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Yacatecuhtli

Your Guide to Latin American and Iberian Collections and Resources at the University of New Mexico University Libraries

The icon used on the Latin American and Iberian Collections and Resources web site and printed guides is a merchant god taken from the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, page 36, upper right hand panel. This Codex, which belongs to the Borgia Group, dates from the second half of the postclassical epoch (1250-1521). It is executed in the Mixteca/Puebla style and is classed as a ritual codex. The format is a skin screenfold of 22 pages on each side. (For a more detailed, but concise description see Brotherston, p. 178.) He is identified as Yacatecuhtli (variations include: Yacatecutli, Yacacoliuhqui, Yiacatecutli). "Yacatecutli is generally taken to mean 'Lord of the vanguard', that is lord of those who lead the way. He is also known as Yacapitzauac, 'he with the pointed nose', compare to English expression a sharp nose for business." (Thompson, p. 160) Thompson refers to the figures with this type of nose as Pinocchio. According to Kelley, Yacatecuhtli can be compared to the Maya God M and Ek Chuah. He translates the name to mean 'Nose Lord' (p. 85). A merchant god is a good choice as an emblem for a library, because merchants were seen as explorers of new territory, who gathered information. He was originally found in Kelley's Deciphering the Maya Script, p. 70. Bibliography Brotherston, Gordon. Painted Books from Mexico: Codices in UK Collections and the World They Represent. London: Published for the Trustees of the British Musuem by British Museum Press, 1995. (ZIM, ZIM CSWR, FAL XX F1219.5 B76 1995) Códice Fejérváry-Mayer. El Libro de Tezcatlipoca, Señor del Tiempo: Libro explicativo del llamado Códice Fejéváry-Mayer. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt; México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994. (ZIM CSWR F1219.56 F45 C63 1994) Kelley, David H. Deciphering the Maya Script. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1976. (ZIM F1435.3 P6 K44) Mateos Higuera, Salvador. "Yacatecuhtli." In Enciclopedia gráfica del México antiguo. Vol. 2, pp. 258-267. México: Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, 1993. (ZIM REF F1219.76 R45 M38 1992)

Thompson, J. Eric S. "Merchant Gods of Middle America." In Summa Anthropologica en homenaje a Roberto J. Weitlaner. Pp. 159-172. México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1966.