Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-w79xw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-15T15:24:47.379Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SOME REMARKS ON THE TEPONAZCUICATL OF THE PRE-HISPANIC NAHUA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2016

Agnieszka Brylak
Agnieszka Brylak*
Affiliation:
Institute of Iberian and Iberoamerican Studies, University of Warsaw, ul. Oboźna 8, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland
*
E-mail correspondence to: a.brylak@uw.edu.pl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to use the example of one type of pre-Hispanic Nahua song, the teponazcuicatl, or “log-drum song,” to present the problems that arise in the classification of preconquest Nahua verbal art identified by sixteenth century Europeans according to Western criteria of categorization as songs, poetry, or the verbal component of performances. A close examination of this genre, focused on its relationship with performance and, particularly, with pre-Hispanic theater, provides insights into how sixteenth century scribes' interpretation of Nahua oral discourse and the graphic arrangement of the alphabetically transcribed text influenced in the way Nahua culture and discourse are perceived.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Fall 2016 , pp. 429 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acuña, René 1975 Introducción al estudio del Rabinal Achí. Centro de Estudios Mayas, Cuaderno 12. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Aracil Varón, Beatriz 1999 El teatro evangelizador. Sociedad, cultura e ideología en la Nueva España del siglo XVI. Bulzoni, Roma.Google Scholar
Arrellano, José Eduardo 1991 El Güegüence: Obra de teatro representativa de la Nicaragua colonial. Anales de literatura hispanoamericana 20:55–63.Google Scholar
Arróniz, Othón 1979 Teatro de evangelización en Nueva España. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Aubin, Jean Marie A. 2002 Memorias sobre la pintura didáctica y la escritura figurativa de los antiguos mexicanos. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Basseta, Domingo de 2005 [1698] Vocabulario de lengua quiché. Edited by Acuña, René. Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Baudot, Georges 1976 Les Lettres précolombiennes. Privat, Toulouse.Google Scholar
Berdan, Frances F., and Anawalt, Patricia Rieff 1970 The Essential Codex Mendoza. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Bierhorst, John (editor) 1985 Cantares Mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Both, Arnd Adje 2005 Music and Religion in Mesoamerica. In Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 9, edited by Jones, Lindsay, pp. 6269–6270. Macmillan, Detroit.Google Scholar
Both, Arnd Adje 2007 Aztec Music Culture. The World of Music 49:91–104.Google Scholar
Breton, Alain (editor) 1999 Rabinal achi. Un drama dinástico maya del siglo XV. Translated by Martínez, Jorge Mario. Centro Francés de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos, Mexico City and Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Burkhart, Louise M. 1996 Holy Wednesday. A Nahua Drama from Early Colonial Mexico. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Ciudad Real, Antonio de 2001 Calepino de Motul. Edited by Acuña, René. Plaza y Valdés editores, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clavijero, Francisco Javier 1974 [1770] Historia antigua de México. Editorial Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Craveri, Michela 2004 El arte verbal k'iche’. Las funciones poeticas de los textos rituales mayas contemporaneos. Praxis, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Craveri, Michela 2013 Popol Vuh: Herramientas para una lectura crítica del texto quiché. Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Durán, Fray Diego 2006 [1587] Historia de las Indias de la Nueva España e Islas de la Tierra Firme. 2 vols. Editorial Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Fernández, Justino 1959 Una aproximación a Xochipilli. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 1:31–41.Google Scholar
Garibay K., Ángel María 1958 Veinte himnos sacros de los nahuas. UNAM-IIH, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Garibay K., Ángel María 1965 Poesía Náhuatl II. Cantares Mexicanos. Manuscrito de la Biblioteca Nacional de México. Segunda parte. Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Garibay K., Ángel María 2007 [1953–1954] Historia de la literatura náhuatl. Editorial Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Haly, Richard 1986 Poetics of the Aztecs. New Scholar 10:85–133.Google Scholar
Harris, Max 2001 Drama. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America, Vol. 1, edited by Carrasco, Davíd, pp. 333–337. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Histoyre du Méchique 1997 Histoyre du Méchique. In Mitos e historias de los antiguos nahuas, edited and translated by Tena, Rafael, pp. 124–165. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando de Alva 1975 [1600–1640] Obras históricas. 2 vols. Edited by O'Gorman, Edmundo. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Johansson, Patrick 1992 Teatro Mexicano, Historia y Dramaturgia, Vol.1: Festejos, ritos propiciatorios y rituales prehispánicos. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Johansson, Patrick 1997 La fecundación del hombre en el Mictlan y el origen de la vida breve. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 27:69–88.Google Scholar
Karttunen, Frances, and Lockhart, James 1980 La estructura de la poesía náhuatl vista por sus variantes. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 14:15–64.Google Scholar
Kellogg, Susan 1997 From Parallel and Equivalent to Separate but Unequal: Tenochca Mexica Women, 1500–1700. In Indian Women of Early Mexico, edited by Schroeder, Susan, Wood, Stephanie, and Haskett, Robert Stephen, pp. 123–143. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Lee, Jongsoo 2004 Nezahualcoyotl and the Notion of Individual Authorship in Nahuatl Poetry. Confluencia 20:73–86.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel 1983 Cuicatl y tlahtolli: Las formas de expresión en náhuatl. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 16:13–108.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel 1994 Quince poetas del mundo náhuatl. Diana, Mexico City.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel (editor) 2002 Cantos y crónicas del México antiguo. Dastin, Madrid.Google Scholar
León-Portilla, Miguel 2011 Cantares mexicanos. 3 vols. Paleography, translation, and notes by Portilla, Miguel León, Galeana, Librado Silva, Baranda, Francisco Morales, and Equiguas, Salvador Reyes. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Lockhart, James 1992 The Nahuas After the Conquest. A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Mendieta, fray Gerónimo de 2002 [1597] Historia eclesiástica indiana. 2 vols. Edited by García, Antonio Rubial. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Mignolo, Walter D. 2003 The Darker Side of the Renaissance. Literacy, Territoriality and Colonization, University of Michigan Press, Michigan.Google Scholar
Mikulska, Katarzyna 2015 Tejiendo destinos. Un acercamiento al sistema de comunicación gráfica en los códices adivinatorios. El Colegio Mexiquense, Toluca.Google Scholar
Molina, fray Alonso de 1992 [1555–1571] Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana. Editorial Porrúa, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Nicholson, Henry B. 1971 Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico. In Handbook of Middle American Indians: Vol. 10, Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part 1, edited by Eckholm, Gordon F. and Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 395–446. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Ong, Walter J. 1982 Orality and Literacy. The Technologizing of the Word. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Partida, Armando 1992 Teatro Mexicano, Historia y dramaturgia, Vol. II:Teatro de evangelización en náhuatl. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Payàs, Gertrudis 2004 Translation in Historiography: The Garibay/León-Portilla Complex and the Making of a Pre-Hispanic Past. Meta: Translators' Journal 49:544–561.Google Scholar
Pérez de Ribas, Andrés 1944 [1645] Historia de los triunfos de nuestra santa fe entre gentes las más bárbaras y fieras del nuevo orbe. 3 vols. Editorial Layac, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Poole, Stafford 2006 The Virgin of Guadalupe in Two Nahuatl Dramas. In Nahuatl Theater: Our Lady of Guadalupe, edited by Sell, Barry D., Burkhart, Louise M., and Poole, Stafford, pp. 3–29. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Pomar, Juan Bautista 1991 [1582] Relación de Tezcoco. In Relaciones de la Nueva España, edited by Vázquez, Germán, pp. 19–99. Historia 16, Madrid.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1961 Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain: Book 10, The People. Translated by Anderson, Arthur J. O. and Dibble, Charles E.. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah Press, Santa Fe and Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1963 Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain: Book 11, Earthly Things. Translated by Anderson, Arthur J. O. and Dibble, Charles E.. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1979 Códice Florentino (Testimonios de los informantes de Sahagún). 3 vols. Facsímil elaborado por el gobierno de la República Mexicana. Giunte Barbera, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1981a Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain: Book 2, The Ceremonies. Translated by Arthur Anderson, J. O. and Dibble, Charles E.. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Sahagún, Fray Bernardino de 1981b Florentine Codex, General History of the Things of New Spain: Books 4 and 5, The Soothsayers, the Omens. Translated by Arthur Anderson, J. O. and Dibble, Charles E.. School of American Research, Santa Fe, and University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Segala, Amos 1990 Literatura náhuatl: Fuentes, identidades, representaciones. Translated by Mansour, Mónica. Editorial Grijalbo, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Sell, Barry D., Burkhart, Louise M., Spira, Gregory, and León-Portilla, Miguel (editors) 2004 Nahuatl Theater, Volume I: Death and Life in Colonial Nahua Mexico. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Sell, Barry D., Burkhart, Louise M., and Wright, Elizabeth R. (editors) 2008 Nahuatl Theater: Spanish Golden Age Drama in Mexican Translation. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Robert 1968 Music in Aztec & Inca Territory. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Stresser-Péan, Guy 2009 The Sun God and the Savior. The Christianization of the Nahua and Totonac in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, México. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Szoblik, Katarzyna 2016 Entre los papeles de ocelote entono mis cantos, yo Quetzalpetlatzin. El lugar de la mujer dentro de la oralidad nahua. Centro de Estudios de Antropología de Mujer, Mexico City, and Akademia Techniczno-Humanistyczna, Bielsko-Biala.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1996 Popol Vuh. The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 2003 [1856] Rabinal Achi: A Mayan drama of war and sacrifice. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Tezozomoc, Fernando de Alvarado 1997 [1598] Crónica mexicana. Edited by Migoyo, Gonzalo Díaz and Chamorro, German Vázquez. Historia 16, Madrid.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, Gary 2007 The Singing of the New World. Indigenous Voice in the Era of European Contact. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Truitt, Jonathan 2010 Adopted Pedagogies: Nahua Incorporation of European Music and Theater in Colonial Mexico City. The Americas 66:311–330.Google Scholar
Turrent, Lourdes 1993 La conquista musical de México. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Zumthor, Paul 1983 Introduction à la poésie orale. Éditions du seuil, Paris.Google Scholar