INTRODUCTION
The title of the this article makes reference to myth and history, which are two modes of transmitting knowledge of the world and memory of the past found in Colonial sources from the Basin of Mexico. There are probably as many definitions of myth as scholars who have tried to define it (Eliade Reference Eliade1949; Lévi-Strauss Reference Lévi-Strauss1962; Barthes Reference Barthes1957, among others) but there is still no single definition satisfactory to all. For the purposes of this work, I define “myth” as a sacred narrative, considered truthful by the society in which it is told, with deities, animals, or cultural heroes as the main characters. As López Austin (Reference López Austin1996:47) points out, this alternative mythical reality is in fact timeless. Myth is not a story that took place long ago but is something that simply exists and can occasionally influence the time and space in which humans live. The perpetual presence of divine actions is visible in the cycles of nature and is particularly expressed in ritual practices. What is more, myths can provide archetypical models for different social roles, justify the ruling order, and explain religious beliefs within and for a given community. That is why, especially in traditional societies, history, understood as the narration of past events, can become influenced by rules governing the alternative and timeless reality of myth. In such societies, classified by Lévi-Strauss (Reference Lévi-Strauss1962) as “cold” ones, the collective memory of the past takes the form of narrations of the events that for some reason were meaningful for a given group, reinforcing its unity persistence. These events could have had historical origins, but then were modified according to overriding ideological models in order to perform a normative and formative role, characteristic for sacred stories (Assmann Reference Assmann and Kryczyńska-Pham2008:91–93).
Traces of this blending of historical and mythical realities can be found in various central Mexican Colonial chronicles and treatises written in the Latin alphabet by missionaries and descendants of the ancient indigenous aristocracy. As Severi (Reference Severi2012:466) points out:
social memory in many Amerindian societies is based neither on a process analogous to alphabetic writing nor on some vaguely defined “oral” tradition. Instead, it depends on graphic mnemonic devices whose primary role is to describe the relationship between a relatively stable iconographic set and a rigorously structured use of ritual language.
Thus, in many cases the information presented in these works came from oral interpretations strictly related to the graphic component of the codices. These colonial chronicles usually aspire to the title of “historical sources” due to the attempts they make at recording all the past events that took place in the Basin of Mexico, as well as re-creating the genealogies of the ruling lineages of the most influential city-states of the region. Yet, apart from these clearly historical data, the codices contain a number of stories that, although at first glance seem to concern “historical facts,” are transformed into “model” or schematized narratives according to certain narrative patterns originating in mythical reality, consequently reflecting the ideas and beliefs of the community. In this way, past events and the changes they brought to political, social, or cultural life can be explained and legitimized in the light of the transcendental truth of myth.
Chinchilla Mazariegos (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011) and Umberger (Reference Umberger2007) expertly demonstrate how Mesoamerican cosmogonic myths merged with the historical event of the conquest of Tlatelolco by Mexico Tenochtitlan. Battcock (Reference Battcock2009:215–234) analyzes a similar subject, the representations and symbolical aspects of distinct narrations of the death of Maxtla, while the authors of the book El héroe entre el mito y la historia (Navarette Linares and Olivier Reference Navarrete Linares and Olivier2000) deal with similar processes for other famous Mesoamerican personalities such as Nezahualcoyotl (Lesbre Reference Lesbre, Linares and Olivier2000:21–55) or Tlahuicole (Graulich Reference Graulich, Linares and Olivier2000a:89–99).
The aim of the present article is to approach the different contexts in which a female character named Chalchiuhnenetzin appears in Mesoamerican sources in order to highlight certain conceptual similarities in her role in the narratives. Because two of these contexts are related to military conflicts between Tenochtitlan and neighboring cities (Tlatelolco and Tetzcoco) and Chalchiuhnenetzin appears as a relative of Axayacatl, the Tenochca ruler, in both cases, Chinchilla Mazariegos (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011:99) asks: “Did Axayacatl have two daughters of the same name, or was it just a name associated with dangerous women who, as primitive ogresses, were able to destroy those who fall into their arms?” (“¿Tenía Axayácatl dos hijas con el mismo nombre, o es este un nombre que se asocia con mujeres terribles, que, como las ogresas primigenias, destruyen a quienes caen en sus brazos?”; my translation). In other words, the question is: are the two characters with this name historical figures or are they instead impersonators from an atemporal mythical reality? The analysis that follows is intended to answer this question.
CHALCHIUHNENETZIN IN THE COLONIAL HISTORICAL SOURCES
The name Chalchiuhnenetzin is in fact a compound noun formed of three elements: chalchiuh-nene-tzin. The first one comes from chalchihuitl, translated usually as “jade” (Molina Reference Molina1992:vol. II, f. 19r) or “precious stone” (Rincón Reference Rincón1885:f. 75). In compounds, it is generally used to express the preciousness of the thing or person described. In the online Gran Diccionario Náhuatl (2012), which presents translations of Nahuatl terms provided by different dictionaries, there also appears another translation, “the perforated one” (Durán Reference Durán1967:vol. I, p. 81). Although in this case the main point of reference is the way in which jade was prepared to be beaded on strings with which different statues of gods were then decorated (e.g., the statue of Tlaloc; Durán Reference Durán1967:vol. I, p. 81), taking into consideration the symbolic correspondence between jade and female sexual organs in Nahua metaphorical language, this could be also a symbolic allusion to the role played by the women called Chalchiuhnenetzin in the warfare and political life of the Basin.
The main noun, nenetl, is translated by Molina (Reference Molina1992:vol. II, f. 68r) as “feminine intimate member or child's doll,” and the whole compound appears with the -tzin reverential suffix. Thus, the meaning of this name would be “Honorable Jade/Precious Vulva,” “Honorable Jade/Precious Doll,” and possibly “Honorable Perforated Vulva,” in all cases referring to feminine sexuality, which perfectly corresponds with the contexts in which the protagonists of this name appear.
There are two stories in which Chalchiuhnenetzin is one of the main characters: the first one concerns the conquest of Tlatelolco by Tenochtitlan in 1473, and the second is dedicated to the justice served by the Tetzcoca ruler, Nezahualpilli, to his adulterous wife. Finally, it should be mentioned that a character called Chalchiuhnenetzin also appears in the Nahua songs collected in the manuscript of the Cantares mexicanos, an analysis of which can shed more light on the problem.
Moquihuixtli of Tlatelolco and Axayacatl's Elder Sister
The military confrontation that took place in 1473 between the two Mexica city-states of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco appears to have been only a culminating moment in a long story of mutual dependence and hostility. Bueno Bravo (Reference Bueno Bravo2005:133–140), in her paper dedicated to the history of the political and economic relations between these two cities, emphasizes that the origin of the conflict could be traced far into the past. As Vansina (Reference Vansina1985:23) explains, the narration of the past in the oral tradition has two basic modi memorandi: the communicative memory of the most recent past that can be reported by the people who witnessed it, and the cultural memory focused on the foundational times, which is expressed by mythical narratives. Between them, there is a so-called “floating gap,” a break with little or no information on the events that took place. According to one of these narratives, during the period of tribal migrations, both groups got separated after quarreling over two mysterious bundles they had found on their way. The Tlatelolca chose the bundle with a great precious stone, while the Tenochca opted for the bundle with two wooden sticks, which turned out to be the real treasure, for they made it possible to ignite fire (Torquemada Reference Torquemada and León-Portilla1975:vol. I, bk. II, ch. II, pp. 79–80). According to Graulich (Reference Graulich2000b:92), this incident, narrated as a part of the Tenochca version of the history of the Basin of Mexico, symbolically constituted Tenochtitlan as the city directly related to the Sun, providing the basis for its hegemony in the region. At the same time, this version associated Tlatelolco with the Moon, or False Sun, which meant it was doomed to be defeated at the dawn. This division resonates perfectly with the explanation of the symbolic aspects of the war between the two cities made by Chinchilla Mazariegos (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011), who emphasizes the importance of the hour, precisely at dawn, when the confrontation between Axayacatl and Moquihuixtli took place. The battle between the two Mexica rulers may thus be interpreted as a repetition of the myth of the birth of Huitzilopochtli, the Sun, on top of the mountain Coatepec, where he first had to defeat his sister, Coyolxauhqui, the Moon, to proclaim his rule over the world (Umberger Reference Umberger2007:11–29).What is more, there are many other myths present in different Mesoamerican communities, which in slightly different versions recount the same story of the destruction of a monstrous creature who was trying to shadow the light of the Sun and so claim its power (Chinchilla Mazariegos Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011:82–84).
On the other hand, according to Heyden (Reference Heyden1988:46), the aforementioned migration-time conflict was a mythical explanation of the Tlatelolca involvement in commercial affairs, which made them famous as preeminent merchants, with the marketplace of Tlatelolco becoming extremely attractive for all neighboring cities. Moreover, as (Bueno Bravo (Reference Bueno Bravo2005:136–137) points out, during the Tepaneca domination in the Basin it was Tlatelolco that had better economic and political contacts with Azcapotzalco rulers and then, during the war against the Tepaneca hegemony, it was only owing to Tlatelolca resources that enough warriors could have been equipped to give the rebels their victory. Yet, when the new order was established, with the power held by the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan, Tlatelolco was cast aside, which could have generated resentment. Tlatelolco maintained importance, however, in terms of commercial control and for years benefited from the conquests of the Triple Alliance. The situation changed with the death of two of the principal tlatoque of the region: Motecuzoma Ilhuicamina of Tenochtitlan and, some time later, Nezahualcoyotl of Tetzcoco. The Tenochca throne was given to Axayacatl against the will of some of the aristocracy, while Nezahualpilli, then only a child, succeeded to rulership in Tetzcoco. Thus, it seemed a perfect moment for Moquihuixtli, the Tlatelolca ruler, to attempt to take over the hegemony in the region (Umberger Reference Umberger2007:12).
Nevertheless, the reasons for the conflict provided by modern historians are completely different from those indicated by the Colonial sources. In most of these Colonial versions of the story, Chalchiuhnenetzin, an Aztec princess, played a crucial role. Probably the most famous is the narration provided in the Crónica mexicayotl (Alvarado Tezozomoc Reference Alvarado Tezozomoc and León1949:116–119). According to this narrative, Chalchiuhnenetzin, an elder sister (ihueltihuatzin) of Axayacatl of Tenochtitlan, was sent to Tlatelolco to be married to the ruler Moquihuixtli. Unfortunately, as the princess was neither beautiful nor sexually attractive, not to mention her smelly teeth, Moquihuixtli paid no attention to her, making love only to his concubines. As the narration reports, it was precisely because of Chalchiuhnenetzin's complaint of her matrimonial frustrations that Axayacatl decided to begin the war which destroyed Tlatelolco. Moquihuixtli's wife, though not always mentioned by name, is among other sources reporting on this conflict, appearing in the Anales de Cuauhtitlan (f. 55), Crónica mexicana (Alvarado Tezozomoc Reference Alvarado Tezozomoc, Migoyo and Chamorro2001:199–201), Codex Cozcatzin (Barlow Reference Barlow, Monjarás-Ruiz and Limón1989:78), Historia de las indias (Durán Reference Durán1967:vol. II, ch. XXXIII, pp. 256–259), and Monarquía indiana (Torquemada Reference Torquemada and León-Portilla1975:vol. I, bk. II, ch. LVIII, pp. 176–180).
In all of the narratives, the reasons for the conflict as well as Chalchiuhnenetzin's role in it are different depending on the perspective of the author. The account by Torquemada (Reference Torquemada and León-Portilla1975:vol. I, bk. II, ch. LVIII, pp. 176–180) seems the most restrained in the sense that he mentions only some tensions between Moquihuixtli and his wife, probably caused by the dissolute life of the tlatoani, which induced Chalchiuhnenetzin to abandon the house of her spouse and move back to her brother's court in Tenochtitlan. Yet, according to Torquemada, the true reason for the conflict between the two cities was Moquihuixtli's arrogance and desire to conquer Tenochtitlan, for which he asked for military help from the rulers of Chalco, Tenayuca, Xochimilco, and Xilotepec. The role of Chalchiuhnenetzin in this conflict was to report these military arrangements to Axayacatl. Both the Crónica mexicayotl and the Anales de Cuauhtitlan generally seem to support this information. The stories about the matrimonial relations between Moquihuixtli and Chalchiuhnenetzin, however, are enriched with some spicy details. Both accounts present the Tlatelolca tlatoani as a vice-ridden man with a sexually disordered life, which seems to be the basic reason for the conflict with Tenochtitlan and would also be a metaphorical explanation for his failure (Graulich Reference Graulich, Linares and Olivier2000a:89–99, Reference Graulich2000b:77–94). His passion for women is similar to that of Huemac, the mythical last tlatoani of Tollan (Berlin et al. Reference Berlin, Rendón and Kirchoff1947:68–70), whose power was brought to an end as a result of his unrestrained sexual desires. The immoderate sexual life of Moquihuixtli makes him symbolically a lunar hero, doomed to be defeated by the impersonator of the Sun, in this case Axayacatl, who with his victory shall introduce proper order in place of the former chaos. There is little mention of political aspirations of Moquihuixtli to take over the throne of Tenochtitlan, yet he must have made some arrangements, for both the Crónica mexicayotl and the Anales de Cuauhtitlan report that Chalchiuhnenetzin, disappointed with her marriage, gave an account of her husband's military plans to Axayacatl.
The versions of this story provided by the authors whose works have been based on the lost Crónica X, that is, Durán's Historia de las indias and Tezozomoc's Crónica mexicana, are far richer in information on the increasing animosity between Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco, mentioning the sexual abuses of the Tlatelolca women by the Tenochca youths, as well as the destruction of the Tlatelolco irrigation canal by the Tenochca. It was in response to these actions that Moquihuixtli, following the advice of one of his nobles, Teconal, decided to prepare a military offensive against Tenochtitlan. Both sources also report different omens that accompanied these preparations and clearly indicated Tlatelolco's impending failure, such as the trills of dead birds or errors committed by Tlatelolca warriors during war chants. One of these signs, mentioned also in the Anales de Cuauhtitlan, was the prophecy given by Chalchiuhnenetzin's vagina. According to these sources, it complained to her, asking: “What should be of me tomorrow at this time!” (“¡y qué sera de mí mañana a estas horas!”; Durán Reference Durán1967:vol. 2, ch. XXXIII, p. 256, my translation), “O Mother, I would like to be in bed, when this city of Tlatelolco gets destroyed!” (“¡Madre mía, querría estar acostada, cuando este pueblo esté desbaratado y roto Tlatelulco!”; Alvarado Tezozomoc Reference Alvarado Tezozomoc, Migoyo and Chamorro2001:199, my translation), “Why are you so mournful, Moquihuix? Why have you abandoned the city? It won't last until dawn” (“¿Por que estás afligido, Moquihuix? Por qué has abandonado la ciudad? Nunca será, nunca amanecerá”; Anales de Cuauhtitlan, f. 55, my translation). As Durán (Reference Durán1967:vol. II, ch. XXXIII, pp. 256–259) relates, the lady presented her doubts and anxieties to her husband, asking him not to start the war against Tenochtitlan, and only when her pleas were left unheeded did she decide to go to Axayacatl to reveal Tlatelolco's plans for war.
Finally, the Histoire de los mexicanos por sus pinturas (Reference Garibay Kintana2005:72–73) also mentions Chalchiuhnenetzin as the main reason for the conflict, reporting that:
When in Mexico there was ruling Axayacatl, in Tlatelolco was ruling Moquihuitzin, the brother of the former, he lived thirteen years and was married to Axayacatzin's sister and it was because of her that the war between them started, as she reported in Mexico that her husband was saying that he had been the brave man who won those of Cotasta and those of Mexico, and for this aim they hired warriors of the surrounding areas (my translation).
Here it must be emphasized that in Nahua culture kinship terms frequently functioned as metaphors (Madajczak Reference Madajczak2014) and thus the designation of Chalchiuhnenetzin as Axayacatl's elder sister was in fact of great symbolic importance. Although in many Nahua myths the elder sister of the hero acts as his opponent, in the human world, and especially in its political dimension, her role could have been completely different. As Madajczak (Reference Madajczak2014:275) observes in her doctoral dissertation dedicated to the analysis of Nahua kinship terms, in the historical narrations of the indigenous communities of the central Mexico, “elder sister is a woman sent to a place with which she then helps to establish contact. Obviously, this contact does not necessarily lead to friendly relations of the two groups. What seems to determine the use of –hueltiuh is the fact of delegating a mediator who connects two ‘worlds’ for the benefit of her ‘brother.’” In the light of this interpretation, the role of Chalchiuhnenetzin in the conflict becomes clear: she is supposed to look over the relations between the two cities and, in the case of a conflict, act for the benefit of Tenochtitlan.
The Adulterous Wife of Nezahualpilli of Tetzcoco
The second narration where the character named Chalchiuhnenetzin appears is provided by Alva Ixtlilxochitl (Reference Alva Ixtlilxochitl and Chamorro2000:216–218, see also a mention in Pomar Reference Pomar and Chamorro1991:50). According to this story, the tlatoani of Tenochtitlan and his noblemen sent their daughters to Nezahualpilli of Tetzcoco to let him choose from among them his wife and concubines. The one who attracted the attention of the Tetzcoca ruler was the little girl called Chalchiuhnenetzin, reported as Axayacatl's daughter. As Alva Ixtlilxochitl informs, since she was too young to marry, Nezahualpilli built for her a beautiful palace where she was to live until reaching the age adequate for marriage and he went to visit her there from time to time. Yet, as it turned out some time later, although young, sweet, and pretty, Chalchiuhnenetzin not only did not mean to wait for the proper age to be sexually initiated by Nezahualpilli, but was in fact sexually insatiable and, taking advantage of her noble position and of the seclusion in which she lived, had a lot of lovers. As if that was not enough, she ordered every man she had slept with killed and that an image be made of his body, which she then exhibited in the halls of her palace so that soon the entire place was filled with such strange “sculptures.” The crime was discovered when, for unknown reasons, she decided to spare from death three of her lovers: Chicuhcoatl, Huitzilhuitl, and Maxtla. Nezahualpilli saw a jewel he had given to the princess on one of them and, suspecting treason, decided to pay Chalchiuhnenetzin an unexpected visit at night. He found her entertaining all three lovers at the same time. All were arrested and put into prison awaiting trial and, although it seems that for the members of aristocracy the punishment for the adultery was usually applied privately in their palaces (Mendieta Reference Mendieta and Icazbalceta1870:bk. II, ch. XXIX, pp. 136–137), in this case both the trial and the execution were made public and messengers were sent to Tenochtitlan and to Tlacopan to invite the rulers of those cities to participate in them (Alva Ixtlilxochitl Reference Alva Ixtlilxochitl and Chamorro2000:217–218).
Taking into consideration the general political situation that constituted a background for the story of Chalchiuhnenetzin's adultery, it seems that this incident could have had strong symbolical political connotations. As Offner (Reference Offner1983:236) indicates, the period of rule of Nezahualpilli was in fact a time of growing Tenochca domination in the region, which became even more visible with the reforms introduced by Axayacatl's successor, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin:
Motecuhzoma Xocoyotl was not content to see Tenochtitlan superior to Texcoco; he also wanted Texcoco to be a political creature of Tenochtitlan…He therefore ordered that the young and impressionable sons of los grandes señores (“the great lords”), both Tenochcan and non-Tenochcan, including those of the rulers of Texcoco and Tlacopan, were to be educated in Tenochtitlan and trained to serve the Triple Alliance, under the aegis, of course, of Tenochtitlan. As part of his grand design to centralize the power of the Triple Alliance in Tenochtitlan, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotl emasculated the Texcocan ruling and military establishments by treachery.
Thus, the principal confrontation between Tetzcoco and Tenochtitlan at that time was the one that took place between Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin and Nezahualpilli, and it seems that sending Chalchiuhnenetzin to be married to Nezahualpilli could have been a part of the treachery mentioned by Offner. It seems she was to play the role of the -hueltiuh of Tenochtitlan, similar to the one performed by the other Chalchiuhnenetzin against Tlatelolco of Moquihuixtli, and indeed she is reported as “sister” in relation to Motecuhzoma (Alva Ixtlilxochitl Reference Alva Ixtlilxochitl and Chamorro2000:235). The problem is that, unlike Moquihuixtli, who either did not understand the danger in time, or was unable to prevent it in an effective way, Nezahualpilli, decided to react immediately as soon as he became aware of what was happening. In this context, it seems that the public execution of Chalchiuhnenetzin had an important political meaning, a message to the Tenochca ruler: “What worked for Tlatelolco, for Tetzcoco won't do.”
Sending such a “dangerous woman” could have also been part of the supernatural proceedings that Motecuhzoma tried to employ against Nezahualpilli, mentioned by Alva Ixtlilxochitl (Reference Alva Ixtlilxochitl and O'Gorman1975:vol. II, ch. LXXIV, p. 187) as a part of an entire campaign made by this ruler to get the domination over Tetzcoco:
Motecuhzoma…with the aid of his sorcerers and necromancers tried to harm him, yet as a wise and clever person, he [Nezahualpilli] was able to defend himself with the aid of the sorcerers he had at his court (Motecuhzoma…por vía de sus hechiceros y nigrománticos le había pretendido hacer mal, y como hombre sabio y astuto se había defendido de él por medio de otros que tenía en su corte; my translation).
To sum up, when analyzing the role performed by the characters called Chalchiuhnenetzin in the aforementioned narratives, it can be stated that their name in fact points to their principal functions: they are women who use their sexual capacities for the benefit of the city of origin and in this way their sexuality turns out to be “precious,” at least from the point of view of their “brother.” Indigenous narrations of the past provided by various Colonial sources in fact present numerous examples of such “elder sisters” who are sent to other societies, or even to other realities, in order to perform the role they had been given (Madajczak Reference Madajczak2014:271–277). In her analysis of the matrimonial policy of Chalco, Schroeder (Reference Schroeder1992:81) gives an example in the story, reported by Chimalpahin, of a woman designated as inhueltiuh Tequanipan tlaca, “the elder sister of the people of Tequanipan,” who was offered to one of the rulers of the area in which this group was keen on settling. Once accepted, her people were given permission to settle themselves.
It is interesting to note that this role of the female mediator who uses her sexual power to fight for the benefit of her people is also found in some of the chants recorded in the manuscript of the Cantares mexicanos. For instance, in the Chalcacihuacuicatl, “Chalcan Female Song” (Cantares mexicanos, f. 72r), the principal singer presents herself in front of the tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, Axayacatl, making him various sexual offers and trying to seduce him. As indicated by different authors (León-Portilla Reference León-Portilla1994:289–290; Read and Rosenthal Reference Read and Rosenthall2006:313–348; Szoblik Reference Szoblik2016:128–178), the song in question seems to be one of the pieces with strong symbolic and political meaning. The female representative of Chalco, a city at that time conquered by and under heavy tribute burdens to Tenochtitlan, is sent to the Tenochca ruler to use her sexuality to negotiate better political conditions for her people. There are also many allusions in the same song that can be interpreted either as an invitation to sexual relations or as a threat. As demonstrated for Moquihuixtli of Tlatelolco, in cases of the “elder sister” sent from another city both things could have in fact been synonymous. Yet in the case of this particular song, apparently meant as a kind of tribute for the conquerors, the lyrical subject presents herself at the end as defeated by and submitted to the masculine power of Axayacatl (Szoblik Reference Szoblik2016:175–178).
The character called Chalchiuhnene is moreover one of several female voices that appear in the song titled Cococuicatl, “Dove Song” or “Maid Song” (Cantares Mexicanos 1994:ff. 74v–77r). The context in which she appears in this song is also clearly sexual: she is one of the pleasure women, who maintain dialogue among themselves, sharing their sexual experience and commenting on each other's doings. Interestingly, the language and metaphors used in this conversation are again applicable in equal manner to matters of sex and war, which makes the message transmitted strongly ambiguous.
It can be stated that in the cultural memory of the Nahua there apparently was a model of a female who could act as a mediator between male rulers. As such, depending on the perspective from which the story was narrated, she could be presented as a beneficial or dangerous actor of the political game. It is also meaningful that the same pattern of action could lead to distinct solutions and this difference was apparently dictated by the interests of the narrator. In this way, for example, Tezozomoc, whose main interest was to present the glorious past of Tenochtitlan, presents Chalchiuhnenetzin as an effective “elder sister” of Axayacatl, whose actions facilitate the Tenochca victory over Tlatelolco. On the other hand, Alva Ixtlilxochitl, with his Tetzcoco-centered narration of the history of the Basin, underlines the wise and clever approach of Nezahualpilli, which made it possible to neutralize the danger. What is certain is that in both cases the history of the conflict between the neighboring cities was modelled according to certain general structures rooted in the myth. For this reason, the focus of this article now turns to the possible mythical patterns that could underlie such narrations.
THE CONCEPT OF THE VAGINA DENTATA AS A MYTHICAL ARCHETYPE FOR CHALCHIUHNENETZIN'S ROLE
Looking for the archetypes of Chalchiuhnenetzin's role in myth, it is necessary to make reference to the works by Báez-Jorge (Reference Báez-Jorge2000, Reference Báez-Jorge2008), according to whom the figure of a dangerous female monster, frequently conceptualized as vagina dentata or telluric vagina, is one of the basic elements of Mesoamerican beliefs (núcleo duro de la cosmovisión mesoamericana; Báez-Jorge Reference Báez-Jorge2008:16). As a primordial figure it is then transformed and adapts itself to different specific contexts, which can be visible in the numerous variants of this subject as narrated in the myths collected in the Colonial sources (Báez-Jorge Reference Báez-Jorge2008:22–24). The symbolic meaning of the vagina dentata has been widely studied in terms of its importance for explanation of relationship between genders, as well as the role and character of female agency among the Nahua and other Mesoamerican indigenous communities (Alcina Franch Reference Alcina Franch, Durand-Forest and Baudot1995; Balutet Reference Balutet2009; Galinier Reference Jacques1984; Klein Reference Klein, Josserand and Dakin1988, Reference Klein1994, Reference Klein2000; López Hernández Reference López Hernández2013; López Hernández and Echeverría García Reference López Hernández, García, Rodríguez-Shadow and Rodríguez2011). Although the subject of the present work naturally makes reference to this field of study, taking into consideration a considerable amount of excellent gender-centered analysis that already exists, a new focus is meant to be given here. The following analysis centers around the possible mythical archetypes of dangerous women and their relations with the historical narrations of Chalchiuhnenetzin.
The most general version of the mythic archetype of the dangerous female monster is obviously the cosmogonic myth of the creation of the Earth from the body of the goddess Tlaltecuhtli (Alcina Franch Reference Alcina Franch, Durand-Forest and Baudot1995; del Río Reference del Río1973; Matos Moctezuma Reference Matos Moctezuma and Moctezuma1999), who was originally wild, savage, dangerous, and insatiable, constantly biting with her numerous mouths situated in all her joints (Histoire du Mechique Reference Garibay Kintana2005:108). Only after being submitted by the solar masculine gods, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, who had transformed themselves into two great snakes and attacked her, dividing her body into two parts, could she become a beneficial creature, providing people with a place to exist and food to survive. Yet, even submitted, she conserved certain features from her primordial character, as she kept crying, yearning to devour human hearts (Histoire du Mechique Reference Garibay Kintana2005:108). Gruzinski (Reference Gruzinski1979:15) compares this act of aggression and violation of Tlaltecuhtli's body by snakes to rape. In other words, it seems that according to this ideology women were conceptually associated with the Earth, personifying primordial chaos and unrestrained sexual desire. As such, they were considered potentially dangerous until they were submitted to the male force, either in militaristic or in sexual terms.
It is interesting that different mythic narrations recount examples of women or goddesses who, like Chalchiuhnenetzin, were sent to “problematic men” in order to seduce them and in this way to deprive them of their inner power. The first of these mythical sexually engaged women would be Chimalman. As narrated in the Leyenda de los soles (Reference Velázquez1945:f. 80), when Mixcoatl came to conquer the city of Huitznahuac, he was received by Chimalman, one of the local women, who faced him naked with her shield extended on the ground. He released four arrows in her direction and went away. When he came for the second time and did not find her in the former place, he started to abuse other Huitznahuac women, who immediately went to look for her, asking her to confront Mixcoatl for the second time. As she appeared in front of him naked, he again released four arrows in her direction and then lay down with her. In this way, a symbolical relation was established between the act of aggression, expressed here by shooting the woman with arrows, and sexual intercourse. As a result of this act, Chimalman became pregnant with Ce Acatl and Mixcoatl apparently lost part of his power: soon after Ce Acatl was born, the 400 Mimixcoa killed Mixcoatl.
Another example of the mythical seductress, this time delegated from the world of gods to the world of humans, is the goddess Xochiquetzal. According to the myth presented by Ruiz de Alarcón (Reference Ruiz de Alarcón, Andrews and Hassig1987:ch. XXXII, pp. 204–206), she was sent to prevent the priest Yappan from becoming too powerful. The action takes place in the mythical time and space of “the first age of the world, when those that now are animals were men” (Ruiz de Alarcón Reference Ruiz de Alarcón, Andrews and Hassig1987:ch. XXXII, p. 204). As Yappan had already sensed that he was to be changed into an animal, he decided to become one of the most dangerous animals in the world, a scorpion, whose every sting would be mortal for the humans of the new age. Like Moquihuixtli, whose pride and arrogance angered Axayacatl so much that he used his “elder sister” to destroy the Tlatelolca ruler, Yappan also wanted to achieve more than it was acceptable from the point of view of the gods. As Yappan was of very strong will, and no woman of the many who tried to seduce him was able to achieve her goal, the goddesses Citlalcueye and Chalchicueye decided to send the goddess of flowers and sensual love, Xochiquetzal, to defeat Yappan. It was thanks to this intervention of Xochiquetzal, who successfully seduced him, that Yappan did not manage to become a mortal danger for the humans: he was transformed into a scorpion but with less power than he had wished for.
Xochiquetzal, who, according to the account of Ruiz de Alarcón (Reference Ruiz de Alarcón, Andrews and Hassig1987:ch. XXXII, pp. 204–206), descended from the sky, where she supposedly stayed among other goddesses, has certain characteristics of the divine female creatures known as tzitzimime, frequently imagined as bony, dangerous, and insatiable. The Leyenda de los soles (Reference Velázquez1945:358–362) refers to the women met during hunting by two Tolteca cultural heroes, Xiuhnel and Mimich, with this term. As the text indicates, the hunters saw two two-headed deer that descended from the sky in front of them, so they started to chase them trying to shoot them with arrows. Suddenly, the deer transformed into women, or more precisely into an attractive form of tzitzimime. They presented themselves in front of the hunters and invited them to have sex. Xiuhnel accepted the invitation and followed one of them, yet once the relation was consummated, he was consumed by his monstrous lover. Mimich did not intend to share the fate of his companion and resisted the seductive words of the second tzitzimitl. He chased her for some more time, until finally he managed to kill her. This mythical narration seems to represent perfectly the two attitudes taken by Moquihuixtli and Nezahualpilli in the face of the insatiable sexuality of Chalchiuhnenetzin.
Although it is said that Moquihuixtli did not like to have sexual relations with his spouse, it is not said that he did not. Among different sexual perversities of Moquihuixtli, the Anales de Cuauhtitlan (Reference Velázquez1945:55) reports that he used to put his forearm so deeply into his wife's vagina that he was able to touch her interior organs. As Graulich (Reference Graulich, Linares and Olivier2000a:89–99) and Chinchilla Mazariegos (Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011:96) correctly point out, however, the symbolic meaning of this sexual contact seemed to be in fact harmful to him not to her, for it was Moquihuixtli who got metaphorically swallowed by the darkness of a woman's sexual organs (Graulich Reference Graulich, Linares and Olivier2000a:89–99) or presented certain similarities with the characters castrated by women with vagina dentata in other mythical narratives (Chinchilla Mazariegos Reference Chinchilla Mazariegos2011:96). What is more, all the sources accordingly suggest that he was unable (for different reasons, maybe his aesthetic needs included) to satisfy the insatiable sexuality of his wife and, in consequence, like Xiuhnel, he became the victim of the frustrated female sexual passion. Nezahualpilli, on the other hand, like the mythical Mimich, not only did not enter in any kind of sexual relation with Chalchiuhnenetzin, but when he discovered her tzitzimitl-like nature, he immediately took all the steps he could to “defeat” her and her sexual hunger. As Graulich (Reference Graulich1992:94) indicates, one of the main objectives of the tzitzimime met by the Tolteca chiefs was to stop them from continuing their migration towards the south. Thus, again, we can see here the dangerous women that had a particular role to play using their sexuality. Xiuhnel, like Moquihuixtli, was stopped by female sexuality, while Mimich, like Nezahualpilli, managed to resist and remove the metaphorical teeth from the vagina dentata of his seductress by killing her.
Another mythical archetypes for the attitude presented by Nezahualpilli could also be the female characters of in the myths of creation of the maguey plant and the kidnapping of Xochiquetzal by Tezcatlipoca. These two myths are usually treated as examples of female passivity in front of male activity. In my opinion, however, this female passivity should perhaps be reconsidered. According to first narration, the myth of the creation of the maguey plant, Ehecatl, the Wind God, wanted to provide people with some drink that would give them pleasure and thus went to the place where the tzitzimime lived, finding them all asleep (Histoire du Mechique Reference Garibay Kintana2005:106–107). He woke up one of them, young and virginal Mayahuel, and took her with him down to Earth. When the rest of the tzitzimime woke up, they noticed the absence of the youth and followed the couple. Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl and Mayahuel tried to hide by turning themselves into a tree of two branches, but the tzitzimime found them anyway and destroyed the branch of Mayahuel. Quetzalcoatl planted her bones and from them grew the first maguey plant, which became the source of the alcoholic liquor known as pulque. Although Mayahuel, as presented in this myth, seems to be just a victim of the creative plans of Quetzalcoatl and of his confrontation with the tzitzimime, it must be remembered that she is in fact one of them, a dangerous female creature who only by being submitted and conquered, hurt or killed, could be transformed into a beneficial being such as a maguey plant. In my opinion, this act of submitting to Quetzalcoatl's will when she still was young, could be comparable to the ritual defloration of little Totonaca girls, reported by Mendieta (Reference Mendieta and Icazbalceta1870:vol. I, ch. XIX, pp. 223–224), which López Hernández and Echeverría García (Reference López Hernández, García, Rodríguez-Shadow and Rodríguez2011:94) interpret as measures taken by the society to protect possible future husbands from castration. Thus, it can be stated, that also Mayahuel, if not killed in time, could turn out to be as dangerous as the tzitzimitl that seduced Xiuhnel or as Nezahualpilli's spouse, who also came to his palace as a young and beautiful virgin and yet turned out to be mortal to all of those who were not able to resist her.
Another myth of quite similar structure is the one narrated by Muñoz Camargo (Reference Muñoz Camargo and Chamorro2002) in the Historia de Tlaxcala. As the author reports, Xochiquetzal, who has already appeared in this article as the seductress of Yappan, used to live serenely in the land of flowers and happiness, called Tamoanchan. From there she was kidnapped by Tezcatlipoca, one of the solar creator gods, who took her to his place and “transformed her into a goddess of good love” (“la convirtió en Diosa de bien querer”; Muñoz Camargo Reference Muñoz Camargo and Chamorro2002:168–169, my translation). Thus, it might be stated that, as Ehecatl did with Mayahuel, so Tezcatlipoca decided to sexually conquer one of the tzitzimime to transform her into a beneficial creature, and also into his messenger. We find her in the myth of the banishment of Quetzalcoatl narrated by Durán (Reference Durán1967:vol. I, ch. I, p. 14) as the seductress who represents the interest of Tezcatlipoca. According to this myth, Quetzalcoatl decided to leave Tula after having found in his hermitage a woman called Xochiquetzal, which made him think that he had broken his sacerdotal abstinence and by this had been defeated.
The relation between Xochiquetzal and the fall of Tula is also visible in the myth of the four eras presented in the Codex Vaticano A (Anders Reference Anders, Jansen and Reyes Garcia1996:7), where she is portrayed as the Sun of the Fourth Era. As in the other versions of this myth, the power personified by the deity portrayed as the Sun is at the same time the power that brings destruction to the world of a given era. Thus, Xochiquetzal descends from the sky to end the age of Toltec domination. She is surrounded by flowers, symbols of her nature as the goddess of sex. She enters the realm of Huemac, maybe provoking his sexually disordered life (Berlin et al. Reference Berlin, Rendón and Kirchoff1947:68–69), which brought destruction on him and his people:
The fourth period, as it is told, is when the city of Tula had its origin, which then was destroyed because of the vices, for which reason the people of this period are painted as if they were dancing, and because of these vices there occurred great famine, which brought destruction to this city (Anders et al. Reference Anders, Jansen and Reyes Garcia1996:7; my translation).
In other words, it seems that this is another version of the story of how Xochiquetzal helped to finish the period of dominance of Quetzalcoatl in Tula, which made it possible for Tezcatlipoca to ascend to the dignity of the new Sun. In a similar way, thanks to the intervention of Chalchiuhnenetzin, Axayacatl could take over control of Tlatelolco and reinforce his domination in the Basin of Mexico.
CONCLUSIONS
Taking into consideration all the arguments presented above, it is possible that the name Chalchiuhnenetzin, given to the women who appear in different moments and contexts of the history of the Basin of Mexico, was a way of designating their sociopolitical and maybe also magical role rather than a proper name. In fact, it seems that the role performed by these women is highly symbolic and has its archetypes in mythical narrations, in which similar roles in the Cantares mexicanos (f. 75r) were called “mother” by Chalchiuhnene. This might allude to her role as the patron goddess of sexual relations and of the women who use sex in their “professional life,” either as the ahuianime, women maintained by the state to accompany warriors in different social and ritual events (Szoblik Reference Szoblik2008:197–214), or as the messengers or “elder sisters” of their ethnic groups. All of them were perceived as dangerous female creatures who, if not submitted to the masculine power, could bring serious damage to men. They, therefore, inscribed into the basic concept of what Báez-Jorge (Reference Báez-Jorge2008:22) calls “telluric vagina,” which is distinctly personified in different mythical narrations.
The examples presented show the way in which the past was recorded by traditional societies. Although inscribed into the historical narration, all the memorized facts seem to some extent timeless in the sense that they were also at least partially a repetition of the mythical actions of the gods. Those divine actions in the reality of the myth constituted certain models for behavior, which justified and explained all further human doings. From the point of view of the audience that heard stories such as those of Chalchiuhnenetzin, her role in the political struggles must have been fully understandable. There might have existed such women in the historical sense, yet the role they were then given by the cultural memory of the Nahua was a symbolic and maybe to some extent magical one. Thus, conceptually enrooted in the cosmogony, they should be located somewhere in the space between history and myth, although in fact it is impossible to indicate any clear border between these two modes: they harmoniously coexist, influencing, complementing, and modifying each other.
RESUMEN
El objetivo del presente trabajo es reflexionar acerca de las estrategias de trasmitir los conocimientos del pasado entre los Nahuas en los primeros años de la época colonial. Las fuentes alfabéticas que provienen de aquel tiempo constituyen una mezcla singular de la historiografía europea y la tradición oral prehispánica. El trabajo se enfoca en esta segunda modalidad, es decir, en la memoria cultural, entendida como un diálogo constante entre los hechos históricos y las estructuras míticas dentro de las cuales éstos “se acomodaban.” El articulo analiza el caso específico de dos princesas aztecas llamadas Chalchiuhnenetzin. Las mujeres de este nombre aparecen en dos contextos históricos distintos, pero como demuestra el presente análisis, la morfología de ambas narraciones, así como el papel que desempeña en ellos Chalchiuhnenetzin son, en realidad, similares. Por consiguiente, la narración analizada puede servir como un ejemplo perfecto de cómo la tradición oral re-elaboraba los hechos históricos de acuerdo con sus necesidades culturales.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The results presented in this article are part of the investigation project “The Cultural Topoi in the Pre-Hispanic and Early Colonial Oral Tradition of Central Mexico” financed by the National Science Centre of Poland (UMO-2018/28/C/HS2/00227).
