M
exico TenochTiTlan, Theday 8 Wind, The 9Thdayof ThemonThQuecholli of the year 1 Reed in the Mexica (Aztec) calendar, which may correspond to a.d. November 8, 1519. In a dramatic first confronta-tion, the Mexica ruler Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin greeted Hernán Cortés, the Spanish invader, with a respectful speech. The rendering of his words by Cortés himself, based on the difficult intercultural translation by his female interpreter Malintzin, was not done without particular interest. The conquis-tador selected and shrewdly highlighted the convenient elements, so that a polite welcome became transformed into nothing less than a recognition of Spanish rule.
In our books our ancestors left notice that I and all who live in this land originally came here as strangers from other places. We also know that our lineage was brought here by a supreme lord (un señor cuyos vasallos todos eran), who afterwards went back to his realm. And we always have believed
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Chapter One
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that his descendants one day would come to subdue this land and us as his vassals. Because of the region where you say you come from, which is towards the East, and because of the things you tell about that great lord or king that sent you to us from there, we conclude that he is our natural ruler. Thus, be sure that we will obey you. (Cortés Hernán 1963: ff.
44v–54r)
Under this tendentiously colored surface, however, we find several authentic references to Motecuhzoma‘s own views on the historical impor-tance of this meeting. There is no reason to doubt that the uneasy encounter with such a strange person—a human being but clearly from another world, coming from overseas, from the East, from “the House of the Sun”—made the Mexica ruler search history for indications of how to interpret and deal with the events. History was written, or rather painted, for reflection and use in critical moments. It was recited during rituals to bolster the collective memory and identity, to provide a frame for political strategies. Motecuhzoma had at his disposal a library of ancient pictorial manuscripts that dated back at least 500 years. In all of his realm there must have been thousands of such manuscripts. Consulting these books, on the threshold of the passage from one historical stage to another, he looked back to the very beginning of the political order of his day.
When talking about his own foreign origins, Motecuhzoma was commemorating not the primordial journey of the Mexica people from Aztlan to Tenochtitlan but the foundation of his own royal house long ago.
He remembered that during the inauguration ceremony of a Mexica ruler the honorable priests and leaders of the nation used to emphasize:
From now on, Lord, you remain seated on the throne that was installed by Ce Acatl Nacxitl Quetzalcoatl. . . .
In his name came Huitzilopochtli and sat down on this same throne, and in his name came the one that was the first king, Acamapichtli. . . . Behold, it is not your throne, nor your seat, but it is theirs,
it is only lent to you and it will be returned to its true owner.
(Tezozomoc 1975: 439)
Power came from Quetzalcoatl, the “Serpent with Quetzal Feathers” or
“Plumed Serpent,” a mysterious personality from the past associated with an earlier civilization. The Mexica or Aztecs, whose realm had expanded since 1428 over large parts of what is now Mexico, considered themselves the cultural and political heirs of the Toltecs, whose civilization had
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ished centuries before. These Toltecs, in turn, continued the tradition of Teotihuacan, the great capital of Central Mexico during a period designated by archaeologists as the Early Classic (± a.d. 200–650). In this succession of empires an emblematic model of civilization was developed, known to the Mexica as Toltecayotl, a term we can translate as “the Toltec legacy.” It char-acterizes the large cultural area we now call Mesoamerica, which stretches between the deserts of Northern Mexico and the tropical forests of Central America.
The great Lord referred to by Motecuhzoma was a specific Toltec ruler of legendary proportions—the Spaniards later compared him to King Arthur.
Also known as Topiltzin, “Our Prince,” Ce Acatl, “1 Reed,” and Nacxitl, “4 Foot,” he reportedly had been a high priest and king in Tollan Xicocotitlan (presently known as Tula in the State of Hidalgo). In an atmosphere of magic and conflict, he had left that capital and established himself as a ruler in Tollan Cholollan (Cholula in the State of Puebla). From there he had undertaken a long journey to lands far away in the East, beyond Xicalango and the Laguna de Términos to the Maya country—precisely the region where Cortés’s first landing had occurred. That coincidence in place, in combination with the year being 1 Reed, which was one of Quetzalcoatl’s names, suggested to the Mexica ruler that Cortés was in some way related to that ancient source of power.
But Quetzalcoatl was more than a mysterious personality from ancient history. The Plumed Serpent is the most powerful image and the most complex symbol Mesoamerica has left to humanity. The amalgamation of the circling snake—chthonic and dangerous—with light and precious attri-butes of the augural inhabitants of heaven, creates an intriguing metaphor that makes sense in and appeals to many different religions in many different ways. The Plumed Serpent is first and foremost the whirlwind, the road sweeper who announces the coming of the Rains, a source of creative powers.
The quetzal feathers stand for nobility and civilized life. The serpent also symbolizes trance and visionary experiences. The Plumed Serpent was an important nahual (“animal companion” or “alter ego in nature”). According to the Mesoamerican worldview, each human being is intimately connected to a nahual, which may be an animal or a natural phenomenon, with which he or she identifies and shares his or her destiny. When the animal dies, the individual dies too. In dreams, one experiences being that animal or phenom-enon. Powerful persons, such as traditional healers or authorities, generally have strong and dominant nahuales.1
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So the Plumed Serpent came to represent the breath and spiritual essence of unseen Gods and the trance of priests, a marker of the liminal sphere in which humans enter in contact with the Divine. Over time this image of power was appropriated by successive charismatic empire builders and became synonymous with the ideal of civilization and rulership. Sculptures and reliefs representing the Plumed Serpent adorned the Citadel, the main temple in the abode of the rulers of Teotihuacan. Perhaps even then Quetzalcoatl had already become the main title and symbol of the rulers. As a God he was the bringer of civilization; as an exemplary ruler he created a flowering empire throughout much of Mesoamerica.
While considering how to approach this being, which was coming back on its tracks, Motecuhzoma had first sent messengers to the invader to offer him special gifts: the ceremonial dresses of four major deities, each of whom played an important role in the symbolism of rulership. Two sets of gifts were related to Quetzalcoatl: an elaborate feather crown (apanecayotl ) of the type Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl used to wear, and the pointed cap of jaguar skin combined with a long beaked mask, an attribute of the Wind God Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl. The other dresses and ornaments were those of the Rain God Tlaloc and of Tezcatlipoca, the “Smoking Mirror,” the supreme deity of rulers and priests.2
In those critical days, Motecuhzoma was pondering his heritage and the spiritual connection to his Ancestors. Power and life are only lent. One rules only for a short time, as in a dream.3 This is the aspect that dominates the other version of the emperor’s speech to Cortés, preserved in the work of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. It is written in the native language, Nahuatl, and sounds more authentic than the version first described. Just like Cortés’s report, this text is a reconstruction after the fact, but it is likely based on local oral tradition and certainly on a good knowledge of literary conventions.
The Nahuatl version shows Motecuhzoma’s recognition of divine power as the true and permanent owner of the throne. He knew about this power through stories, visions, and religious thought, but now he felt he was standing face-to-face with it in common reality.
camo çan nitemiqui amo çan niccochitleoa, amo çan nicochitta, amo çan nitemiqui, ca ie onimitznottili. mixtzinco onotlaxich, ca ononnentlamatticatca in ie macuil in ie matlac, in umpa nonitztica, in quenamican in otimoquixtico
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in ipan timouetzitiquiuh in mopetlatzin, in mocpaltzin in tioalmouicaz.
Auh in axcan ca oneltic, otioalmouicac.
Because I am not just dreaming, not just imagining it in my sleep, I do not just see this as in sleep, I am not just dreaming:
I really see thee, look into thy face.
I have been troubled already five, already ten times [for a long time].
I have gazed into the unknown whence thou hast come, the place of clouds, the place of mist [the place of mystery].
Thus they have foretold it, the (ancient) rulers, that thou wouldst come back to teach
to your water, your mountain [your community],
that thou wouldst again sit down on your mat, your throne, that thou wouldst return.
And now it has become true: thou hast returned.
(Sahagún 1950–1978, book XII: ch. 16)
This example of Motecuhzoma‘s speech introduces us to the intricate relationship of history and power in ancient Mesoamerica, as well as to the religious and emotional dimensions of both. We will explore these aspects as we analyze a corpus of ancient pictorial manuscripts, proceeding from a specific region within Mesoamerica. In our story we will come back to Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, several times and learn more about him as inventor of the art of writing and humanity’s guide in the visionary encounter with the past.
LAND of the RAIN GOD
Located in the heart of the Americas, Mesoamerica is a complex mosaic of different peoples and original civilizations. At the arrival of the Spanish conquerors it had already experienced a multifaceted development of at least 2,500 years. Its formation as a specific culture area was based on the develop-ment of agriculture: by the first millennium b.c. the native population had passed through a crucial economic and social transformation, from nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers to sedentary rural communities that primarily
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subsisted on the cultivation of maize, beans, squash, and many other plants.
The consequences of this process were demographic growth, a more encom-passing social organization, and the construction of towns, which became production centers for impressive works of art as well as the elaboration of hieroglyphic and pictorial writing systems. In archaeology this period is called Preclassic or Formative. The culmination of this development toward full-fledged urban states is generally designated as the Classic period (± a.d. 200 – ± 900).4 The crisis and end of this era occurred at different times and at different places but proceeded between a.d. 650 and 950 throughout the entire culture area. It was the first major and overall break in the cultural devel-opment of Mesoamerica, resulting from a complex interaction of different factors that is still poorly understood. Afterward, an even more fascinating process occurred: the “rebirth” of the culture, leading to recovery and new florescence in the Postclassic period (± a.d. 900–1521).
The peoples themselves saw this succession of different cultures, now clearly visible in archaeology, as a series of eras, each with its own dawn and under its own Sun. In the case of Central Mexico the complexity of cultural memory was such that the Mexica situated the earlier civilizations within a cosmogram of four Suns: each era was symbolically associated with one of the four world directions and characterized by a sacred foundation date and specific food; each had been destroyed in a peculiar way by its own cosmic cataclysm. This structure provided the Mexica with the foundation for their own Sun, the fifth, situated in the center of the world.5 Their immediate cultural ancestors, the Toltecs of Tula, had lived during the fourth Sun and perished because of their leader’s failures and the tricks of the Gods.
Today, scores of Mesoamerican peoples live on their ancestral lands. An estimated total of 15 to 20 million residents of Mexico, Guatemala, and neigh-boring Central American countries are preserving not only their languages but also many elements and structures of this ancient civilization. They are not officially recognized, but like “indigenous peoples” all over the planet, they are still suffering a fundamentally colonial situation, inherited from the past.
For them the political independence of Mexico and other American republics after the period of European colonial expansion did not mean decoloniza-tion, much less emancipadecoloniza-tion, but only a shift of the center from the exterior to the interior of the country. This new configuration, therefore, is known as
“internal colonialism.” Much more than a simple outcome of the conquest, this internal colonialism is a re-creation and reaffirmation of both economic
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and cultural dominance within the context of the modern nation-state, re-inforced as it is by modern neocolonial and imperialist policies. A character-istic aspect of indigenous peoples’ predicament is that they are generally seen as “others,” as mere “objects” of investigation, embedded in the dominant discourse as “peoples without history”—that is, peoples whose history has been expropriated and obliterated (Wolf 1982). Just as the colonial perspec-tive influenced Spanish sources, internal colonialism underlies and penetrates many modern studies.
Conscious of the need to develop a postcolonial perspective, we focus here on the precolonial history and historiography of Ñuu Dzaui. This name refers to both the land (ñuu) and the people (ñuu) of the Rain God (Dzaui).
The land is located in the southwestern part of what is now the Mexican republic, mainly in the State of Oaxaca but also partly in neighboring areas of the States of Puebla and Guerrero. The people is also known as “Mixtec,”
after the name given by its Nahuatl-speaking northern neighbors: Mixtecâ, which actually means “inhabitants of the place of the clouds.” From the same word comes the commonly used geographic designation “la Mixteca” for the region.
Based on geographic criteria, the Ñuu Dzaui region is generally subdi-vided into (1) the Mixteca Alta (mountainous, mostly above 2,000 meters above sea level [m.a.s.l.]), (2) the Mixteca Baja (mountainous, rarely above 2,000 m.a.s.l.), and (3) the Mixteca de la Costa (tropical coastal lowlands along the Pacific Ocean). As for the Baja and the Costa, the native subdivi-sion used other names, often following the toponyms of the most important polities (yuvui tayu), but the Alta was identified as Ñuu Dzaui Ñuhu, “Sacred Land of the Rain” or “Ñuu Dzaui of the Gods.”
Today, hundreds of thousands of people speak the Mixtec language, Dzaha Dzaui. It belongs to a family of languages that occupies a significant part of Mesoamerica and is designated by linguists as “Oto-Mangue.” As are the other members of this family, Dzaha Dzaui is a tonal language, which means that words may have very different meanings when pronounced with different tones. The first Dzaha Dzaui reference works are the grammar and vocabulary written at the end of the sixteenth century by the Spanish Dominican friars Antonio de los Reyes and Francisco de Alvarado, respec-tively. They recorded the dialect of Yucu Ndaa (Tepozcolula), which at that time was understood widely throughout the region and since then has func-tioned as a sort of standard in historical studies. In that orthography the
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region and people are written as Ñuu Dzavui and the language as Dzaha Dzavui. The latter word is also written as Dzahui in colonial texts. In modern dialects it is pronounced saui, sau, daui, or dau.
Ñuu Dzaui today is one of the poorest regions of Mexico, suffering from many ecological and economic problems that affect both the speakers of Dzaha Dzaui and those who live in the same region, sharing the traditional way of living and part of the ancestral culture, but who no longer speak the mother language as a consequence of internal colonial politics. Traditionally, like other indigenous peoples, the Ñuu Dzaui communities practice small-scale subsistence agriculture, generally in mountainous and not very fertile terrain. Harvests are poor, and malnutrition reigns. In general, health services are deficient: there are too few doctors and clinics, so there is much illness and people die unnecessarily. Today, as in the past, criminal enterprises and ambi-tious individuals—invaders from the outside as well as those with roots in the region—enter and take over the land, clear the forests, look for oil, or engage in the planting and trafficking of marijuana. And it is the poor who, because of their hardship and lack of alternatives, perform the dirty and dangerous jobs for the big bosses. They are used as intermediaries and couriers and often end up in jail.
These and other factors make life in the region very difficult and lead to continual emigration to urban areas, especially Mexico City, the northern part of the republic, and the United States. There again the migrants, because of their deficient preparation, are often forced to perform the most difficult and lowest-paying jobs (laborer, servant, and similar tasks). They are often discriminated against, and they even lapse into criminal behavior, prostitu-tion, and the like. This constant migration gives the Ñuu Dzaui region an aspect of abandonment; it is filled with “ghost towns” inhabited only by the elderly and children.
It is in this time of diaspora, in this desolate and dramatic landscape, that we start to search for the messages of the precolonial Ñuu Dzaui pictorial manuscripts, trying to uncover the history of a “people without history” to recognize and revive the voices that have been silenced.
PRECOLONIAL HISTORY
Precolonial Mesoamerican history is the story of autonomous communities (ñuu), constructed around networks of lineages and connected by exchange
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and communication. The sovereignty of these communities or nations was designated in the Mesoamerican languages with the poetic hendiadys “mat and throne”: petlatl icpalli in Nahuatl, yuvui tayu in Dzaha Dzaui, pop tz’am in Maya. To distinguish this unit from their own kingdom, Spanish authors refer to it as a cacicazgo, derived from the term cacique for indigenous ruler in the Greater Antilles (cf. Redmond & Spencer 1994). These polities were usually small. Since the early days the varied, abrupt landscape, with its many mountain ranges, had led to a fragmented political panorama of de facto independent communities. Generally, these units are called “city-states” in the literature, although in the case of Ñuu Dzaui, “village-states” is a better term. During early state formation, the polity in many respects conserved the basic characteristics of a chiefdom. Hereditary rulers organized the structure
and communication. The sovereignty of these communities or nations was designated in the Mesoamerican languages with the poetic hendiadys “mat and throne”: petlatl icpalli in Nahuatl, yuvui tayu in Dzaha Dzaui, pop tz’am in Maya. To distinguish this unit from their own kingdom, Spanish authors refer to it as a cacicazgo, derived from the term cacique for indigenous ruler in the Greater Antilles (cf. Redmond & Spencer 1994). These polities were usually small. Since the early days the varied, abrupt landscape, with its many mountain ranges, had led to a fragmented political panorama of de facto independent communities. Generally, these units are called “city-states” in the literature, although in the case of Ñuu Dzaui, “village-states” is a better term. During early state formation, the polity in many respects conserved the basic characteristics of a chiefdom. Hereditary rulers organized the structure