FRAY BERNARDINO DE SAHAGUN
(l500?-I590)
NOTE:
One of the best sources for information on the cultures which inhabited Mesoamerica prior to 1532
are the codices written by that civilization. While there are only three authenticated Maya tomes
currently in existence, there are many more about the MEXICA,
(530 MEXICA Codices or so continue to exist, most reconstructed during
post invasion Mexico)
who ruled over Mexico until the conquest by the Spanish in the 16th century.
One of the best and largest volumes is the Florentine Codex, a set of 12 books
that described a great deal of life during the empire.
It is 2400 pages long and written in the 1500's it has been digitized
and is now available as of October 2012 on the INTERNET
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10096/
*
Sahagún conducted research for several decades, edited and revised it over several decades,
created several versions of a 2,400-page manuscript,
and addressed a cluster of religious, cultural and nature themes.
**
Copies of it were sent back to the royal court of Spain and to the Vatican in the
late 16th century to explain Aztec culture. The document was essentially lost for
about two centuries, until a scholar rediscovered it in the Laurentian Library
(Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) an archive library in Florence, Italy.
A scholarly community of historians, anthropologists, art historians, and linguists
has been actively investigating Bernardino’s work, its subtleties and mysteries,
for more than 200 years.
Fray Bernardino, also a Franciscan, pursued his studies at Salamanca
University, where he early distinguished himself as a student of lan-
guages. He arrived in New Spain during 1529, five years after Motolinia,
and immediately began studying Nahuatl, the language of the MEXICA.
Although he lacked the advantages of boyhood association with the
Indians which Fray Alonso de Molina possessed (Molina compiled the
best Nahuatl dictionary of the century), nevertheless he made up for a
late start with overwhelming industry. In time he became the most
learned Aztecist of the century, and ethnology today owes him an in-
calculable debt.
His Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana,
which he originally wrote in Nahuatl about the year 1547, and which
he thirty years later translated into Spanish, provides an inestimable
gold-mine of information concerning pre-invasion life.
In order to compile this history he gathered together a group of
sachems who still remembered pre-Conquest customs.
With painstaking care he wrote down a compendious description of Indian life
which so minutely set forth pre-Invasion customs that Sahagun's superiors
refused permission for it to circulate; they feared the younger generation of
Indians whom they were trying to wean away from idolatry would cap-
ture from it a vision of vanished glory, and become restive for the old
ways. Because the Historia General de las Cosas was hidden away, it was
finally forgotten, and not until 1829 was it brought to light and published.
Like most of the first generation missionaries, Sahagun was intensely
interested in music, and even taught it to the Indians who attended the
missionary college at Tlatelolco. His comments on Indian music there-
fore represent a more informed opinion than that of a mere dilettante.
He appreciated Indian music sufficiently to prepare a collection of Christian
hymns entitled
PSALMODIA CHRISTIANA
(published at Mexico City in 1583),
https://archive.org/stream/psalmodiachristi00saha#page/n113/mode/2up
whose words in Nahuatl were fitted to already existing Indian tunes.
NOTE:
this book is not to be confused with the
CANTARES DE IDIOMA MEXICANO
https://archive.org/details/cantaresenidioma00peuoft
The first two excerpts presented here have to do with human sacrifices,
and the part music played in the sacrificial system. One excerpt, which
because of the interesting story it tells, is frequently repeated in popular-
ized accounts of Aztec life, concerns a handsome youth.
After a year of perfect bliss he is taken to the sacrificial altar, and as he mounts the steps
he breaks his flutes 5 each flute he breaks symbolizes some joy or happiness
that has been his during the previous year of continuous festivity.
The second excerpt offers a description of the sacrifice of a young maiden 5
the tecomopiloa*, a musical instrument which must have been rare since archae-
ologists have unearthed no exemplars of it, is described in this second excerpt.
http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx/documentos/anales_mna/547.pdf
At the festival of the sixth month they sacrificed a handsome youth
whose body was perfectly proportioned. . . . They selected for this pur-
pose the best looking among their captives . . . and took great pains to
choose the most intelligent . . . and one without the least physical defect.
The youth chosen was carefully trained to play the flute well, and taught
. . . how to walk about as do the nobles and people of the court* . . .
The one chosen for the sacrifice . . . was greatly venerated by all those
who met him. . . . He who was thus chosen to die at the next great feast
went through the streets playing the flute and carrying flowers. . . . On
his legs he wore golden bells which rang at every step he took. . . .
Twenty days before the feast . . . they married him to four beautiful
maidens. . . . Five days before the sacrifice they worshipped the young
man as one of their gods. . . . [After four days of preparation, they at
last] took him to a small and poorly decorated temple which stood near
the highway outside the city. . . .
Upon reaching the foot [of the temple] the young man mounted the steps
by himself. As he mounted the first step he broke one of the flutes he had
played during the past year of his prosperity; on the second step, another,
and so on successively until he had broken them all, and had reached the
summit. There he was awaited by the priests who were to kill him, and these
now grabbed him and threw him on the stone-block. After seeing him
pinned down on his back with feet, hands, and head securely held, the priest
who had the stone knife buried it deep in the victim's breast. Then drawing
the knife out, the priest thrust one hand into the- opening and tore out the heart,
which he at once offered to the sun
Thus ended the life of this unfortunate youth who had for an entire year been petted
and honored by everyone. They said this sacrifice signified that those who
possessed riches and pleasures in their lifetime would thus end in poverty and sorrow.
(Book II, Chapter XXIV)
[At the festival of Veytecuflhuid] the dancing and singing of the
woman [who was about to be sacrificed] was accompanied by the playing
of an [unusual type of] teponaztli.
[Unlike the ordinary teponaztli this one] had only one key on top
[rather than the customary two keys. This single key on top was]
matched by a similar key below it on the bottom
side. To the bottom [key] was attached a cup such as might be used for
drinking; for with this resonator cup the teponaztli produces a much
stronger sound than if two keys [each sounding different pitches] are
cut out on top, with none underneath. [This particular type of] teponaztli
was called tecomofttoa, and it was so constructed that it could be fitted
under the armpit of the musician carrying it
(Book II, Chapter XXVII)
From the next short excerpt we learn that the young nobles in train-
ing for the priesthood at the Calmecac were required to learn vast num-
bers of hymns honoring the gods in the Aztec pantheon. The Calmecac
was "a house of penance and tears, where nobles were reared to become
priests of the idols."
The fourteenth rule [of instruction] was to teach the boys all the
verses of the songs to sing, which they called divine songs; these verses
were written in their books by signs.
(Book III, Chapter VIII)
In the next passage Sahagun offers a corroborating description of the
fiestas in honor of the godsj since Sahagun's description differs in only a
few details from Motolinia's the passage given below has been abridged.
One interesting detail noted by Sahaun, but not by Motolinia, has to do
with the capital punishment of musicians who made mistakes in perform-
ance. The meticulous preparation of the music cannot be wondered at if
it was always true that a musician who erred was immediately withdrawn
from the ensemble and executed.
NOTE:
(Sahagun is the only Spanish chronicler to say that musicians, dancers
and singers were executed if they made a mistake!!!!!!)
One thing that the chiefs took great pains with were the areitos, the
dances which were festivals for the entire people. The leader of the singing
first gave his instructions to the singers in his charge, and told them how
to pitch their voices and how to tune them; the leader also told them what
kind of ule [rubber] sticks they were to use in playing the teponaztli. He
also gave orders for the steps and postures that were to be used in danc-
ing. . . .
Then they proceeded to the dance. If one of the singers made a mistake
in singing, or if one of the teponaztli players erred in the execution of his
part, or if one of the leaders who indicated the dance routine made a mis-
take, immediately the chieftain ordered him siezed, and the next day had
him summarily executed.
(Book VHE, Chapter XXVI) * 9
The last excerpt we offer from Sahagun's Historia General de las Cosas
has often been quoted elsewhere, in it Sahagun tells some of the qualifica-
tions the Aztecs desired in an ideal singer.
The worthy singer has a clear mind and a strong memory. He composes
songs himself and learns those of others, and is always ready to impart
[what he knows] to the fellows of his craft. He sings with a well-trained
voice, and is careful to practice in private before he appears in public.
The unworthy singer, on the other hand, is ignorant and indolent. . . . What
he learns he will not communicate to others. His voice is hoarse and un-
trained, and he is at once envious and boastful.
(Book X, Chapter VIII) 80
*
Edmonson, M. S. (Ed.) (1974)
Sixteenth-century Mexico: The Work of Sahagún,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press.
**
For a history of this scholarly work,
see Miguel León-Portilla,
Bernardino De Sahagún: The First Anthropologist
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002).
(l500?-I590)
NOTE:
One of the best sources for information on the cultures which inhabited Mesoamerica prior to 1532
are the codices written by that civilization. While there are only three authenticated Maya tomes
currently in existence, there are many more about the MEXICA,
(530 MEXICA Codices or so continue to exist, most reconstructed during
post invasion Mexico)
who ruled over Mexico until the conquest by the Spanish in the 16th century.
One of the best and largest volumes is the Florentine Codex, a set of 12 books
that described a great deal of life during the empire.
It is 2400 pages long and written in the 1500's it has been digitized
and is now available as of October 2012 on the INTERNET
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10096/
*
Sahagún conducted research for several decades, edited and revised it over several decades,
created several versions of a 2,400-page manuscript,
and addressed a cluster of religious, cultural and nature themes.
**
Copies of it were sent back to the royal court of Spain and to the Vatican in the
late 16th century to explain Aztec culture. The document was essentially lost for
about two centuries, until a scholar rediscovered it in the Laurentian Library
(Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) an archive library in Florence, Italy.
A scholarly community of historians, anthropologists, art historians, and linguists
has been actively investigating Bernardino’s work, its subtleties and mysteries,
for more than 200 years.
Fray Bernardino, also a Franciscan, pursued his studies at Salamanca
University, where he early distinguished himself as a student of lan-
guages. He arrived in New Spain during 1529, five years after Motolinia,
and immediately began studying Nahuatl, the language of the MEXICA.
Although he lacked the advantages of boyhood association with the
Indians which Fray Alonso de Molina possessed (Molina compiled the
best Nahuatl dictionary of the century), nevertheless he made up for a
late start with overwhelming industry. In time he became the most
learned Aztecist of the century, and ethnology today owes him an in-
calculable debt.
His Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana,
which he originally wrote in Nahuatl about the year 1547, and which
he thirty years later translated into Spanish, provides an inestimable
gold-mine of information concerning pre-invasion life.
In order to compile this history he gathered together a group of
sachems who still remembered pre-Conquest customs.
With painstaking care he wrote down a compendious description of Indian life
which so minutely set forth pre-Invasion customs that Sahagun's superiors
refused permission for it to circulate; they feared the younger generation of
Indians whom they were trying to wean away from idolatry would cap-
ture from it a vision of vanished glory, and become restive for the old
ways. Because the Historia General de las Cosas was hidden away, it was
finally forgotten, and not until 1829 was it brought to light and published.
Like most of the first generation missionaries, Sahagun was intensely
interested in music, and even taught it to the Indians who attended the
missionary college at Tlatelolco. His comments on Indian music there-
fore represent a more informed opinion than that of a mere dilettante.
He appreciated Indian music sufficiently to prepare a collection of Christian
hymns entitled
PSALMODIA CHRISTIANA
(published at Mexico City in 1583),
https://archive.org/stream/psalmodiachristi00saha#page/n113/mode/2up
whose words in Nahuatl were fitted to already existing Indian tunes.
NOTE:
this book is not to be confused with the
CANTARES DE IDIOMA MEXICANO
https://archive.org/details/cantaresenidioma00peuoft
The first two excerpts presented here have to do with human sacrifices,
and the part music played in the sacrificial system. One excerpt, which
because of the interesting story it tells, is frequently repeated in popular-
ized accounts of Aztec life, concerns a handsome youth.
After a year of perfect bliss he is taken to the sacrificial altar, and as he mounts the steps
he breaks his flutes 5 each flute he breaks symbolizes some joy or happiness
that has been his during the previous year of continuous festivity.
The second excerpt offers a description of the sacrifice of a young maiden 5
the tecomopiloa*, a musical instrument which must have been rare since archae-
ologists have unearthed no exemplars of it, is described in this second excerpt.
http://www.mna.inah.gob.mx/documentos/anales_mna/547.pdf
At the festival of the sixth month they sacrificed a handsome youth
whose body was perfectly proportioned. . . . They selected for this pur-
pose the best looking among their captives . . . and took great pains to
choose the most intelligent . . . and one without the least physical defect.
The youth chosen was carefully trained to play the flute well, and taught
. . . how to walk about as do the nobles and people of the court* . . .
The one chosen for the sacrifice . . . was greatly venerated by all those
who met him. . . . He who was thus chosen to die at the next great feast
went through the streets playing the flute and carrying flowers. . . . On
his legs he wore golden bells which rang at every step he took. . . .
Twenty days before the feast . . . they married him to four beautiful
maidens. . . . Five days before the sacrifice they worshipped the young
man as one of their gods. . . . [After four days of preparation, they at
last] took him to a small and poorly decorated temple which stood near
the highway outside the city. . . .
Upon reaching the foot [of the temple] the young man mounted the steps
by himself. As he mounted the first step he broke one of the flutes he had
played during the past year of his prosperity; on the second step, another,
and so on successively until he had broken them all, and had reached the
summit. There he was awaited by the priests who were to kill him, and these
now grabbed him and threw him on the stone-block. After seeing him
pinned down on his back with feet, hands, and head securely held, the priest
who had the stone knife buried it deep in the victim's breast. Then drawing
the knife out, the priest thrust one hand into the- opening and tore out the heart,
which he at once offered to the sun
Thus ended the life of this unfortunate youth who had for an entire year been petted
and honored by everyone. They said this sacrifice signified that those who
possessed riches and pleasures in their lifetime would thus end in poverty and sorrow.
(Book II, Chapter XXIV)
[At the festival of Veytecuflhuid] the dancing and singing of the
woman [who was about to be sacrificed] was accompanied by the playing
of an [unusual type of] teponaztli.
[Unlike the ordinary teponaztli this one] had only one key on top
[rather than the customary two keys. This single key on top was]
matched by a similar key below it on the bottom
side. To the bottom [key] was attached a cup such as might be used for
drinking; for with this resonator cup the teponaztli produces a much
stronger sound than if two keys [each sounding different pitches] are
cut out on top, with none underneath. [This particular type of] teponaztli
was called tecomofttoa, and it was so constructed that it could be fitted
under the armpit of the musician carrying it
(Book II, Chapter XXVII)
From the next short excerpt we learn that the young nobles in train-
ing for the priesthood at the Calmecac were required to learn vast num-
bers of hymns honoring the gods in the Aztec pantheon. The Calmecac
was "a house of penance and tears, where nobles were reared to become
priests of the idols."
The fourteenth rule [of instruction] was to teach the boys all the
verses of the songs to sing, which they called divine songs; these verses
were written in their books by signs.
(Book III, Chapter VIII)
In the next passage Sahagun offers a corroborating description of the
fiestas in honor of the godsj since Sahagun's description differs in only a
few details from Motolinia's the passage given below has been abridged.
One interesting detail noted by Sahaun, but not by Motolinia, has to do
with the capital punishment of musicians who made mistakes in perform-
ance. The meticulous preparation of the music cannot be wondered at if
it was always true that a musician who erred was immediately withdrawn
from the ensemble and executed.
NOTE:
(Sahagun is the only Spanish chronicler to say that musicians, dancers
and singers were executed if they made a mistake!!!!!!)
One thing that the chiefs took great pains with were the areitos, the
dances which were festivals for the entire people. The leader of the singing
first gave his instructions to the singers in his charge, and told them how
to pitch their voices and how to tune them; the leader also told them what
kind of ule [rubber] sticks they were to use in playing the teponaztli. He
also gave orders for the steps and postures that were to be used in danc-
ing. . . .
Then they proceeded to the dance. If one of the singers made a mistake
in singing, or if one of the teponaztli players erred in the execution of his
part, or if one of the leaders who indicated the dance routine made a mis-
take, immediately the chieftain ordered him siezed, and the next day had
him summarily executed.
(Book VHE, Chapter XXVI) * 9
The last excerpt we offer from Sahagun's Historia General de las Cosas
has often been quoted elsewhere, in it Sahagun tells some of the qualifica-
tions the Aztecs desired in an ideal singer.
The worthy singer has a clear mind and a strong memory. He composes
songs himself and learns those of others, and is always ready to impart
[what he knows] to the fellows of his craft. He sings with a well-trained
voice, and is careful to practice in private before he appears in public.
The unworthy singer, on the other hand, is ignorant and indolent. . . . What
he learns he will not communicate to others. His voice is hoarse and un-
trained, and he is at once envious and boastful.
(Book X, Chapter VIII) 80
*
Edmonson, M. S. (Ed.) (1974)
Sixteenth-century Mexico: The Work of Sahagún,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press.
**
For a history of this scholarly work,
see Miguel León-Portilla,
Bernardino De Sahagún: The First Anthropologist
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002).
