Desque los padres vían que su hijo era de edad para casarse, hablábanle en que le querían buscar su mujer, y él respondía haciéndoles gracias por aquel cuidado que tomaban de casarle. Luego hablaban al principal que tenía cargo de todos los mancebos, que ellos llamaban telpuchtlato, y decíanle cómo querían casar su hijo, que lo tuviese por bueno. Y para esto hacíanle un convite a él y a todos los mancebos que tenía a su cargo. Y para esto le hacían una plática, después de haberle dado de comer y de beber a él y a todos los que tenía a su cargo, y en principio de la plática poníanle delante una hacha de cortar madera o leña. Esta hacha era señal que aquel mancebo se despedía ya de la compañía de los otros mancebos, porque le querían casar, y ansí el telpuchtlato iba contento.
\nDespués desto, determinaban entre sí los parientes la mujer que le habían de dar, y llamaban a las casamenteras, que eran unas viejas honradas, para que fuesen a hablar a los padres de la moza. Iban dos o tres veces y hablaban y volvían con la respuesta. En este tiempo los parientes de la moza se hablaban y concertando de dársela, daban el sí a las casamenteras. Después desto buscaban un día bien afortunado de algún signo bien acondicionado, cuales eran ácatl, ozumatli, cipactli, cuauhtli. Habiendo escogido alguno destos signos, los padres del mozo hacían saber a los padres de la moza el día en que había de hacerse el matrimonio, y luego comenzaban a aparejar las cosas necesarias para las bodas, así de comer como de beber, como de mantas y cañas de humo, y flores, etcétera. Esto hecho, convidaban a los principales y a toda la gente que ellos querían para las bodas. Después del convite y de muchas pláticas y cerimonias, venían los de la parte del mozo a llevar a la moza, de par de noche. Llevábanla con gran solennidad a cuestas de una matrona y con muchas hachas de teas encendidas, en dos rencles, delante della. Iba rodeada della mucha gente, detrás y delante, hasta que la llegaban a la casa de los padres del mozo.
\nLlegada a la casa del mozo, poníanlos ambos juntos al hogar, que siempre le tenían en medio de una sala, lleno de fuego, y la mujer estaba a la mano izquierda del varón. Luego la madre del mancebo vestía un huipil muy galano a su nuera, y poníale junto a sus pies unas naoas muy labradas; y la madre de la moza cubría con una manta muy galana a su yerno, y atábasela sobre el hombro, y poníale un maxtli muy labrado a los pies. Hecho esto, unas viejas que se llaman titici ataban
\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":"3c1348af-ef7f-46d5-9f25-00576c3b2bb4","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":"##### The sixteenth movable feast\n\nWhen parents saw that their son had reached marriageable age, they would tell him that they wanted to find a wife for him; and he would reply by thanking them for the care that they showed in marrying him [to another]. Then they would speak to the leader in charge of all the young men, whom they called _telpochtlahtoh_, telling him that they wanted their son to marry, so that [the leader] may give his approval. And in order to do this, they would hold a banquet for [the leader] and all the young men who were under his charge. And for this [occasion], they would give a speech to him after they had given food and drink to him and to all those [young men] who were under his charge. And at the beginning of the speech, they would place before him an ax for cuttting firewood or lumber. This ax was a sign that that young man was already taking his leave from the company of the other young men, since they wanted him to marry; and so the _telpochtlahtoh_ would go away well pleased. \n\nAfter this, the relatives would decide among themselves on the woman whom they would give to him, and they would summon the matchmakers, who were some honest older women, to go and speak with the young woman’s parents. They would go two or three times and converse and come back with the answer. Meanwhile, the young woman’s relatives would talk among themselves and, once they had agreed to give her away, would give their consent to the matchmakers. After this, they would seek a lucky day under some well-disposed sign, such as Acatl, Ozomahtli, Cipactli, [or] Cuauhtli. Once they had chosen one of these signs, the young man’s parents would let the young woman’s parents know the day on which the marriage should take place; and then they would begin preparing the necessary things for the wedding, such as food and drink, as well as capes, smoking tubes, flowers, et cetera. Once this was done, they would invite the leading men, as well as all the people whom they wished to be present at the wedding. After the banquet and many speeches and ceremonies, the members of the young man’s family would come at about nightfall to take the bride away. They would carry her away with great solemnity upon the back of a matron, holding many lighted torches, [processing] in two lines ahead of her. She would go surrounded by many people, both in front and behind her, until they reached the house of the young man’s parents.\n\nOnce she arrived at the young man’s house, they would put both of them together by the hearth, which they always had ready and full of fire in the middle of a hall; and the woman would be at the left hand of the man. Then the young man’s mother would dress her daughter-in-law in a very elegant _huipil_[^58] and place some richly embroidered skirts[^59] next to her feet; and the young woman’s mother would cloak her son-in-law in a very elegant cape, tying it over his shoulder, and place a richly embroidered _mastle_ at his feet. After this was done, some older women called _titicih_ would tie \n\n\n[^58]: _huipil_: Here Sahagún Hispanicizes the singular Nahuatl noun _huipilli_, which means the skirt used by females.\n\n[^59]: “Skirts”: _naoas_, which is an old variant of _naguas_, which is itself a word of Taino origin.","html":"When parents saw that their son had reached marriageable age, they would tell him that they wanted to find a wife for him; and he would reply by thanking them for the care that they showed in marrying him [to another]. Then they would speak to the leader in charge of all the young men, whom they called telpochtlahtoh, telling him that they wanted their son to marry, so that [the leader] may give his approval. And in order to do this, they would hold a banquet for [the leader] and all the young men who were under his charge. And for this [occasion], they would give a speech to him after they had given food and drink to him and to all those [young men] who were under his charge. And at the beginning of the speech, they would place before him an ax for cuttting firewood or lumber. This ax was a sign that that young man was already taking his leave from the company of the other young men, since they wanted him to marry; and so the telpochtlahtoh would go away well pleased.
\nAfter this, the relatives would decide among themselves on the woman whom they would give to him, and they would summon the matchmakers, who were some honest older women, to go and speak with the young woman’s parents. They would go two or three times and converse and come back with the answer. Meanwhile, the young woman’s relatives would talk among themselves and, once they had agreed to give her away, would give their consent to the matchmakers. After this, they would seek a lucky day under some well-disposed sign, such as Acatl, Ozomahtli, Cipactli, [or] Cuauhtli. Once they had chosen one of these signs, the young man’s parents would let the young woman’s parents know the day on which the marriage should take place; and then they would begin preparing the necessary things for the wedding, such as food and drink, as well as capes, smoking tubes, flowers, et cetera. Once this was done, they would invite the leading men, as well as all the people whom they wished to be present at the wedding. After the banquet and many speeches and ceremonies, the members of the young man’s family would come at about nightfall to take the bride away. They would carry her away with great solemnity upon the back of a matron, holding many lighted torches, [processing] in two lines ahead of her. She would go surrounded by many people, both in front and behind her, until they reached the house of the young man’s parents.
\nOnce she arrived at the young man’s house, they would put both of them together by the hearth, which they always had ready and full of fire in the middle of a hall; and the woman would be at the left hand of the man. Then the young man’s mother would dress her daughter-in-law in a very elegant huipil1 and place some richly embroidered skirts2 next to her feet; and the young woman’s mother would cloak her son-in-law in a very elegant cape, tying it over his shoulder, and place a richly embroidered mastle at his feet. After this was done, some older women called titicih would tie
\nAs soon as the parents saw that their son was of age to marry, they spoke to him of their wish to seek a wife for him. And he replied, thanking them for this solicitude which they showed in marrying him. Then they addressed the leading man who had charge of all the young men, whom they called telpochtlato, and they told him that they wished their son to marry, since [the son] held doing so to be good. For this they held a great feast for him and for all the young men whom he had in his care; and for this they held conversation with him, after having given food and drink to him and to all those whom he had in his charge. And at the beginning of the conversation they laid before him an axe for cutting lumber or firewood. This axe was a sign that that young man took his leave, now, of the company of the other young men; for they wished him to marry. And thus the telpochtlato departed content. After this the relatives decided, among themselves, upon the woman whom they were to give [to the son], and summoned the marriage-makers, who were some old, honored women, that they might go to speak with the parents of the young woman. [The marriage-makers] went two or three times, and spoke, and returned with the reply. During this time, the relatives of the young woman spoke among themselves, and, having decided to give her to him, they gave their consent to the marriage-makers. After this they sought a day of good fortune, of a sign of good disposition [among] which were acatl, oçomatli, cipactli, quauhtli. Having chosen one of these signs, the parents of the young man made known to the parents of the young woman the day on which the marriage should be performed, and then began to prepare the necessary articles for the wedding—[those] to eat and to drink, as well as such [things] as capes, smoke tubes, and flowers. This done, they summoned the leading men and all the other people whom they wanted for the wedding. After the feast and [after] many speeches and ceremonies, those acting for the young man came at about nightfall to take the young woman. They carried her, with great solemnity, upon the back of a matron, and with many pine torches burning in two rows before her. Many people surrounded her, behind and ahead, until they brought her to the house of the parents of the young man. Having brought her to the house of the young man, they set them both by the hearth, which they always had in the middle of a hall, full of fire. And the woman was at the left hand of the man. Then the mother of the young man placed a very fine shift upon her daughter-in-law, and put for her, by her feet, a richly embroidered skirt. And the mother of the young woman covered her son-in-law with a very fine cape, and tied it over his shoulder, and laid a very richly embroidered breech clout at his feet. This done, a number of old women, who are called titici, tied
\n","citation_key":"citation_anderson_spanish_eng_translation","citation":{"en":["Spanish-to-English by Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"],"es":["Español-al-inglés por Anderson & Dibble 1953–1982"]}}]},"folio":"14v"}