tlachialoni - vision apparatus

[David Wright]

Howdy, Molly:

The tlachiyaloni (tlachiyalo:ni, tla + chiya + -lo: + -ni, "instrument for
looking", also called tlachiyaltopilli [see Sahagún 1974-1982, vol. 2, book
1, p. 30, for the variant possessor form "tlachieltopile"]) is depicted as a
precious disk with radial divisions and a central orifice, sometimes with
other elements, mounted on a handle. Certain deities (Tezcatlipoca,
Ixcozauhqui, Tlacochcalco, Yáotl, and Omácatl) were said to observe people
through their instruments for looking, and deity impersonators held them as
iconographic attributes. I haven't found its Otomí name, but wherever one
looks one finds calques for just about any cultural concept between Nahuatl
and Otomi, two language groups that participated in what was at the time of
the Spanish conquest an essentially homogenous cultural tradition.

There are six signs depicting instruments for looking in the Huamantla Map,
a large cartographic and historical manuscript from the Otomi town of
Huamantla, in eastern Tlaxcala, during the last third of the sixteenth
century: (1) the first is the object in the hand of the deity or lineage
founder seated in Mexico Tenochtitlan; the others are personal name signs,
associated with: (2) a ruler or lineage founder in one of the calpolli of
Huamantla; (3) a ruler or lineage founder near Yahualoyohcan; (4) one of the
warriors in the battle scene, centered on a "divine water, conflagration in
the fields" metaphorical sign, also near Yahualoyohcan;  (5) a man offering
a precious greenstone necklace to the triumphant Hernán Cortés; and (6) a
man offering a plucked turkey to the same conquistador (see Aguilera, 1984:
plates 8, 13, 17, 24, 25, and 36).

References in Sahagún's work are:

1974-1982: vol. 2 (book 1), f. 30; vol. 3 (book 2), plates 15, 16, 20;

1979: vol. 1, ff. 23v (book 1, chapter 13), 84v, 85r (book 2, chapter 24);

1992: pp. 116, 117, 126, 127, 146, 147, 150, 151;

1993: ff. 261r, 262v, 266r, 266v;

1997: pp. 95, 101, 110, 111, 113;

See also Wimmer's dictionary entries for tlachiyaloni, tlachiyaltopileh,
tlachiyaltopilli, and tlachiyeltopilli.

Bibliography

AGUILERA, Carmen (editor)

1984 Códice de Huamantla, facsimile, Tlaxcala, Instituto Tlaxcalteca de la
Cultura, Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala.

SAHAGÚN, Bernardino de

1974-1982 Florentine codex, general history of the things of New Spain, 1st.
ed./2nd. ed./reprint, 13 vols., Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble,
editors and translators, Santa Fe/Salt Lake City, The School of American
Research/The University of Utah.

1979 Códice florentino, facsimile, 3 vols., Mexico, Secretaría de
Gobernación.

1992 Ritos, sacerdotes y atavíos de los dioses, Miguel León-Portilla,
editor, 2nd. ed., Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

1993 Primeros memoriales, facsimile, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press.

1997 Primeros memoriales, paleography of Nahuatl text and English
translation, Thelma D. Sullivan, translator; Henry B. Nicholson, Arthur J.
O. Anderson, Charles E. Dibble, Eloise Quiñones Keber, and Wayne Ruwet,
editors, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press.

WIMMER, Alexis

n/d Dictionnaire de la langue Nahuatl classique
(http://sites.estvideo.net/malinal/nahuatl.page.html; access: Jan. 21,
2012).

Best regards,

David Wright

-----Mensaje original-----
De: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
En nombre de Molly Harbour Bassett
Enviado el: viernes, 20 de enero de 2012 16:02
Para: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: [Nahuat-l] tlachialoni - vision apparatus

Hi all,

I've been reading about tlaquimilolli (sacred bundles) and came across a
reference to tlachialoni, a "vision apparatus" in Olivier's contribution to
_Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey through the Mapa de
Cuauhtinchan No. 2_. He points out a tlachialoni in order to help the reader
locate a mountain containing a bundle of sticks (in map section D8). Olivier
argues that the bundle is related to Omacatl, who "is depicted holding a
tlachialoni and seated on a bundle of sticks in the _Primeros memoriales_
and in the Florentine" (289).

I'd love to know more about tlachialoni. Can anyone point me to some
sources?

Best,
Molly


------------------------------------------------
Molly Bassett
Assistant Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Religious Studies
Georgia State University

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