Religious World in the Ancient Mexico

The worship of the god Xipe Totec is not exclusive to the Mexica culture but was especially important in the Tenochca capital and in some cities under its control.  Xipe Totec was a god related to the renewal of vegetation in the spring; the worship that came from him included an impressive ritual of flaying.

This fantastic representation of a sitting feline reminds us a little, for their size, the roundness of their forms, in the discreet grace of its stance, of the famous dogs found in different tombs, also in Colima.  Explaining the presence of the feline in the tomb is, however more difficult. Indeed, dogs belong to the burial context because they represent part of the family group of the deceased or of their home environment.

The figurine represents a fantastic or mythological creature, a hybrid, a common thing in Teotihuacán.

Our eagle is nothing but a small piece of an ornamental brazier set. Many of the small pieces that formed the plumed brazier sets were made with molds. We do not know to what extent the Teotihuacan eagle participated in the solar, celestial, warrior, masculine symbolism that came to exist among the Toltecs and Mexicas. The truth is that Teotihuacan seems to have been the first place where the eagle had an important role.

In favor of this identification would be the presence of the raindrops on several parts of its body. In addition, a form similar to that of gylph "C" can be seen on the object that it holds in its hands, a curved line creating a cavity. This object could be a fire bowl, in which case the curved lines that fall on the sides would be flames or smoke, but it could also be a recipient with liquid being spilling out.  

The most important and common ceremonial object in Mesoamerica seems to have been the brazier and it has to do with the Mesoamerican notion of the supernatural and how men communicated with the gods. Because of its ethereal nature, the gods feed on equally volatile substances: not the heart itself, but the smoke of that seared heart; not flowers that were placed on a mat but their fragrance in the air.   

The ruler was by definition a ballplayer; the costumes that he wears in his clay representations and the elaborate masks that he uses to protect his face show him in open communion with the gods. He was a supernatural being who would have power over the existence of the people and he was the only one who could intercede with the gods in favor of the community.   

  The ball players tended to wear a stiff belt that protected their body from the constant friction of the heavy solid rubber balls. There were also mitts for those versions of the ritual game that did not require hitting it only with the hip. Knee protections were also developed which attained, in the context of the representations of the rulers, the value of symbols of authority. 

They are flat figures of hard pale chestnut-colored stone that offer the same view on both sides;  a bony fish is visible, a few precise cuts mark the main parts of its anatomy.  The use that they might have had is enigmatic, since they lack holes to hang them like pendants. One possibility is that they were used as an offering, whose dedication could be extremely varied: to a deity, a building, an object, a character, a deceased person or a sacred natural space, among others. 

It is very likely that these two goblets belonged to the same offering and were manufactured and used together; there does not seem to be any chronological, thematic or stylistic difference between them. From a style point of view, these works are characteristic of the so-called Mixteca Puebla Tradition and the painted motifs match those we see in the codices, mural painting and other ceramic pieces from the Late Post-Classic period. The sacrificial theme and type of symbols used here to allude to sacrifice correspond to Mixteca Puebla expressions from the Central Plateau.

Bowl decorated with elements that allude to death or are related to it. In the outer body there are painted skulls with crossed bones and fleshless jaws from which wisps of fire arise; these motifs occur and are repeated throughout the body of the vessel and are separated by interlaced bands. The bones and skull, as Erik Velasquez (2011) explains, are animistic body parts over which one has no control and which have special characteristics; it could be that the motifs represented here allude to those particular parts of the body as heavy material.  

It is a Cui style plate with tripod support and is decorated with the figure of a bird; predominantly with reds and oranges. The plate has three supports with small perforations and a pebble inside which is known as a rattlle leg and was used a lot in recipients from the Classic Period.  

  The main figure is a priest depicted upright, seen from the front.  He has an enormous and lavish headdress, and the long bands hanging from its sides create the appearance of a cape. The figure is holding an object in a very ostensible manner. It is a bag, very common in Mesoamerican representations, which allows a priest or a ruler to be noted, exercising a priestly function. The priests carried copal in the bag to spread over the embers and make offerings.  

  Effigy censer with the young corn god standing on a turtle and two figures of the god of rain, Chaahk, in bas-relief, flanking him. Its origin is unknown, although it could come from the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, since censers with similar characteristics have been found there.  

Section of a panel or monument sculpted with the image of a serpent with open fangs from which a supernatural entity emerges. These images were widely reproduced during the Late Classic in the cities of the basin of the river Usumacinta, especially in Yaxchilán.   

The discovery of a language to schematically represent the forms that the Mezcala tradition created is one of the most valuable contributions of Mesoamerican art.  Three human figures can be seen in this piece with very schematic lines.

Functional sculpture was part of the Mesoamerican artistic repertoire, especially in the Post-classic. We refer to sculptural works which, in turn, were columns, standard-bearers, sacrificial vessels, altars and, as here, dishes for offerings.  

The accentuated solemnity expressed by the figure in the act of taking a drink indicates a ritual consumption; in the iconographic repertoire of shaft tomb culture art, often men and women are associated with various containers; these objects participate prominently in the identity of the individuals expressed, as in referring to food or to substances and their importance in this kind of art which is predominantly of a burial nature.  

The monkey is a very important figure in Mesoamerican religion and is frequently depicted in art, especially in the humid tropics of the Gulf Coast and Mayan region.  Nahua and Maya origin myths talk about the transformation of some men into monkeys. The wooden men of Popol Vuh were destroyed by the gods, except for some who survived and became monkeys.