Quecholli as Macaw

[David Wright]

Jesse answered the question; I’ll throw in some additional information on the “arrow” translation.

 

The Tovar Calendar, an alphabetical-pictorial codex, reinforces the translation cited by Tom Grigsby from the Ixtlilxochitl Codex. Tovar syas: “El decimo tertio mes, quecholli, q[ue] es nombre /equivoco que significa un paxaro de pluma rica y tam / bien una hasta de guerra q[ue] la figura q[ue] aquí esta pin / tada tiene en la mano, ponen en este mes este vulto apunto / de guerra porque tenian a este por mes melancolico”. The anthropomorphic figure on the same page has a projectile in his hand, held horizontally, apparently made from a reed stalk, with a lighter-colored tapering point on one end and a small, curved attachment on the other; near the latter end are feathers.

 

The Ixtlilxochitl Codex, also alphabetical and pictorial, says “Esta fiesta llamaban quechule que quiere desir saeta que por otro nombre llaman / mitl porque en ella asian munchas saetas y con ellas y cor [sic] arcos baylaban este dia delante del de / monio que llamaban mizcoatl […]”. The anthropomorphic figure here holds in one hand a banner, a shield, two feathered projectiles, and other objects.

 

Sources:

 

Códice Ixtlilxochitl, facsímil del ms., estudios de Geert Bastiaan van Doesburg y Florencio Carrera González, Graz/México, Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt/Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996, f. 100v.

 

Tovar, Juan de, The Tovar calendar, an illustrated Mexican manuscript ca. 1585, reproduced with a commentary and handlist of sources on the Mexican 365-day year (Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 11), George Kubler y Charles Gibson, editors, New Haven, Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1951, plate 11.

 

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De: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org] En nombre de grigsby tom

Enviado el: jueves, 03 de diciembre de 2009 01:32 p.m.

Para: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org

Asunto: [Nahuat-l] Quecholli as Macaw

 

Listeros,

Can someone cite the documentation by which “Quecholli” has become “Macaw” (Hassig's Time, History and Belief ...)? Elsewhere I’ve seen “arrow” (from Codice Ixtlilxochitl), precious feather, and of course the hoary “roseate spoonbill.”

Thanks,

Tom Grigsby

 

G.S. Rakovski St., No.79 

Boboshevo, 2660 Bulgaria

GSM: 359 0899 784 081

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