Lord Eight Wind of Suchixtlan and the Heroes of Ancient Oaxaca: Reading History in the Codex Zouche-Nuttall

Chapter Ten. Transition to the Future | Eight Wind, Two Rain, and Eight Deer

1 2 1 Page 6: Two Processions of Nobles and Divine Ancestors As mentioned in the previous chapter, Codex Zouche-Nuttall obverse page 6a illustrates Lord Eight Wind’s second and third wives. The dates of these marriages as they appear in the codex have been incorporated into my reconstructed chronology. Page 6b is a separate entity, and no other chronological markers appear in the manuscript text until pages 7d and 8. Transition to the Future Eight Wind, Two Rain, and Eight Deer ijk L M nop 10 Figure 10.1. Codex Zouche-Nuttall page 6 (British Museum folio no. 6). (© Trustees of the British Museum, The British Museum Company, Ltd.) p a r t t w o 1 2 2 Page 6b–d presents a series of individuals facing right, against the reading order and toward Lord Eight Wind’s children illustrated in the last tableau on page 5. The seven individuals, from right to left, are: the Ladies Nine Eagle and Twelve Dog; then, in the next column, the Lords Six Motion and Five House; and in the next column, Lords Five Deer, Twelve Alligator, and Lady Nine Monkey. Many have personal names attached and carry ceremonial instruments. Of those in this array, Lord Twelve Alligator was born from the great tree at Apoala (Vienna 37c). The last column of pictogram text (6e), to the reader’s left, begins a series of individuals facing left, toward the reading order and away from Eight Wind’s offspring. The processing individuals (6b–d) are mysterious; however, they do serve an interpretative function by their position—that is, they face against the reading order and toward Eight Wind’s children. This position contra readFigure 10.2. Codex Zouche-Nuttall page 7 (British Museum folio no. 7). (© Trustees of the British Museum, The British Museum Company, Ltd.) t r a n s i t i o n t o t h e f u t u r e 1 2 3 ing order serves as a visual “stop” and divides page 6a–c from the tableaux that follow it; that is, pages 6e–8. A similar technique is used on ZN reverse page 42, which is the parentage statement for Lord Eight Deer and his halfbrother Lord Twelve Motion. The children that follow them face contra reading order, and this directional shift is a visual clue that separates scenes without providing a full stop, as would a dividing red line. Page 7 The individuals in reading-order direction continue onto page 7, columns a– c. Counting the three on page 6, there are twelve in all. On page 6 are Lords Four Snake, Seven Flower (Vienna 33b), and Seven Motion (Vienna 33d). On page 7 are Lords Thirteen Reed, Nine House, and Five Motion; in the next column, from bottom to top, are the Ladies Nine Jaguar, Two Flint, and Six House; and in the last column, from top to bottom, Ladies Ten Deer, Nine House, and Three Eagle. The tableaux of these mysterious individuals (who may in some instances be deceased, mummified ancestors) comprise a transition from the time of Lord Eight Wind and his family into the future. We know this because the final scene on page 7 displays a special event in which Lord Eight Wind reappears many years after his death. Page 7d illustrates him seated in the temple at Monkey Hill. He is very elderly, as indicated by the snaggle-tooth at the corner of his mouth. According to the date displayed (Year 4 House Day 1 Rain, AD 1081), he would be 146 years old. He is deceased yet shown alive and speaking with his six-year-old great-great-grandson, Lord Two Rain Twenty Jaguars (shown across the page-fold on 8a), the last king of the first dynasty of Tilantongo. Mixtecs preserved their dead ancestors as mummies and stored the mummy-bundles in caves. Thus they could have festivals with them and consult them via certain priests or by the oracle of death, Lady Nine Grass at Chalcatongo. This prominence of the Mixtec Cult of the Dead was recorded by the early Spanish, notably de Burgoa, who compared Zapotec and Mixtec burial customs (1934 [1674], II:64). These early references specifically refer to Chalcatongo Temple and its oracle, Lady Nine Grass. Burgoa noted that the Mixtec kings were buried at a specific place, which he called “the Cave of Chalcatongo.” This custom...