r/mesoamerica • u/WingsovDeth • 3d ago
Aztec brazier with Nappateuctli image
Here is what is believed to be a 16th century brazier with an incredible full body image representing Nappateuctli, one of the tlaloque or “tlalocs”--beings who assist the god Tlaloc in the creation of rain and thunder necessary for the germination of life and sustenance on earth. It was found in the 1990s in Tlahuac, south of what was Tenochtitlan between Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, with three other braziers representing Tlaloc, Xilolen, and Chicomecatl. All deities of fertility and vegetation. Their precise context—whether they were imperial or provincial—is unknown.
As he was the one who caused reeds, rushes, and canes to sprout, Nappateuctli was also the patron of craftsman who relied on these plants to make chairs and mats. During the festival of Tepeilhuitl, a slave adorned as the god would sprinkle water on passersby with a willow branch, and was entreated for favors before being sacrificed at midnight.
An early colonial document known as La Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, which could have been compiled from missionary field notes, sheds some light on the connection between his name, “Lord of the Four Directions”, and the rains:
Of this god of water [Tlaloc] it was said that he had his dwelling of four apartments, in the middle of which was a large courtyard, where stood four large earthen pans full of water. In one of these pans the water was excellent, and from it the rain fell which nourished all manner of corn and seeds and grain, and which ripened things in good season; from the second rained bad water from which fell cobwebs on the crops, and blight and mildew ensued;" from another fell ice and sleet; when from the fourth rain fell nothing matured or dried.
Being questioned as to the matter of thunder and lightning, they said
that the Water-god had many subjects made by him, who carried each one
an earthen [piggy bank] and a rod, and that from these earthen vessels
they cast down the rain, and that the thunder was when they struck the
vessels with their rods, and that the lightning flashed from these vessels.
In the Codex Borgia, Tlaloc also appears within the four quadrants and center of plates 27-28 showing the fortunate and destructive effects of rain on crops. Within the Spanish text of the Florentine Codex, its editor Bernadino de Sahagun also describes four temples dedicated to the rain gods called ayauhcalli or “house of mist.”
These houses were oriented toward the four corners of the world: one to the east, another to the north, another to the west, and another to the south.
Likewise, in a prayer for rain a priest was said to exclaim
I call out, I cry out to ye who occupy the four quarters…Water the earth, for the earth, the living creatures, the herbs, the stalks remain watching, remain crying out, for all remain trusting.
Therefore it was said that when rain came, "the Tlalocs descend" and the priests who offered fragrant incense to these gods did so at the same time in imitation of their power to create the rain clouds.
Images of the Aztec’s gods were often fashioned out of a generic carving or mold onto which their intrinsic qualities were communicated through clothing, of which paint could be considered in some cases, their facial features, and calendar names.
In his early research for what became the Historia general de las cosas de nueva España, preserved today in the Florentine Codex, Sahagun compiled a list of deities and their garments to be able to better identify them in his fight against idolatry. The paintings that accompanied this list also became the prototypes used for several scenes of gods in the more Europeanized drawings of the Florentine Codex. Although this information was collected further away from Tlahuac and Tenochtitlan, aided by artists who may not have had first-hand knowledge of what they painted, similarities can be found with the brazier and figures from other painted manuscripts.
For example, his āmacalli (paper crown), amacuexpalli (paper neck fan), maxtlatl (breechcloth), atlacueçonãchimal (water lily shield), cactli (sandals), and oztopilli (reed staff) can all be found on the brazier, in Shagun’s images, as well as on figures in the Codex Borbonicus which scholars also identify as Nappateuctli.
Not listed but visible are his paper sash, the āmaneahpāntli , the quetzalmiahuayo or feather headdress, and balls of chia seeds, which are embedded on the brazier’s crown rather than on his checks. The Black coloring which apparently symbolized rubber is no longer visible but once coated the god’s body and appeared on his paper clothing and flags (āmatētehuitl) as splashes of rain drops.
For actual rituals, a custodian or teohua was assigned to procure or craft the materials used to dress each god. The mask of Tlaloc covering his eyes and forehead is not written of specifically but can also be seen on the clothing of priests in the Borbonicus.
Like many pre-Hispanic artworks, these figures are not actually the gods themselves but their representations or manufactured images (teixiptlahuan). Along with the extant statues of Xipe Topec in flayed skin, they are among the most lifelike depictions of what Aztec priests or sacrificial victims could have actually looked like
The beautiful backs of the braziers portray clouds of incense smoke and fire emerging from the top with precious stones falling to the sides, which can also signify rain drops. Because smoke and speech were represented graphically in such a similar way, it is also interesting to find the figures on each brazier with their mouths parted as though they are speaking or singing.
