yacametztli (Mdz44r)

yacametztli (Mdz44r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a sign from the side of a bowl of octli (pulque, a mildly alcoholic beverage). See the various examples of octli, below and on the right, which have this symbol. It is called the "yacametztli," which is a nose ornament (literally, nose-crescent, referring to one of the shapes that the moon can have). It is black, horizontal, and curling, somewhat reminiscent of a ram's horns.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

One can see the symbol on a pre-Columbian pot that once held octli (pulque) in a blog from the University of Leicester. Multiple examples also appear in the Codex Mendoza on folio 71 recto, where we see people consuming pulque. The yacametztli also appears in the Codex Tudela and the Codex Magliabecchiano, where the goddess Mayahuel wears the ornament in her nose. These links come from a short article in Mexicolore, where Gael Ollivier points to the association with pulque deities who wear the ornament and have this insignia on their shields. It may be that this is more than just an iconographic symbol but also a glyph.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Beverages

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black

Shapes and Perspectives:

horizontal

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

crescents, moons, lunas crecientes, ornamentos, pulque

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

yacametz(tli), nose ornament and pulque symbol, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yacametztli

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 44 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 98 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).