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4 5 ijk L M nop Mixtec Indians Prior to the arrival of the Toltec people in approximately AD 700, the Mixtecs were culturally complex, their forebears possibly influenced in Middle Formative times (1200–900 BC) by the Olmecs, who imported greenstone from what is now present-day Oaxaca (Tate 1995:49c). The Mixtecs were then dominated by the Zapotecs. As Zapotec control waned after the collapse of Teotihuacan and Zapotec Monte Alban in the seventh and eighth centuries AD, Mixtecs overshadowed them, formed marriage alliances with them, allied with the Tolteca-Chichimeca in the time of Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw, and then became subjugated by the Aztecs in the late fifteenth century . Resisting Aztec and Zapotec alliances with ardor, the later Mixtecs also resisted Spanish incursions until conquered by them in AD 1521. Mixtec polities were small village-states and scattered throughout the landscape (Jansen and Jimenez 2005:42b). They were closely situated to one another, politically connected, and economically stabilized by a complex system of marriage alliances (Spores 1974:298). Kingdoms were socially stratified into castes. The highest caste included hereditary kings and queens; the second, the lesser nobility; third, the plebeians; and fourth, the bonded serfs. Rulership was absolute and continued until death or abdication (Spores 1974:301). Kings and queens were expected to provide for community protection, adjudicate disputes involving nobility, and serve as appellate courts for strife among commoners. They provided accoutrements and instruments for religious ceremonies, and sustenance and accommodation for nobles summoned to ceremonial and political occasions. In his dissertation, “The Earth Lords: Politics and Symbolism of the MixtecCodices ”(1984),JohnM.D.Pohldemonstratesatripartiteadministrative system for the Mixtec village kingdoms of the Postclassic period. In the codices , he notes, these levels of administration are visually displayed before 2 The People of the Codices p a r t o n e 4 6 representative architecture: kings in front of palaces, four governing priests in front of a temple or shrine, and the yaha yahui shaman in front of market areas. These shamans were a special kind of wizard with the ability to fly through the air—among other capabilities. As we will see, the two heroes who are subjects of this study, Lord Eight Wind Eagle Flints and Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw, were both yaha yahui. Local names for these wizards in the modern Mixteca and in Zapotec lands are hechizero and negromantico (Urcid, in Pohl 1994:67). In government, these priests were associated with human sacrifice and markets, as well as control of the economy and tribute collection (Pohl 1994:53). Pohl succinctly identifies the prime hero of Codex ZN pages 1–8, Lord Eight Wind Eagle Flints, as yaha yahui, as well as Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw and Lady Six Monkey’s son Lord Four Wind. The magical abilities attributed to the yaha yahui are extensive, including being able to fly through solid rock and to fly around the canyons of the Mixteca at night while appearing as balls of light (Pohl 1994:44). Of the many meanings for yahui, one is “comet” or “shooting star” (Arana and Swadesh 1965:133, cited in Pohl 1994), and descriptions of their flights sound similar to observed meteorological phenomena recorded in several parts of the world at various times (Huntington 1977 [1900]). Legends of a “devil” flying as a bright light from a mountain cave to another mountain in the Texas Big Bend survive in local folklore (Miles 1976:17–26). This is relevant when we consider the personification of meteorological phenomena—rain, lightning , and thunder—by Zapotecs (mentioned in chapter 8). These personifications appear in Codex Zouche-Nuttall’s representation of the War from Heaven on pages 3 and 4. Such ideas had extensive purchase among peoples in the ancient Americas. In most cases, given that royal families were focused on local causes and not on extensive extraterritorial politics, there was no conflict between means and goals, as would be expected in larger, unified states. Spores (1974:301) writes that stresses and destabilizing influences typical of unified royal state systems did not develop in the later Mixtec polities. As will be seen in our reading of Codex Zouche-Nuttall’s first saga, this stability was earned by the exercise of great power from associated wars during the lives of lords Eight Wind Eagle Flints and Eight Deer Jaguar Claw. These wars and their resolutions ultimately produced an internally stable society. BylandandPohl(1994:198–199)alsonotethepresenceofsignificantnumbers of religious oracles in the Mixteca—numbers...

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