184 • The deaTh of azTec TenochTiTLan, The Life of mexico ciTy
(such as the oath of allegiance sworn to the new king or the
processional entry of the new viceroy into a city). 74
But the particular rendering of the 1557 oath along with
the mitote in the Tlatelolco Codex raises the question of
whether in the sixteenth century the mitotes were under-
stood as offering only “ritualized expressions of loyalty” to
the Spanish monarch. We have seen, in chapters 3 and 5,
that a traditional way of showing political alliances and
associated political hierarchies among the pre-Hispanic
rulers would have been through feasting or in gift giving.
But the iconography of the mitote in the Tlatelolco Codex
emphasizes the potency of rulers rather than political
fealty. Consider the flowers that the dancers hold. The
form of the huacalxochitl flower—here shown in dramati-
cally enlarged form—was likened to the male sexual organ.
Sahagún’s informants wrote that women of the palace plea-
sured themselves with it, “therefore, they say, they were car-
nally guilty,” and thus related to masculine potency. These
flowers were carried by both rulers and war heroes, as well
as by dancers. 75
Military prowess was a key component of indigenous
rulership, and many of the costumes and accouterments
shown as part of the mitote performed for the oath were
ones once specifically linked to a ruler’s military exploits.
The feathered fan carried by the front figure may be the
tlauhquecholecacehuaztli, the “red spoonbill feather fan”
depicted in the Florentine Codex and one of the gifts
that valley rulers, assembled by the Mexica huei tlatoani to
watch gladiatorial sacrifices on the successful completion
of a war, carried in their hands, thus both an emblem of
military victory and an example of Mexica largesse. This
fan also resembles that carried by a tequihua, “seasoned war-
rior,” who was among those entrusted to be “ambassadors
and guides” (enbaxadores and aldalides) by the huei tlatoani
in the pre-Hispanic period and who were represented in
the Codex Mendoza (figure 8.5).
Indigenous audiences certainly remembered the pres-
tige of feathered costumes in the mid-sixteenth century—
in the Tlatelolco Codex, the earliest scenes, of ca. 1542,
show the Tlatelolco warriors carrying feathered shields
and wearing feathered ornaments in their hair, and one
figure wears a short jerkin with an ocelot pattern, simi-
lar to the feathered jerkins in the Codex Mendoza (folios
22r and 32r) and the Codex Ixtlilxochitl (see figure 3.2).
Since featherworks of all kinds were exceedingly precious,
warrior costumes, once out of date, seem to have been
repurposed into valuable dance costumes, in addition to
being created anew, as the Florentine Codex reports. 76
For instance, the Codex Mendoza frequently shows ocelot
costumes, complete with helmet-masks, in its tribute lists,
their black spots set against a background of yellow (folios
20r, 21v, 23r, and 31r), white (folio 25r), blue (folios 29r, 37r,
and 51r), or red (folio 54r). Such suits were made not from
ocelot skin, but from feathers, carefully sewn into cotton
backing, rachis by rachis, thousands of feathers, crafted
to resemble the spotted pelt. One such yellow feathered
costume, with its own devisa, “emblem,” in the form of a
giant bird with outstretched wings similar to that in the
Tlatelolco Codex, can be seen in the upper left quadrant of
a page from the Codex Mendoza, reproduced in figure 3.1.
These elaborate, extraordinary suits were destined to be
given to the highest-ranking of the Mexica military elite,
as reward and public sign of their prowess in battle. They
were also to be worn by these elite Mexica warriors into the
next round of conquest battles, which in turn would bringfiguRe 8.5. Unknown creator, a tequihua, or seasoned warrior,
carrying a fan, detail, Codex Mendoza, fol. 67r, ca. 1542. Bodleian
Libraries, University of Oxford, Ms. Arch. Selden A1.