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her and her husband within the broad scale of sacred origin stories. Several other places are mentioned together with the Seven Caves of Heaven; appar-ently they are emblematic for other dynastic beginnings. These sites are home to four priests, who will accompany Lord 5 Flower and Lady 3 Flint on a long journey in the next scene, carrying the Tnucucua staff, the Xipe staff, and the Sacred Bundle—the most important symbols of power and authority.
The last two places in this series are clearly situated outside Ñuu Dzaui.
Of these, the first—a valley between two volcanoes, dominated by the Rain God and a Woman with Blue Skirt—unmistakably refers to the Valley of Puebla between the different snow-covered volcanoes. The volcano of the Woman with Blue Skirt is obviously the Matlalcueye. The other may be Mount Tlaloc or another mountain with a shrine dedicated to the Rain God.
Between the volcanoes we see Plant Men, probably representing a specific origin story. The second scene, situated on the Mountain of Words, may rep-resent the Tzatzitepetl, close to Tula Xicocotitlan. The two associated person-ages are clearly identifiable. Lord 2 Reed is a manifestation of Tezcatlipoca.1 In front of him stands Lord 4 Jaguar, whom we will later encounter as a Toltec ruler. The reference to a personage to be dated two centuries later shows that we are dealing here with a general picture of primordial places of origin in illo tempore, without precise chronological preoccupations.
LADY 3 FLINT MOTHER and DAUGHTER
At one stage of their wanderings, Lady 3 Flint changed into her nahual-animal, the Plumed Serpent, to visit and pay her respects to the Grandmother of the River (Sitna Yuta), Lady 1 Eagle, Patron of the West and of human procre-ation. During this visionary encounter, the Goddess gave her a jewel as a sign that she would become pregnant.
To honor the favors the Goddess bestowed upon them, the travelers built an important ceremonial center: a precious temple dedicated to the Plumed Serpent, that is, a temple of visions, situated on top of a cave. A nahual-altar at the entrance of a ball court, equally a place of mystery and trance, char-acterized the place of worship. Inside the temple they deposited the Sacred Bundle that contained the Flint from which Lord 9 Wind, the culture hero, had been born. The ceremonial center is very similar to the temple complex described in Codex Yoalli Ehecatl / Borgia (29 ff), where it is associated with the ecstatic worship of the Sacred Bundle.
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Lady 3 Flint made offerings at the foot of the Mountain of Ashes, that is, to the realm of the West, venerating Lady 1 Eagle. Meanwhile, her husband directed himself to the Mountain of Earthquakes and Fire and to the Town of the Throne and the Words. These places likely have a symbolic rather than a concrete geographic meaning. Earthquakes and fire clearly represent the volcanic powers, while throne and words are signs of authority and state for-mation. We identified the Mountain of Words that appeared one page earlier as the Tzatzitepetl near Tollan Xicocotitlan. The Mountain of the Throne, on the other hand, occurs as one of the main toponyms of the site of Monte Albán (in the Map of Xoxocotlan). In this respect it is interesting that the day for Lord 5 Flower’s rituals was 7 Rain, the day of the Flayed God (Xipe), Patron of the Beni Zaa dynasty of Zaachila.2
Soon the priests had to burn wood to heat the sweat bath. Lady 3 Flint
‘Shell Quechquemitl,’ that is, ‘Power and Strength of the Plumed Serpent,’
gave birth to a daughter, Lady 3 Flint ‘Jade Quechquemitl’ or ‘Beauty of Jade.’ Then, under the supervision of Lord 9 Wind ‘Quetzalcoatl,’ the young mother turned again into her nahual, the Plumed Serpent, and entered a cave 4.1a. Lady 3 Flint ‘Shell Quechquemitl’ conceives a child (Codex Tonindeye, 15).
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where she became the Spirit of a large river. Among those present at the occa-sion was Lord 7 Flower, an important primordial ruler and manifestation of the solar deity.
The birth scene is dated in the year 3 Flint, but this date seems out of chronological sequence. This may be the result of confusion with the cal-endar names of the protagonists. Looking at the life of Lady 3 Flint ‘Jade Quechquemitl’ as history, we would place this event scene tentatively in the year 1 Flint (948).
Father 5 Flower went with his daughter to visit important personages in different places. Several of them are associated with Yuta Tnoho in another part of the Codex Tonindeye (36 ff). Apparently they represent the earlier generation, supposedly contemporaneous with Lady 9 Alligator and Lord 5 Wind.
The date given for this “introduction to society” of the child Lady 3 Flint is the year 7 Rabbit day 3 Flower. Again this might be a sacred date, but if taken historically it would correspond to 954. At the end of the jour-ney, father and daughter returned to their palace, close to the Temple of the 4.1b. The birth of Lady 3 Flint ‘Jade Quechquemitl’ (Codex Tonindeye, 15).
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Plumed Serpent where the Sacred Bundle was kept. The Tnucucua staff and the Xipe staff were ceremonially deposited in front of the temple, and the priests engaged in a ritual that involved burning a large pile of wood on an altar.
The culture hero 9 Wind ‘Quetzalcoatl’ arrived at the palace, accompa-nied by the Patrons of the Four Directions. They came to honor the Princess 3 Flint and to arrange a marriage between her and a priest who had come down from Heaven: Lord 12 Wind ‘Smoke Eye,’ whose given name indicates that he was a visionary priest. The venerable elders Lord 4 House and Lady 5 Serpent, who may have been his parents, had instructed him in Heaven.3
The first date associated with his coming down from Heaven on the down-ball cord, which symbolizes the magical flight, is the year 4 House, probably marking his initiation in serving the Sacred Bundle as a priest at age seven. The scene is connected with the place sign of Hand Holding Feathers, that is, Yuta Tnoho, confirming the idea that the Heaven represents the Cavua Caa Andevui. Taken historically, the year 4 House would correlate 4.2. The first arrival of Lord 12 Wind, coming down from the Place of Heaven (Codex Tonindeye, 18).
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with 925. On his back Lord 12 Wind carried a temple bound with serpent cords (symbolizing the visionary character of the cult). His companions car-ried the Tnucucua staff, the Xipe staff, and a Sacred Arrow.
Lord 12 Wind carried out the same rituals in the Temple of the Plumed Serpent as Lord 5 Flower and Lady 3 Flint ‘Shell Quechquemitl’ had done before him. His companions made a nahual journey to see Lady 3 Flint
‘Plumed Serpent,’ seated in a cave next to the river. She was by now identi-fied with the Grandmother of the River, Lady 1 Eagle. The purpose of this encounter must have been to ask for her daughter’s hand in marriage. When both parents had granted their permission, Lord 12 Wind again came down from Heaven, in the year 7 Rabbit (954), on his name day 12 Wind. That is twenty-two days after the day 3 Flower of the same year on which young Lady 3 Flint had been introduced to the Ancestors and Patrons of several places.
In Heaven, Lord 12 Wind ‘Smoke Eye’ had been instructed by the great nahuales Lord 4 Alligator ‘Coyote Serpent’ and Lord 11 Alligator ‘Jade Serpent.’ He had been put in charge of the worship (temple) and the found-ing of dynasties and kfound-ingdoms (the board and arrow to drill fire). His com-panions carried the Tnucucua staff and the Xipe staff. With these divine instructions and power objects he arrived at the foot of the Big Mountain, Yucu Cahnu (represented as a bent mountain), that is, Monte Albán.
The profile of this acropolis in Codex Tonindeye as a huge table moun-tain, standing on its own, is actually fairly realistic. The position of the top-onymic elements corresponds well with the slopes as seen from the East (Xoxocotlan).4 On the northern side are the Yucu Yoo (Acatepec) and Tiyuqh (Sayultepec) slopes. In the center is the palace and site of the throne (Aniñe Iya). The southern part is represented as a big rock, with a cave (yavui), con-sidered a place of lightning ball nahuales (yahui) and apparently dedicated to the visionary veneration of the Founding Ancestor, Lord 1 Alligator.5 Such details suggest that the Tonindeye painter—or the author of the work he was copying—knew this area from his own observation.
The same can be said about his rendering of the Valley of Yuta Tnoho (36) as an enclosure of steep rocks with its two rivers down below, its holy cave (Yavui Coo Maa, “Deep Cave of the Serpent”) on one side and its Tree of Origin with the impressive waterfall on the other. Although this form of land-scape painting remains fundamentally pictographic, that is, it renders top-onyms through hieroglyphic signs, the way in which the signs are combined in these cases takes into account the spatial relations between the named
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places and so succeeds in giving the impression of space. The painting per-mits the coherent visual representation of the landscape, conceived as a struc-ture of toponyms. This concept—also present in the painting of mountain ranges and lists of conquered places or neighboring towns—was the point of departure for developing indigenous cartography, first in the precolonial tra-dition of the lienzos and later in syncretism with the European tratra-dition that resulted in the maps for the Relaciones Geográficas and the títulos.6
CRISIS CULT at MONTE ALBÁN
There, at the foot of the huge acropolis that held the ruined temples and pal-aces of what had been the capital of the Classic Beni Zaa empire, the local rulers and two priests who had accompanied and assisted Lord 5 Flower and Lady 3 Flint welcomed Lord 12 Wind with respect. At that time the ancient center of Monte Albán appears to have been governed by a dual rulership. The two power holders were Lord 12 Lizard ‘Standing Firm on Big Mountain’ and 4.3a. Lord 12 Wind arriving at Monte Albán (Codex Tonindeye, 19a).
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Lord 12 Vulture ‘Quetzal Feather from Sun Mountain.’ They are also repre-sented as a couple, Lord 12 Lizard and Lady 12 Vulture, seated on the mat of marriage and rulership and the parents of four sons. That alternative repre-sentation of the two as a couple is understandable in view of the title “father-mother” for “shaman” and “authority.”7 Thus we take the couple with four children as a metaphorical expression for the rulership of two kings assisted by a council of four governors. The sons/governors were Lord 4 House ‘Staff of Strokes,’ Lord 3 Monkey ‘Burner of the Pyramids,’ Lord 10 Alligator ‘Eagle,’
and Lord 10 Eagle ‘Coyote.’8 The combination of Big Mountain (Monte Albán) and Sun Mountain suggests that the dual government was built on an alliance between these two places or between the lineages associated with them. Wherever located, the Sun Place may have referred back to the First Sunrise. A vague recollection of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan and its ideological importance may have still been present in Ñuu Dzaui, as it was among the Aztecs. The reliefs of the South Platform of Monte Albán demonstrate the political-economic-ideological link between Monte Albán and Teotihuacan but, obviously, date from several centuries before the time 4.3b. The marriage of Lord 12 Wind and Lady 3 Flint at Monte Albán (Codex Tonindeye, 19b).
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referred to in the codices. We wonder if a late echo of that crucial Classic alli-ance might have been present in the statement that connects Monte Albán with Sun Mountain or in the origin claims of certain dynasties.9
Returning to the persons associated with Monte Albán, we notice that they are represented with normal given names and without special ethnic markers. It seems they all belonged to the Ñuu Dzaui people. The archaeo-logical data suggest that at this time, in the tenth century a.d., Monte Albán had already lost its function as the capital of an imperial state dominated by the Beni Zaa. Thus the scenes situated in Monte Albán are to be understood as references to a society in disarray: at Monte Albán there were still people living, and its name echoed memories of a great past, but the imperial struc-ture existed only in name and was rapidly giving way to all kinds of local conflicts.
It was in this confusing time of the demise of Monte Albán that Lord 12 Wind came down from Heaven. He arrived after fulfilling his priesthood in the sanctuary on the Cavua Caa Andevui of Yuta Tnoho, carrying a tem-ple with the Sacred Bundle of the culture hero Lord 9 Wind ‘Quetzalcoatl.’
Given the context, we interpret this action as the introduction of a specific set of rituals related to the tense time of social upheaval, that is, a “millenarian movement” or “crisis cult.”10
Lord 12 Wind brought this form of worship and religious experience from the Place of Heaven. In the early period of Ñuu Dzaui history we have seen repeated references to men associated with this important sanctuary. The first example is that of Lord 9 Wind ‘Quetzalcoatl’ himself; his role—also in view of his cognates in the Nahuatl world—can be interpreted as that of the culture hero, the divine Founder of the devotional community and the politi-cal power structure. As a true deity he does not marry but initiates dynas-ties through instruction and ritual. Lord 5 Wind ‘Rain’ apparently followed in his footsteps; stemming from a classic dynasty of Ñuu Niñe (Tonalá), he went to the Heaven sanctuary in Yuta Tnoho to serve as a priest. Lord 9 Wind ‘Quetzalcoatl’ instructed him to descend from Heaven and marry a local Lady. Now, much later, Lord 12 Wind repeats this pattern; his black body paint clearly identifies him as a priest, and his name suggests that he was a man of visions. His descent from Heaven is explicitly identified with the original act of Lord 9 Wind, the culture hero. Lord 12 Wind carries the temple, that is, introduces the cult, and his followers carry the sacred symbols of power. He married the daughter of still another man associated with the
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Place of Heaven, Lord 5 Flower, and his wife, the numen of the Yuta Tnoho River.
The hypothesis that these events represent the introduction of a crisis cult and the formation of a spiritual community helps us understand the ver-sion given by Codex Yuta Tnoho. The origin story in this codex begins with a reference to Heaven and then depicts a large group of individuals, most of whom are important characters in early Ñuu Dzaui history, associated with Yuta Tnoho. These primordial personages are qualified as born from the Mother Tree in the Sacred Valley (37–35), presumably in Yuta Tnoho itself, while others participate in an important meeting in that same place (33–32).
Several of the personages born from the Sacred Mother Tree, however, do have parents and grandparents in Codex Ñuu Tnoo–Ndisi Nuu. Recall that both Codex Yuta Tnoho and Codex Ñuu Tnoo–Ndisi Nuu once belonged to the same royal couple of Ñuu Tnoo. This suggests that they are not telling different stories but that they give the same account in different terms. Codex Yuta Tnoho emphasizes religious symbolism and metaphorical statements, whereas Codex Ñuu Tnoo–Ndisi Nuu gives a straightforward genealogical register.
Seeking a historical reality behind the metaphorical and ideological repre-sentation (which lumps together personages from different times and belong-ing to different noble houses), we get the impression that the codices transmit the notion of a tight group or “spiritual family” of priests and nobles, associ-ated with Yuta Tnoho to such an extent that they became known as “those who were born from the Tree” or “those who came down from Heaven.”
A specific symbol for this alliance or spiritual bond is the knot. It is repeatedly mentioned in a statement that connects the list of the primordial places with the scene in which Lord 9 Wind calls upon the Spirits of Nature to release the First Lords and Ladies from the Tree (Codex Yuta Tnoho, 38).
The landscape with its sacred dates becomes an expression of a group’s iden-tity. We read:
This is the thirteen-fold knot of unity,
that represents the alliance of all the mentioned places:
the bond of blood and hearts, the bond of jade and gold,
the bond of the four colors—red, white, green and yellow—
i.e. the bond of the four directions,
the bond of offerings of rubber and blood on paper,
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the bond of the precious mountains and the lordly valleys, of all that has the roof of heaven above it
and earth as its fundament.11
“Blood and heart,” neñe ini, is one of the metaphors for “child.” The pic-torial statement, therefore, refers to the interconnectedness of the generations and the precious link of people to the land and the cosmos, which inspires pious and respectful behavior. Fray Antonio de los Reyes described the “first Lords from Apoala” as yya (= Iya), “divine Lords,” who were in charge of (sa ndidzo, sa nai), had received, and were carrying (nisai, nisidzo) the authori-tative words, the doctrine, the law (huidzo sahu). This formulation confirms our suspicion that we are dealing with a devotional community, connected through ties of religious conviction and ritual. The emphasis on personages coming down from Heaven, carrying a temple, and going to other places to realize foundation rituals suggests that the cult they introduced was a new one, perceived as different from already existing, that is, Classic, practices and concepts. The religious complex is identified by its main element, the Sacred Bundle, which seems to have contained a part of the flint stone from which Lord 9 Wind had been born. If we are correct in relating that sacred story to the ceremonial center of Ñuu Ndecu, we can identify the cult with that of the “Corazón del Pueblo,” the “Heart of the Ñuu Dzaui People,” venerated as a jade image of Quetzalcoatl wrapped in a Bundle and kept in a cave in Ñuu Ndecu, from where its oracles directed the ways of the Ñuu Dzaui rulers and their people (Burgoa 1934b, I: 332 ff).
Scenes of the rites for the Sacred Bundle have been preserved in Codex Yoalli Ehecatl / Borgia (29–38), which shows shrines very similar to those depicted in Codex Tonindeye (15, 17, 18). The religious complex clearly was visionary and ecstatic in character. The climax was the opening of the Bundle, after bloodletting and other ritual preparations. It contained myste-rious divine forces, “night and wind” serpents, capable of engulfing or swal-lowing the participants, carrying them off, swimming, flying in magic and mystery.
The importance given to this worship in the tenth century—precisely the period of the demise of the Classic metropolitan centers—suggests that it was
The importance given to this worship in the tenth century—precisely the period of the demise of the Classic metropolitan centers—suggests that it was