piciyetl (FCbk11f78v)

This iconographic example, featuring some tobacco (piciyetl) powder being used to try to capture a large tropical rattlesnake (tecutlacozauhqui), 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 near the image in the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss, per se. This example shows the tropical rattlesnake on the ground facing a man standing nearby. The serpent has a coil in its body, a rattler tail, and a protruding, bifurcated tongue. The man is barefooted and wears a cloak tied as one shoulder. He raises a branch in his right hand, and in his left hand he throws a large stream of tobacco flakes. This piciyetl is a strong tobacco, according to the DFC keywording team. The Online Nahuatl Dictionary also contains information about religious rituals that involve tobacco. The DFC texts explains that the man trying to catch the serpent puts powdered tobacco on his hands and throws some at the serpent, hoping to get some in his mouth. If successful at the latter, the serpent is supposed to be largely immobilized.