The Latin Americanist

CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF FOOD IN MEXICA MIGRATION AND CREATION ACCOUNTS Elizabeth Morán The sixteenth-century mestizo writer, Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, in his Crónica Mexicana, recorded the story of the Nahua people from their first entry into the Basin of Mexico in the thirteenth century, their settlement of Tenochtitlan on islands in Lake Tezcoco about 1325, and their systematic rise to power and control in Central Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.1 Crucial to the beginnings of the Aztecs2 in their new homeland were the seeds or foods they brought with them: maize, beans, chia and amaranth.3 These foods continued to play an important role in Aztec culture and they were the very same items the Aztec state would later require in tribute from conquered provinces.4 Food appears frequently in migration accounts, being present as well at the foundation of Mexica history. In the pictorial manuscripts that illustrate food – food, food preparation, and food consumption are not only (obvious) symbols for survival and success but metaphors for continuity of culture and religion. As the Mexica go from one location to the next, they are able to acquire and prepare the necessary foods that allow them to survive and forge their cultural identity. Their Mexica identity included specific foods and specific uses of food in ritual. Migration accounts that illustrate food also help establish the Mexicas as the chosen group in Central Mexico to thrive above other cultural groups. Food, and sometimes the lack of it, helps in reading this success. The Codex Azcatitlan refers to food very early in the migration account. According to folio 4, during the years 1169 and 1170, the Mexica stopped at a desert-like location, whose flora included succulents and cacti such as the nopal.5 The inclusion of the nopal plant in the image is essential. In Book 11 (Earthly Things) of the Florentine Codex,6 the authors list the different types of tunas, their particular tastes, and some of the ways in which they were cooked.7 In addition to being an important food item, the nopal fruit was a significant icon and emblem of Tenochtitlan, which literally translates to “place of the fruit of the cactus.”8 According to Mexica myth, the Mexica would find their home when they came across the sign of an eagle perched on a cactus fruit.9 The inclusion of the nopal fruit in the image foreshadows the success of the Mexica. The rest spot proved to be a good place for a temporary home, as indicated by several houses and temples drawn in the center of the page. In the midst of these buildings a kneeling woman grinds maize on a rectangular metate or stone grinder. This type of grinder was used for maize, a critical food in both everyday and ritual use.10 Its appearance among the temples and homes indicates stability in the everday, cultural, 15 SECOLAS Annals, Volume 52, 2008 and religious life of the Mexicas. As they moved around the Basin of Mexico in search of a permanent homeland, they were able to bring with them this basic staple, which was not only important in daily meals, but also became a significant part of ritual activities. The Azcatitlan illustrates another metate at a moment of great tension in the Mexica migration account. Folio 11 depicts a point in the migration story where the Mexica were in the service of the Colhua of Colhuacan, a major settled group in the Basin of Mexico at this time.11 On behalf of this group the Mexica waged war against the people of Xochimilco in the southern Basin of Mexico. The scene on the lower right-hand side shows the two groups battling as the Mexica try to cross a river to safety. A woman holding a child crosses the river, while on the other bank another woman and child, the sacred bundle of the Mexica patron deity Huitzilopochtli,12 and several vessels appear. Above and to the right of a soldier holding a spear and shield is a metate illustrated in profile. The image makes clear what is important to the survival of the Mexica as a people...