mamalhuaztli (TR29v)
This simplex glyph for fire drilling with a pole (mamalhuaztli) comes from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. It compares somewhat favorably to the examples from the Codex Mendoza (see below), although the colors vary. This one shows a reed-arrow being employed for the drilling. Curls of smoke rise up from the hot spot where arrow meets the horizontal piece of wood.
Stephanie Wood
The New Fire Ceremony was called the xiuhmolpilli, when 52 years were "bundled," so this drilling of the fire was related to the calendar. The contextualizing image shows that this particular fire drilling took place in Ome Acatl (2-Acatl, Two Reed), the year 1403. See this image of a fire-drilling ceremony in the Codex Borbónicus. See also the short article about the fire drilling ceremony in Mexicolore.
Stephanie Wood
ca. 1550–1563
Jeff Haskett-Wood and Stephanie Wood
fires, fuegos, incendios, flechas, plumas, calendarios, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/mamalhuaztli_TR29v_SimplexNoun%28fire_drilling%29.png?itok=nZtvdqFh)
mamalhuaz(tli), a hand tool or drill for making fire, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mamalhuaztli
el palo saca-fuego
Stephanie Wood
Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 29 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f84.item.zoom
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![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/mamalhuaztli_TR29v_Context.png)