These six small plaques each illustrates an image of a Mesoamerican god or goddess from an Aztec codex. While the brass and wooden plaques are 20^th-century works by Aztec Mestizo artists, the images on them are accurate depictions of traditional Aztec codex paintings.

A codex (plural: codices) is a form of book used to record history, mythological stories, and the calendar feast days of Mesoamerican gods and goddesses. Pre-Colombian codices were painted on deer skin or amatl bark paper by tlacuilos, the painter-scribes; the codices were traditionally made in the form of a very long sheet of paper that was folded accordion-style into pages, rather than being cut into individual pages and bound on one side as in European books. This accordion-fold structure allows the codex to be unfolded and spread out, posted on a wall, or twisted in order to place one page next to another page in a different part of the codex. Only a few codices survive from pre-Columbian times, as most of them were burned and destroyed by the Spanish after the conquest in an attempt to eradicate Native religion.

The images on these plaques consist of deities depicted in the Codex Borgia, the Codex Borbonicus, and the Florentine Codex. These codices illustrate the Aztec version of the 365-day solar calendar as well as the 260-day ritual calendar, which played a vital role in the rituals and religion of the Aztec culture. The 260-day ritual calendar is composed of 13-day weeks and 20-day months. Each day of the 20-day month is named with a day sign, and certain specific dates during the 260-day calendar are named festivals that are dedicated to the different gods and goddesses.

The image on this plaque represents the goddess Tlazoteotl from the Aztec Codex Borbonicus. The Spanish caption on the back of the plaque explains that this image represents Ochpanitzli, the eleventh month of the calendar, which the Aztec celebrated with ritual dances as well as cleaning and casting seeds. The Aztec festivals during this month were dedicated to female goddesses including Toci Teteo, Innan, and Tlazolteotl.  Tlazoteotl was specifically known as the goddess of filth, who encouraged forbidden desires; worshippers believed that she ate one’s sins and was therefore able to purify the worshipper.  Tlazoteotl is often depicted giving birth to her son Centeotl, the god of maize. Researched by Kassidy Watts and Hannah Robinson

The image on this plaque represents the god Tezcatlipoca, the god of the nighttime sky and also a god of war, from the Aztec Codex Borgia. The Spanish caption on the back of the plaque explains that this image represents Toxcatl, the fifth month of the calendar, which was the peak of the dry season. For the festival of Tezcatlipoca, a young male prisoner of war was selected to live a lavish lifestyle and treated like a living god for a year. During the month of the festival, the chosen man would be married, then at the end of the festival he would be sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca. Then, a new prisoner would be selected, who would repeat this year-long ritual. Researched by Hannah Robinson

The image on this plaque represents the god Itztlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli, the god of frost, from the Codex Borgia. This god is a variant of the god Tezcatlipoca, but he is specifically the god of the thirteen days of the week. Originally, Itztlacoliuhqui-Ixquimilli was the god of the dawn, but he engaged in a fight with the sun god Tonatiuh, and upon losing, he was punished by being transformed into a winter god of coldness. Researched by Hannah Robinson

The image on this plaque represents the god Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, the god of wind, from the Codex Borbonicus. While the god Quetzalcoatl takes the form of a great feathered serpent and is the personification of the planet Venus, Ehecatl is a variant of this creator god who wears a cut-conch-shell pendant and has a long, stretched-out mouth, both of which are Aztec symbols for wind. Researched by Hannah Robinson

The image on this plaque represents the goddess Huixtocihuatl, the goddess of salt, from the Aztec Florentine Codex. The Spanish caption on the back of the plaque explains that this image represents Tecuilhuitontli, the seventh month of the calendar, and a ten-day festival during this month honors Huixtocihuatl.

            The story of Huixtocihuatl tells how the goddess angered her brothers, who banished her to the salt beds; however, there Huixtocihuatl discovered salt and how it was created. Huixtocihuatl wears a headdress with a wave of blue water on top, and the white and blue colors of her dress symbolize her association with salt and salt water. During the festival of Huixtocihuatl, a woman would be selected to serve as the human embodiment of the goddess, and the salt makers of the community would hold dances and songs.  At the end of the festival, the woman would be escorted to priests, where she would be sacrificed. Researched by Hannah Robinson                       

For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu