AZTECS ON STAGE

INTRODUCTION

America's First Theater

The show would go down in history. The cast acted out the Final Judg-
ment, or Judgment Day, when the world would come to an end and the
souls of the dead would return to their bodies. The year was 1533. The
place was Tlatelolco, just to the north of Tenochtitlan, the former capital
of the Aztec Empire and now the capital of New Spain. These island cities
were home to the Mexica, one of the many Nahuatl-speaking groups that
dominated Central Mexico before the Spanish Conquest. Decades later,
native historians recalled this Final Judgment performance as a "great
marvel," at which "the Mexica were very amazed and astonished." This
was apparently the first time Aztec actors put on a Christian-influenced
play for other Aztecs; in any case, it is the earliest theatrical production
in the Nahuatl language for which any record survives. And it made a
big impression. 1
Only a dozen years earlier, in 1521, Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco lay in
ruins, their streets and canals choked with corpses. Between 1519 and
1521 the Mexica-dominated Aztec Empire had disintegrated, as longtime
enemies and then its own vassal states one after another threw their
support behind Hernando Cortes. With Cortes's diplomatic and tactical
successes backed up by reinforcements of men and weapons from Cuba
and Spain, many native leaders were persuaded-or compelled-to join

J
4 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 5

what looked like the winning side. The Mexica, led by their valiant young teachings, becoming baptized, participating in some rituals and festivals,
king, Cuauhtemoc, defended the twin cities as long as they could. and building and maintaining churches. Some Nahuas became devout
Exhausted and starving after a brutal three-month siege that laid waste and well-indoctrinated Christians; others stuck to the old ways as
their beautiful island home, they surrendered to Cortes and his allies '."uch as they could. Most people found a middle path, participating
on August 13, 1521.' m forms of Christianity adapted to their language and culture while
But the end of the Aztec Empire was not the end of the world. A maintaining many of the values, attitudes, and devotional practices of
colonial era began, which would last for three centuries, until Mexico previous generations. 3
became an independent nation in 1821. Despite massive population Preconquest Nahua religion featured elaborate ceremonies that brought
loss and many other challenges, indigenous communities accommo- gods and sacred narratives to life. Priests dressed sacrificial victims in
dated themselves to Spanish colonial rule and survived, retaining their clothing, adornments, and face paint that did not simply resemble a
languages and many other aspects of their culture. Spaniards who studied given deity but actually assembled the god out of the constituent parts.
the Nahuatl language in depth admired its elegance and the richness of These parts included the impersonator's body, thought to have been
its metaphors. Today, speakers of contemporary Nahuatl number about ~tripped of its personal identity. These preparations brought the deity
a million and a half people, making Nahuatl the most widely spoken mto the temple precinct for the duration of the ritual. The ceremonies
indigenous language of Mexico. While this group's preconquest civiliza- often in some way enacted or referred to events from the mythic past.
tion is commonly referred to as Aztec, anthropologists and historians use The deity unpersonators, once emptied of the divine presence, were then
the term "Nahua" for people of the colonial and modem eras. dispatched, usually through heart sacrifice, and dismembered.
By 1533, friars of the Franciscan order, the first religious order charged Although professional priests were in charge of channeling sacred
with bringing the newly conquered peoples into Christianity, had been forces into the desired outlets, many people participated in the rites by
studying Nahuatl for ten years. Dominican friars came in 1526, Augustini- preparing ornaments and food, taking part in songs and dances and
ans in 1533. These missionaries decided at the very start that they would processions, sweeping and adorning the ritual spaces, and observing
preach to the peoples of Mexico in their own languages. They thought this the parts of the rituals that were performed in public. Less elaborate-and
would make it easier to persuade people to abandon their old gods and less bloody-rites were conducted in smaller settlements and in urban
rites in favor of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the ceremonies of the church. neighborhoods and homes. 4
Jesuit priests, who first came to Mexico in 1572, would also be dedicated Catholic priests believed that the Nahuas' gods and goddesses were
learners of Nahuatl. The diocesan church hierarchy-dergy who did not actual beings: devils who had tricked the people into serving them.
belong to religious orders-also supported preaching in native languages, Though repulsed by the bloodier aspects of native religion, they admired
but without the level of commitment demonstrated by the friars. the devotion of these deeply religious people who, ignorant of Chris-
Franciscans enjoyed the most success with the Nahuas, as linguists and tianity, had been misled by opportunistic demons. But given how
as evangelizers. Early on, their greatest success was with young boys, attached the Nahuas were to their old ceremonial life, how could they
mainly sons of the elite, whom they brought into their residences to edu- be persuaded to direct their devotional impulses to new stories, new
cate in reading, writing, and Christian doctrine. In 1536 they founded a festivals, and new personages?
college for indigenous boys in Tlatelolco, where they educated many The closest thing Europe had to the Aztec temple rituals was religious
teachers and leaders. theater, a type of performance that developed during the Middle Ages
Most Nahuas, especially in the larger towns and cities and especially and was very popular at the time Spain conquered Mexico. Costumed
those of the nobility or upper class, realized that in order to get along as impersonators memorized a script and spoke their lines in front of an
best they could under Spanish rule they would have to cooperate with audience. Each drama told a story, with a beginning and an end, drawn
the friars on at least a minimal level. This meant learning the basic from the Bible or saints' legends or illustrating a point of moral teaching.
6 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 7

Plays were performed on religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Types of Plays
and especialiy the feast of Corpus Christi. This feast celebrates the Roman
Catholic rite of transubstantiation: the conversion of bread into the body Nahuatl plays can be divided into two broad categories (see the appendix
of Christ (corpus Christi in Latin) through the ritual of Mass. When for a list of plays, their locations, and published editions). The first consists
Protestants rejected the belief that the bread really becomes Christ's body, of morality plays. These star fictional human characters whose virtuous
Catholic areas like Spain defended it and made their Corpus Christi or sinful behavior leads to heavenly reward or damnation to hell. Angels,
celebrations more and more elaborate. Actors performed plays as the demons, and sometimes Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary play parts,
5
consecrated bread, or host, was carried along a processional route. but the main characters are ordinary people. These dramas share a for-
Franciscan friars were seeking effective tools of evangelization. Nahuas mulaic ending: a wicked person who has been condemned to hell
relished extravagant performance, impersonation, costume, and verbal laments his or her fate and implores the audience to avoid the behaviors
art. Listening to friars preach sermons in clumsy Nahuatl could hardly that led to this end.
compare to the excitement of the old ceremonies. The friars and Nahuas Morality plays typically stress the importance of confession. Colo-
who put together that Final Judgment performance in Tlatelolco (as well nial Nahuas were supposed to participate in the Catholic sacrament of
as any unrecorded predecessors) had found a way to meet the needs of penitence once a year, during Lent, the forty-day period leading up to
both groups: Christian teachings could be presented in dramatic form, Easter. This required that they confess all their sins to a priest, receive
by indigenous performers, in their own language. There could be cos- the priest's absolution, and carry out whatever penance or restitution the
tumes, props, elaborate stage sets, singing, dancing, and fireworks. The priest prescribed.' Morality plays were performed on Sundays during
people "were very amazed and astonished." Lent, to encourage people to fulfill this obligation-or frighten them
So, Aztec and European traditions merged in the invention of Nahuatl into it. Some plays also reinforce other death-related obligations: making
theater, the first true American theater. It is American because the civiliza- a will, carrying out the terms of a deceased person's will, financing
tions of Mexico were now part of a place called America, the New World Masses for the souls of the dead, and praying for these souls in order to
"discovered" by Europe and propelled into the global exchange of ideas, shorten the time they must spend in purgatory before going to heaven.'
organisms, and objects. It is American because it is not simply European The second, and larger, category consists of plays that tell stories
theater transplanted to new soil. Despite its Roman Catholic models, drawn from the Bible, the apocryphal gospels (early Christian texts not
Nahuatl theater belonged to the Native American people who responded included in the standard Bible), saints' legends, and other religious liter-
with such wonder to that first performance, who learned to stage the ature. In these plays, the main characters are historical or sacred figures
plays as part of their communal religious life, and who passed the scripts rather than ordinary humans. Most numerous are Passion plays, which
from generation to generation. It is theater in the Western or European reenact the last days of Jesus Christ's earthly life, culminating in his
sense of the word, because like European drama-whether in ancient crucifixion. Nahuas also liked the story of the Three Kings or Wise
Greece or sixteenth-century Spain-it consists of the performance of Men, pagan rulers who visit the infant Jesus in Bethlehem and accept
plays, written scripts memorized by actors who temporarily assume the him as their savior. This visit is celebrated on the Feast of Epiphany,
identity of characters and speak in front of an audience.' January 6. Old Testament stories, other episodes from the lives of Jesus
This book presents six Nahuatl plays in English translation. They and the Virgin Mary, and medieval saints' legends also saw dramatic
number among the twenty scripts published in a larger work, the four- reenactments. Some of these are mentioned in historical sources but left
volume Nahuatl Theater set. The translations have been edited to make no known scripts.
them easier to read, and to read aloud. Additional plays, transcriptions Battles were also enacted, some historical and some imaginary, in which
of the Nahuatl, and more information and analysis can be found in the pagan, Jewish, or Muslim enemies of Christianity were vanquished. Often
earlier volumes. 7 these were more pantomimed, with stage combat, than scripted in lines.
8 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 9

influenced some writers of Nahuatl plays to make the productions

longer, divide them into acts, and include foolish servants or other
humorous characters. 1n this volume, the Guadalupe drama and The
Animal Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide have three full acts and comic,
low-class characters.

Literacy and Scripts

The native people of Mexico had books. They made paper, called amatl
in Nahuatl, from the bark of fig trees. Nahuas used their picture-writing
mainly to keep track of calendrical cycles, history, and ritual obligations,
and to tell fortunes: to predict a person's fate based on his or her date of
birth, to determine whether a young couple were suitable marriage
partners, and the like. 12
Nothing like a written script for a play existed in the New World
until Catholic clergymen began writing down native languages using
the roman alphabet and taught native students to do the same. To write
out every word of a script for, say, an hour-long play would have been
a cumbersome process even in the very sophisticated Mayan writing
A Nahua man, in the clutches of a devil, confesses to a Franciscan priest. Sixteenth- system, which had signs that could be read phonetically as syllables. In
century woodcut in fray Alonso de Molina's Confessionario maror, 1~65 edition, f. the much more limited Aztec picture-writing it would have been impos-
71r. (Courtesy of The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.)
sible. Therefore, as theatrical as the old rituals were, they were not scripted
in this sense.
But two works that could be called "history plays" survive, one about The Nahuas and other native people readily adopted alphabetic
the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.O., and one about Constantine, writing. Though not as beautiful as the old writing, it was much more
who conquered Rome in 312 A.O. For Nahuas, both stories resonated efficient and precise. Nahuas applied their own words for paper, book,
with their own history of conquest. 10 ink, reading, writing, and scribe to the new techniques and do not seem
A beloved and appealing story homegrown in Mexico tells of the Virgin to have thought there was any meaningful discontinuity. 13
Mary appearing to a Nahua convert named Juan Diego, in 1531. She asks The new literacy spread widely-though not deeply-through colo-
that a shrine be built to her, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, at a site on the nial Mexican society. In every community of any size there would be
lakeshore north of Mexico City. Although there is no reliable historical someone who could read and write. In part, this was a result of Spanish
evidence that this story existed before the mid-seventeenth century, it colonial government.
later came to be seen as a true and sacred narrative. Many Mexicans, as Nahua communities, called altepetl, were corporate, landholding bodies
well as Roman Catholics from other countries, find much solace in the that could include several settlements of different sizes plus the lands
story of a Nahuatl-speaking Virgin appearing to a humble indigenous around them. People identified closely with their altepetl; this affiliation
man. Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego in 2002. 11 Two colonial was much more meaningful than an identity as "Nahua" or "Indian."
dramatizations of the apparition story are known. The Spanish forced these communities to reorganize their government
Most Nahuatl plays have a single act, without intermission, like sixteenth- on the model of the Spanish cabildo or town council, a body of elected
century Spanish plays. However, later developments in Spanish theater officials. Members of the local nobility tended to dominate these posts.
IO AZTECS ON STAGE

Each cabildo required a clerk or notary, who recorded the council's pro-
ceedings, and so every altepetl had to have at least one literate man.
Church staff also included a notary; the same man sometimes filled both
posts. 14 In addition to the professional notaries, many men of the nobility
learned to read, in schools run by Catholic priests or from other literate
Nahuas. Few non-noble men could read; literate women of any class were
nearly unknown.
So, even though play scripts were written out, not everyone who
performed in a play could necessarily read his or her lines. However,
there would be some people available who could read the parts aloud.
Non-literate actors would have to learn their parts by ear.
In addition to serving as a memory aid while people learned their
lines, written scripts allowed a popular performance to be repeated
year after year. Catholic priests had their own reasons to demand the
use of written scripts: with these they could supervise and control the
content of native performances. In this way, play scripts were tools of
colonial domination.
Priests feared that, if left to compose their own oral literature,
Nahuas would perform texts with idolatrous or diabolical content. Or
they would use such complicated, metaphorical language that priests
would not even be able to tell what the words really meant. In the case
of music, friars wanted the native people to sing songs in their own
language that the friars were sure had suitably Christian content. To fill
this need, the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagun worked with gradu-
ates of the Franciscan college to produce a book of Nahuatl songs for
Christian festivals. This Psalmodia christiana was published in 1583. 15
Written play scripts functioned for drama as this book did for song:
Nahuas could put on performances, and priests could assure them-
selves that they were singing or speaking approved lines.

Theater Talk

Just as Nahuas did not invent new vocabulary to describe alphabetic

writing, for the most part they talked about theater with words they A page from the Psa/modia christiana of 1583, f. 3v. The text is the Lord's Prayer
already had. This was a bit challenging, for Nahuatl had no specific •~ N~h~atl. The woodcut shows Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane;
words for theater, play, actor, act, perform, script, cast, audience, role, his disciples sleep in the foreground, Peter with his sword. (Courtesy of The
John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.)
director, prompter, aside, or stage. A verb meaning "to play a part in a
farce" (ixehua) appears in scripts only when an actor is playing a sort of
12 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 13

double role, for example in The Nobleman and His Barren Wife when an copying the same wording, or they wrote new plays in the same speech
actor plays Jesus disguising himself as a priest. . style. Sometimes Spanish words adopted in stage directions are kept
When Nahuas needed a word for "play" they most often used ne1x- out of the characters' dialogue. Plays must have started to sound old-
cuitilli, or "example": something from which one learns a lesson. To fashioned to their audiences, the way a nineteenth-century novel does
perform a play was "to make [chihua] an example." Sometimes Nahuas to readers today. This style may have seemed to be more authentic or
combined neixcuitilli with macl1iyotl, meaning sign, comparison, or model, authoritative than everyday language. Also, priests may have discour-
making neixcuitilmacl1iyotl, "example-sign" or "exemplary model." They aged innovation, distrusting impromptu revisions to an accepted text. 19
also used words meaning "marvel" or "wonder," like the chroniclers
who described that early Final Judgment play in Tlatelolco. Playwrights, Translators, and Copyists
The word tlapecl1tli (platform or bed) expanded to mean "stage."
Various other verbal conventions took root, such as verbs for "coming When Nahuatl plays are attributed to a specific author (as opposed to a
out" on stage (/iualquiza) and "going in" as one exited (calaqui). "Wind copyist), this author is always a priest. However, this does not mean
instruments will be played" ([Link]) or "drums will be beaten" (tlatzo- that priests wrote all the plays or wrote them by themselves. Priests
tzonaloz) frequently embellish the action. A verb meaning "to practice" or relied on native speakers of Nahuatl to help them write texts in the lan-
"to test oneself" (mo-yeyecoa) worked well for "rehearse." guage, to translate materials from Spanish, and to make copies. Priests
Writers also simply borrowed Spanish nouns, referring to a drama often entrusted educated Nahuas with the actual writing, while putting
as an auto (one-act religious play) or coloquio (dialogue) or comedia their own name and authority to the final product. Few priests who did
(three-act play). In plays with multiple acts, the sections bear the Span- not grow up as bilingual speakers of Spanish and Nahuatl were fluent
ish label acto. For asides, remarks addressed directly to the audience enough to write, on their own, the polished Nahuatl found throughout
rather than to another character, the Spanish aparte (apart) was borrowed. the dramas.
Two eighteenth-century copyists refer to scripts using the Spanish word Two priest-playwrights did grow up speaking Nahuatl as a native
original. One of them also noted that a local nobleman's son served as language. Don Bartolome de Alva adapted four early-seventeenth-
the production's ap1mtador, or prompter- a job with extra importance century Spanish plays into Nahuatl, including this volume's The Animal
when not all the actors can read. 16 Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide. Alva was of mixed Spanish and Nahua
Nahuatl theater began in the 1530s; surviving scripts date from approx- descent. The other was don Manuel de los Santos y Salazar, a Nahua
imately 1590 through the mid-1700s. Over this period of time, Nahuatl nobleman, scholar, and parish priest from Tlaxcala. In 1714 Santos y
changed under the influence of Spanish. Surviving play scripts speak Salazar "wrote down, putting it in order," the drama about the Roman
in what Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart define as Stage Two emperor Constantine and his mothe1~ Saint Helen. Few men of indige-
Nahuatl, which characterized Nahuatl texts from about 1540 to about nous or mixed ancestry were ordained as Roman Catholic priests because
1650. During this period, the only Spanish words that entered Nahuatl of bias against their attaining this high-status position, so these men
were nouns, borrowed to refer to ideas or objects that were new to the were exceptiona!. 20
Nahuas. Occasionally, a Spanish idiom is translated directly into Nahuatl. Spanish sources are known for a few Nahuatl plays. Comparing don
For example, the Spanish phrase quiere decir, "it means" or, literally, "it Bartolome de Alva's plays to the Spanish works that he adapted shows
wants to say," gave rise to Nahuatl quitoznequi, "it wants to say it," he carefully tailored his works to fit their new performance context.
employed frequently to refer to translated words. After 1650 Spanish Another play, a dialogue between Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary,
influence increased: Nahuas borrowed Spanish verbs and particles, was translated from a Spanish play but diverges from its source in
syntax changed, and many more idioms were adopted.17 ways that indicate native authorship. 21 Similarly, the Nahuatl play The
The later play scripts do not reflect these changes, with rare excep- Destruction of Jerusalem is far from a mirror image of the Spanish narra-
tions.18 Nahuas apparently chose not to update the scripts but kept tive on which it was based. 22 These examples show that native speakers
14 AZTECS ON STAGE
INTRODUCTION 15

of Nahuatl, even when they worked directly from Spanish, made inno- limited, and people who wanted plays had to go to the extra effort of
vative adaptations. copying the scripts by hand.
Of all the Nahuatl plays written and performed in New Spain, surely To at least some extent, the texts did get away from priests and into
only a fraction survive in colonial era scripts with currently known the control of n ative communities, where scripts were kept by local
whereabouts: twenty-two complete plays (twenty-three, if a second leaders and recopied as needed by local scribes. Overt digressions from
copy of one is counted) and four partial scripts (one of them a single Christian models suggest local innovations not condoned by priests, as
leaf). Photocopies exist of another two, and later copies of two more (see in the Passion play from Tepaltzingo (in this volume) where Jesus Christ
the appendix for a list of the known scripts). More plays are sure to turn rubs ointment on Mary Magdalene's head, instead of the other way
up in archives, or come out of private document collections, so these around, as it is told in the Gospels. A man named Carlos de San Juan,
numbers are subject to change and may already be out of date. Colonial who copied a play in 1717, noted that a former governor of his altepetl
texts describe-often very briefly-over thirty other specific dramas.23 paid him to reproduce a script h eld by another local nobleman; no
More than a hundred printed works in Nahuatl were published in Mex- priest is mentioned. Officials from the Mexican Inquisition pulled vari-
ico during the colonial period, totaling about ten thousand printed pages. ous Passion plays out of Nahua hands during an eighteenth-century
These were, overwhelmingly, religious texts, such as catechisms, sermons, investigation. 26 The small number of surviving scripts does not mean
and confession manuals.24 But all known play scripts are handwritten that plays were rare or unusual. Plays circulated in a kind of literary
manuscripts. No plays made it through the printing presses-unless some underground, and over time many got lost or wore out, were confiscated,
imprints have vanished without a trace. If plays had been published, or were simply forgotten as performance practices changed.
more of this material might survive.
At least one Franciscan priest intended to publish plays. Fray Juan Performing Christianity
Bautista wrote in 1606 that he had three volumes of plays ready to go to
press.25 Collaborating on the project was Agustin de la Fuente, a Nahua All the dramas enact Christian stories. It may seem surprising, there-
scholar and teacher from Tlatelolco who probably prepared the actual fore, that colonial authorities would be at all suspicious of them. It is
Nahuatl texts. Some of the surviving plays might be versions of works not as if the Nahua actors were openly performing their old myths.
that fray Juan Bautista and Agustin de la Fuente included in their com- Catholic priests never had much confidence in native Christianity.
pilation. But those volumes were never printed. They had little toleran ce for the ways that native people adapted Chris-
Colonial authorities disagreed about what sorts of materials could tianity to their own preferences and did not completely abandon their
appropriately be translated into native languages, and how much of this old customs. One of these preferences was their love for performance,
material should be published in printed books. Especially problematic, pageantry, and paraphernalia-costumes, images, ornaments- over more
in the wake of the Lutheran and other Protestant movements that trans- spiritual or contemplative forms of devotion. 27 Hence theater, though
lated the Bible out of Latin, were any translations of the holy scriptures useful as a way to make Christianity appealing, also pointed to the lim-
into native languages. And some dramas, like the Epiphany and Passion itations of the evangelization program. People loved the show, but did
plays in this volume, did tell Bible stories. they really get the messages priests wanted them to learn?
Among Spaniards, Franciscan friars held the most liberal opinions Spaniards' understandings of native Christianity were constrained
about native-language literature. But other priests- as well as the bishops, by a worldview that imposed dual categories on reality, in particular
judges, and viceroys who had to issue approvals for published books- the division between good and evil. If there was something different
may have considered Nahuatl drama too controversial for the printed about native religion, this was not the normal result of cultural diver-
page, regardless of how useful it was at the local level. Although written sity, or slightly different understandings of the same basic ideas. The
scripts gave priests some control over native performances, making such native forms were inferior, evil, the work of the devil. For the devil still
texts too readily available could undermine that control. So access was held native people in thrall, poised to reclaim their souls if granted the
16 AZTECS ON STAGE
INTRODUCTION 17

slightest opportunity. If not from the devil, the differences stemmed the lines of the goddess Toci, "Our Grandmother." Saint John the Baptist
from inherent weaknesses in the people's moral character. Spaniards, had an obvious association with water, for he baptized Jesus in the River
like all colonial powers, justified their rule based on their presumed Jorda~, and his June 24 feast day happened to fall at the beginning of
superiority to the colonized people, and this disdain for native character the ~amy season, so he could bear something of the nature of a rain god.
was one way they expressed their supremacy. So if native people put Chnst, Mary, and the saints did not demand blood offerings; they were
tremendous effort into performing spectacular plays, this just showed c~ntent with flowers, food, candles, and incense. Indeed, Mary offered
that their faith was superficial, a matter of showmanship rather than kmdness and compassion unknown in preconquest religion and seem-
deep devotion. ingly appreciated by her Nahua devotees. But the old contract between
Christian stories did become different when they were told in Nahuatl. humans and the sacred forces-under which people celebrated the fes-
Priests, limited by their moral dualism and their persuasion that the Word tivals, prayed, and made offerings in return for rain, crops, and other
of God was universal and unchangeable, could not really understand or bles_sings-was not essentially changed. 29 Theater provided a new way
accept these cultural differences. Nahuatl words meant slightly- some- not Just to add pomp to the festivals but to bring sacred presences to life.
times very- different things from their closest Spanish or Latin equiva- Good and evil for the Nahuas were not absolute forces. Nahuatl had
lents. Nahuas lived in a different social universe, where relations between no way of referring to evil except by saying something was "not good."
men and women, parents and children, rulers and subjects, and people The Christian notion of sin was assimilated to a broader concept of
and gods were not the same as in Spanish communities. As colonized damage or disorder, individualized moral taint to broader concepts of
people with limited political or economic power, they needed to construct cosmic decay and pollution. Nahuas had strict moral rules, but these
and maintain these barriers of cultural difference in order to survive. were followed in order to ensure an orderly and wholesome life on
Nahuas understood dramas and other Christian stories by inserting them earth, for one's loved ones as well as one's own self, not to please a god
into their own world as best they could, finding and favoring elements or to gain reward in the afterlife. A life force based in the heart was
that resonated with their own experiences. equated with the Christian idea of the soul. The underworld was turned
Here are just a few ways in which Nahuas integrated Christian ideas into the place where bad people's souls went, while others went to
into their worldview, ways actually facilitated by some of the symbolism heaven, or "in the sky." Devils, embodiments of evil, received the name
and metaphors presented to them in Nahuatl texts, and by use of the same tlatlacatecolo, or "human horned owls" (singular tlacatecolotl), in previous
words for god, temple, offering, festival, and so forth. Nahuas linked Jesus usage a type of malevolent, shape-changing sorcerer and now a cate-
Christ with the sun, the world's animating force and source of all heat gory that included the disgraced old deities. Nasty creatures these are
and light. His mother, the Virgin Mary, they associated with the dawn, indeed, but not the very principle and embodiment of evil.30
with light, and with flowers, and eventually with the earth, fertility, and Spaniards and Nahuas lived side by side for three hundred years in
pulque, the native alcoholic beverage. Flowers refracted the sun's life- their different worlds. They did so by minimizing their differences and
giving radiance into brilliant colors and intoxicating perfumes. Nahuas operating on the assumption that they actually knew what the other side
created sacred space by filling the sites of their rituals with flowers, a was up to. This assumption encompassed the convenient fiction that tla-
practice the friars could accept as "decoration." Brightly-colored tropical tlacolli really meant "sin" (pecado), mictlan really meant "hell" (infierno),
birds were another manifestation of solar energy and power; angels could and so on. Historian James Lockhart calls this situation "Double Mistaken
be slotted into the same sky-dwelling niche.28 Identity" and describes it as "a partially unwitting truce .. . in which
The yearly round of saints' festivals replaced the old festival calendar, each side of the cultural exchange seemed satisfied that its own interpre-
with saints at least roughly filling some of the same roles as the old gods tation of a given cultural phenomenon was the prevailing, if not exclusive
3
and becoming associated with local places such as sacred mountains. one." ' It was only by misunderstanding one another that natives and
Thus Saint Anne, Mary's mother, provided a grandmother figure along non-natives could go through their lives acting as if they understood one
18 AZTECS O N STAGE INTRODUCTION 19

another. Colonists could lord it over natives, thinking they were in charge, Christ in Passion plays, because they thought it had healing powers.
their superiority self-evident. Native people could appear to be in com- They also kissed and offered incense to these men in their guise as
pliance while quietly continuing to do things in their own way. Jesus. 33 These actors must have, to at least some extent, really turned into
Nahuas who put on a play presented themselves in public as Chris- Jesus- into a god- in the eyes of their neighbors. An indigenous Jesus,
tians, as good and pious subjects of the colonial system. lhey also brought dying at the hands of colonial (Roman) authorities, makes a powerful
the community together for an enjoyable event that expressed its soli- nativist symbol. 34
darity. An impressive play also glorified one's own altepetl, and thus Theater worked against the priests' attempts to impose their own
one's own group identity, over others. It attracted visitors and drummed worldview in another way as well. Nahua philosophy was monist, not
up business for local merchants. In this way theater played a role similar dualist. Not only was there no grand division between good and evil,
to the imposing churches that native Mexicans constructed for their there was only one world. Sacred forces inhabited it and flowed through
communities. A play or a church was a public, visible assertion of political it, manifesting themselves in concrete form, in natural phenomena like
legitimacy, community pride, and devotion to the sacred powers- how- water and sunlight and mountains, in statues, in ritual impersonators.
ever people actually conceived of those. Within the community, nobles Gods (and then Christian saints) were not removed from the world to
or relatively well-off individuals who sponsored a performance, paid some ethereal, spiritual, invisible, and intangible plane of existence.
for the sets and costumes, fed the actors, and so on would gain prestige, Spirit was not opposed to matter. Theater, by presenting Jesus, devils,
as would the actors themselves if they did a good job. All of these benefits heaven, human souls, and everything else in such tangible form, rein-
existed on top of whatever spiritual or moral messages priests hoped the forced this down-to-earth, this-worldly orientation.
audience would absorb. Theater was a risky business in yet another way. Priests might control
Another reason for colonial authorities to be suspicious of Nahuatl the script, but they could not control every gesture, every facial expres-
drama lay in the very nature of theater. Even if priests scrutinized the sion, or every intonation that actors used as they brought their parts to
scripts and checked to see that people recited their lines correctly, they life, expressing their own attitudes toward the material in subtle ways
were ceding power to the performers. Actors are themselves and their that priests might not understand. Out of the hearing of any Nahuatl-
characters at the same time. Plays tell stories yet at the same time com- speaking outsiders they could also improvise new lines, however they
32
ment on the local setting, the place and people around the performance. pleased. Unfortunately, written scripts provide no direct insight into these
Theater allowed Nahuas to become Jesus, Mary, saints, angels, devils, spontaneous actions.
Jews, Romans, soldiers, priests, and every other sort of character, right in In 1698, a friar stationed in Tlatelolco, explaining why he thought the
the centers of their own communities, while also remaining themselves- local Nahuas should no longer be allowed to perform their Epiphany
looking and talking like ordinary native people, one's friends and rela- and Passion plays, complained about the public drunkenness that accom-
tions, not foreigners who spoke Nahuatl with Spanish accents, if they panied these events. It was not just a matter of the audience getting a
spoke it at all. Most statues and paintings in Nahua churches had Euro- bit rowdy. It was the actors, too. The previous year, for example, he had
pean features, but the actors did not. The performance space-typically yanked most of the apostles out of the Passion play because they were
the churchyard, at the community's symbolic center-became Jerusalem, drunk.35 Colonial Nahuas did have serious problems with alcohol, as
Bethlehem, Rome, heaven, hell. Cosmic events were made local; sacred have many peoples living under colonialism or other forms of domina-
powers, both helpful and harmful, were embodied in Nahua persons. tion. But part of the problem was how they drank rather than how much
If playing the part of a sacred being retained some of the sense it had they drank. They got thoroughly drunk to mark ritual occasions, sobering
in the old ceremonies, the actors would have absorbed, temporarily at up when the festival was over.36 Spaniards-who also drank but disap-
least, some actual essence of these sacred personages, rather than simply proved of any public loss of control--deplored this behavior. And any
imitating them. One piece of evidence for such a belief is that people time anyone wanted to criticize native people about anything, they could
reportedly collected the fake blood "shed" by actors who played Jesus simply dismiss them as a bunch of dnmks.
20 AZTECS ON STAGE
INTRODUCTION 21

Sympathetic observers could see Nahuatl theater as a sincere and these copies for scholarly, not performance, purposes. Native commu-
pious tradition that taught people about the faith, instilled reverence nities continued to perform elaborate ceremonies on Christian religious
for Christian teachings, and promoted good morals. Hostile observers festivals, as they still do today. However, these lost their connection to
could find indecencies, superstitions, and idolatries- as well as booze. the old scripts.
And they were not necessarily watching different plays. It was a matter
of how one viewed native Christianity-as basically good, or as basi- Stages and Sets
cally bad. By extension, it was a matter of how one viewed native people
themselves. Few outsiders considered them their equals. Nahuatl theater was not performed in enclosed buildings or actual
So, even though all the scripts tell Christian stories, colonial author- theaters. Even in Spain, permanent performance spaces did not exist
ities found plenty of reasons to be suspicious of Nahuatl theater. They until the second half of the sixteenth century, and their name (corrales)
responded by policing it in various ways. One way was to keep perfor- accurately describes their outdoor, rudimentary nature. Nahuatl plays
mances out of the church building itself. Another was by insisting that all were performed outdoors, or in covered spaces open to the air, with the
play scripts be reviewed and approved in advance of the performance. audience outdoors.
Another was simply to ban certain types of performance outright. Repeated Nahuas built their churches with large open patios where they carried
edicts making the same demands suggest that people might not have been out many of their religious activities. These patio areas typically included
paying much attention.37 an open-air chapel, smaller chapels in the corners, and a roofed porch
However, the period from the 1750s to the 1770s saw a more concerted at the entrance to the attached convento or friars' residence.39 All of these
campaign against native theater, especially Passion plays. Influenced spaces could be used as settings for dramatized action, with the audience
by the Enlightenment and its emphasis on reason and logic, churchmen spreading around the churchyard, as could other public plaza areas. The
rejected elaborate, emotional, extravagant spectacles. Such things may Three Kings play in this volume uses the inside of the church as well, but
have been appropriate in the early days of evangelization, but native this use of sacred indoor space could meet with priestly disapproval.
people should not need them anymore. They should simply listen to The cloisters inside the conventos provided another possible performance
preaching. Some scripts were confiscated (and some of these therefore space, in which painted murals could serve as backdrops.40
survive in archives). Some communities actually translated their plays At least in the eighteenth century, Passion plays were sometimes
into Spanish in the hope of skirting the restrictions on Nahuatl theater, performed in the local cemetery. Priests disagreed about whether this
but some of these Spanish plays were confiscated too.38 All popular spec- was appropriate. Defending the practice, the Dominican fray Francisco
tacles of this kind were now suspect. And some communities abandoned Larrea opined that this was a good spot, more sacred than other spaces
their annual productions or toned them down. They could, for example, but not too sacred, as the church itself would be. 41 Nah uas may have
substitute a procession with statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary believed this an appropriate staging ground for the death of Jesus.
for a drama in which people played these roles. This is what that friar in Nahua stage crews erected temporary buildings, some quite elaborate,
Tlatelolco recommended. But it was hardly the same thing as a play. some perhaps just a wall with a door. Stage directions instruct actors to
No known colonial scripts survive from after the middle of the eigh- knock on, and go in and out of, the doors of these mock-up houses and
teenth century. Nahuatl writings in general became rarer as most people palaces. The stage set for hell is sometimes called "the house of hell"
educated enough to be literate could speak and write Spanish. Nahuatl (mictlancalli), suggesting an actual building, into which the demons could
literacy barely survived after Mexican Independence, although there drag their victims. Temporary buildings could be as elaborate as the
are some later texts. The only play scripts made by Nahua hands in the five-towered fortress Tlaxcalans built to represent Jerusalem for a 1539
nineteenth century are copies of colonial plays written out by Faustino performance. A Nahua historian in Mexico City was so impressed by a
Chimalpopoca Galicia, who taught Nahuatl at the University of Mexico temporary building erected for a mock battle performance in 1572 that
and transcribed texts for the historian Jose Fernando Ramirez. He made he painted a picture of it in his book. 42
22 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 23

Stage sets could also include elaborate re-creations of natural settings. oversaw church affairs and finances. Among their many responsibilities,
Tlaxcalans constructed a lavish Garden of Eden set for a 1539 play about they made sure people came to church, got baptized, went to confes-
Adam and Eve, complete with rivers, mountains, and live animals, sion, and lived with partners they had married in church. Especially in
including two jaguars restrained by ropes.43 When plays had scenes in gar- communities with no resident priests, the fiscales would teach cate-
dens, such as the Garden of Gethsemane in Passion plays or Malintzin's chism classes, announce festivals, supervise burials, and even perform
garden in 111e Animal Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide (in this volume), baptisms if necessary. 48
Nahuas probably took the opportunity to create flower-filled mock gar- Next in importance was the maestro de capilla, or "chapel master," who
dens. The hilltop of Tepeyacac in Guadalupe plays and Mount Calvary wa~ in charge of a group of singers, or cantores (cuicanime in Nahuatl),
in Passion plays invite the construction of temporary "mountains." which could include young choirboys. These men and boys often came
When Nahuas began to set up actual stages-temporary wooden from the local nobility. Spanish colonial law limited the number of cantores
platforms- is not clear, but some scripts refer to the tab/ado (in Spanish) in any one town to just one or two, but Nahuas frequently defied this limit.
or tlapechtli (in Nahuatl). Hell could be represented by the space under Cantores gained prestige; they also had to pay only half as much tribute as
49
the stage, while raised platforms above the stage represented heaven. other men. Among other, loosely defined duties, the cantores provided
The raised open chapels found at some churches could also make good choral and_ instrume~tal music for church services and festivals. They
heavens. From such spaces Jesus or Mary could speak to other characters, learned to smg the Latin chants from the Roman Catholic liturgy. They also
or characters could climb a ladder to enter heaven. Small platforms were learned to play European instruments such as wooden flutes, oboe-like
even moved up and down with ropes, so that angels could come down chirimfas, and different kinds of trumpets, adding new musical sounds to
from heaven, speak their lines, and go back up again, and so that Jesus or those of the native clay flutes, two-tone and standing drums, and rattles.
Mary could ascend to heaven.44 Stage directions for the Guadalupe play _A f~w colonial sources refer to the cantores putting on [Link]
in this volume call for the use of a curtain (with the Spanish word cortina). Direchng community shows would have been a logical extension of
This is the only place a curtain is mentioned explicitly. their other performance- and festival-related duties. Church notaries
Permanent spaces dedicated to public performances may have very likely copied scripts and helped people learn their lines, but there
existed in rare cases. A church in the altepetl of Zumpango, completed in is no direct evidence for this. Nahuas who were leaders of religious
1728, had an attached platform, six meters long, with a vaulted roof, confraternities were also likely to be involved in theater. Confraternities
which may have been an open-air stage. A similar structure in the church were voluntary, club-like groups devoted to some Christian personage
patio in San Pedro Atocpan could have had the same function, although or theme, such as the Holy Cross, the Virgin Mary, or the Souls in Pur-
a colonial text referring to it mentions only the playing of music there.45 gatory. Nahua women and men participated enthusiastically in these
organizations. A confraternity in Tlaxcala sponsored the Adam and Eve
Actors and Action play mentioned above.
Plays with large casts would require volunteers from the community
Spain began to have professional acting companies in the 1540s,46 but as well as ~eligious leaders. Thus, cantores or confraternity leaders may
Nahua performers were not full-time professionals. Early on, with have been m charge of productions, but other people-such as members
the Franciscan friars in charge, all roles were played by boys or men. of confraternities and their children- must have played parts, built sets,
Jesuits also supervised schoolboy productions at the schools they ran prepared props and costumes, and so forth. Some plays call for various
for native youths.47 "extras" with nonspeaking parts, such as soldiers, guards, attendants,
As Nahua communities built and staffed their Christian churches, servants, and silent angels- such that directors could include in the
people took on professional or semi-professional roles as church per- show as many people as they liked.
sonnel, called teopantlaca, or "church people." The highest-ranking church At some unknown point before 1698, women began to play female
people were the Jiscales, general assistants to the Catholic priests, who roles. In that year the same Tlatelolco friar who complained about drunken
24 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 25

actors also wrote that, in his opinion, women should no longer be allowed view, native people had, if anything, too much reverence for their reli-
to play the Virgin Mary and other female roles.51 So, obviously, they gious statues, identifying them too closely with the holy personages
had become accustomed to doing so. Offstage, women undoubtedly had they depicted (an expression of native people's monist worldview,
always sewed costumes and prepared food and drink for the participants. interpreted as spiritual weakness by priests). They would never treat
When Mexican Inquisition officials collected testimonies about Passion the images disrespectfully. Actors wanted to have the right gear for
plays, they gathered some fascinating information about this controver- their parts, Larrea wrote, and were too poor to make their own cos-
sial performance tradition. In the altepetl of Ozumba, rehearsals started tumes.54 Considering the special status of these garments, the actors
halfway through Lent. Summoned by a drummer, participants gathered wearing them might share in the holiness they and their fellow Nahuas
around nine o'clock in the evening and rehearsed until after midnight.52 ascribed to the images.
Women played the female roles. The same people, often members of the Music added excitement to the plays. In addition to the drums, flutes,
local nobility, would sometimes play the same parts year after year. People and trumpets that provided musical flourishes as important personages
interviewed in the large altepetl of Huejotzingo in 1770 reported that they entered or exited the scene, sometimes the action was accompanied by
had stopped performing their Passion play some years earlier. They had singing. Although a few plays have Nahuatl songs, most songs were
used Nahuatl manuscripts for their play and performed it in the church Latin chants from the church liturgy, which the cantores and other edu-
patio. Two brothers and a sister from one noble family, the Guevaras, said cated boys or men knew how to sing. Characters chant Latin responsories
they used to play Jesus, Peter, and the Virgin Mary. Another noblewoman, for the dead in plays meant to model proper mourning rituals. Most
dona Lorenza Donado, reported that she had played Mary Magdalene. spectators would not understand these Latin words. But the music would
One Huejotzingo nobleman claimed that the bishop had made them nevertheless add to the spectacle and enhance the aura of holiness around
stop doing the play, but the Guevara brothers had a different explana- the production. Two plays call for the ringing of the church bell, an object
tion. They told the inquisitor that a man named Bernabe Bustamante, treasured and sometimes even named by colonial Nahuas. Someone had
who had played the part of Judas for years, drank himself to death. Then to be stationed at the bell, ready to ring it on cue.55
no one else wanted to take over the role, because people thought that Dance was also very popular before and after the Spanish conquest,
God may have punished this man.53 Here is another piece of evidence but churchmen sometimes viewed it with suspicion. Morality plays,
that Nahuas thought actors took on something of the identity of their typically performed during Lent, would not have been suitable occa-
characters: playing a villain could bring on divine retribution. It is also sions for dancing. But an Epiphany play witnessed by a Franciscan in
interesting that the Guevaras did not give Bernabe Bustamante the noble 1578 included a dance of angels and another of shepherds.56 Dances
title "don." Perhaps nobles claimed the "good" parts and stuck commoners may have been performed before or after other plays that were part of
with playing the villains. holiday celebrations. Mock battle performances could be considered a
European images-woodcuts, paintings, statues-and native artists' combination of dance and drama.57 Two surviving scripts explicitly call
copies of them provided models for the costumes of characters from the for dancing. The Guadalupe drama in this volume does so twice, for
Old World: Jesus, Mary, saints, Old Testament figures, Romans, angels, the intermissions between acts. In the play about Emperor Constantine,
demons, and so on. Angel costumes would include wings; devil costumes the celebration of his victory includes a tocotin dance, a native dance so
would include horns, hooves, and a tail. People playing ordinary humans named for its characteristic drumbeat. 58
probably dressed in ordinary clothes matching the social position of the Plays demand a wide variety of props, as the scripts in this volume
character, people playing priests in a friar's habit. demonstrate. These props could be household items such as tables, chairs,
Sometimes people borrowed clothing from statues in the church when a broom, dishes, and food; paper, pens, and ink with which notaries take
they were to represent these figures in a play. Some outsiders considered dictation or demons record a person's sins; weapons, such as swords,
this sacrilegious, but fray Francisco Larrea defended the practice. In his knives, bows and arrows, and the lance to pierce Christ's side; crowns,
26 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 27

scepters, banners, and staffs of office; books, letters, and written procla- the sacred centers of their community. Readers of this book are encouraged
mations; torches, lanterns, and candles; horses, a donkey, a turkey; the to peer beyond the scripted lines and to ponder as well the non-scripted
Star of Bethlehem on ropes or on a pole; gold, frankincense, and myrrh; activities that went into the staging of a Nahuatl play.
Jesus' manger and Mary's cradle; money and the purses or strongboxes
to keep it in; the flowers Juan Diego plucks on the stage set of Tepeyacac; Notes
censers and aspergilla (for sprinkling holy water); whips and chains and
nasty objects with which demons torture sinners; fake flames of hell; fake 1. Sahagun 1950- 1982, 8:8; Horcasitas 1974, 562; the Nahua historian Chi-
malpahin (quoted in Horcasitas) gives the year as 1533.
blood for Christ, or to drip from a murder weapon; and objects of partic- 2. On the conquest, see Clendinnen 19916, Townsend 2003, Restall 2003,
ularly sacred quality such as Christ's cross and crown of thorns, and the Hassig 2006.
chalice, wine, and bread he would use for the Last Supper. All these 3. On the evangelization program and Nahua responses, see Burkhart 1989,
things had to be procured or manufactured, stored safely, and provided Klor de Alva 1982, Diaz Balsera 2005, Gruzinski 1993, Pardo 2004. What Rica rd
to the actors at the right moment. 1966 presented back in the 1930s as a "spiritual conquest" is now interpreted as
a process of negotiation, accommodation, and contestation. On colonial Nahua
A favorite special effect was fireworks. Even today, Mexican villagers
religious practice, see Lockhart 1992, ch. 6.
enjoy using elaborate fireworks displays in their festivals. In colonial 4. Clendinnen (1991a) provides helpful insight into the sacrificial rituals.
morality plays, fireworks accompany scenes in which demons carry Lopez Austin (1988) explains how Nahuas viewed human nature and the cosmos.
sinners off to the underworld, or in which the Antichrist appears. There For descriptions of the temple rituals, see Sahagun 1950-1982, 2, and Duran 1971.
would not only be frighteningly loud noises and flashes of light. The 5. Good sources on Spanish theater of this era are Greer 2004, Shergold 1967,
gunpowder would leave a sulfurous odor suggesting the stench of hell. McKendrick 1989. For scripts of sixteenth-century Spanish plays, see Rouanet
1979 and [Link]/servlet/SirveObras/89558283741231033
In addition to setting off fireworks, playing musical instruments, or 413846/[Link].
ringing the church bell, sound effects helpers might need to imitate the 6. Some European theater did not use memorized scripts: in Italian com-
clamor of battle (by bashing things together and yelling), thunder, or media dell'arte, actors played stock characters and followed standard plots, but
animal noises (mooing, bleating, crowing like a rooster). they improvised their actual lines.
7. In addition to the Nahuatl Theater set (2004, 2006, 2008, 2009), see Burkhart
Nahuatl plays yield rich information about how colonial Nahuas expe- 1996; Ravicz 1970; Horcasitas 1974, 2004; Arr6niz 1979; Sten 1982; Sten et al.
2000; and Williams 1992. Partida (1992) reprints some of Horcasitas's Spanish
rienced Christian teachings, and how they spent their holidays. But translations. Guzman Bravo (2007) reproduces Horcasitas's 1974 transcription
scripts project mere shadows of live performances, stripped of color and translation of the Three Kings play in this volume, with costume designs
and sound, stripped of faces and gestures. Nor can they convey all the and suggested scores for choral accompaniments.
behind-the-scenes bustle as people rehearsed, built sets, and prepared 8. On Nahua confessions, see Burkhart 1989, Gruzinski 1989, Klor de Alva
props and costumes. Readers today can only guess at the prestige that 1988.
9. On wills and other death-related customs see Burkhart essay in Nahuatl
directors and actors might gain from their work, or conflicts they might
Theater, vol. 1; Cline 1986, chapter 3; Kellogg and Restall 1998.
have with one another or with a supervising priest or community official. 10. See Burkhart essay in Nahuatl Theater, vol. 4, and Burkhart 2010.
People working together to put on a show surely experienced some 11. On the history of the Guadalupe devotion, see Poole 1995, 2006; Burkhart
degree of cheerful camaraderie; they might also have gotten annoyed 1993; Noguez 1993; and Taylor 1987, 2003. For the Guadalupe story in English,
at folks who forgot their lines, or who fell asleep at late rehearsals. see Sousa et al. 1998; for a good Spanish translation see Leon-Portilla 2000.
Spectators picked up some version of the Christian messages, and also 12. On Aztec writing see Boone 2007, 2008.
13. See Karttunen 1982 on Nahuatl literacy. On the range of colonial Nahuatl
other messages about their community, their leaders, their neighbors, documents, see Lockhart 1992, especially chapters 7- 9.
and their place in the whole colonial social order. Whether they were 14. On colonial altepetl organization and government offices, see Lockhart
amazed, amused, frightened, or bored, they saw religious stories brought 1992, chapter 2; on notaries see especially pp. 40-41; on church notaries see pp.
vividly to life, in elegant Nahuatl, during the set-apart time of ritual, in 217-18. See Haskett 1991 for an in-depth study of government in one altepetl.
28 AZTECS ON STAGE INTRODUCTION 29

15. This book has been translated into English (Sahagun 1993) and Spanish 40. Edgerton (2001) suggests this use for the clois te rs.
(Sahagun 1999). 41. Larrea's d efense of Nahua Passion plays is part of the Inquisition docu-
16. Na/mat/ Theater, 4:122-23, 384-85. mentation. See Ramos Smith et al. 1998, 307- 17; ceme te ry use is mentioned on
17. Karttunen and Lockhart 1976; Lockhart 1992, chapter 7. p. 311.
18. For example, some informal Spanish phrases are used in the Guadalupe 42. Motolinia d escribes Tlaxcala's "Conquest of Jerusalem" (1979, 67-72).
play in this volume. The temporary building is depicted in the Codex Aubin, folio 58r (Lehmann et
19. On the Nahuatl used in the plays, see Sell essay in Nahuatl Theater, vol. 4. al. 1981, 37). See also Horcasitas 1974, 122,124, 505.
20. Nahuatl Theater, vol. 3, is dedicated to Alva's work. On Santos y Salazar, 43. Motolinia 1979, 65; Horcasitas 1974, 175-84.
see Nahuatl Theater, vol. 4; Lockhart 1992, 384, 592- 93; Townsend 2009, 21-28; 44. For more on stage sets, see Horcasitas 1974, chapter 9.
Zapata y Mendoza 1995. Poole (1981) discusses church policies on the ordina- 45. Horcasitas 1974, 122- 23.
tion of native and mestizo men. 46. McKendrick 1989, 43-46.
21. See Burkhart 1996. 47. On th~ Jesuits, see Perez de Ribas 1645, 639, 742. In Spain at the time (in
22. See Nahuatl Theater, vol. 4; Burkhart 2010. c~ntrast to Elizabethan England), women were permitted to act in plays- pro-
23. This estimate includes descriptions in Horcasitas 1974, plus scripts vided they were married and did not play male roles.
unknown to him. It is an approximation, because some brief descriptions may 48. Lockhart 1992, 210- 18; Ricard 1966, 97.
refer to dances or tableaux vivants rather than to scripted plays. 49. Haskett 1991, 118. Haskett notes that not all communities placed a maestro
24. On colonial Nahuatl publishing see Sell 1993, and Sell's essay in Nahuatl de capilla in charge of their cantores.
Theater, vol. 1. 50. Horcasitas 1974, 154.
25. Bautista 1606, prologue. 5_1. From d ocument in the Archive General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Bienes
26. Records are in Mexico's Archivo General de la Nacion, lnquisici6n, vol. Nacionales, vol. 990, exp. 10, transcribed by Jonathan Truitt.
1072, exp. 10. Some d ocuments are published in Ramos Smith et al. 1998, 260-62, 52. Ramos Smith et al. 1998, 300.
299-319; see also Leyva 2001, Mosquera 2005. 53. Leyva (2001, 19- 20) summarizes the Huejotzingo testimony.
27. On this performative focus of Nahua religion, see Clendinnen 1990, 54. Ramos Smith et al. 1998, 316-17.
Burkhart 1998. 55. Bells are rung in Souls and Testamenta ry Executors and The Merchant;
28. On solar associations see Burkhart 1988; on flower and bird symbolism respo~ses for the dead are chanted in both those plays, How to Live on Earth (all
associated with the Virgin Mary, see Burkhart 1992, 2001. three m Nahuatl Theater, vol. 1), and in The Nobleman and His Barren Wife (this
29. Wake (2009) explores continuities in these basic religious principles. volume). I thank Camilla Townsend (personal communication, April 27, 2010)
30. These Nahua-Christian adaptations are discussed more extensively in for her comments on the significance of bells.
Burkhart 1989. 56. Ciudad Real 1976, 2:101; Horcasitas 1974, 141.
31. Lockhart 1991, 22. See also Lockhart 1985, 447, and 1992, 445. 57. On mock battles, see Harris 2000.
32. Schechner (1985) discusses this " in-between" nature of theater. 58. Nahuatl Theater, 4:300-301.
33. From document in the Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Bienes
Nacionales, vol. 990, exp. 10, transcribed by Jona than Truitt.
34. Bricker (1981) explores attempts by native people in Mexico and Guate-
mala to create an Indian Christ.
35. From document in the Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Bienes
Nacionales, vol. 990, exp. 10, transcribed by Jonathan Truitt.
36. Taylor (1979) discusses colonial drinking patterns.
37. For example, different archbishops of Mexico issued edicts suppressing
thea trical performances in 1704, 1757, and 1769. See Nahuatl Theater, 4:9- 12. For
documents on the suppression of theater in colonial Mexico, see Ramos Smith
et al. 1998.
38. One of these Spanish plays is published in Leyva 2001; see also Mos-
quera 2005.
39. On the various meanings that friars a nd Nahuas built into these church
complexes, see Lara 2004 and Wake 2009.