Xilonen in Tepoztlan: A Comparison of Tepoztecan and Aztec Agrarian Ritual Schedules

Abstract

This essay examines relationships between agrarian ritual observances and specific maize cycle periodicities in Tepoztlan, Morelos. A comparison of Tepoztecan data with descriptions of solar/civil calendar contained in book z of Florentine Codex reveals that identical periodicities occurred, albeit nearly three earlier, for sixteenth-century Aztecs. Our analysis raises questions concerning origin, persistence, and mechanics of Aztec calendar described by Sahagin. This article compares maize agrarian calendar of Tepoztlan, Morelos, with ritual maize cycle contained in book z of Florentine Codex (Sahaguin I98I). An analysis of temporal intervals inherent in Tepoztecan agrarian ritual schedule reveals two pertinent facts: first, there is a direct correlation between ritual dates and growth cycle of race of maize commonly grown in municipio; second, Tepoztecan temporal intervals that separate agrarian ritual observances coincide with similar intervals deduced from Sahaguin's descriptions of ritual maize cycle for sixteenth-century Aztecs. There is, however, an obvious difference between two agrarian calendars: while Tepoztecan agrarian year begins in late April or early May, that of Aztecs began in mid-February. Our analysis raises questions regarding persistence and mechanics of Mesoamerican calendar.1 We begin by giving reader a brief introduction to Mesoamerican calendar. Second, we compare currently observed rituals concerned with maize agriculture in municipio of Tepoztlan with descriptions of homologous Aztec veintenas drawn from book z of Florentine Codex. In addition, we present brief descriptions of growth cycles of indigeEthnohistory 39: z (Spring I992). Copyright ? by American Society for Ethnohistory. ccc o014-I8oI/9z/$I.5o. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.162 on Fri, 01 Jul 2016 05:55:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Tepoztecan and Aztec Agrarian Rituals nous varieties of maize of Tepoztlan and Basin of Mexico. Third, we introduce a model calendar that compares Aztec veintenas with twentyday months in Tepoztecan agrarian ritual year. We conclude with exposition of a set of hypotheses drawn from corpus of this study. The Mesoamerican Calendar Harnessing time through an intricate calendrical system was one of great accomplishments of Mesoamerican civilization. Calendars intimately tied to all aspects of ancient Mesoamerican life. The Aztecs and other Mesoamericans used two concurrent ones, each based on a major cycle, to mark passage of time. The first, divinatory tonalpohualli, the count of used z6o days in conjunction with thirteen day-numbers and twenty day-signs. Our concern here is with second calendar, xiuhpohualli, the count of years, which was based on a 365-day cycle. The xiuhpohualli was composed of eighteen veintenas or twenty-day periods; five remaining days called nemontemi or useless days. Each of veintenas was marked by at least one important festival, which Johanna Broda (I969: z4) has tentatively placed into three categories: rain ceremonies, ceremonies to various gods and goddesses to promote growth of vegetation, and ceremonies to individual deities that contain elements of first two categories. Attention is primarily directed in this essay to Broda's second category, since ceremonies that pertain to maize agriculture also provide an index of periodicity of maize cycle. Hence, according to Sahagun (I98I: ioi), maize was sown sometime before fourth veintena, when stalks were still small; maize ears forming and ritually harvested during eighth veintena; and dried maize was harvested during eleventh veintena (ibid.: 14, I9). The precision of these periodicities will be developed below. A number of problems, largely related to deficient and often contradictory primary source material, have impeded a comprehensive understanding of Mesoamerican 365-day calendar (see Broda I969: 31-57; Bartl et al. I989); we shall mention two here. First, regional variation attended timing of eighteen veintenas of xiuhpohualli, which has led to confusion concerning correspondence of initial day and veintena to European calendar (Bartl et al. I989). For example, Edmonson (I988: 4) writes that used no less than iz calendars, three of which may have been unique to Nahuatl (Texcoco, Meztitlan, and Colhua). The other nine shared with at least one and (in case of Tlaxcalan) as many as five other peoples. og9 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.162 on Fri, 01 Jul 2016 05:55:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Thomas L. Grigsby and Carmen Cook de Leonard Second, and related to first question, is problem of whether Mesoamericans made an allowance for true length of year, 365.2422 days, or allowed calendar to slip and lose one day every four years through lack of intercalation (Broda I969: 52; Graulich I981; Berdan I982: I44-45; Aveni et al. I988: 289; Aguilera I989: 227). The tack taken in this study is heuristic; we are concerned here with comparing current Tepoztecan agrarian schedule with only one of regional variants: calendar described by Sahagun in book z of Florentine Codex, which, by contemporary consensus, began with veintena of Atl Cahualo on 2 February in years between I565 and 1568 (D'Olwer and Cline 1973: I92).2 All subsequent references in this essay to Aztec calendar are drawn from this source. We shall return to question of intercalation later. The Agrarian Cycle in Tepoztlan In this section of essay we demonstrate a correspondence between four Tepoztecan ritual dates-13 June (the last day of planting), 28 September (the first green corn costumbre of pericdn), 18 October (the second green corn costumbre on San Lucas's day), and 12 December (the last day of harvest)-and their Aztec agrarian ritual counterparts.3 Tepoztlan is an ethnographically well-known village (Redfield I930; Lewis 1951) on northern edge of Mexican state of Morelos. Continuously inhabited since antiquity, Tepoztlan has, because of its location at interface of Mexican highlands and lowlands, been influenced by successive waves of Mesoamerican cultures such as Olmecs, Toltecs, and Aztecs (Jimenez Moreno I942; Lewis 195I: xxiii; Muller 195I: 454). It evidently exerted considerable influence throughout Mesoamerica during tenth and eleventh centuries A.D. but lost its importance to nearby Cuernavaca with rise of Aztecs (Muller 1951: 454). It was entered by Cortes and his conquering army in 15I2, and missionary activity began soon after (Diaz del Castillo 1956: 376; Dubernard Chauveau 1983: 47). Tepoztecans have traditionally depended upon maize for subsistence. While in recent years irrigation technologies have been introduced to municipio, most farmers continue to key their agrarian schedules to advent and cessation of seasonal rains (Figure i). Moreover, Tepoztecan farmers' maize agrarian schedule is ideally coordinated through specific ritual calendrical dates. Consequently, planting of maize crop should be completed by San Antonio's day, 13 June; first roasting ears gathered 107 days later on 28 September, day of peric6n; last roasting ears harvested 20 days later on San Lucas's day, I8 October; and harvest completed by iz December, day of fiesta of Virgin of GuadaII0 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.162 on Fri, 01 Jul 2016 05:55:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Tepoztecan and Aztec Agrarian Rituals

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 6 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.