tradition

Nahua tradition

The religious and historical world of Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico, including Mexica (Aztec) records written after the Spanish invasion.

Also known as Mexica · Aztec religion

Meetings in this tradition's context

Quetzalcoatl is associated with Serpent.
The name Quetzalcoatl joins the quetzal and the serpent. This is a Nahua naming, not the Greek Asklepios snake and not Apep.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Quetzalcoatl is associated with Knowledge.
Sahagún’s materials attach priesthood, calendar knowledge, and a civilizing legend to Quetzalcoatl. That is a colonial-era compilation of Nahua memory, not a Greek Hermes.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Quetzalcoatl is associated with Transformation.
Later episodes in the Florentine Codex tell of Quetzalcoatl’s departure and promised return. The transformation is a historical-legendary one inside Nahua tradition, not alchemical transmutation.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Mirror is associated with Obsidian.
Nahua materials include smoking mirrors of obsidian. The reflection is a worked volcanic glass, not a European looking-glass.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Death is associated with Obsidian.
Nahua ritual used obsidian blades. Blood and cutting belong to that material history, not to a mood of “darkness.”
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Death is associated with Offerings.
Sahagún records offerings, including costly ones, in Mexica religion. The gift economy of the gods is Nahua as his collaborators told it.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
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Offerings is associated with Gold.
Precious materials, including gold, appear among gifts in Sahagún’s record. Gold here is a costly gift, not the alchemical sun-metal.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Obsidian is used in Offerings.
Blades of obsidian belong to the technology of offering in that record. The stone is an instrument, not a symbol of mood.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Obsidian is associated with Death.
Obsidian blades in Nahua offering are instruments that open bodies. Death here is a ritual fact of cutting, not a mood.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Calendar is associated with Quetzalcoatl.
Sahagún’s materials attach calendar knowledge and priesthood to Quetzalcoatl. The calendar is a Nahua intellectual technology, not Ptolemy’s.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Air is associated with Quetzalcoatl.
Sahagún’s materials attach wind to Quetzalcoatl. Wind here is a Nahua office of the feathered serpent, not a Greek elemental air.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Black is associated with Obsidian.
Obsidian is dark enough to take a reflection. The color is a property of the glass, not a mood imported onto Mexica rite.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Jade is connected to Obsidian.
Mesoamerican working of hard green stone and of volcanic glass are neighboring crafts. They are not one “sacred stone” of later shops.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577; Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005
connected to · interpretive · culturally specific
Maize is used in Offerings.
Maize can be a gift and a meal. Sahagún’s project records such uses as colonial ethnography, not as a cookbook of “Aztec magic.”
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · documented
Maize is associated with Seed.
Maize is a grain from a seed. Origin stories in the Florentine Codex are about that plant, not wheat.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
associated with · sourced · documented
Cacao is used in Offerings.
Prepared cacao can be tribute and drink. A Mesoamerican elite fact, not a later chocolate sacrament.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · documented
Obsidian is used in Mirror.
Nahua materials in the Florentine Codex treat smoking mirrors as worked obsidian: volcanic glass crafted into a reflective surface (tezcatl). A Mesoamerican material use in mirror-making, not European looking-glass silvering and not a license to merge every scrying practice.
from Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua collaborators · Florentine Codex, c. 1577
used in · sourced · culturally specific