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Codex Chapman

Huitzilopochtli

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The Significance of the Hummingbird Hummingbirds, or "Huitzilli" held great significance in the Aztec culture. One of their famous deities, "Huitzilpochtli" who was known as the “Hummingbird of the Left and Hummingbird of the south”, was a dominant and important deity of the Aztecs. Additionally, hummingbirds had a common presence within the Aztec’s understanding of nature shown throughout the Florentine Codex and these themes will be presented throughout this page. #bird #Huitzilpochtli #nature
The Description of Hummingbirds and Their Life Cycles
This image is an illustration of hummingbirds, that were described in Book 11, Folio 24r, as having a “bill [that] is black, slender, small and pointed, needle-pointed, needle-like”, in various stages of their life cycle. From left to right, a smaller hummingbird, possibly signifying gender, is resting on top of a nest in a tree with yellow flowers as “it makes itself a nest, it lays eggs, sits, and hatches its young. It only has two eggs; its young are rare” and “builds itself a nest, lays eggs, sits, hatches its young, raises its young; it flies, darts, chirps.” Next is a small, colorless hummingbird that is hanging from a tree branch, this signifies a hummingbird in the winter as “It hibernates. It inserts its bill in a tree; [hanging] there it shrinks. Shrivels, molts. And when [the tree] rejuvenates, when the sun warms, when the tree sprouts, when it leafs out, at this time [the hummingbird] also grows feathers once again. And when it thunders for rain, at that time it awakens, moves, and comes to life.” Next, in the foreground is another dark-yellow color, hummingbird, fully sized, sucking nectar from a red flower, “Its food is flower honey, flower nectar. It is whirring, active; ashen in color. It rejuvenates itself. It rejuvenates itself. It sucks, sucks honey.” In the next part of the illustration, there are four hummingbirds of different sizes and different colors which show the different seasons of the hummingbirds and how their wings and color change throughout time, “And when [the tree] rejuvenates, when the sun warms, when the tree sprouts, when it leafs out, at this time [the hummingbird] also grows feathers once again. And when it thunders for rain, at that time it awakens, moves, comes to life.” The text in the Spanish column is very similarly described to the Nauhtl column as it describes how the hummingbird’s beak is “very small, black, and thin just like a needle”, how it lays eggs in the nest, how it renews itself every winter, and the life cycle of a hummingbird’s life.
Different Ways Hummingbirds Were Observed and Classified Through the Natural World by the Aztecs
There are many different ways hummingbirds were observed and classified through the natural world by the Aztecs. Iris Montero Sobrevilla argues that “Hummingbird characteristics, such as iridescence, shape, or dietary preference were criteria for naming species in the vegetable, animal, and mineral world (114)” in his Worlds of Natural History book. An example is the huitzitziltetl, which was an iridescent stone like the opal, for instance, in which the “name comes from huitzitzilan [hummingbird] and tetl [stone]. The feathers of the hummingbird were known to give off an iridescence appearance, just like the opal. In Book 11, Folio 211r of the Florentine Codex, it is described as having an appearance like a firefly as it “radiates” and “glows” as if it burns, which is directly related back to the “ashen color” of the hummingbird that was discussed in Book 11, Folio 24r. The opal is described as “clear, smooth, finely textured, a little green” which is similar to hummingbirds' green feathers. This image literally shows a small hummingbird emerging from an opal stone, showing the relation of these two. In contrast, the Spanish translation does not mention the relation of hummingbirds to this stone, and the only similar thing mentioned is that the opal “shines like a firefly” which can be related to the “ashen color” of hummingbirds’ feathers, otherwise the Spanish translation is quite different from the Nauhtl translation.
Another example of how hummingbirds were observed and classified through the natural world by the Aztecs, is a fish with a pointy beak, which was called huitzilmichin. As described in Book 11, Folio 62v, “its beak is very pointed, long, just like a hummingbird’s bill; spine-like needle-like; a needle-bill”. This illustration also shows the fish as a half-fish half-bird with a hummingbird’s head, beak, and wings, with a fish body with fins. The color of the huitzilmichin resembles a hummingbird as it has a green iridescence color and a red ashen color to it. The Spanish translation is very similar as it says, “It has a very thin beak, like the small bird called zinzon which goes about sipping flowers” which is directly talking about hummingbirds sucking nectar from flowers.
Lastly, a dark flower, that is visited by hummingbirds is called huitztecolxochitl, which is “a slender tree, a thin tree. It has branches, curved branches. Its leaves are hairy, thorny; its blossoms are dark brown. Some [blossoms] are very brown, some chili-red, some white” (Book 11, Folio190r). This is the same flower that the hummingbird is sucking on in this image , as it is also a chil-red color. This image also shows a hummingbird sucking nectar from it, and the branches resemble hummingbirds long, pointy beaks. These three examples of ways hummingbirds were observed and classified through the natural world by the Aztecs.
The Significance of Huitzilopochtli
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In Conclusion
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