Chichihualtatacallan (Mdz15v)

The visual of the breasts suggests a rash and possibly mastitis, which may be why Peñafiel referred to nodrizas (wet nurses), who are possibly prone to mastitis. This was suggested in a personal communication from Magnus Pharao Hansen as part of a larger discussion of the glyph launched by León García-Garagarza on May 9, 2021 on Facebook. León notes that Angel Palerm and Isabel Truesdell Kelly (The Tajin Totonac: History, subsistence, shelter and technology, Washington DC: The Smithsonian, 1952) suggested that the contemporary place name is Santa Marta Chichihualtepec. León suggests a translation, "Lugar donde abundan las tetas agujeradas con sarpullidos" ("Place of Abundant Perforated Breasts with Rashes"). He notes the local choice of the patron saint of St. Martha may have been linked a teocihuatl (goddess). Further, he proposes that the name change of the altepetl may suggest a healing of the condition. Tatiana Vizcaína reminds us that breasts can be equated with mountains. I would add that the turquoise color of the nipples point to the site of the emergence of the precious liquid (breast milk), given that the term atl) (usually, water) can be extended to refer to any number of liquids, and turquoise is the color typically given to atl) in the Codex Mendoza. The polychrome version of the stone carving of Chalchitlicue has highlighted her nipples as turquoise, too, so there may be a pattern there. Finally, Magnus Pharao Hansen suggests that this unusual place name could be an awkward effort to translate a topynym in one of the Oaxacan languages. According to Berdan and Anawalt (1992, vol. 1, 177), the authors Kelly and Palerm (1952, 311) "tentatively locate this town in southern Oaxaca." They add that Clark (1938, 2:17) recalled the "Otomí custom of decorating women's arms and breasts by painting them and then cutting into them with a knife."