‘And then there was one...’
A decade or so ago - as those who have taken part in our workshops will know - several Mexican banknotes bore motifs related to the Aztecs or other pre-Hispanic cultures. Today there appears to be only one... (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
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Pic 1: 1967 One Peso note (Click on image to enlarge) |
Here’s an example (Pic 1) of an older banknote, now 40 years old, with the emblem of the Aztec Sunstone on its face.
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Pic2: Netzahualcóyotl on the front of a modern 100 Peso note (Click on image to enlarge) |
In 2006 we could only find one modern banknote - the red 100 Peso note - with a connection to ancient Mexico. On the back is the god Xochipilli (‘Flower Prince’) (main picture above). On the front (Pic 2) is the image of the famous poet-prince, Netzahualcóyotl, crowned ruler of Texcoco in 1431.
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Pic 3: Xochipilli - original illustration by Phillip Mursell (Click on image to enlarge) |
Xochipilli was essentially ‘one of the good guys’ in the ‘pantheon’ of Aztec gods - youthful, fun-loving, associated with summer, flowers and plants, good health, pleasure, wellbeing, the arts, music, dance and general playfulness. He was the patron god of the daysign Monkey, and the monkey was Xochipilli’s ‘nahual’ or companion spirit. His brother was Macuilxóchitl (‘Five-Flower’), god of games, gambling and festivals.
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Pic 4: Xochipilli, patron god of the calendar sign Monkey (Codex Borgia, p13) (Click on image to enlarge) |
If you click to enlarge Pic 4, you’ll see clearly Xochipilli’s characteristic yellow hair and red body paint; not nearly so easy to make out in his face - though experts claim it’s there - is the white stylized image of a single butterfly* wing. Can you see it?!
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Pic 5: Monkey - no. 11 of the 20 ‘daysigns’ |
*Perhaps the stylized butterfly in Pic 6 will help you find a similar one in Xochipilli’s face...
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Pic 6: Stylized butterfly image, Teotihuacan (Click on image to enlarge) |
Anyone born under the favourable sign Monkey could be expected to be gifted with plenty of artistic talents...
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Pic 7: Stone sculpture of Xochipilli, National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City (Click on image to enlarge) |
In this stone sculpture of Xochipilli (Pic 7), his arms and legs are painted or tattooed with flowers, and he sits cross-legged on a ritual seat sculpted (on all 4 sides) in the form of a fully opened flower with a butterfly at the bottom drinking nectar from its centre - a symbol of the flowering of the universe. Maddeningly, you can’t see the butterfly - Ian cropped it by mistake when taking the photo! Good reason to go back and re-take it...
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The hidden Aztec poem! |
Well there you go! We never realised that, Tecpaocelotl, many thanks for pointing this out. Click on the link below to see the poem - it’s hard to read even with a magnifying glass!
Here's what others have said:
4 At 11.39am on Tuesday June 1 2010, Carl de Borhegyi wrote:
The Aztec god of flowers and dance, named Xochipilli whose name in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs means Prince of Flowers was also called Macuilxochitl which means “five flowers”, which I believe is a possible reference to the five Venus cycles and an esoteric reference to sacred mushrooms. The statue of Xochipilli now sits in the National Mueseum in Mexico City where he can be seen seated upon a temple-like platform I believe is dedicated to the planet Venus and identical to platforms depicted on carved stela at Kaminaljuyu, and Izapa (see mushroomstone.com). Both the statue of Xochipilli and the base upon which he sits are covered with iconography of Venus, mushrooms and other entheogenic plants.
Xochipilli has been called the god of flowers and dance, and it should be noted that sacred mushrooms were also referred to as flowers.
Spanish chronicler Fray Sahagun records that “Whenever there was singing and dancing, mushrooms were to be eaten” (Los Primeros memorials, Sahagun). According to Sahagun...“He who eats many of them mushrooms sees many things which make him afraid, or make him laugh. He flees, hangs himself, or hurls himself from a cliff”.
Sahagun was likely the first to record the use of mushrooms, in his famous Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana, written between 1547 and 1582. Sahagun wrote that the Indians were using mushrooms (Teonanacatl) and that these wild mushrooms could be found in grassy fields and pastures and that the Indians were using mushrooms in religious ceremonies, where it was believed by the Indians to be the flesh of their gods, and that the mushrooms produced powerful visions and voices that were from God.
Sahagun also was the first to identify six psychotropic plants used by the Aztecs (see Xochipilli statue) in rituals, and recorded them in their respective Nahuatl (language of the Aztec) names, ololiuhqui (morning glory), peyotl (peyote), tzintzintlapatl (?), mixitl and tlapatl, both are Datura species, Datura stromonium and Datura innoxia, known to possess strong hallucinogenic qualities. The Datura flowers opens and closes at irregular intervals during the evening, earning the plant the nickname Moonflower (Wikipedia encyclopedia). And the most sacred of all of God’s flowers nanacatl (mushrooms) also could be found on the pine covered slopes in the surrounding mountains after the rains.
Sahagun also described the mushrooms effects and their use in several passages of his famous Historia General de tas Cosas de Nueva Espana, written between the years 1529 and 1590. In book #9 Sahagun makes a reference to mushrooms, and merchants, and their celebration of great feasts, and states that merchant groups known as the pochteca, which translates as priests who lead, were devout followers of Quetzalcoatl, who worshiped Quetzalcoatl under the patron name Yiacatecuhtli or Yacateuctli, Lord of the Vanguard.
Mexicolore replies: Thank you, Carl, for this insight...
3 At 7.43am on Friday February 26 2010, Boyce C. Wright wrote:
Xochipilli was also the god of the sacred “God’s Flesh” mushroom. Apparently acting as a guide to those involved in the ritual of the “Flower Dream” produced by the psychoactive mushroom
2 At 4.10pm on Wednesday January 13 2010, tecpaocelotl wrote:
Fun fact: In front of the 100 pesos on the right the potrait of Nezahualcoyotl and above his name, is one of his poems in very small print.
Mexicolore replies: Cheers for this! See our response, above...
1 At 9.01am on Saturday May 9 2009, Gael wrote:
Currently, all mexican coins display a different element from the “Piedra del Sol” monolyth.