chalchihuitztli (TR9v)
This example of iconography from the Telleriano-Remensis Codex is a thorn [huitztli decorated with a jade bead (chalchihuitl) that, here, is painted a turquoise blue. It also has feathers at the top. The point is downward. The thorn has a red tip and red and green body.
Stephanie Wood
This decorated thorn, which is likely a ritual item, is very much like the thorn that appears as a central shaft to one of the olin glyphs from the same codex (see below). The red tip may relate to blood-letting, an act of offering and of self-sacrifice.
Stephanie Wood
chalchihuiztli
chalchihuitztli
Stephanie Wood
ca. 1550–1563
Jeff Haskett-Wood
thorns, spines, espinas, chalchihuites, plumas, feathers, plumas
chalchihuitl, a precious stone, especially a precious green or blue stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chalchihuitl
huitztli, a thorn; a spine, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli
Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 9 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f44.item.zoom
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