huehuetl (FCbk8f19v)

This iconographic example, featuring a small wooden drum (huehuetl) is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs The term selected for this example comes from the keywords chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex. There is no gloss. This example shows a man holding the drum while standing, singing, and possibly dancing. The context suggests that this drummer is accompanying a man who is juggling a log, which could have had religious significance or might have been a secular ceremony. His mouth is open and his teeth are visible. He wears a quetzal feather headdress held on with a blue headband. He wears a cape tied over his right shoulder. It has horizontal stripes of white, light green, blue, orange, and red. He also wears a turquoise-blue loincloth with an intricate pattern and a thin, perhaps string as a necklace. At the lower tips, the loincloth is yellow. He has rings around his ankles that are red, blue, and yellow. His head is in profile, but his stance, with feet separate, is a ¾ view. This huehuetl is small, held in the left hand of the player. He hits the animal skin that is stretched over the top with his right hand. The brown wooden base of the drum has its diagnostic cutout that is shaped something like a lightning strike.