Tortilla and Conquest
Preparations for Tortillas
The Mexica prepared tortillas in many ways for all different kinds of uses. In their culture, tortillas weren't just for eating, they served even more important functions. Some of the tortillas were made tower, some were made to other to deities, and other were actually prepared to be consumed. Amongst these many different preparations of tortillas are twisted, honeyed tortillas, butterfly-shaped tortillas, and S-shaped tortillas. All of these tortillas were used in a certain way in dedication to a deity or for a ceremony.Cocoltlaxcalli, twisted, honeyed tortillas, come from special corn that is hung up by its leaves on the ceiling. These bunches are called cocholli. These honeyed tortillas were made into chains and that the Mexica adorned themselves with to dance during the ceremony. Cocoltlaxcalli were used in the ceremony of Tlacaxipehualiztli which was dedicated to deity Totec. This ceremony was known as the 'Flaying of Men' because a priest would slay a captive and wear their skin in order to 'be the likeness of Totec' (Mexicolore 2023). The priest would also adorn himself in a gold nose crescent and golden earplugs. He also held a rattle stick, had a shield with a gold circle, quail feather sandals, and a sapote leaf skirt made with quetzal feathers in order to resemble Totec. This ceremony took place at Totec's temple called Yopico. During the ceremony, the impersonator was given a tortilla called uilocpalli, made of ground dried maize kernels. The tortilla was passed to him as an offering, but not for him to eat. Among other things in this ceremony, tortillas seem to be an integral part of the honoring of Totec. These tortillas aren't just normal tortillas, but they are ones that are prepared a specific way.
Papalotlaxcalli, butterfly-shaped tortillas, appear in ceremonies dedicated to the Cihuapipiltin. The Cihuapipiltin were five devils that hated and mocked people. They would place people under spells that contorted their faces and paralyzed their limbs. These devils travel through the air and arrive on Earth to essentially strike a human with illness or death. For this reason, the humans prepared tortillas during the Cihuapipiltin feast day to serve them as offerings. It is important to note that in the Spanish translation of the Florentine Codex, the Cihuapipiltin are described as goddesses who were women who died from childbirth. It is also said that the goddesses would enter human bodies. The Spanish translation paints the Cihuapipiltin in a more positive light than the Nahuatl translation, while still explaining that the goddesses struck humans with illness. These goddesses, or devils, were also described as female warriors. The Cihuapipiltin had whitish faces, arms, and feet, and they had gold ear ornaments, similar to Totec. This indicates that they are important figures. The Aztec had a belief that the souls of warriors that have died came back to Earth as butterflies or hummingbirds, so it makes sense that the tortillas would be shaped as butterflies for this ceremony. On the Cihuapipiltin feast day, the humans made offerings of folded tortillas, small tortillas, butterfly-shaped tortillas, and S-shaped tortillas to the deities.
Xonecuiltlaxcalli, S-shaped tortillas, were twisted and rounded over at both ends and they were included as offerings in multiple ceremonies.These ceremonies include Tlacaxipehualiztli, the Cihuapipiltin feast day, the Xochitl feast day, and the Ochpaniztli festival. Xochitl is the day of the flower and these S-shaped tortillas were eaten on this day. The word zonecuilli translates to 'twisted foot' but it could figuratively represent a twisted staff held by figures of importance, lightning rays, and the northern polar constellation of seven stars which represents the deity of the Milky Way, Mixcóatl. The Ochpaniztli festival was an agricultural festival that honored Goddess Mother Teteu Innan, a maize deity. During this festival, the S-shaped symbol, Zonecuill, appeared in the priest's banner, highlighting its importance. Teteu Innan blessed the harvest during this festival, so it was one of the most important ones and it required a great amount of preparations. Everything was carefully considered, so these S-shaped tortillas were very significant, as they were eaten and used as offerings during many festivals.
The image below depicts the Mexica making tortillas. The tortillas being made in the image aren't just regular corn tortillas, they are cochineal tortillas. The cochineal is an insect that lives on the leaves of the prickly pear cactus. These insects are a deep red color, and can be used to naturally dye things. The Mexica used cochineal as a dye and they used it to paint as well. This image shows that they also used it in food. The Nahuatl translation of the text for this image reads, "I make tortillas of cochineal. I beat out tortillas of cochineal. I form cochineal into tortillas." (Digital Florentine Codex 1577, 11, 217r) Knowing that cochineal was and is used to dye things, they just seemed to have been used to make red tortillas. There are tortillas of different colors, like green, yellow, and blue. They all have natural ingredients in them that make them that certain color. The cochineal was used to make tortillas because it could've been an ingredient that they used in other foods as well, in order to make the food a certain color or to just enjoy the cochineal insect in their food.
Tortillas in Everyday Life
There are tortillas that aren't made for a festival or special celebration. Some tortillas are made just for eating and enjoying. In Mexica daily life, it seemed that certain people would make tortillas or buy a great amount of them in order to sell them. The tortilla seller was a huge source for meals, as they prepared and sold every kind of tortillas and tamales. Not all tortilla and tamale sellers were good sellers, sometimes the food wasn't prepared very well, being broken, tasteless, cold, and more.In the image below is a tortilla seller that is offering many different kinds of tortillas. There are tortillas of different colors, sizes, and shapes in the image. There also seems to be a basket of more tortillas behind the seller, indicating that they have a lot of supplies. There were thick tortillas, thin ones, tortillas with meat and grains of maize, doubled over ones that were salted or with chili, tortillas with turkey eggs, ones made with honey, pressed tortillas, ones shaped like gloves, green maize tortillas, tuna cactus tortillas, sweet tortillas, and more. A difference between the Nahuatl and Spanish text here is that the Spanish text refers to the tortillas as cakes while the Nahuatl text doesn't. The Spanish text also doesn't mention the bad types of tortillas while the Nahuatl text does. The Nahuatl text talks about stinking tortillas, broken, crumbled, and old tortillas, giving a more authentic description of the types of tortillas that were sold on a normal day in the city. The tortillas wouldn't always be fresh depending on how long they'd be sitting out from day to day. There must've been certain tortillas that were really popular and gone quickly, and others that barely got sold, causing the freshness of the tortillas to vary. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see the different types of tortillas that were made outside of the context of ceremony or festival.
Tortillas as Offering to the Spaniards
We've seen tortillas in the context of festivals and ceremonies, and we've seen them in the context of everyday life. Tortillas in the context of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire falls somewhere in between. In the early 16th century, Hernán Cortés and his men invaded cities in Mexico. Seeing tortillas in the context of conquest was a surprising and interesting thing to discover in the Florentine Codex.Moteucçoma, the ruler of the Aztec Empire at the time, sent soothsayers and witches to greet the Spaniards who arrived in their city, as well as elders and warriors to see to the Spaniards' needs. Moteucçoma had the food, specifically the tortillas that were offered to the Spaniards, sprinkled with human blood. In the image below, it can be seen that the Spaniards were disgusted by this. The Spaniards have their hands on their chests, as if they are completely appalled, while the emissaries are offering the food with pleasant, unfazed expressions. The tortillas reeked of blood and this scared the Spaniards, but Moteucçoma had the tortillas sprinkled with blood because he saw the Spaniards as gods. Blood is very significant in Aztec culture as an offering to deities, but the Spanish clearly didn't understand that.
The Spaniards were then given tortillas and other foods with no blood, but Moteucçoma still sent witches to cast spells on them to make them fall ill or die. When this didn't work, the witches returned to Moteucçoma to express how strong the Spaniards were. Moteucçoma then gave more orders, threatening stewards, lords, and elders with death to take care of the Spaniards and give them anything they might need. There is a slight difference in the Spanish and Nahuatl text for this chapter. This time, the Spanish text comes off as more harsh than the Nahuatl text does. The title of the chapter in the Spanish text discusses the Aztec casting evil spells to do harm to the Spaniards while the Nahuatl text doesn't necessarily do this. The Aztec are villainized in a way here.
Conclusion
In exploring the Digital Florentine Codex, and its images of tortillas, it has been found that there were so many more uses of maize and the tortilla than we ever could have imagined. There were certain ways to prepare maize before using it to make a tortilla, or certain special ingredients that were to be used in tortilla for special events. Tortillas even played a big part in interactions between the Spaniards and the Mexica during the conquest. The Digital Florentine Codex was able to provide very absorbing information about Mexica life and tortillas as food and offering.Works Cited
Digital Florentine Codex. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/.
Mursell, Ian. “Special Feasts Meant Special Food.” Mexicolore, 2023. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/calendar/special-feasts-meant-special-foods.
Wood, Stephanie. “Tlaxcalatolli.” Nahuatl Dictionary, 2000. https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaxcalatolli.
