These small clay pieces are commonly known as “candle holders”, although for many years we have known that they were not. Wax candles were not used in Mesoamerica; they were given that name because of the presence of circular holes that makes one think of the modern artifacts that we use to hold candles. However, its original function is not far from that of a candle holder since they were also objects related to fire and religious life.
These clay pieces were designed to hold a small ember inside, and to receive wisps of copal. The side holes allow ventilation which keeps the ember alive, at least for a while. It is not impossible that some type of tube was used to blow on those side holes and stoke the embers, which also increased the flow of the smoke. Unlike large cup-shaped braziers, and others which were like trays with a handle, these small braziers produced a small amount of smoke, were held with the fingers and were only visible to the person who held and fueled them.
These were, undoubtedly, braziers for personal or individual use with their widest side barely reaching 6 or 7 centimeters. It is likely that each person had more than one of these braziers, and it is almost certain that they were most commonly used among priests, novices and of nobility than among the general population. In the housing complex in Zacuala, one of the most luxurious in the city of Teotihuacan, and in which 60 people lived simultaneously, 551 manual braziers of this type have been found. In Tetitla, which seems to have been a kind of monastery, 5,579 manual braziers have been recovered.
I think the analogy with the Roman devotional lamps would be useful, except that among the Romans the lighting of a small flame was closely linked to ancestor worship, and in the case of Mesoamerica it seems to be an offering to the gods. Moreover, the patron gods of a neighborhood or a family were also linked to the deceased ancestors; in any case, the offering of copal was one of the most important ritual activities in Mesoamerica.
Stoking or lighting the flame of a campfire or brazier at sunrise was the first religious obligation; the aromatic copal smoke seems to have been something which was very much appreciated and needed by the gods, who in this manner, received remuneration for their enormous task of keeping the world alive and moving. It is interesting to note that different sizes and types of braziers also speak of different social dimensions of the act of presenting an offering: from the great brazier lit in public view in a square, to the small hand-piece used by an individual to perform, in an intimate setting, the daily offering.
Stoking or lighting the flame of a campfire or brazier at sunrise was the first religious obligation; the aromatic copal smoke seems to have been something which was very much appreciated and needed by the gods, who in this manner, received remuneration for their enormous task of keeping the world alive and moving. It is interesting to note that different sizes and types of braziers also speak of different social dimensions of the act of presenting an offering: from the great brazier lit in public view in a square, to the small hand-piece used by an individual to perform, in an intimate setting, the daily offering.
