Notes

1 The subtitle to this tutorial (“Flowers and Song”) is a translation of the Nahuatl metaphor (in) xochitl (in) cuicatl, referring to “a finer, more artificial and highly organized type of song” (Lockhart 1992, 394).

2 Karttunen 1992: 266.

3 Berdan and Anawalt 1992, 234.

4 Berdan and Anawalt 1992, 201.

5 Berdan and Anawalt 1992, 183.

6 Lockhart 1992, 375.

7 Boone 2000, 35.

8 King 1990; Monaghan 1990.

9 The quotation is slightly adjusted from Klor de Alva 1980, 109. Klor de Alva’s original translation is “these continually cause the book to cackle. The black, the color is in the paintings they continually carry.” The original Nahuatl is “in qujtlatlazticate in amoxtlj, in tlilli, in tlapalli, in tlacujlolli quitqujticate.” The world “tlapalli” literally meant red, but metaphorically indicated color in general. The “cackling” of the book refers to the sound of moving pages: “The dried pages of the books crackled noisily when turned” (Klor de Alva 1980, 190). Miguel León-Portilla’s translation of the same passage is “Those who noisily turn the pages of illustrated manuscripts. Those who have possession of the black and red ink and that which is pictured” (León-Portilla 1963, 21)

10 The division of speeches, songs, and prayers is adapted from Bierhorst 2009, 25-27. Studies of speeches can be found in Karttunen and Lockhart 1987 and Maxwell and Hanson 1992. Studies of songs can be found in Bierhorst 1985, León-Portilla 1992, and Bierhorst 2009. The translations of Nahuatl songs is extremely difficult and controversial, as discussed in Lockhart 1991, 141-157 and Lockhart 1992, 392-401. Studies of prayers from the seventeenth century can be found in Coe and Whittaker 1982, and Andrews and Hassig 1984. Prayers from twentieth century are published in Reyes García 1976, Segre 1987, and Muñoz Cruz and Podestá Siri 1994. Additional examples of twentieth-century poetry, prayers, and popular songs can be found in León-Portilla 1988, 1989, and 1990. The journal Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl, published by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City, frequently includes contemporary poems and stories in Nahuatl.

11 Maxwell and Hanson 1992; Burkhart 1989, 102 argues that these metaphors were extracted from longer speeches.

12 Adapted from Maxwell and Hanson 1992, 77-78, 170.

13 On couplets in Central Mexican verbal art, see Maxwell and Hanson 1992, 21-24; on couplets in other Mesoamerican poetic traditions, see Tedlock 1987, 148-150; Monaghan 1990, 136.

14 On triplets in Mesoamerican poetics, see Tedlock 1987, 158-160; Monaghan 1990, 138.

15 Adapted from Maxwell and Hanson 1992, 119, 132.

16 Maxwell and Hanson 1992; 22; see also Tedlock 1987, 168 and Monaghan 1990, 137-138.

17 Tedlock 1987, 150-151.

18 Umberger 1987, 424-427

19 Maxwell and Hanson 1992, 160; Lockhart 1992, 14-58.

20 León-Portilla 1989, 384-385, 394-395. Indentations have been added to highlight the poetic structure of the text.

21 Reyes García 1976, 50-60.

22 The prayer begins in Spanish with a long prose invocation of Christian supernaturals; this has been deleted here (Reyes García 1976, 50). Minor adaptations to the translation have been made, and indentations have been added to highlight the poetic features of the text. Reyes García offers the text in Nahuatl and translated into Spanish and German; a partial, slightly different translation into Spanish (one that reduces some of the parallelisms in the Nahuatl original) is found in León-Portilla 1989, 395-399.

23 Monaghan 1990, 136.

24 Monaghan 1990, 136.

25 Monaghan 1990, 136.

26 Adapted from Reyes García 1976, 51.

27 For other studies of the connections linking Mesoamerican verbal and visual art, see Tedlock and Tedlock 1985; Monaghan 1990; Tedlock 1992; as well as Mesolore’s “Colored Lyrics” Ñudzavui tutorial.

28 Boone 2007, 227-228.

29 Brotherston and Gallegos 1990, 122.

30 Cortés 1986, 139-142.