186 • The deaTh of azTec TenochTiTLan, The Life of mexico ciTy
performances: first, that the most valued costumes to be
worn in their performance (that is, the ones worn by the
native cabildo members) were recycled ones, a condition
also suggested by the Tlatelolco Codex. Second, mitotes
were not squeaky-clean entertainment; for the charge of
idolatry to be made in the first place, the dances needed to
already carry with them some taint. This particular valence
is confirmed by periodic bans directed against the perfor-
mance of mitotes, beginning in 1539. 80 Item thirteen allows
us to see the expense of the contemporary costumes. An
unskilled worker in a labor draft paid at the official rate
would earn one-twelfth of a peso per day in 1560; skilled
workers on the free market might earn as much as a peso
a day. 81 Thus to buy a feathered costume to be used in a
mitote, a peon would need to devote two years of his wages,
and a highly skilled craftsman would need to devote two
or three months of his. The item also allows us to peer
behind the costumes that cover the anonymous perform-
ers in the Tlatelolco Codex and see something of their
motivations. They were young men and being a mitote per-
former enhanced their status, certainly among the gathered
women. But most interesting is the last part of the charge,
because it connects the mitotes directly to the feasting and
culture of largess that indigenous governors kept alive in
the city. In controlling the performance and the costumes
of the mitotes, the indigenous cabildo was also able to fund
giveaways on feast days.
Some weeks after these charges were filed on July 4,
1564, with the audiencia judge Pedro de Villalobos, who
was hearing the case, the indigenous cabildo finished their
response, in which they, through their lawyer, Juan Caro,
replied charge by charge to the accusers. Caro offered a
firm rebuttal to the charge of idolatry:
To the seventh item, I deny what it contains, for in their
mitotes or in customary dances, my clients have never
introduced deviations nor idolatrous acts nor anything
contrary to Christian doctrine. . . . while my clients may
take out some costumes, and though they may be akin to
those of antiquity, for this one can neither be led to sin
nor to a presumption of bad Christianity, for [they do so]
only to make themselves joyful in their celebrations with
songs that praise God and the Christian religion and all
the saints, and curse the devil and their ancient ceremo-
nies, with the approval of priests and others who admin-
ister Christian doctrine, the Catholic faith, following that
which is generally done and customary among the nativesof New Spain in their celebrations and mitotes, without
damage to the Christian religion nor to any person. 82The response essentially confirms what the accusation
established, that is, that many of the costumes were old
ones and thus once associated with the “idolatrous” prac-
tices of the pre-Hispanic period. However, Caro insists
that they have been transformed by their context—they
are now used only to praise God. Most important, however,
is widespread acceptance of mitotes as part of Christian
ritual, approved by the friars and performed throughout
New Spain.
Caro’s response to the thirteenth charge reveals little
about the dancers, but does reaffirm the heirloom status
of costumes:. . . my clients did not spend any contributions for feath-
ered costumes, accouterments or similar items, which
will be proved as truthful, given that they have kept some
feathered items in their community [the tecpan] for their
enjoyment and public festivals, and have had them for more
than 25 years; thus one will find that they have not bought
feathers nor shields for this purpose since then, using only
those which have been in the aforementioned community
[tecpan] for years. Nor have my clients demanded contri-
butions for this reason or any similar one, nor will one find
any order issued nor collection made for the aforemen-
tioned expense. 83
The response underscores the role and status of the
feathered garments. It makes clear that the community of
Mexico-Tenochtitlan had held some featherworks in the
tecpan for decades and that these were considered commu-
nity property, brought out as part of community-sponsored
festivals. That young, unmarried men were dancing also
points to the dances as a form of social reproduction—
learning the steps of the mitote was a refined and admired
art, and this, like other kinesthetic skills, was passed down
by the apprentice mimicking the master. However, the
charges in the suit, combined with the presence of feath-
ered items in elite wills, suggest that featherworks, once
created and held as communal property, were increasingly
becoming treated as personal property, with cabildo mem-
bers renting out the costumes that they “owned” (notably, a
charge they didn’t respond to). Certainly such rentals would
help augment their increasingly restricted salaries. In the
reforms passed by Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza