yacametztli (Mdz71r)

yacametztli (Mdz71r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic symbol taken from a bowl of pulque (octli) helps identify the contents of the bowl as such. It is a yacametztli, or a nose ornament (nariguera, in Spanish). It is black, horizontal, and curling, somewhat reminiscent of a ram's horns.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

One can see the same symbol on a pre-contact 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 Olivier 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, or 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

Colors:

black

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

horizontal

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

crescents, moons, lunas crecientes, pulque, bowls, tazones, tazón

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

oc(tli), pulque, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/octli
yacametz(tli), a crescent-shaped nose ornament, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/octli

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 71 recto, hhttps://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 152 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)