dark/light skin color differences in pre- and post-conquest Mexico

[Kier Salmon]

Bernal Diaz mentions skin color briefly.  He states that after the  
fall of Tenochtitlan when the survivors were being processed into  
slavery the conquistadores grabbed all the comely and "light skinned"  
women they could and that this was a disgraceful way to act for them.   
I also seem to recall a reference to women's makeup somewhere, that  
they put ointments of yellow on their skin in an effort to lighten the  
color.  ALl this suggests that they did have a color/skin tone  
perception linked with status.
But the lighter skinned sacrificial victim may have been smeared with  
ash.  THat I do remember is that they painted the skin of their  
sacrifices.
THe purpose, I haven't yet found a statement as to why.
Having grown up in Mexico, I can state there are color variations in  
"fully" indian villages, but I've never known if those are racial or a  
product of mestizaje.

On Apr 25, 2008, at 6:37 AM, Michael Stevenson wrote:

> Dear Listeros,
>
> Does anyone know of or have any references to
> differences of skin colors within Mexico, both in the
> pre-Conquest and immediate post-Conquest eras?
>
> I am working on a paper and it involves an image from
> the Florentine Codex (I've attached it to this email
> but am not sure whether it will make it through). It
> is on 245 verso of Volume 2 of the Florentine Codex
> and depicts people stoking the chest cavity of a
> sacrificial victim with wood, in preparation for a
> fire. The victim is light-skinned while the others are
> dark skinned.
>
> Are there any references to darker skinned people that
> anyone knows of in any pre-Conquest context? This
> illustration, of course, pre-dates casta paintings but
> does anyone have any info or references on dark vs
> light skin in the immediate post-Conquest period?
>
> Please feel free to email me directly and thanks in
> advance,
>
> Best,
>
> Michael Stevenson
>
>
>       
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