ecacehuaztli (FCbk8f30r)

ecacehuaztli (FCbk8f30r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring a hand-held fan (ecacehuaztli, or ehcaceehuaztli, with the glottal stop), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a vertical stick with an inverted heart shape at the top, seemingly made from feathers or from reeds that have been colored red, green, and white. A gray, looping handle has been tied onto the bottom of the stick. Another scene where someone is holding this type of fan is in the Digital Florentine Codex, Book 8, folio 41 recto..

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In another iconographic example, below, this type of fan is carried by a long-distance merchant. Fan shapes can vary, perhaps according to their use or purpose. See a few examples below. Glyphs for the personal name Coxoli, which appear to be fans, might be made of pheasant feathers (coxolitli), but this requires further research.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Music, Song, Dance

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

tied, bound, or bundled

vertical, upright

Keywords:

viento, abanico, abanicos, aventadores, ventilador, ventiladores, ehcacehuaztli

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ecacehuaz(tli), a fan for use in dancing, or a fan for shooing flies away, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecacehuaztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el aventador

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 30r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/30r/images/0 Accessed 10 August 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: