The Significance of the Hummingbird
The Description of Hummingbirds and Their Life Cycles
This image is an illustration of hummingbirds, that were described in Book 11, Folio 24r of the Florentine Codex, 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 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 Types of Hummingbirds and the Importance of Their Feathers
In Book 11. Folio 24v of the Florentine Codex, all the different types of hummingbirds are discussed similarly in Nahuatl and Spanish. The broad-tailed hummingbird or quetzalhujtzilin is described as having a throat the color of "chili-red," a green breast, and tail feathers and wings resembling quetzal feathers. The Costa hummingbird or xihujtzilli is related to a cotinga through its light blue and "pale like fine turquoise" color. The Broad-billed hummingbird or the chalchihuitzili has a light green color with a "turquoise shade" and a herb-green color. The yiauhtic uitzilin has a dark green color to it. The Rofous hummingbird, or the tlapalhuitzilin is black and red. The Heloise hummingbird, or the aiopalhujtzili is light brown. The Allen hummingbird or the tlevitzilli has "glistening" feathers. Lastly, the Cinnamomeous hummingbird or the quappachvitzilin is "smoky, dark yellow, tawny." These colors are important because these were the types of feathers that were sought after for the use of mosaic feather work. According to Manuel Aguilar-Moreno's Handbook to Life in the Aztec World, the most common colors used were yellow and red, and the most precious colors were blue and green, which were also the colors of "water and agriculture, fertility and creation (Aguilar-Moreno 2006, 211)." Hummingbird feathers were also very sought after due to their iridescent green color.
Different Ways Hummingbirds Were Observed and Classified Through the Natural World by the Aztecs
There are many 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 (Sobrevilla 2018, 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 to the "ashen color" of the hummingbird that was discussed in Book 11, Folio 24r of the Florentine Codex. 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 of the Florentine Codex, "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, wings, and 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 hummingbirds visit 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, Florentine Codex). The huitztecolxochitl is the same flower that the hummingbird is sucking on in this illustration, as it is also a chil-red color. This illustration 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
The Aztecs recognized the hummingbird as having all the traits needed to be a good warrior, and this bird became the main symbol of their principal deity, Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli, translated from Nahuatl to huitzil (hummingbird), and opochtli (left or left-handed). The most well-known description of Huitzilopochtli, recorded by Sahagún early in his research in the town of Tepepulco, around 1559, says, "the deity's extraordinary birth when his mother, Coatlicue, was impregnated through a feather bundle that fell from the sky. Huitzilopochtli was born as a fully attired warrior ready to fight his older siblings, Coyolxauhqui and the Huitznahua, whom he killed or exiled (Sobrevilla 2018, 120)." Huitzilopochtli was known for wearing a blue-green hummingbird headdress and carrying the xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, which is the weapon he uses to fight his enemies. Huitzilopochtli was worshipped in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan and was honored through human sacrifices.
The image to the right, Book 3, Folio 4r of the Florentine Codex, demonstrates humans worshipping Huitzilopochtli. He is seen carrying his xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, which is adorned with green, red, and yellow colors.This image shows Panquetzaliztli, which is a festival that celebrates and honors Huitzilopochtli. On this day they would offer sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli, as well as make dough in the shape of the body of the deity himself. After that, the people "divided it into pieces; they put it into bowls; they filled bowls with it as if it were axin, as if were feather down… And upon the next day, the body of Huitzilopochtli died (Book 3, Folio 4r)." This Nahuatl translation was a little different than the Spanish translation because the Spanish translation brings up that "an arrow with a stone tip" gets shot in Huitzilopochtli's heart. This seems like a pretty different translation, so I found the contrasting translations very interesting. I wondered why Panquetzaliztli was interpreted differently in each language. For these reasons, Huitzilopochtli, the "Hummingbird of the Left, (Nahuatl Dictionary) was a significant figure in Aztec culture.
In Conclusion
Overall, hummingbirds or Huitzilli held great significance in Aztec culture. Hummingbirds were depicted in many scenes and text throughout the Florentine Codex, whether it was about their life cycle, the different types of hummingbirds there were their presence in various natural forms, or their significance through the principal deity, Huitzilopochtli.Works Cited
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 24r, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and spanish translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/24r Accessed 4 May 2024.
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 24v, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and spanish translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/24v Accessed 4 May 2024.
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 211r, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and spanish translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/211r?spTexts=&nhTexts= Accessed 4 May 2024.
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 62v, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and spanish translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/62v?spTexts=&nhTexts= Accessed 4 May 2024.
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 190r, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and english translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/190r?spTexts=&nhTexts= Accessed 4 May 2024.
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 3: The Origin of the Gods", fol. 4r, (Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982) nahuatl and spanish translation Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/3/folio/4r Accessed 4 May 2024.
Manuel Aguilar-Moreno (2006). Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Forward: John Pohl. New York, Facts on File. HandbookAztec.pdf
Nahuatl Dictionary https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilopochtli
Sobrevilla, Iris Montero. “Indigenous Naturalists.” Chapter. In Worlds of Natural History, edited by Helen Anne Curry, Nicholas Jardine, James Andrew Secord, and Emma C. Spary, 112–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Sobrevilla_2018.pdf
