that root of her name is the F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt Nahuatl mayahui20. This word has been (1997:5) translate the name Teçineuh as translated “rechazar, alejar,”21 “to reject “he who expels someone,” while Frances scornfully,”22 and “to fall; to hurl Karttunen (1992:313) says the something down, to dash someone metaphorical meaning of tzinehu(a), is down to his death.”23 Understanding “to hurl [someone] down from a high Mayahuel’s name and the maguey, as a place, defeat, destroy.” We find that the symbol of death via downfall translations of this name correspond to corresponds as well to her origin story some of the ideological significance of within the Histoyre du Mechique. In maguey and Mayahuel’s name as this account, the wind teotl synonymous with destruction. takes Mayahuel with him down to the For example, within Bierhorst’s earth. Mayahuel’s grandmother and (1998:92) translation of the Codex aunts (the Tzitzimime, who are Chimalpopoca, the planting of magueys associated with the stars), upon signifies the defeat of a town in much discovering she is missing, descend the same way as a burning temple does throughout various codices. In relating

18 Quiñones-Keber, Eloise. “Mayahuel and be understood as one that has been hurled or Maguey: Sustenance and Sacrifice in Aztec dashed down to death. Myth.” Latin American Indian Literatures 21 Simeon, Remi. Diccionario De La Lengua Journal 5, no. 2 (1989): 72–83. Nahuatl o Mexicana. Siglo XXI Editores 19 Klein, Cecelia F. 2000. "The Devil and the Mexico, 1977, p. 250. Skirt: An iconographic inquiry into the pre- 22 Bierhorst, John. A Nahuatl-English Hispanic nature of the tzitzimime". Ancient Dictionary and Concordance to the ’Cantares Mesoamerica. 11 (1): 36n38. Mexicanos: With an Analytic Transcription and 20 According to James Lockhart (2002, p.29), Grammatical Notes. 1st ed. Stanford University the suffix –l can be added to the root of a Press, 1985, pp. 207, 297. transitive verb (mayahui) to form a passive 23 Karttunen, Frances. An Analytical Dictionary form of a noun. In this case, the word or name of Nahuatl. University of Oklahoma Press, mayahuil (a form of Mayahuel’s name) could 1992, p. 141. 58 Lopez

Figure 10: Codex Borgia 49 (J. McIntosh) upon her, killing and devouring her. 24 The representations of Mayahuel and From her buried remains grew the first maguey in origin stories, such as those maguey, making the maguey a sign of found in the Histoyre du Mechique and her destruction. In this way, the maguey the Codex Chimalpopoca, mirror the imagery within the codices, the maguey complex ideology and symbolic itself, and Mayahuel’s name illustrate meanings imbedded in the diverse her literal connection with downfall and codical representations of Mayahuel destruction. and maguey. The stories of Mayahuel and maguey as mother to the

24 De Jonghe, Edouard. 1905. Histoyre du http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/presc Mechique, manuscrit français inédit du XVIe ript/article/jsa_00379174_1905_num_2_1_3549. siècle. PERSEE. rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 59 Chichimeca, as told in the Codex Visual Grammar Chimalpopoca, echo the iconography of Rather than relying primarily on the Borgia, Rios, and Vaticanus B. iconographic similarities to arrive at the Similarly, the story Mayahuel’s origins denotative meaning of isolated imagery, recounted in the Histoyre du Mechique I propose the recognition and and her ideological and practical examination of a visual grammar significance to Mesoamericans as designed by Indigenous scribes and maguey correlate in some respects with contained within the Mesoamerican Eduard Seler’s interpretations of the codices. Through the use of such things primary tree on Borgia 49. Though I as visual puns, the visual grammar of the dispute his identification of this tree as pictorial codices could provide meaning a young corn plant with a star emblem, across linguistic groups to create rich I would argue that his misinterpretation connotative significance for a draws on intentional iconographic potentially larger Mesoamerican similarities, and ideological connections audience. As with the understanding of between maguey and Mayahuel, and spoken and written languages, the corn and stars. The similarities between understanding of a visual grammar the representations of maguey and within a multi-linguistic writing style maize can readily be explained via an depends on a shared cultural knowledge understanding of the plants’ roles as a base such as that shared within vital food source for the diverse Postclassic Central Mexico. populations of Mesoamerica. Similarly, We can begin to explore the visual Mayahuel sharing iconographic grammar within the Codex Borgia by elements with stars directly reflects her examining the iconography present in origin stories where she, as the pages 49 through 52. On each of these granddaughter and niece of stars (the four directional tree pages (those Tzitzimime), is arguably a star of a sort representing West, South, East, and herself before journeying to the earth’s North25), we see similar figures and surface and ultimately becoming symbols in parallel positions. (Figure 1, maguey. Using this understanding of and Figure 10) Starting from the top left the ideological, historical, and cultural corner and going clockwise, these significance of maguey/Mayahuel, while images include: an animal/Day Sign maintaining that texts such as the (C1); a secondary tree with beheaded Codex Borgia (and texts in the Mixteca- sacrifices (C2); a house with a figure Puebla style more generally) employ a giving offerings (C3); a battle involving complex and highly logographic writing animals (C4); and two descending system, I propose the following figures, male and female (likely sets of methods for decipherment. macuiltonalehqueh26 and cihuateteoh) bringing forth objects (C5); the making

25 I am leaving out the central directional page, 26 The macuiltonalehqueh are so identified seen on the right half of CB53. While it does based on the Day Signs with coefficients of five, share the pattern seen on at the center of the as well as by the outline of the five-fingered other pages (a directional tree emerging from hand around their mouths. According to Ruiz a person with a bird atop its bifurcated de Alarcón, (1987: 230), the macuiltonalehqueh branches), it lacks the majority of the other are the owners of five tonals, which can be imagery found on the other directional pages. interpreted as the owners of five days and are 60 Lopez of fire (C6); the directional tree other places within the page. Most emerging from a person with a bird atop notably, these symbols are practically its bifurcated branches (C7); a chair and identical to those shown in the upper specific year sign (C8); a seated right hand corner of the page, atop a hill macuiltonalehqueh and Day Sign (C9); in front of and a couple scene (C10). While scholars (Figure 11a), whose name is commonly believe each of these images held translated Lord of the Dawn.27 associations to the direction they While tlahuizcalli does translate as shared, little has been said about the “dawn” in Nahuatl, I assert that an associations of these images to one alternate literal translation of the name another within a given page. However, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli could read ‘lord at least a few of these images relate to of the place of the house of weapons’ one another forming a pattern of (tlauiz-tli= armas, o insignias28; cal- meaning, or visual grammar. li=house; -pan=place29; tecuh-tli=lord). For example, the main tree shown at The symbol in front of the bottom center of CB49, though Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, like that on the taxonomically unidentified, is disting- tree, has the three spears, the spear uished by the design of its trunk, by its thrower, the white flags, and a shield blossoms (which are in the form of with round shell-like decorations at its jewels), and its central emblem of a edges and a rope-design bisecting it, shield with spears, a spear thrower, a and a red rectangle at its center. Both bag or bundle with tail-like ropes and also have what is likely a bag or white down-balls containing flint, and a bundle,30 shown here tied with what white flag. (Figure 11b) This collection looks like red animal-tail ropes draping of symbols at the center of the tree’s over each side,31 and white circles, truck, which Elizabeth Boone (2007:125) possibly feather-balls, beneath it describes simply as a “war symbol,” (though only one can be seen on the share the same form as those seen in tree).

ritual metaphors for the hands. Some scholars, two separate words: Tlahuizcalpan Teuctli. In such as Anders, Jansen and Reyes (1993: 252) that formation, the word part –pan serves as a claim that these are the warriors who have died suffix signifying a place in or on, as in the place in battle, who upon death have become where dawn breaks. However, the word pamitl, dedicated to the sun, and who are the male meaning flag or flags, as appears in the counterparts of the cihuateteoh, the women iconographic representation, also has pan- as who have died in childbirth. John Pohl (1998, its root. This is likely another example of a 2003) associates these macuiltonalehqueh with phonogram or phonetic complement places court diviners. here to clarify the decipherment of the name of 27 At this time, I am not proposing a connection Tlahuizcalpanteuctli. between the tree and the figure in the upper 30 This looks similar to what Guilhem (2007) right corner of the page. Rather, I am using this identifies in the Codex Zouche-Nuttall as a image as a decipherment key. tlaquimilolli. Also see Molly Bassett, 2014. The 28 Alonso de Molina. 1571. Vocabulario en Codex Zouche-Nuttall 57 shows a tlaquimilolli lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y with similar tail-ropes securing it. castellana, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 145r. 31 See also, Codex Borgia page 23 for an image col. 2. of Ehecatl holding similar elements. 29 It is worth noting that the name Tlahuizcalpanteuctli may also be written as rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 61

Figure 11: a) Detail of Sky Bearer’s associated emblems [B.] from Codex Borgia 49; b) Detail of emblems on the primary tree/bird [C.7.] from Codex Borgia 49; c) detail of the items held by the descending male figure [C.5.] from Codex Borgia 49; d) detail of the items held by the descending female figure [C.5.] from Codex Borgia 49 (J. McIntosh) This same shield pattern appears female descending figure, one of the again in the hands of the descending cihuateteoh, lacks weapons but holds male figure, the macuiltonalehqueh, to related emblems designed in the pattern the right of the tree on CB51 (Figure 11c). and shape of the shield and spears While this male figure does not hold all (Figure 11d). The white circles at the of the elements, such as the spear bottom of the coiled rope likewise thrower and the tlaquimilolli, and the mimic the white circles below the shield no longer has the shell pattern tlaquimilolli, and the upper end of the seen in on the other two shields, the rope mimics the shape of the spear shield held by the descending figure thrower. Her white body suit and white does mimic the more intricate center cords closely resemble those worn by a design of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli’s shield, female gladiatorial participant pictured with the three paired lines running in the Codex Magliabecchiano.32 In this horizontally across, more precisely. The way, both of the descending figures

32 Codex Magliabecchiano XIII. 3: manuscrit nationale de Florence, (Rome: Danesi, 1904), mexicain post-Colombien de la Bibliothèque 30r-30v. 62 Lopez bring forth and are adorned in such a respective pages. According to scholars way to form visual and ideological including Nowotny (2005:250-251) and associations with the emblems of battle Boone (2007:129), these images refer to both generally and as shown on the tree. calendrical dates evenly spaced within In the same way, the visual grammar the 260-Day Count: 4 Ozomatli/ that connects the descending figures Monkey, 4 Cozcacuauhtli/Vulture, 4 with their respective trees continues on Cipactli/Crocodile, and 4 Miquiztli/ plates 50 and 52, where the figures carry Death. While this interpretation of the some of the same implements, iconography seems highly likely, the including spiked weapons and an axe. Day Sign on CB50 is not 4 While the trees of these two directions Cozcacuauhtli/Vulture, as the vulture differ, both are thorny trees whose has been replaced with a turkey, a thorns are mirrored by the thorns of the replacement acknowledged by Nowotny objects the descending figures carry. In (2005:250-251), and Boone (2007:129). I the case of the Western tree, which I argue that the substitution of the Day identify as the maguey, the two Sign of vulture with a turkey rather than associated descending figures bring being problematic reveals further forth highly related goods. The male associations between the image of a figure carries a container of octli, the turkey and other images on the page, fermented juice of the maguey, while specifically the connection between the the female figure carries a small, turkey and the directional tree/bird. At uprooted maguey (Figure 12). Therefore, the center of this northern page, CB50, in each page the items carried by the an eagle sits within a thorny cactus. The descending pair share direct ideological eagle pictured closely matches the and iconographic associations with the description given within the Florentine corresponding directional trees. Codex of what the Nahua scribes called A similar association exists between the mixcoaquauhtli, or the smoky-snake the directional tree and a figure in the eagle. (This name also suggests the upper left-hand corner of their bird’s direct connection to the

Figure 12: a) Detail of the items held by the descending male figure [C.5.] from Codex Borgia 51; b) detail of the items held by the descending female figure [C.5.] from Codex Borgia 51 (J. McIntosh) rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 63 ornaments in the tree, which includes a with the tree and its shield emblem. smoky snake or stream of darkness.33) Within this page, the presence of these According to Sahagún (1950-1988:12:41), figures—the monkey, the tree with a “[A]t the back of its head are its feathers, shield, and the two descending figures paired feathers forming its head bearing weapons of various forms— pendant. It is white across the eyes, indicates that all of these figures have joined, touching the black; so is the face associations with battle and with one adorned.” This description matches the another. bird on CB50, with its crown of feathers The figure that occupies the day-sign and a white stripe across its eyes. position on page 51 relative to the Arguably, this description may not be maguey plant is the 4 Cipactli/Crocodile unique to one bird. However, what is Day Sign. The cipactli carries with it unique about the description of the much iconographic, literary, and mixcoaquauhtli is that it is, according to semantic meaning, the beginnings of the (1950-1988:12:41), which will hardly be covered here. “somewhat the same as the turkey hen Among other things, the cipactli living here.” Therefore, the mixcoa- represents the earth itself, as the flesh of quauhtli and the turkey share an the cipactli as seen in the Borgia appears association that aligns with the nearly identical to the illustration of the representations seen on CB50, and this ground under the center tree on plate in turn links the animated Day Sign in 53. (Figure 5) And while any plant that the upper left corner of the cell with the grows from the ground may claim some tree/bird at the bottom center of the connection to the cipactli as earth, the cell. maguey has a much closer identification This visual grammar that connects with the cipactli in the plant’s the animated Day Signs to the tree/bird personification as Mayahuel. This is repeats throughout the directional because within other codices she goes pages. The Florentine Codex suggests a by other names; in the Codex connection between the eastern tree Chimalpopoca, she is called Tlalteuctli, with the shield on Page 49 and its or Earth Lord, and according to one of respective animated Day Sign of the the translators of the Codex Telleriano- monkey. According to the scribes of Remensis, she is known by the Sahagún’s (1950-1988:12:14) Florentine secondary name Cipactonal.34 This Codex, while the monkey is known Nahuatl name can be broken up into traditionally as ozomatli, “Its name is two parts, Cipactli and Tonalli. Literally also quauhchimal.” Literally translated, translated, this name means day of quauhchimal can mean wooden shield, cipactli, meaning that the animated tree shield, or eagle shield. Therefore cipactli Day Sign shown at C1 of this the monkey Day Sign, as a quauhchimal page of the Codex Borgia can be read as or tree shield, becomes synonymous a pictorial representation of Mayahuel’s

33 The ideological and metaphoric connection way, they are linguistically tied through a between the tree (cuauhtli) and the “eagles” visual pun. within them (cuahuitl) is mirrored 34 Quiñones Keber, Eloise. 1995. Codex linguistically, as these general words for trees Telleriano-Remensis: ritual, divination, and and eagles share a root stem of cuauh-. In this history in a pictorial Aztec manuscript. Austin: University of Texas Press, 174. 64 Lopez alternate name. This identification of Maguey, her many roles in Precontact the maguey with both Mayahuel and Mesoamerica extend beyond that title therefore with Cipactonal promotes a and role. While the designation of direct link between the directional tree goddess (or god) carries with it and the Day Sign figure in the upper left connotations derived from European corner of the cell. In this case, as seen in traditions, seeing Mayahuel/maguey as the other directional pages, the a single teotl allows us to recognize her tree/bird and its adornments, the position within Mesoamerica while objects held by the descending figures, simultaneously gaining a better and the Day Sign allude to one another understanding of beliefs and traditions mnemonically, ideologically, and unique to the Indigenous cultures of the iconographically. New World. It is necessary at this point With this analysis, it is important to to consider the term ‘teotl’ itself. note that the Nahuatl language in its According to Michael E. Smith spoken and written forms, as with other (1992:204), “The Nahuatl term teotl languages of Indigenous peoples, rely means ‘deity’ or ‘sacred power.’ This is a heavily on metaphor and poetics. So complex and multifaceted concept that while the connection between the does not fit well with modern animated date and the tree/bird may be preconceptions of ancient polytheistic at times homophonic, the connection religion.” While Smith attempts to may be less precise at other times. Some complicate the translation of teotl as words may be perfect homonyms, while god or deity, virtually every scholar other words, such as the word for tree, continues to refer to Mayahuel and cuahuitl, and bird, cuauhtli, form the other Mesoamerican figures as gods. same root, cuauh. And still other words However, conceptualizing Mayahuel as are less similar, providing a looser pun. a maguey goddess or deity, erases the I would argue that such is the case for complexity of her multifaceted nature as the southern tree and date (on CB52), well as the complexity of the word teotl. which shows the day-sign death, Rather than seeing Mayahuel as a miquiztli, and, based on my proposed personification or deification of a visual grammar, the mesquite tree, passive maguey plant, Mayahuel and mizquitl. Although these two elements maguey share an identity wherein both do not share the same exact name, the possess the (not exclusively human) words are similar enough to act as a sort ability to think, choose, act, and affect of pun in the way that Barbara Tedlock the world around them; to interact with (1992:107) witnessed among the other teteoh ( the plural form of teotl). Highland Maya. Gerardo Aldana’s (2011:55) interp- retation of the concept of teotl, as “an Mayahuel/Maguey as Teotl ‘entity’ possessing three characteristics, In identifying the tree on Borgia 51 as the ability: i. to heal; ii. to poison; iii. to maguey, I am likewise identifying the nurture,” perhaps provides the most tree as Mayahuel. I therefore read these useful model for understanding how a two manifestations of the same teotl as single teotl can (choose to) take ideologically linked and inter- multiple forms and have a diverse changeable. Although Mayahuel is impact within Mesoamerican commonly referred to as the Goddess of experience. Mayahuel/maguey fulfills rEvista, Volume 5, Issue 2 65 these characteristics in her ability to that CB51 portrays a corn plant with a heal others as evidenced by a song maguey plant attached, I assert that dedicated to her, sung to ease the pains although the maguey and corn plant are associated with giving birth.35 In associated ideologically and icono- addition to Mayahuel’s help with the graphically, this tree does not represent birthing process, the maguey plant and a corn plant with a maguey in the juices can act as a salve or poultice, auxiliary position; rather, this is especially for head wounds,36 and as Mayahuel/maguey with her flowering octli, what Diego Durán called the stalk in bloom. “Native wine,” which “truly has medicinal quality.”37 Mayahuel/maguey Conclusion embodies the ability to poison or in Western academics of the last 150 years other ways defeat and destroy as shown have provided other scholars with tools by her plant form representing defeat, for understanding some of texts that and in the consequences of an had been left undecipherable since their overconsumption of octli, and in the use initial destruction and abolition by of the spines of the plant in making Christian priests. However, much of this weaponry; and Mayahuel/maguey research provides superficial denotative serves as a great nurturer of people in decipherment of texts and often her ability to feed and provide for the reproduces the damaging or narrowly needs of entire populations, both in the framed narratives made prevalent by recorded stories and in current and the Spanish accounts. By expanding my historical practice among Indigenous analysis of the Codex Borgia to include populations.38 However, just as similar imagery from other Borgia group Mayahuel/maguey can be seen as teotl, texts, cultural and scientific knowledge so too can diverse people, animals, about maguey, stories from other plants, and objects that would otherwise Nahuatl texts, and linguistic and written not be identified as a “god” or “goddess.” systems from the region, I have By understanding Mayahuel/maguey as challenged the assertions that Borgia 49 different representations of the same represents an immature corn plant. By teotl, and through the recognition of a reidentifying this tree as maguey, and by visual grammar within the Codex extension, Mayahuel, I seek to broaden Borgia, I argue that the directional tree the picture currently held of found on plate 51 constitutes a Mesoamerican people, in terms of their representation of Mayahuel through her understanding of science, their cultural plant embodiment as a maguey, despite diversity, and the complexity of their the fact that her human form appears language. absent. While scholars have suggested

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