teomama (Azca13)

teomama (Azca13)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This iconographic example from the Azcatitlan Codex shows two people with load tied onto their backs. The loads are similar to the way Indigenous women often still carry a baby in a shawl (rebozo in Spanish), tied over one shoulder. The load on the left is a hummingbird (huitzilin), apparently representing the divine force Huitzilopochtli. Only a small part of the load on the right is visible. The two people are shown in motion, one foot in front of the other. They each carry a tall javelin or other projectile, holding it vertically like a hiking stick, with the point down.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The transporting of divine forces (and sometimes their accoutrements) are also shown and mentioned in codices such as the Tira de Peregrinación.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Azcatitlan, Codex (Azca)
Date of Manuscript: 

post-1550, possibly from the early seventeenth century.

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

perhaps Tlatelolco, Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
visual movement
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Birds
Movement
Religion (Indigenous)
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
pointed (see also spiky)
profile view
tied, bound, or bundled
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

cargar, llevar, fuerzas divinas, divinidades, migración

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

teomama, one who carries a divine force, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teomama
teo(tl), a divine or sacred force, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl
mama, to carry or bear, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mama
huitzilin, a hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

alguien que lleva una fuerza divina

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

The Codex Azcatitlan is also known as the Histoire mexicaine, [Manuscrit] Mexicain 59–64. It is housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and hosted on line by the World Digital Library and the Library of Congress, which is “unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection.”
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15280/?sp=13&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

The Library of Congress is “unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection.” But please cite Bibliothèque Nationale de France and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

mama (Azca11)

temamatlatl (CST12)