Xochitlatoa (MH506r)

The gloss for Xochitlatoa has a diacritic suggesting the name ends with an "n," but we are not including it in our suggested orthography. The lines on Diego Xochitlahtoa's face may indicate that he is aged, and perhaps therefore wise and one who speaks well.

Flowers appear here where one might expect to see speech scrolls. Flowery speech is a known form of speech. In contemporary Nahuatl, one with flowery speech is a poet. [See: Delfino Hernández Hernández, “Xochitlajtouani: El Poeta,” in Yancuic Nahua Zazanilli: Nueva Narrativa, Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 1985.] Pamela Sandstrom says of flowery speech: "We do know that poetic, well-arranged words in the Nahuatl language were believed to be exceptionally powerful tools for addressing deities and setting things right. Flowery speech coupled with ritual action were the most effective means the Aztecs possessed to keep the forces of chaos at bay." [See her answer to a question published by Mexicolore in 2021.]

See below for various, wide-ranging visual expressions for the word tlahtoa.