Hunting scene – Itzamnaaj mounted on a peccary. Based on a Maya vase.
Tag: dapart
Ahuianime. Described as courtesans and given to pleasure, these women
held a complex role in Nahua society. Among one of their practices was to
accompany the warriors on the campaign and sometimes even on the battlefield.
Some lined up on the battlefield and cheered their warriors, inciting them to
victory while others exposed their buttocks and genitals as a way to offend the
enemy. This was accompanied by insults shouted to them. In this role, they simultaneously
took care of their warriors being companions on the campaign (providing
cooking, care and ‘other services’), but also pushed them to battle, into the
danger. It is interesting to note that
they were linked to Xochiquetzal, who herself was closely associated with
warriors – butterflies and birds being an animals closely linked to both. Especially
in her aspect as Itzpapalotl (“the Obsidian Butterfly”), who was the
‘Primordial warrior and first to die in battle’.Sources:
-Klein F., Cecilia. 1994. Fighting with Femininity: Gender and War in Aztec
Mexico. http://www.historicas.unam.mx/publicaciones/revistas/nahuatl/pdf/ecn24/435.pdf-McCafferty Geoffrey G. and Sharisse D. 1999. The Metamorphosis of
Xochiquetzal: A Window on womanhood in pre and post-conquest Mexico. In Manifesting Power: Gender and the
Interpretation of Power in Archaeology. Ed. Tracy, L. Sweely ,pp. 103-126. http://www.academia.edu/210169/The_Metamorphosis_of_Xochiquetzal_A_Window_on_Womanhood_in_Pre-_and_Post-Conquest_Mexico-Miriam López Hernández. 2011. Ahuianime: Las
Seductoras del Mundo Nahua Prehispánico. http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/REAA/article/view/40112/38549-Nicholson, H.B. 1971. Religion in Pre-Hispanic
Central Mexico. In Handbook of Middle
American Indians, Volume 10: Archeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part 1 (eds). G.
F. Ekholm and I. Bernal.-Pohl, John and Robinson III, Charles. 2005. Aztecs and Conquistadores:
The Spanish Invasion and the Collapse of the Aztec Empire-Sahaugun, Bernardo de. 1569. (1950-82) Florentine Codex: General
History of the Things of New Spain, trans. A. J. O.
Dibble and C. E. Anderson.-Szoblik,
Katarzyna.2008.La Ahuiani, ¿Flor Preciosa o Mensajera del Diablo? La Visión de
Las Ahuanime en las Fuentes Indígenas y Cristianashttp://itinerarios.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/09_articulos_szoblik_druk.pdf
-Torquemada,
J. de. 1723. Parte de los veynte y un libros rituales y Monarchia Indiana…, 3
vols.
Tlazolteotl, Eater of Filth, overseer of confessions, sexuality, purification, tlazolli. Here she rides a broom, with malinalli (twisted grass), taken from codex Fejérváry-Mayer.
Maya hairstyles of women in the Classic period. Most are from Jaina, but a few are from El Salvador and Copan, Honduras. I’ll be on hiatus next month visiting my family in Japan. See you until then.
Seriously, follow this one, their works are great!
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