Time and the Ancestors: Aztec and Mixtec Ritual Art

Copyright

Contents

Preface

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Temporality and Coevalness

1 Mesoamerica: Historical Development

2 Ancient Scriptures

3 The Main Cycles of the Calendar

4 The First Day-Keepers

5 Denial of Coevalness

6 Methodological Concerns

7 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

Part 1: Offering to the Sacred Bundles

1 Tomb 7 at Monte Albán

1 A Deposition of Two Periods

2 The Human Remains in Tomb 7

3 The Ancient Literary Context

4 Calendar Dates in Tomb 7

5 Connections with Ñuu Dzaui History

6 Connections with Beni Zaa History

7 Female Agency

8 Revisiting Tomb 7

9 Approaching the Relics

10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

2 Life – Death – Life

1 Tale of a Grandmother

2 Nahua and Maya Parallels

3 The Symbolic Dimension

4 Cihuacoatl and Lady 9 Grass

5 Mortuary Bundles

6 Divine Ancestors

7 Communication with the Dead

8 The Golden Ornament Number 26

9 The Subterraneous Sanctuary

10 The Internal Organisation of Tomb 7

11 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

3 Hymns of Jaguars and Eagles

1 Flower, Song

2 The Tree of the Dynasty

3 Tree Birth at Apoala

4 The War against the Stone Men

5 First Sunrise and the Cycle of Time

6 The Pulque Ritual

7 The Realm of the Dead

8 Lady 4 Rabbit ‘Quetzal’

9 The Marital Alliance

10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

4 Memory and Oracle

1 Chalcatzingo: The Preclassic Template

2 Occasions for Precious Offerings

3 The Ballcourt Pendant

4 The Sacred Flint

5 The Temple of Jewels

6 Identifying Monte Albán in the Codices

7 Lady 6 Monkey at Monte Albán

8 The Funerary Ceremony for Lord 12 Movement

9 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

Part 2: Preparing the New Fire

5 The Foundation of a Dynasty

1 Pictorial Manuscripts from the Coixtlahuaca Valley

2 The Couple in Heaven

3 Chicomoztoc

4 Religious Peregrination

5 The Sacred Mountain

6 Primordial Conquest

7 Lady 13 Alligator, the Peacemaker

8 Atonal, First Ruler of Coixtlahuaca

9 Lord 8 Deer and Quetzalcoatl

10 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

6 Fifth Sun Rising

1 The Inauguration of the Templo Mayor

2 Cihuacoatl: Goddess and Priest

3 The Stone of Tizoc

4 The Calendar Stone

5 Moctezuma’s Altar

6 The Binding of 52 Years

7 The Ceremonial Landscape of Mount Huixachtlan

8 Moctezuma and Ce Acatl

9 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

7 The Sanctuary of Night and Wind

1 Historical Background of Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia)

2 Studies of Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia)

3 Point of Departure for a New Reading

4 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 29: Vision

5 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 30: Bloodletting for Trees

6 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 31: Transformation of Death into Life

7 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 32: Preparing the Knife

8 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 33–34: The Temple of Heaven

9 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 35–38: Opening the Sacred Bundle

10 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 39–40: The Night Sun

11 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Pages 41–42: Sacrifice

12 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 43: Sustenance

13 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 44: Rulership

14 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 45: Venus

15 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 46: Fire-making

16 Codex Yoalli Ehecatl (Borgia), Page 47: Men and Women

17 Recapitulation and Concluding Remarks

Synthesis: Heritage and Spirit Connection

1 Root Symbolism

2 Tomb 7: A Dynastic Shrine

3 The Continuous Presence of Cihuacoatl

4 Intercultural Time and Decolonising Perspective

5 Final Image

References

Index