Costumbre muy antigua es de nuestro adversario el Diablo buscar escondrijos para hacer sus negocios conforme a lo del Sancto Evangelio que dice: "Quien hace mal aborrece la luz." Conforme a esto, este nuestro enemigo en esta tierra plantó un bosque o arcabuco lleno de muy espesas breñas para hacer sus negocios desde él y para absconderse en él, para no ser hallado, como hacen las bestias fieras y las muy ponzuñosas serpientes. Este bosque o arcabuco breñoso son los cantares que en esta tierra él urdió que se hiciesen y usasen en su servicio, y como su culto divino y psalmus de su loor, ansí en los templos como fuera dellos, los cuales llevan tanto artificio que dicen lo que quieren y apregonan lo que él manda, y entiéndenlos solamente aquellos a quien él los endereza. Es cosa muy averiguada que la cueva, bosque y arcabuco donde el día de hoy este maldito adversario se absconde, son los cantares y psalmus que tiene compuestos y se le cantan, sin poderse entender
\n","citation_key":"citation_lopez_spanish_transcription","citation":{"en":["Spanish by López Austin & García Quintana 2000"],"es":["Español por López Austin & García Quintana 2000"]}},{"id":"b5b575d4-e7f9-4019-9a3d-6fc6e691950d","choice":{"en":["Spanish-to-English by García Garagarza 2023"],"es":["Español-al-inglés por García Garagarza 2023"]},"type":"translation","type_label":{"en":["spanish translation"],"es":["traducción al español"]},"column":"spanish","language":{"en":["English"],"es":["Inglés"]},"language_code":"eng","subtitle":"(García Garagarza 2023)","markdown":"#### Account of the songs that were sung in honor of the gods within and outside the temples \n\nIt is a very ancient custom of our adversary the devil to seek hiding places where he can conduct his business, in accordance with [the verse] of the Holy Gospel that says, “He who does evil hates the light.”[^211] In keeping with this, this enemy of ours planted in this land a forest or bush full of very thick brambles in order to conduct his business from that place and to hide himself there, so that he will not be found, just like the fierce beasts and very poisonous snakes do. This forest or thick bush is the songs that he devised in this land for [these people] to use and perform in his service, both as his divine worship and as the psalm of his praise, both in the temples and outside of them. [These songs] contain so much artifice that they say what they want and preach whatever he orders; and only those to whom he addresses [these songs] understand them. It is a well-established fact that the cave, forest, and bush where this accursed adversary is currently hiding are the songs and psalms that he has composed and are sung for him.\n\n\n[^211]: John 3:20; cf. NRSV “For all who do evil hate the light.”","html":"It is a very ancient custom of our adversary the devil to seek hiding places where he can conduct his business, in accordance with [the verse] of the Holy Gospel that says, “He who does evil hates the light.”1 In keeping with this, this enemy of ours planted in this land a forest or bush full of very thick brambles in order to conduct his business from that place and to hide himself there, so that he will not be found, just like the fierce beasts and very poisonous snakes do. This forest or thick bush is the songs that he devised in this land for [these people] to use and perform in his service, both as his divine worship and as the psalm of his praise, both in the temples and outside of them. [These songs] contain so much artifice that they say what they want and preach whatever he orders; and only those to whom he addresses [these songs] understand them. It is a well-established fact that the cave, forest, and bush where this accursed adversary is currently hiding are the songs and psalms that he has composed and are sung for him.
\nJohn 3:20; cf. NRSV “For all who do evil hate the light.”↩
Vitzilobuch
\niaquetl aia,
\nyiaco n ai,
\nin ohujhujhujia
\nane njcujc tociquemjtla, yia, ayia, yia, yio vjia,
\nque ia noca, oia tonaquj yiaia, yia, yio.
Tetzaviztli,
\nia mixtecatl,
\nce i mocxi
\npichaoazteca
\ntlapo ma ia, ova yieo ayia yie.
Ai tlaxotla tenamitl ihujtli macoc
\nmopopoxotiuh,
\niautlato aia ayia yio,
\nnoteouh aia tepãquizqui mjtoa ia,
O ya i eva vel mamavia
\nin tlaxotecatl
\nteuhtla tlamjlacatzoa ia,
\ntlaxotecatl
\nteuhtla mjlacatzoa ia.
Amanteca toiaohoan
\nxinechoncentlalizqui via,
\nicalipan iautioa
\nxenechoncentlalizqui.
Ahuja tlacuchcalco notequjoa
\n","citation_key":"citation_anderson_nahuatl_transcription","citation":{"en":["Nahuatl by Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"],"es":["Náhuatl por Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"]}},{"id":"90ba6e66-4f9f-4743-916f-d0f0fababa40","choice":{"en":["Nahuatl-to-English by Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"],"es":["Náhuatl-al-inglés por Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"]},"type":"translation","type_label":{"en":["nahuatl translation"],"es":["traducción al náhuatl"]},"column":"nahuatl","language":{"en":["English"],"es":["Inglés"]},"language_code":"eng","subtitle":"(Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982)","markdown":"#### Here is told what the songs of the devils were, with which they paid honor to them within their temples and indeed without[^1] \n\n##### Song of Uitzilopochtli \n\nUitzilopochtli \nLeader in war[^2] \nWhose work is on high[^3] \nWho goes on his way[^4] \nNot in vain[^5] I take the yellow feathered cape[^6] \nWhich through me is the sunshine[^7] \n\nEvil of omen \nDweller in cloudland \nYou have but one foot \nDweller in chill land of wings[^8] \nYou open your hand[^9] \n\nFeathers are given the hot region’s[^10] ramparts \nBroadcast they fly \nProclaimers of war \nMy god is entitled defender of men \n\nAlready he rises all covered with paper[^11] \nA hot region dweller[^12] \nHe circles in dust \nA hot region dweller \nHe circles in dust \n\nThe Amanteca are our foes \nAbout me place yourselves \nIn battle form[^13] there’s going to war \nAbout me place yourselves[^14] \n\n\n##### Song of Uitznauac Yaotl \n\nMy seasoned warrior’s in the spear house \n\n\n\n[^1]: In translating the sacred songs, we have depended heavily upon Angel María Garibay K.’s versions in *Veinte himnos sacros de los nahuas* (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Instituto de Historia, Seminario de Cultura Náhuatl. 1958; hereafter referred to as Garibay, *Viente himnos*), as well as upon those in Eduard Seler’s essay, “Die religiösen Gesänge der alten Mexikaner” (*Gesammelte Abhandlungen*, Vol. II, pp. 961-1107). Both authorities should be studied by the reader who wishes as full an understanding as possible of their meaning. In the *Florentine Codex*, the songs are untranslated and lack the glosses to be found in the *Real Palacio MS*. \n\n\nIn the *Florentine Codex*, Sahagún comments concerning them: “*Costumbre muy antigua es, de nr̃o aduersario el diablo: buscar ascondrijos, para hazer sus negocios: conforme a lo del sancto Euangelio, que dize. Quien haze mal, aborrece la luz: conforme a esto, este nr̃o enemigo, en esta tierra planto, vn bosque, o arcabuco, lleno de muy espesas breñas, para hazer sus negocios, desde el, y para absconderse en el, para no ser hallado: como hazen las bestias fieras, y las muy ponçuñosas serpientes. Este bosque, o arcabuco breñoso, son los cantares, que en esta tierra el vrdio, que se hiziessen, y vsasen, en su serujcio: y como su culto diujno y psalmas de su loor, ansi en los templos, como fuera dellos: los quales lleuan tanto artificio, que dizen lo que qujeren, y apregonan lo que el manda: y entiendenlos solamente aquellos, a qujen el los endereça. Es cosa muy aueriguada, que la cueua, bosque, y arcabuco, donde el dia de oy, este maldito aduersario, se absconde, son los cantares, y psalmas, que tiene compuestos: y se le cantan, sin poderse entender, lo que en ello se trata, mas de aquellos que son naturales, y acostumbrados, a este lenguaje. De manera, que seguramente se canta, todo lo que el quiere, sea guerra, o paz, loor suyo, o contumelia de xp̃o, sin que de los demas se pueda entender.*” \n\nAs for our transcription of the songs for our Nahuatl column: they appear in simple paragraph form in the MS, more or less as we reproduced them in our first edition of “The Ceremonies.” In the present edition, we have rearranged them in the versified form we have adopted, but have not otherwise changed them except to italicize certain sounds (*aia, yia, yio, uiya,* etc.) which, according to Garibay, in *Poesía náhuatl*, 3 vols. (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Historia, Seminario de Cultura Náhuatl, 1964), Vol. I, p. xxviii, n. 14, have only metric value or indicate the sounds of musical instruments when not accompanying voices, or are “*palabras de exclamación que probablemente eran para dar base al canto sin palabras*” (Garibay, *Viente himnos*, p. 33). These have no other meaning, and the MS does not clearly separate them in the song texts. \n\nWhether because of surviving archaisms; or of distortions due to their poetic expression, their presentation sung and danced, their having been constantly and unthinkingly repeated; or of mistakes in copying the text, the Nahuatl is very difficult. Our notes suggest readings in keeping with the Nahuatl of the *Florentine Codex* for the most obscure passages. These are based upon both Garibay’s commentaries in *Veinte himnos* and Seler’s in the *Gesammelte Abhandlungen*. It may be noted that Seler places more confidence in the explanatory glosses to be found in the *Real Palacio MS* than Garibay does, and that he is perhaps less thorough in eliminating elements which probably have only metrical value or imitate accompanying sounds, as previously noted. \n\nGaribay’s translations into Spanish are rather free. While ours follow many of his suggestions, they are in some ways perhaps freer. We do not invariably accept his translations; sometimes we have preferred Seler’s and sometimes we have accepted neither. In dividing the songs into “stanzas,” we have followed the arrangement of the Nahuatl text as it is in both the *Florentine Codex* and the *Real Palacio MS*. \n\n[^2]: *yauhqui* or *yaqui*. \n\n\n[^3]: *in aço in ai*.\n\n\n[^4]: Garibay (*Veinte himnos*, p. 34) considers *ohuihuihuiya* as a “reiterative” form of *ouia* or *ohuia* (*otli* or *ohtli*, road, path, with the transitive verbalizing suffix -*huia*). The corresponding gloss in the *Real Palacio MS* interprets this and the preceding line as *ayac nechnenevilia*, a reading with which Seler agrees—“*Niemand ist mir gleich*” (*Gesammelte Abhandlungen*, Vol. II, pp. 964, 967). \n\n\n[^5]: *anen*. \n\n\n[^6]: *tozquemitl*. \n\n\n[^7]: *que*: read *quen*; *tonaqui*: read *tonac*. \n\n\n[^8]: *pichauaztecatl*: Garibay (*Viente himnos*, p. 36) derives his meaning from *pichaui*, stiffen with cold, and *aztli*, wing.\n\n\n[^9]: *moma*.\n\n\n[^10]: *tlaxotla, tlaxotecatl*: we accept Garibay’s derivation from the verb *xotla* (*Viente himnos*, p. 37). Seler, however, interprets the passage as the allotting of feathers to the “gens” (*tenamitl*) of Tlaxotlan (*Gesammelte Abhandlungen*, Vol. II, pp. 969–70).\n\n\n[^11]: The corresponding gloss in the *Real Palacio MS* derives *mamauia* from *mauhtia*.\n\n\n[^12]: See note 10, above.\n\n\n[^13]: In *ibid.*, the gloss interprets *icalipan iautiooa* as *tlatlaz yn incal*—“their houses will burn.”\n\n\n[^14]: *xenech…*: read *xinech*….\n\nIn the *Real Palacio MS*, the following lines end the song: *Pipilteca toyavan xinechoncentlalizquivia icalipan yautiva xinechoncentlalizqui.*","html":"Uitzilopochtli
\nLeader in war2
\nWhose work is on high3
\nWho goes on his way4
\nNot in vain5 I take the yellow feathered cape6
\nWhich through me is the sunshine7
Evil of omen
\nDweller in cloudland
\nYou have but one foot
\nDweller in chill land of wings8
\nYou open your hand9
Feathers are given the hot region’s10 ramparts
\nBroadcast they fly
\nProclaimers of war
\nMy god is entitled defender of men
Already he rises all covered with paper11
\nA hot region dweller12
\nHe circles in dust
\nA hot region dweller
\nHe circles in dust
The Amanteca are our foes
\nAbout me place yourselves
\nIn battle form13 there’s going to war
\nAbout me place yourselves14
My seasoned warrior’s in the spear house
\nIn the Florentine Codex, Sahagún comments concerning them: “Costumbre muy antigua es, de nr̃o aduersario el diablo: buscar ascondrijos, para hazer sus negocios: conforme a lo del sancto Euangelio, que dize. Quien haze mal, aborrece la luz: conforme a esto, este nr̃o enemigo, en esta tierra planto, vn bosque, o arcabuco, lleno de muy espesas breñas, para hazer sus negocios, desde el, y para absconderse en el, para no ser hallado: como hazen las bestias fieras, y las muy ponçuñosas serpientes. Este bosque, o arcabuco breñoso, son los cantares, que en esta tierra el vrdio, que se hiziessen, y vsasen, en su serujcio: y como su culto diujno y psalmas de su loor, ansi en los templos, como fuera dellos: los quales lleuan tanto artificio, que dizen lo que qujeren, y apregonan lo que el manda: y entiendenlos solamente aquellos, a qujen el los endereça. Es cosa muy aueriguada, que la cueua, bosque, y arcabuco, donde el dia de oy, este maldito aduersario, se absconde, son los cantares, y psalmas, que tiene compuestos: y se le cantan, sin poderse entender, lo que en ello se trata, mas de aquellos que son naturales, y acostumbrados, a este lenguaje. De manera, que seguramente se canta, todo lo que el quiere, sea guerra, o paz, loor suyo, o contumelia de xp̃o, sin que de los demas se pueda entender.”
\nAs for our transcription of the songs for our Nahuatl column: they appear in simple paragraph form in the MS, more or less as we reproduced them in our first edition of “The Ceremonies.” In the present edition, we have rearranged them in the versified form we have adopted, but have not otherwise changed them except to italicize certain sounds (aia, yia, yio, uiya, etc.) which, according to Garibay, in Poesía náhuatl, 3 vols. (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Historia, Seminario de Cultura Náhuatl, 1964), Vol. I, p. xxviii, n. 14, have only metric value or indicate the sounds of musical instruments when not accompanying voices, or are “palabras de exclamación que probablemente eran para dar base al canto sin palabras” (Garibay, Viente himnos, p. 33). These have no other meaning, and the MS does not clearly separate them in the song texts.
\nWhether because of surviving archaisms; or of distortions due to their poetic expression, their presentation sung and danced, their having been constantly and unthinkingly repeated; or of mistakes in copying the text, the Nahuatl is very difficult. Our notes suggest readings in keeping with the Nahuatl of the Florentine Codex for the most obscure passages. These are based upon both Garibay’s commentaries in Veinte himnos and Seler’s in the Gesammelte Abhandlungen. It may be noted that Seler places more confidence in the explanatory glosses to be found in the Real Palacio MS than Garibay does, and that he is perhaps less thorough in eliminating elements which probably have only metrical value or imitate accompanying sounds, as previously noted.
\nGaribay’s translations into Spanish are rather free. While ours follow many of his suggestions, they are in some ways perhaps freer. We do not invariably accept his translations; sometimes we have preferred Seler’s and sometimes we have accepted neither. In dividing the songs into “stanzas,” we have followed the arrangement of the Nahuatl text as it is in both the Florentine Codex and the Real Palacio MS.
\nIn the Real Palacio MS, the following lines end the song: Pipilteca toyavan xinechoncentlalizquivia icalipan yautiva xinechoncentlalizqui.
\nIn translating the sacred songs, we have depended heavily upon Angel María Garibay K.’s versions in Veinte himnos sacros de los nahuas (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, Instituto de Historia, Seminario de Cultura Náhuatl. 1958; hereafter referred to as Garibay, Viente himnos), as well as upon those in Eduard Seler’s essay, “Die religiösen Gesänge der alten Mexikaner” (Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Vol. II, pp. 961-1107). Both authorities should be studied by the reader who wishes as full an understanding as possible of their meaning. In the Florentine Codex, the songs are untranslated and lack the glosses to be found in the Real Palacio MS.↩
yauhqui or yaqui.↩
in aço in ai.↩
Garibay (Veinte himnos, p. 34) considers ohuihuihuiya as a “reiterative” form of ouia or ohuia (otli or ohtli, road, path, with the transitive verbalizing suffix -huia). The corresponding gloss in the Real Palacio MS interprets this and the preceding line as ayac nechnenevilia, a reading with which Seler agrees—“Niemand ist mir gleich” (Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Vol. II, pp. 964, 967).↩
anen.↩
tozquemitl.↩
que: read quen; tonaqui: read tonac.↩
pichauaztecatl: Garibay (Viente himnos, p. 36) derives his meaning from pichaui, stiffen with cold, and aztli, wing.↩
moma.↩
tlaxotla, tlaxotecatl: we accept Garibay’s derivation from the verb xotla (Viente himnos, p. 37). Seler, however, interprets the passage as the allotting of feathers to the “gens” (tenamitl) of Tlaxotlan (Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Vol. II, pp. 969–70).↩
The corresponding gloss in the Real Palacio MS derives mamauia from mauhtia.↩
See note 10, above.↩
In ibid., the gloss interprets icalipan iautiooa as tlatlaz yn incal—“their houses will burn.”↩
xenech…: read xinech….↩