Amaya’s Den 🍂

The other day i spotted someone's fursona with the name Tlayoualo, a Nahuatl-inspired name composed of the following word structure:
Tla- (Nahuatl: nonspecific object prefix) +
yohualli / youalli (Nahuatl: "night", "darkness", "shadow") -
-li (Nahuatl: absolutive object suffix) +
-o (Spanish: masculine object suffix)

“The Dark One” very much fits the vibe of their sona.

They self-identify as a "modern tlacuilo", which is the Nahuatl term for an "artisan" in Pre-Hispanic Mexico. The exact meaning of tlacuilo in English (and Spanish) varies but generally it was a man who is a skilled painter, illustrator, scribe, and/or sage. Tlacuilo were almost always people of royal pedigree, with the rare exception of a particularly gifted commoner being chosen by a noble to join the calmecatl (Nahuatl: private academy for the sons of Aztec nobility; lit. "group of buildings"). These people could remember past events in exquisite detail and could be consulted on a wide variety of topics (i.e. religion, politics, art, relationships, botany, etc). They were also skilled in painting, sculpting, cartography, and other such arts.

Codex Durán

Among the works of the Mexican codicies I found an interesting painting in the first page of Codex Durán. It depicts Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (c.1466–1520) standing atop his royal residence observing a comet in the skies over [what appears to be] Popocatépetl. The story goes that Moctezuma consulted a tlacuilo, who told him it was a sign of something major to come. What that impending event was the tlacuilo could not tell.

Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, the final monarch of the Aztec Empire, standing atop his royal residence observing a comet in the skies over [what appears to be] Popocatépetl.

I wasn't sure if this was a metaphorical or literal depiction of historical events, so I went rummaging through the archives to see if any notable comets appeared in the night sky between 1502 and 1520, which are the beginning and end dates of Moctezuma's administration. If this comet was real, and the mountain depicted is in fact Popocatépetl (which east of Tenochtitlan/Mexico City), then the comet would appear to rise up from behind the mountain at dawn and would be absolutely amazing to see in person.

I couldn't find anything.

The comets that best fit that timeline were the Great Comet of 1471, which was visible in the northern hemisphere when Moctezuma was 5 years old, and a visit from Comet Halley in 1531, eleven years after Moctezuma's death. Unless NASA failed to identify any other bright comets during that time frame and everyone around the world just decided not to mention it other than what's in this codex, the comet depicted has to be fictitious.

Diego Durán & Gaspar da Cruz

Diego Durán (c.1537–1588), the Spanish-born Dominican friar who created the Codex Durán, was inducted into the Dominican Order in Mexico City in 1556, the same year as an exceptionally bright comet that was noted by people around the world. Relevant to this rabbit hole is Portuguese Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz(c.1520–1570), who in late 1556 visited the Portuguese outpost on the island of Lampacau in what is now Guangzhou, China. He returned to Portugal in 1565 and in 1569 wrote the first book written by a European that was dedicated exclusively to China.

In his 1569 book Tractado em que se[n]tam muito por este[n]so como cosas de China, con[m] sus particularidades, [y] así el reino no duerme, Gaspar da Cruz claimed that the Great Comet of 1556 was responsible not only for the devastating 1556 Shaanxi earthquake in China, but was an omen of the end times for the entire world. He even suggested the comet could be a sign of the birth of the Antichrist.

Digital scan of the front cover of Gaspar de Cruz's 1569 book "Tractado em que se[n]tam muito por este[n]so como cosas de China, con[m] sus particularidades, [y] así el reino no duerme." The title in English: "Treated in that it is also very much like things from China, with[m] its particularities, [and] thus the kingdom does not sleep".

Meanwhile, in 1561, Durán completed his training and went on a missionary expedition to Oaxaca, an indigenous village turned missionary outpost about 350 km to the southeast. Around 1573, Durán became vicar of a newly constructed convent in Hueyapan, Morelos, another indigenous village turned missionary outpost located only 75 km southeast of Mexico City. It was here that Durán compiled most of the tales he learned of during his previous missionary work in Oaxaca.

If the book mentioned previously arrived in the hands of Durán from Mexico City, then this could have inspired him to produce a fictitious depiction of a brilliant comet foreshadowing the demise of the Aztec Empire in Codex Durán, which was created from 1574 to 1576.

And that's the bit! Or is it? 😏

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