Time and the Ancestors Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> The Early Americas: History and Culture Series Editors Corinne L. Hofman (Leiden University) Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen (Leiden University) VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/eahc Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> Time and the Ancestors Aztec and Mixtec Ritual Art By Maarten Jansen Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez LEIDEN | BOSTON Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the cc-by-nc 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Cover Illustration: Central image from the Roll of the New Fire (Selden Roll), reproduced with permission of the Bodleian Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jansen, Maarten E. R. G. N. (Maarten Evert Reinoud Gerard Nicolaas), author. | Perez Jimenez, Gabina Aurora, author. Title: Time and the ancestors: Aztec and Mixtec ritual art / by Maarten Jansen, Gabina Aurora Perez Jimenez. Description: Leiden: Brill, 2017. | Series: The early Americas: history and culture; 5 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2016054804 (print) | lccn 2017010093 (ebook) | isbn 9789004340510 (hardback: alk. paper) | isbn 9789004340527 (E-book) Subjects: lcsh: Aztec art. | Mixtec art. | Ritual in art. Classification: lcc f1219.76.a78 j36 2017 (print) | lcc f1219.76.a78 (ebook) | ddc 972/.018--dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016054804 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1875-3264 isbn 978-90-04-34051-0 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-34052-7 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access Contents Preface ix List of Illustrations xx Introduction: Temporality and Coevalness 1 1 Mesoamerica: Historical Development 2 2 Ancient Scriptures 6 3 The Main Cycles of the Calendar 10 4 The First Day-Keepers 18 5 Denial of Coevalness 28 6 Methodological Concerns 31 7 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 39 PART 1 Offering to the Sacred Bundles 1 Tomb 7 at Monte Albán 45 1 A Deposition of Two Periods 46 2 The Human Remains in Tomb 7 50 3 The Ancient Literary Context 53 4 Calendar Dates in Tomb 7 59 5 Connections with Ñuu Dzaui History 62 6 Connections with Beni Zaa History 70 7 Female Agency 81 8 Revisiting Tomb 7 83 9 Approaching the Relics 84 10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 89 2 Life – Death – Life 92 1 Tale of a Grandmother 93 2 Nahua and Maya Parallels 101 3 The Symbolic Dimension 104 4 Cihuacoatl and Lady 9 Grass 110 5 Mortuary Bundles 117 6 Divine Ancestors 123 7 Communication with the Dead 127 8 The Golden Ornament Number 26 132 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> vi Contents 9 The Subterraneous Sanctuary 143 10 The Internal Organisation of Tomb 7 147 11 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 154 3 Hymns of Jaguars and Eagles 156 1 Flower, Song 157 2 The Tree of the Dynasty 167 3 Tree Birth at Apoala 171 4 The War against the Stone Men 176 5 First Sunrise and the Cycle of Time 187 6 The Pulque Ritual 196 7 The Realm of the Dead 199 8 Lady 4 Rabbit ‘Quetzal’ 206 9 The Marital Alliance 212 10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 221 4 Memory and Oracle 223 1 Chalcatzingo: The Preclassic Template 223 2 Occasions for Precious Offerings 231 3 The Ballcourt Pendant 246 4 The Sacred Flint 258 5 The Temple of Jewels 261 6 Identifying Monte Albán in the Codices 269 7 Lady 6 Monkey at Monte Albán 285 8 The Funerary Ceremony for Lord 12 Movement 287 9 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 291 part 2 Preparing the New Fire 5 The Foundation of a Dynasty 297 1 Pictorial Manuscripts from the Coixtlahuaca Valley 299 2 The Couple in Heaven 305 3 Chicomoztoc 312 4 Religious Peregrination 315 5 The Sacred Mountain 322 6 Primordial Conquest 329 7 Lady 13 Alligator, the Peacemaker 333 8 Atonal, First Ruler of Coixtlahuaca 336 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> Contents vii 9 Lord 8 Deer and Quetzalcoatl 341 10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 354 6 Fifth Sun Rising 358 1 The Inauguration of the Templo Mayor 359 2 Cihuacoatl: Goddess and Priest 364 3 The Stone of Tizoc 375 4 The Calendar Stone 379 5 Moctezuma’s Altar 387 6 The Binding of 52 Years 397 7 The Ceremonial Landscape of Mount Huixachtlan 408 8 Moctezuma and Ce Acatl 417 9 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 428 7 The Sanctuary of Night and Wind 431 1 Historical Background of Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia) 432 2 Studies of Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia) 443 3 Point of Departure for a New Reading 449 4 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 29: Vision 451 5 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 30: Bloodletting for Trees 458 6 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 31: Transformation of Death into Life 462 7 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 32: Preparing the Knife 467 8 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 33–34: The Temple of Heaven 476 9 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 35–38: Opening the Sacred Bundle 481 10 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 39–40: The Night Sun 491 11 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 41–42: Sacrifice 504 12 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 43: Sustenance 510 13 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 44: Rulership 512 14 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 45: Venus 517 15 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 46: Fire-making 521 16 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 47: Men and Women 523 17 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks 526 Synthesis: Heritage and Spirit Connection 531 1 Root Symbolism 533 2 Tomb 7: A Dynastic Shrine 539 3 The Continuous Presence of Cihuacoatl 557 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> viii Contents 4 Intercultural Time and Decolonising Perspective 562 5 Final Image 569 References 571 Index 601 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez - 9789004340527 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 03:36:00PM via free access <UN> Preface The central aim of this book is to contribute to the understanding of the reli- gious heritage of Mesoamerica, an impressive and original civilisation shared by the scores of indigenous peoples who live in the region that stretches from the deserts of northern Mexico to the tropical lands of Nicaragua and Cos- ta Rica. The cultural tradition of these peoples is characterised by a specific worldview with its values, symbols, ethics and ritual enactments, expressed in ancient visual art and in present-day oral traditions. This heritage is usually first and foremost seen as a topic of archaeology, history and anthropology, but it has also a clear topicality and urgency in our time. Indigenous peoples all over the world have made and continue to make important contributions to human cultural diversity and development, but are still living in deprived and excluded conditions, which have all kinds of social and political implications. It is that problematic situation, that consequence of colonialism, which ‘de- fines’ indigenous peoples. If taken in isolation, the term ‘indigenous’ may cause confusion, as it seems to refer primarily just to inhabitants of a specific place who did not come from elsewhere. Here it should be understood, however, in the specific combination ‘indigenous peoples’, which is not just about having been born in a specific place, but also about a specific social condition. The concept itself stems from the colonists’ vocabulary and refers to the original in- habitants of invaded territories. Today a full social and cultural decolonisation has not yet taken place in many former colonies, even after they have obtained formal national independence. Injustice and inequality often still reign within their frontiers as a form of internal colonialism, in which bourgeois élites who descend from or identify with the former colonisers are in power, while the descendants of the colonised still suffer the consequences of that historical process of domination. In fact, that plight has been intensified through the onslaught of modern transnational neo-colonialism as an expression of global capitalism. In international debates, for example in the un, the term ‘indigenous peo- ples’ was chosen to characterise this continuing effect of colonialism: discrimi- nation, exploitation, social marginalisation and linguistic-cultural genocide, now often combined with (neo-) colonial extraction of resources or other (neo-) imperial invasions.