The sixteenth-century pictorial manuscript known as the Codex Borbonicus contains a remarkable record of the eighteen Mexica (or “Aztec”) festival periods of twenty days, known as veintenas, celebrated during the 365-day solar year. Because its indigenous artists framed the Borbonicus veintenas with historical year dates, this volume situates the annually recurring rituals within the march of linear, reckoned time, in the singular year “2 Reed” (1507), during the reign of Moteuczoma II. DiCesare attends to the historical dimensions of several unusual scenes, proposing that the veintenas probably varied significantly from year to year in response to historical concerns. She considers particularly whether the Borbonicus veintenas document the confluence of solar year ceremonies with a second set of ritual feast days, governed by the 260-day cycle known as the tonalpohualli, or “count of days.” In this way, DiCesare analyzes how linear and cyclical conceptions of time intersected in Mexica ritual performance.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Time, History, and the Calendars of the Mexican Codex Borbonicus
- 2. Tlaloc Rites and Mountain Feasts: The Veintena Festivals of Tozoztontli and Huey Tozoztli
- 3. In Search of Jades and Quetzal Plumes: The Veintena Feasts of Tecuilhuitontli and Huey Tecuilhuitl
- 4. Pulque Revelry in the Mexican Veintena of Quecholli
- 5. The Emergence of a New Sun: The Veintena of Panquetzaliztli and the New Fire Ceremony
- Bibliography
- Index
- List of Illustrations
- Figure 0.1. Detail, Veintena festival of Ochpaniztli, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 3r. Bibliothèque nationale de France. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 1.1. Trecena 20, beginning on 1 Rabbit, Codex Borbonicus, p. 20. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 1.2. Year dates 1 Rabbit to 13 Reed (left) and 1 Flint to 13 House (right), from the Mesoamerican fifty-two-year calendar cycle, Codex Borbonicus, pp. 21–22. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 1.3. Trecena 7, beginning on 1 Rain, Codex Borbonicus, p. 7. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 1.4. Veintena festival of Izcalli (first version), with 1 Rabbit year date (left), and veintena festival of Atlcauahlo (right), Codex Borbonicus, p. 23. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 1.5. Veintena festival of Izcalli (second version), with 3 Flint year date, and cycle of year dates continuing to 2 Reed, Codex Borbonicus, pp. 37–38. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 1.6. Coatepec hill glyph with ceremonial implements for New Fire ceremony, Codex Aubin, p. 11. Courtesy: © The Trustees of the British Museum, London.
- Figure 1.7. Historical annals page depicting years 1507–1509 (2 Reed to 4 House), Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 42r. gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 2.1. Veintena festivals of Tlacaxipehualiztli (left) and Tozoztontli (right), Codex Borbonicus, p. 24. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 2.2. Veintena festival of Huey Tozoztli, Codex Borbonicus, p. 25. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 2.3. Veintena festival of Tozoztontli, Codex Tudela, folio 13r. Museo de América, Madrid. Fotografía: Joaquín Otero. CER.es (http://ceres.mcu.es), Ministerio de Cultura, España.
- Figure 2.4. Veintena festival of Tozoztontli, Codex Magliabechiano, BNC, Banco Rari 232, folio 31r. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. By permission of the Ministry of Culture / Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. Any further reproduction or du
- Figure 2.5. Veintena festival of Tozoztontli, Diego Durán, Ancient Calendar, in History of the Indies of New Spain, folio 328r. Image owned by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
- Figure 2.6. Boban Calendar Wheel, Doutrelaine lithographic facsimile. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library.
- Figure 2.7. Veintena festival of Huey Tozoztli, Codex Magliabechiano, BNC, Banco Rari 232, folio 32r. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. By permission of the Ministry of Culture / Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. Any further reproduction or
- Figure 2.8. Veintena festival of Huey Tozoztli, Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS. Med. Palat. 218, I, Book 2, folio 29v. By permission of the MiC. Any further reproduction by any means is prohibited.
- Figure 2.9. Trecena 5, beginning on 1 Reed, Codex Borbonicus, p. 5. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 2.10. Trecena 5, beginning on 1 Reed, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folios 11v–12r. (a) Chalchiuhtlicue and (b) Tlazolteotl, patronesses of Trecena 5. gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 3.1. Veintena festivals of Tecuilhuitontli and Huey Tecuilhuitl, Codex Borbonicus, p. 27. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 3.2. Veintena festival of Huey Tecuilhuitl, Diego Durán, Ancient Calendar, in History of the Indies of New Spain, folio 333v. Image owned by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
- Figure 3.3. Veintena festival of Tecuilhuitontli, Juan de Tovar, Tovar Calendar, folio 149v. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library.
- Figure 3.4. Detail, Veintena festival of Huey Tecuilhuitl, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 1v. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 3.5. Veintena festival of Huey Tecuilhuitl, Codex Tudela, folio 18r. Museo de América, Madrid. Fotografía: Joaquín Otero. CER.es (http://ceres.mcu.es), Ministerio de Cultura, España.
- Figure 3.6. Ballgame relief, Step VII, Building 33, Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico. Photo Credit: Schalkwijk / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.7. Human sacrifice scene, Ballcourt reliefs, Chichen Itza, Mexico, c. 900–1250. Drawing by Marius Lehene.
- Figure 3.8. Trecena 14, beginning on 1 Dog, Codex Borbonicus, p. 14. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 4.1. Veintena festival of Quecholli (oriented as in original manuscript), Codex Borbonicus, p. 33. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 4.2. The deity Mixcoatl-Camaxtli, Diego Durán, Book of the Gods and Rites, in History of the Indies of New Spain, folio 256r. Image owned by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
- Figure 4.3. Veintena festival of Quecholli, Codex Magliabechiano, BNC, Banco Rari 232, folio 42r. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. By permission of the Ministry of Culture / Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. Any further reproduction or dupl
- Figure 4.4. Trecena feast of 4 Movement, “Nahui Ollin,” Diego Durán, Book of the Gods and Rites, in History of the Indies of New Spain, folio 271r. Image owned by the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
- Figure 4.5. Trecena 3, beginning on 1 Deer, Codex Borbonicus, p. 3. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 4.6. Ritual pulque ceremony, Codex Magliabechiano, BNC, Banco Rari 232, folio 85r. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. By permission of the Ministry of Culture / Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. Any further reproduction or duplication
- Figure 4.7. Drunkard standing in the water, Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS. Med. Palat. 218, Book 4, folio 8v. By permission of the MiC. Any further reproduction by any means is prohibited.
- Figure 4.8. Festival in honor of the pulque on the day 2 Rabbit (top) and drunkard who has fallen off a cliff (bottom), Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, Firenze, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS. Med. Palat. 218, Book 4, folio 13v. By permission
- Figure 4.9. Drinkers executed for drunkenness and elders drinking pulque, Codex Mendoza, MS Arch. Selden. A. 1, folio 71r. Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
- Figure 4.10. Ometochtli, “2 Rabbit,” pulque deity, Codex Tudela, folio 31r Museo de América, Madrid. Fotografía: Joaquín Otero. CER.es (http://ceres.mcu.es), Ministerio de Cultura, España.
- Figure 5.1. New Fire ceremony and veintena festival of Panquetzaliztli, with 2 Reed year date, Codex Borbonicus, p. 34. Source: Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée nationale (France).
- Figure 5.2. Detail of veintena festival of Panquetzaliztli, Codex Telleriano-Remensis, folio 5r. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 5.3. Panquetzaliztli, Juan de Tovar, Tovar Calendar, folio 154v. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library.
- Figure 5.4. Detail, drilling of new fire and sacred bundle of Lord 9 Wind, Selden Roll, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 72, p. 3. Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
- Figure 5.5. Quetzalcoatl drilling new fire, Codex Borgia, c. 1500. © Verlag Gebr. Mann, Berlin.
- Figure 5.6. Cave of Chicomoztoc with figure drilling new fire, Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca folio 16r. gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- Figure 5.7. Hackmack Box, c. 1500. (a) Moteuczoma II performing autosacrifice, (b) Descending Quetzalcoatl with year date glyphs 1 Reed and 7 Reed, and (c) Quetzalcoatl with date glyph 1 Reed. Drawing by Marius Lehene.
- Figure 5.8. Date glyphs from Chapultepec Cliff Sculpture, 1519. (a) 1 Reed and (b) 2 Reed, plus cord indicating Binding of the Years and New Fire Ceremony. Drawing by Marius Lehene.
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