Daily Life of the Aztecs

by Jacques Soustelle

  And this was only a tecuhtli's palace. What then must have been the emperor's country seats and pleasure-houses? Cortés wrote to Charles V, 'He ( Motecuhzoma) had many pleasure-houses, both in the city and outside it . . . in one of them there was a magnificent garden and in it there rose belvederes made of marble, floored with exquisitely-worked jasper . . . There were ten lakes there where there were kept all the many and varied kinds of water-birds that live in that country . . . There were salt-water lakes for the birds of the seashore, and fresh-water for those of the rivers. From time to time these lakes were emptied for cleaning and then they were refilled by means of the canals: each kind of bird had the sort of food that was appropriate for it in its natural state. Thus those which ate fish were given

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  fish, those which ate worms were given worms, those which ate maize were given maize . . . and I assure your Majesty that the fish-eating birds alone were given ten arrobas a day (about 264 lb). Three hundred men took care of these birds and did nothing else; others were solely occupied with looking after sick birds. There were corridors and places for watching above each of these lakes, where Motecuhzoma would stand to amuse himself by looking at them.' 17 And this was not all, for, the conquistador goes on, the Mexican emperor also kept freaks, and particularly albinoes, 'white from birth, in face, body, hair, eyelashes and eyelids'; also dwarfs, hunchbacks and other malformed people; birds of prey, in cages which were partly roofed to keep them from the rain and partly open for the sun and air; pumas, jaguars, coyotes, foxes and wild cats. Hundreds of attendants looked after each of the kinds of men or animals that made up this garden museum.

  If the testimony of Cortés were insufficient, it is corroborated by that of his fellow-adventurers. Andrés de Tapia 18 uses almost the same words in listing the many kinds of birds, wild beasts and freaks that Motecuhzoma kept for his amusement. 'In very big jars and pots in this house,' he adds, 'there were quite large numbers of snakes and vipers. And all this purely with a view to magnificence.' Bernal Díaz confirms this detail, speaking of 'many snakes and venomous serpents which have a kind of sounding rattle on their tails: these are the most dangerous vipers of all. They are kept in jars and large pots, with a great many feathers, and it is there that they lay their eggs and bring up their little serpents . . . and when the tigers and the lions roared, and the wolves and the foxes howled, and the serpents hissed, it was dreadful to hear, and one would have thought oneself in hell.' 19

  However, we will not linger over our chronicler's reactions, for they are, after all, only those of a provincial who finds himself for the first time in his life in a zoological garden, that typical element of a civilised town. The undoubted fact is the care with which the rulers of ancient Mexico gathered around them all the animals and plants of their

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  country. The Aztecs had a positive passion for flowers: the whole of their lyric poetry is a hymn to flowers, 'which intoxicate' by their loveliness and their scent.

  The first Motecuhzoma, when he had conquered Oaxtepec in the Hot Lands of the west, decided to make a garden there where all the tropical species should be cultivated. Imperial messengers traversed the provinces in search of flowering shrubs, which were dug up with care to preserve their roots unbroken, and wrapped in mats. Forty Indian families, who came from the parts where these plants were found, were installed at Oaxtepec, and the emperor himself solemnly opened the gardens. 20

  All the Mexicans, though naturally on a more modest scale, shared this love of gardens. The citizens of Mexico grew flowers 21 in their courtyards and on their roofs, and the lake-side suburb Xochimilco, 'the place of the fields of flowers', was then, as it is now, the garden which supplied the whole valley. Each family also had its household animals: the turkey, that farmyard bird which Mexico has given to the world; some tame rabbits; 22 dogs, some at least being for eating, and fattened for that purpose; sometimes bees, and very often parrots or macaws. Life was led much more out of doors than in, under the most sunlit sky in the world; and the city, still near to its original earth, mixed innumerable splashes of green and the delicate mosaic of flowers with the dazzling whiteness of the temples.

  GETTING UP, WASHING AND DRESSING, CLOTHES

  The Mexican slept on a mat, without a nightshirt and indeed almost naked except for his loincloth, with his cloak or his blankets (if he had any) over him. At daybreak he had only to put on his sandals and tie his cloak on his shoulders, and he was ready to go to his work. At least, this was the case with the plebeians: the dignity of the officials called for more considerable preparation. Everybody got up very early: the law-courts, for example, opened at dawn, and the judges took their seats in the earliest half-light. 23

  But for all that a love of cleanliness seems to have been general throughout the population. No doubt the members

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  of the ruling class gave up more of their time and attention to it than ordinary citizens -- Motecuhzoma 'washed his body twice a day' says Andrés de Tapia, not without astonishment. 24 But everybody 'bathed often, and many of them every day' in the rivers, lakes or pools. 25

  The young men were accustomed to this by their education: they were often obliged to get up at night to bathe in the cold water of the take, or in a spring. The Aztecs did not make soap, but there were two vegetable products which served instead, the fruit of the copalxocotl, called the soap-tree by the Spaniards, and the root of the saponaria americana. Either of them would give a lather which could be used not only for washing but also for the laundry. 26 The fact that habits of cleanliness were very thoroughly established is proved by the exceptions -- in some cases hair went unsoaped and the body unwashed: merchants, for example, when they left for a long and dangerous expedition, would vow not to bathe until their return, which for them was a very real sacrifice. During the month Atemoztli, as a penance people did not use soap. 27

  Bathing was not only an act of cleanliness; it was also very often a ritual ablution. The prisoners who were to be sacrificed to Uitzilopochtli during the festivities of the month Panquetzaliztli underwent a ritual bath. 'The old men of the calpulli procured the water at Uitzilopochco, in a cave', and the victims were called tlaaltiltin, 'those who have been bathed'. 28 The baths that the priests took in the waters of the lake during the month Etzalqualizti 29 also had an obviously ceremonial character.

  To some degree the same applied to the typically Mexican steam-bath, the temazcalli. This very characteristic practice, which still goes on in the Nahuatl villages, was so general in the days before the Spaniards that the greater part of the houses had close by them a little hemispherical building made of stones and cement which was used for having a steam-bath.

  The fireplace was built outside the temazcalli itself, and it had a common wall with it, made of porous stone: this wall was brought to a glowing heat by a fire of wood. When it was ready the Indian who intended to bathe crept into the

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  temazcalli by a little low door and threw water on the red-hot wall. He was then enveloped in steam, and he switched himself violently with grasses. Often there would be another person there, particularly if the bather were an invalid, to massage him; and after the massage the bather would lie upon a mat to let the bath have its effect. 30 Clearly, the bath was expected to have two effects; on the one hand it was thought of as an act of cleanliness and as a form of medical treatment, and on the other as an act of purification. Women who had had babies went to the temazcalli before taking up ordinary life again -- a practice that still prevails. 31 The Codex of 1576 records that in the year ce acatl, or 1363, 'the wives of the Mexicans had their children at Zoquipan and bathed themselves at Temazcaltitlan (the place of the steam-baths)'. 32

  Nature, in giving the Indians a sparse and meagre beard, has spared them the problems and wretchedness that afflicted the Greeks and the Romans and which afflict the Europeans now. They did not shave. In their old age their chins were adorned by a beard rather like those which one sees on
Chinese sages in the painting and sculpture of the Far East; and in this case too it was a mark of wisdom. Hair was generally worn cut short across the forehead and long elsewhere; but certain ranks and professions had their own kind of haircut. The priests shaved the front and the sides of their head, but let the hair on the top alone; while the young warriors wore a long lock which they cut off when they had accomplished their first feat of arms.

  Female beauty looked after itself in Mexico with resources not unlike those which are to be found in the Old World: looking-glasses made of obsidian or pyrites, carefully polished, 33 ointments, creams and scent. The women, who were naturally bronze-brown, tried to give their skins a light yellow tint -- they are often depicted in manuscripts with this colour, in contrast to the men. 34 They succeeded by using an ointment called axin, or a yellow earth, tecozauitl, which was so much in request that some provinces supplied it as tribute. The custom of staining one's teeth black or red was general among the Huaxtecs and the Otomi, 35 and

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  some Mexican women had taken to it. As for their hair, the prevailing fashion at the time of the conquest required that it should be raised on the head so as to form two loops above the forehead, like little horns: this is particularly to be seen in the Codex Ascatitlan. 36

  Women's fashions in Mexico tended to react against the barbarous delight in ornamentation which was general among the neighbouring peoples. The Otomí women, not content with making themselves up and staining their teeth, went so far as to cover their bosoms and arms with tattooing, 'in a very delicate blue pattern, dyed into the very flesh with little knives'. 37 At Tenochtitlan a woman of the ruling class was supposed to rely upon cleanliness alone to enhance her charms.

  In the morning 'wash your face, wash your hands, clean your mouth . . .' said a father to his daughter. 'Listen to me, child: never make up your face nor paint it; never put red on your mouth to look beautiful. Make-up and paint are things that light women use -- shameless creatures. If you want your husband to love you, dress well, wash yourself and wash your clothes.' 38

  It was the auianime, the courtesans who accompanied the young warriors, who used these aids to beauty. The courtesan 'grooms herself and dresses with such care that when she is thoroughly ready she looks like a flower. And to make herself ready she first looks in her glass, she bathes, washes and freshens herself in order to please. She makes up her face with a yellow cream called axin, which gives her a dazzling complexion; and sometimes, being a loose, lost woman, she puts on rouge. She has also the habit of dyeing her teeth (red) with cochineal and of wearing her hair loose for more beauty . . . She perfumes herself with an odoriferous censer, and in walking about she chews tzictli, 39 making a clacking noise with her teeth like castanets.' 40

  The man's chief garment, which was kept on at night, was the loin-cloth, maxtlatl, which went round his waist and between his legs, to be tied in front; the two ends, often fringed and embroidered, fell before and behind. The loin-cloth, whether in its simplest form of a plain length of

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  material or in the utmost elaboration of ornament, is to be found among the Olmecs and the Mayas in the highest antiquity. 41 In the sixteenth century all the civilised nations of Mexico wore it, except the Tarascas in the west and the Huaxtecs in the north-east, 42 a fact that somewhat scandalised the Mexicans of the centre.

  A man of the people wore nothing else when he was working on the land or carrying burdens. But the use of the cloak, the tilmatli, had become quite general: it was made of agave-fibre for ordinary people and of cotton for others; or sometimes of rabbit-hair that might be threaded through or reinforced with feathers for the winter. 43 It was a simple, rectangular piece of cloth, and it was tied over the right shoulder or the chest: buttons, hooks and brooches were unknown to the Aztecs. A man, on sitting down, would slide the cloak round so as to bring it all forward and cover his body and legs. 44

  An Indian crowd in the Mexican streets must have looked quite like a crowd of Athenians, with their cloaks: the Indians wore them in the same way as our forefathers in classical antiquity. But the piece of cloth that they covered themselves with, which was white and unornamented among the ordinary people, could show an extraordinary wealth of colour and pattern among the dignitaries. The weavingwomen's art -- for it was women who made these splendid clothes -- seems to have come from the east, from the Hot Lands where the cotton grew, and where the material seemed to copy the iridescent plumage of the tropical birds.

  In Aztec times it was still admitted that the most beautiful materials and the most brilliantly coloured embroideries came from the Totonac and Huaxtec countries. The tribute brought thousands of loads of the splendid cloaks, loin-cloths and skirts woven in the eastern provinces, Tochpan, Quauhtochco, Cuetlaxtlan and Tochtepec, to Mexico. The weaving-women of the capital itself were held to be particularly favoured by Xochiquetzal, the goddess of flowers, youth and love: and it was said that women born under the sign ce xochitl, one -- flower, would be both skilful weavers and generous with their favours. 45

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  The Codox Magliabecchiano 46 reproduces many styles of tilmatli decorated with patterns in which there is a most charming combination of imagination, dignity and measure. The most usual themes are suns, stylised shells, jewels, fish, abstract geometrical shapes, cacti, feathers, skins of tigers and snakes, rabbits and butterflies.

  There are others to be found in the various manuscripts: 47 Sahagiún 48 lists and describes certain varieties -- for example, that which was called coaxayacayo tilmatli (literally 'cloak with snakes' faces'). 'The whole cloak was tawny, and it had the face of a monster or a demon on a red background in a silver circle. It was entirely decorated with these circles and these faces, and all round it there was a fringe.' Another cloak 'was woven with designs that represented sea-shells, which were made of rabbit-hair dyed red on a background of pate-blue whirlpools. These designs were framed in blue, one half light blue, the other dark; and they also had a border of white feathers. The fringe was made of rabbit-hair, and its colour was red.' Still others 'had a tawny background, and scattered upon it butterflies woven from white feathers'. One can imagine the fantastic effect that these brilliantly-coloured clothes must have had under the blazing Mexican sun, when the crowd of nobles and warriors thronged round the emperor.

  The priest's tilmatli was black or very dark green, and it was often embroidered with skulls and human bones. The emperor's -- and he alone had the right to wear this equivalent of the Roman purple -- was coloured with the blue-green of the turquoise; and indeed it was called xiuhtilmatli, 'the turquoise cloak'.

  Maxtlatl and tilmatli, loin-cloth and cloak, these were the essentials of the masculine costume. There are a very great many pictures in the manuscripts -- quite apart from the details supplied by a study of the sculpture -- and among these, although they are post-cortesian, may be cited those which are to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and which are attributed to Ixtlilxochitl. 49

  They represent Indian nobles, and there is in particular a very charming portrait of the young Nezaualpilli, king of

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  Texcoco, wearing a loin-cloth and a magnificent cloak, both of them woven with geometrical patterns, and carrying a bunch of flowers in his left hand, while his right has a feather fan or fly-whisk. Although they are basically so simple, one cannot help admiring the grace, the dignity and the splendour of these clothes.

  Nevertheless it is clear from the texts and the iconography of the subject that there were also other garments in general use. A kind of triangular apron could prolong the loin-cloth from hip to upper thigh: this is to be seen as early as the warrior-caryatids in the ancient Toltec city of Tula, 50 as well as in the figure of the emperor Tizoc in the bas-reliefs of the monument that commemorates him. 51 Sometimes the priests and the warriors wore, under their cloaks or instead of them, a very short-sleeved tunic, the xicolli, which opened in front and which could be closed by tying a ribbon. 52 Ano
ther version of the xicolli had no opening, but had to be pulled over one's head like a shirt 53 or like the blouse (huipilli) that the women wore. This tunic could either cover the trunk only, like a waistcoat or a short jacket, or it could fall over the loin-cloth as far as the knees.

  Then there are two other facts that should be pointed out: the first is that those who could would put on two or three cloaks one on top of the other; the second, that although ordinarily the Mexican wore loose clothes, in time of war, on the other hand, he had close-fitting garments. The 'uniforms' of the tiger-knights, 54 for example, entirely conformed to the shape of their bodies, as do the mechanic's or airman's overalls; the blouse finished in a helmet that covered the head, and the trousers went down as far as the ankles. The traditional armour of the Aztec warrior, the ichcahuipilli or 'cotton blouse', was a close-fitting garment so stuffed or wadded that it could turn an arrow. Thus the ancient Mexicans had at the same time both the loose and fitting, the two great divisions that the costume of the world falls into, and of which each nation usually chooses only one.