Nahua Moon Connections and Fables
To the Nahua people, the moon was a being that changed with the phases. Through the moon's growth, there came with it different attributes associated with it. In book 7 of the Digital Florentine Codex, the Nahua people describe the moon's growth from a “small bow” to a “round and disc-shaped” object (Book 7, Folio 2r). Within this description, the moon was said to be very pale and white and could shine “like daytime.” The brightness of the moon described here is represented in the image from the Florentine Codex with a bright white crescent moon with the personification of the androgynous moon person. As is described by the Aztec Handbook, the sun and the planet Venus were said to be the most important celestial bodies and were, therefore, perceived as masculine (Aztec Handbook, pg 139). On the other hand, the moon and the Earth were perceived as both masculine and feminine. These distinctions of gender are important to consider when thinking about the connotations they have in a cultural context.
While the sun had many celebrations and positive cultural connections for the Nahua, the moon was said to imitate the sun and was believed to be a coward. To the Nahau people, the cycles of the moon had a deeper significance than what we have today and was said to have “a recurrent cycle of birth, growth, plenitude, decay, and death (Aztec Handbook, pg 309).” These symbols carry on throughout the culture and provide deeper connections to the celebrations of the sun and the meanings behind the connections to less revered beings. During the moon’s natural day cycle, the Nahua saw the moon in two different main states: sueño meaning sleeping, or desvelo meaning sleepnessless (Aztec Handbook, pg 309). To us today, we know that this is simply correlating to the time of day. However to the Nahau, this was a cycle that lent itself to the symbolizing of the fight between the sun and the moon. The moon’s cycle was further studied in the context of meteorological indicators. By studying the moon’s appearance, the Nahau could determine different weather or omen indications. For example, the Nahau knew that if there was a red moon, that meant there would be heat or a dry temperature; another example would be the many-colored rings that sometimes showed to indicate “good faith; birth of animals and people; good time for commencing activities (Aztec Handbook pg 309).” Through these symbols and representations of the moon, the Nahau people formed other myths and fables to gather further meaning as to what the sun and moon could mean to them as a cultural group.
Fables of the Moon Lead to Negative Omens
Continuing on with the moon’s growth and cycle, towards the end of the cycle the Nahau describe this phase as the death of the moon (Book 7, Folio 2v). This term is used to describe the setting of the moon to bring a new day with the sun. This would be the time of the moon’s slumber. Along with these descriptions of the moon's phases, the Nahua talk about the sun's and moon's origin in a different fable of the rabbit and the moon. As is depicted in the image from the Digital Florentine Codex, the moon is shown with a rabbit in the middle instead of the earlier depiction of the person inside it. This particular imagery of the rabbit inside the moon is a more common depiction that the Nahua were said to use to symbolize the moon because of the fable.
In the Nahua culture, there were said to be new suns being made throughout their history. In this fable of the rabbit on the moon, the Nahua describe the process the gods took to create a new sun and moon. When the sun had set and there wasn’t any sun or moon, the gods had gathered at Teotihuacan and discussed who would become the sun and the moon. From here, two gods volunteered to sacrifice themselves in the fire to ascend to become the sun and the moon. The god who jumped first became the sun and the god who jumped second became the moon since he was more fearful of the sacrifice. When the moon was formed, one of the gods then threw a rabbit at the moon so as to make it not as bright as the sun. The rabbit was then emblazoned onto the moon, which was then seen by many other generations to come (Aztec Handbook, pg 140). From this fable, we can see that the depictions of the rabbit on the moon held cultural importance to the Nahau, connecting to the origins of the sun and the moon. From this same fable came the importance of blood sacrifices to the sun to ensure its movement throughout the day. Because of the cowardly performance of the second god who became the moon, the moon continued to be associated with fear and cowardice to produce generally negative omens.
One particularly bad omen was considered to be the eclipse. With the sun representing goodness and life, the covering of the moon was believed to produce evil. Women who were pregnant feared that their children might be turned into mice or be born with no lips (Book 7, Folio 7r). Many of the effects were thought to result in deformities of unborn children. This link between astrology and omens continues throughout other tellings of the sun and the stars. The connections to the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui also produced negative omens that carried on throughout her own depictions. Coyolxauhqui was normally used instead of depicting the actual moon when worshipping the moon or representing it in their culture.
Coyolxauhqui: The Moon Goddess
With many of the gods, goddesses, and deities within Nahua culture, a certain connection is identified by their dress that provides a deeper meaning to their society. Coyolxauhqui is also called the Moon Goddess or She of the Bells on the Cheeks. Due to her mytholigical origins told throughout Nahua history, she is also associated with serpents that sometimes take the place of sacrificial blood. This visual of the “blood snakes” is most likely in reference to the feeding of the gods with blood sacrifice (Aztec Handbook, pg 194). Often depicted with bells carved on her cheeks, the physical representations of Coyolxauhqui provide more context as to what she symbolized within their culture. Many of the stone statues or sculptures show only pieces of Coyolxauhqui’s body or a dismembered form of her to represent her defeat at the hands of her brother Huitzilopochtli, the sun and war deity of the Nahua. This legend of the two gods became of great importance in relation to sacrifices and the celebrations of the gods. Coyolxauhqui’s dismembering serves as a symbol of her moon goddess status and her connections to “femininity and the ‘mutilations’ of the phases of the Moon” (Aztec Handbook, pg 193). Her likeness was carved into several sculptures and placed at the bottom of the main temple to serve as a reminder of the meaning of sacrifice to the gods. The ritual sacrifice of throwing people down the stairs was said to be a symbolic representation of Coyolxauhqui’s first sacrifice.
Another angle to consider with this repeated symbolism of female sacrifice is one brought up by Caroline Dodds in her writing on the place of gender and power in Aztec society (Dodds, 2007). Going back to our original discussion on the gendering of the moon as both masculine and feminine, we can think about how the representation of Coyolxauhqui as the moon goddess leads to a clearer picture of the gendering of the sun and the moon. Depictions of the female figure of Coyolxauhqui show a shameful woman in a state of defeat that could be interpreted as what happens to women who don’t stay in their place within society. The moon is symbolized in the Digital Florentine Codex, often with an androgynous face, but is still associated with femininity and negative connotations. Many of the connotations with Coyolxauhqui overlap with those of the phases of the moon. On the other hand, the sun is always depicted and described as strong and powerful. These distinctions are also clear to see in other pieces in the Digital Florentine Codex, where the sun glyph is used in shows of power or triumph, while the moon glyph is used in more humble situations when used at all. Throughout all of the fables and descriptions of gods, goddesses, and deities, it’s clear that the Nahua people took great care in representing them with their cultural importance. The cultural connections to different aspects of their societies provide a rich and interesting history.
Conclusion
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