candela (FCbk10f67r)

This iconographic example, featuring candles (candela, a loanword from Spanish taken into Nahuatl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes from the text on the same page as the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows seven yellow candles that have been pulled from a turquoise-blue pot of molten wax by a candlemaker (candelachiuhqui, as identified by the text and the DFC keywording team). The contextualizing image shows that the candlemaker, who is likely also a candle seller (candelanamacac), is a man. He sits to the right of the pot of wax. The candles are attached by their wicks to a circular structure that is attached to a structure that could hang up. The man making the candles–probably a Nahua–is barefooted, but he wears a Spanish-style belted tunic and a bolero hat. He sits on a low, woven seat (probably an icpalli). Another pot of wax (possibly called xicocuitlatl, as was sometimes was) sits nearby on some stones that surround a fire.