In relation to the Mexica worship of the goddess Chicomecóatl, in the History of the Indies of New Spain, fray Diego Durán relates, “For those, in those seven days they did not eat, neither sick nor healthy, neither children, nor old, nor young men, nor any other thing, nor did they break the fast, and, on the fast, they sacrificed themselves and took blood from their ears and put it on their temples every day, at the hour of noon, all, young and old, men and women, without anyone remaining who did not bleed their ears. This blood was not to be wiped off in all those seven days, and as they put it on each day and one on top of the other, a dry crust would form there, which was a sign of penance and fasting.”
Various sharp and cutting materials and artifacts were profusely used in Mesoamerica to practice religious rituals of the utmost importance, such as sacrifice and self-sacrifice: stingray thorns; claws of animals, such as the eagle and jaguar; maguey barbs; obsidian-tipped wooden darts; obsidian and flint blades; and bone awls, such as the pair of works on which we focus our attention and whose stylistic features indicate that they form a human pair created by the same hand.
The main purpose of this type of instruments was the spilling of blood to offer it to sacred entities and to smear images, objects, and, as referred to in the quote, body parts. Humans pierced soft parts such as ears, tongue, the penis, fingers, and calves. The vital liquid was collected in paper fibers, cloth, or grass balls, which were then burned so that, in an ethereal form, i.e., as smoke, it could reach the divinities. They sought to revere them, implore favors or thank them for those received, atone for guilt, and intervene in the maintenance of the cosmic order. Often these acts were implicit in transitional rituals—such as ing from childhood to puberty—and were practiced collectively for certain festivities and dates.
An example of piercing with spikes is found in the Codex Maglibecchiano, an early colonial Nahua document from Central Mexico: pages 79a and 79r talk of a "penance" ritual dedicated to the god of death—Mictlantecuhtli. The self-sacrifice with "very sharp spikes," identifiable by their green color, is noted and illustrated in a painting. Two priests pierce their tongue and ear, and also bleed from other parts of the body previously pierced.
As part of the privileged connection with the sacred and their political functions, nobles, rulers, priests, and warriors were obliged to make bleeding sacrifices, which is alluded to in artistic representations with scarifications and the adornment with earrings, nose rings, and lip ornaments (beztoes). One of the Pre-Hispanic sources that confirms this order of ideas is the Codex Nuttall. In one of the painted scenes, a priest pierces the nose of the Mixtec ruler Ocho Venado—postrated on his throne—with a bone awl, to place a nose ring that, according to Manuel A. Hermann, recognized him as the founder of a new lineage.
Of our pair of works, the bone material and the representation of a man and a woman with closed eyes, a convention for depicting the deceased, suggest their relic character in association with a primordial or ancestral couple. A woman and a man are seen naked, standing, with high headdresses, necklace, and hands on the abdomen. Breasts with nipples identify the woman, she directs her feet outward and seems to float, while he turns them inward and rests on a base. Its material aspect, refined processing technique, and delicate appearance, with a perforation—in the headdresses—suitable to be hung in an attire, indicate that it belongs to an individual of high lineage. The excellent state of preservation of this fragile material in the form of fine objects corresponds to an intentional safeguard, probably in a mortuary trousseau. Another conjecture is its association with a third bone punch from the same collection of the Amparo Museum—recorded 1675—, engraved with the figure of a fish. It can be interpreted that they symbolize a lineage linked to that animal.
In relation to the Mexica worship of the goddess Chicomecóatl, in the History of the Indies of New Spain, fray Diego Durán relates, “For those, in those seven days they did not eat, neither sick nor healthy, neither children, nor old, nor young men, nor any other thing, nor did they break the fast, and, on the fast, they sacrificed themselves and took blood from their ears and put it on their temples every day, at the hour of noon, all, young and old, men and women, without anyone remaining who did not bleed their ears. This blood was not to be wiped off in all those seven days, and as they put it on each day and one on top of the other, a dry crust would form there, which was a sign of penance and fasting.”
Various sharp and cutting materials and artifacts were profusely used in Mesoamerica to practice religious rituals of the utmost importance, such as sacrifice and self-sacrifice: stingray thorns; claws of animals, such as the eagle and jaguar; maguey barbs; obsidian-tipped wooden darts; obsidian and flint blades; and bone awls, such as the pair of works on which we focus our attention and whose stylistic features indicate that they form a human pair created by the same hand.
The main purpose of this type of instruments was the spilling of blood to offer it to sacred entities and to smear images, objects, and, as referred to in the quote, body parts. Humans pierced soft parts such as ears, tongue, the penis, fingers, and calves. The vital liquid was collected in paper fibers, cloth, or grass balls, which were then burned so that, in an ethereal form, i.e., as smoke, it could reach the divinities. They sought to revere them, implore favors or thank them for those received, atone for guilt, and intervene in the maintenance of the cosmic order. Often these acts were implicit in transitional rituals—such as ing from childhood to puberty—and were practiced collectively for certain festivities and dates.
An example of piercing with spikes is found in the Codex Maglibecchiano, an early colonial Nahua document from Central Mexico: pages 79a and 79r talk of a "penance" ritual dedicated to the god of death—Mictlantecuhtli. The self-sacrifice with "very sharp spikes," identifiable by their green color, is noted and illustrated in a painting. Two priests pierce their tongue and ear, and also bleed from other parts of the body previously pierced.
As part of the privileged connection with the sacred and their political functions, nobles, rulers, priests, and warriors were obliged to make bleeding sacrifices, which is alluded to in artistic representations with scarifications and the adornment with earrings, nose rings, and lip ornaments (beztoes). One of the Pre-Hispanic sources that confirms this order of ideas is the Codex Nuttall. In one of the painted scenes, a priest pierces the nose of the Mixtec ruler Ocho Venado—postrated on his throne—with a bone awl, to place a nose ring that, according to Manuel A. Hermann, recognized him as the founder of a new lineage.
Of our pair of works, the bone material and the representation of a man and a woman with closed eyes, a convention for depicting the deceased, suggest their relic character in association with a primordial or ancestral couple. A woman and a man are seen naked, standing, with high headdresses, necklace, and hands on the abdomen. Breasts with nipples identify the woman, she directs her feet outward and seems to float, while he turns them inward and rests on a base. Its material aspect, refined processing technique, and delicate appearance, with a perforation—in the headdresses—suitable to be hung in an attire, indicate that it belongs to an individual of high lineage. The excellent state of preservation of this fragile material in the form of fine objects corresponds to an intentional safeguard, probably in a mortuary trousseau. Another conjecture is its association with a third bone punch from the same collection of the Amparo Museum—recorded 1675—, engraved with the figure of a fish. It can be interpreted that they symbolize a lineage linked to that animal.
