Textile Traditions of Mesoamerica and the Andes: An Anthology
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Most of them are painted in seated positions, a convention for nobilities in that period Fig. Later, in the fifteenth century, the sumptuary law was created by Tlacaelel I — to strengthen the Mexica nobility. But this sumptuary law had few regulations for the clothing styles. The only requirement of male clothing was that different people in different levels must wear tilmatli with different length. For example, general male commoners could only wear the simple tilmatli to their knees. Anawalt, Patricia Rieff , Costume and Control: C l o t h i n g a n d I d e n t i t y 11 noblemen, rulers and other high-class people, they could wear a decorative one and to their ankles Fig.
On the other hand, this law made strict limits for the use of materials and decorations. It clearly pointed out that cotton garments were reserved for nobles and that they could be decorated with colorful ornamentations as well as jewelry and embroidery. Headgear, sandals of gold, bright feathers and precious stones were all reserved for only nobles and other upper classes. Sometimes they even needed to change their luxurious cloaks for a cheaper maguey one to signify that their status was lower than the king.
Unlike the nobles, common people always were required to be barefoot and wore only maguey fiber or other rough materials. Any commoners found wearing cotton clothes or sandals would be put to death. Nevertheless, this law had a special exemption for individuals no matter nobles or commoners who had raised their status socially and professionally through achievements, mostly through capturing prisoners during the war. The Family and Education in the Aztecs. Codex plural codices is a book made from a number of sheets of paper, vellum or papyrus.
It has hand-written contents, usually stacked and bound by fixing one edge with thicker covers. But sometimes it is in a continuous and folded concertina-style. C l o t h i n g a n d I d e n t i t y 12 higher social standing than other commoners, he might wear a loincloth with embroidery or fringe on both ends. The Codex Mendoza depicts the gradual process of the individual improvements and how a person's clothes could change according to his status. It also describes that a noble warrior raised his ranks by capturing prisoners from second row to fifth row , and how the military clothing changed from a lower rank only loincloth later to higher levels, such as "Eagle warrior" and "Jaguar warrior" suits Fig.
Usually the military groups belonged to the noble class in the Mexica society. They had their own costumes to demonstrate the hierarchy inside the military. Basically, warriors wore loincloths, but higher classes could have brighter feather works or quilted cotton under their decorative suits.
During the war, they wore different forms of armors to protect themselves. Some of the chiefs even wore a layer of gold.
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Warriors carried a simple decorated shield and their headdresses also served as helmets, which were generally made from wood with the rank insignia. When they were admitted by the state for achievements in battle fields, their status would be improved, and would be given shells, glass beads and other jewelry as rewards. At that time, people believed that mystical creatures could give them strength and power during the war. Therefore for more honor and higher rank warriors, they would be allowed to wear animal costumes, such as Jaguar or Eagle uniforms made from animal hides.
These costumes contained the elaborate designs and intricate ornamentations, such as shells, gold and feathers. If a warrior became a war hero, he would be allowed to wear more jewels and more stunning clothing Fig. The two lowest social classes in Mexica society were the serfs and the slaves.
For these ordinary people, the major reason for wearing clothing was modesty. Serf men often wore a loincloth and women often wore a simple dress. Since they were agricultural workers, their clothing just had convenient and practical functions, without extra accessories and bright colors. And the slaves, the lowest class in the Mexica society, were only allowed to wear very simple loincloths, which were made only from maguey fiber and other rough material. But slaves could wear jewels in the holes of their face and feathered mantles as their attire.
Among all social classes of the Mexica society, the merchants were a special group. According to Rebecca M. Merchants who travel far beyond the Aztec city were called pochteca, and they ruled the markets during the Aztec empire due to their far-flung artifacts and goods that could not be obtained within the confines of the Aztec city otherwise. They could travel freely all over the Mexica Empire and even had special permissions to cross foreign lands. Another scholar, Richard E.
Adams said that the Mexica long-distance merchants usually belonged to a privileged and aristocratic class, which was sponsored by the state. During their trade journey, they often acted as military and intelligence units. In addition to social class, military and other elements, religion was another important area where clothing played a vital role. In the Pre-Hispanic period, the Mexicas Seaman, Conflict in the Early Americas: Each of them wore their unique dresses and represented a special aspect of life. During the ceremony, the religious dress not only had the decoration functions but also explain the individual roles.
Textile Traditions of Mesoamerica And the Andes : Margot Blum Schevill :
According to the Mexica pictorial codices and Spanish chroniclers, only effigies of goddesses and their impersonators, who served as sacrificial victims, wore a special-purpose neck cape known as guechquemitl in Nahuatl language today. In Mexican society, many ritual ceremonies involved human sacrifices to one of their gods, Tezcatlipoca, who could offer them a good agricultural harvest.
In many pictorial documents, red and black paint usually designated a figure as a sacrificial victim. In the article "Paper ties to land: Arnold points out that many ritual costumes were manufactured from amatl paper, such as various colored pleated paper headdresses, pleated paper neck ornaments and decorated incense bags. Common ornaments used by Arnold, Paper ties to land: Traditionally, this thick paper was used for ceremonial paper cuts. C l o t h i n g a n d I d e n t i t y 15 these priests were white turkey feather headdresses, a paper loincloth, and a tzanatl stick with similar feathers and paper decorations.
There were certain rules for ancient Mexican costumes. The style of dress could describe the differences between gender and lineage. For general people, men usually wore loincloths only. And women had blouse and skirt, which contained metaphoric meaning of female. Therefore, it is easy to define the relationships between father and son, mother and daughter from their outfits. If they belong to different lineages, they used facial paintings to distinguish each other.
Further, clothing made from the different materials and decorated with the different ornaments clearly displayed the divisions of social classes. Commoners usually wore simple loincloth, which were made from maguey fibers or other rough materials. Upper classes such as merchants, warriors and priests could dress fine cotton materials with intricate and luxurious decorations.
Among them, warriors preferred to wear animal skin clothes for the supernatural power during the war. And the dresses of priests usually represented mysterious faith of the god whom they served for. Other participants of ritual events would wear different costumes to deliver the information about the roles for which they were standing.
Only the male nobility could wear sandals. These differences between commoners and nobilities strengthen the superiority of the upper classes. When the sumptuary law for Mockeries and metamorphoses of an Aztec god: Indians of Mexico -- Clothing. McCafferty and Geoffrey G. Pancake A line at a time: Meisch Regional dress of the Colca Valley, Peru: Carlsen and David A. Wenger Export markets and their effects on indigenous craft production: Notes Includes bibliographical references and index.
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