Ahwahnee (Aztec Culture)

Ahwahnee (Enchanter Young-Woman, also spelled ahuiani in Spanish sources[1]), in the Aztec world, is the name for the female young entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various arts such as music, dance, games and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers, usually Aztec warriors. The Ahwahnees patroness is the goddess Xochiquetzal, symbol of fertility, beauty, and female sexual power (including pregnancy and childbirth), and the crafts practised by women such as weaving and embroidery.

Etymology

The name ahwahnee comes from Utian and Nahuatl languages ahwwahnee, ahuia or ahweeya, which Bierhorst (1985:657, 730) translates as "good smelling".[2] The Ahwahnees were typically educated since their childhood, to be pleasant to others, metaphorically "good smelling"; a metaphor also directly related to Xochiquetzal and her symbolic relationship with blossoms and the Earth's rebirth.

Presence in Modern Culture

Also it is interesting that the word ahwahnee, as a Californian toponym, is derived from the Southern Sierra Miwok word awwo which, in English, means "mouth."[3] This is not a mere coincidence, since the Miwok is an Utian language, and associates this word with the concept of breathing (and then to smelling). Furthermore, the Aztec ahwahnees were educated to frequently opening their mouths for singing, elegantly speaking, and smiling (smile was a magic feature performed by them, in order to make Mictlantecuhtli be away from people, avoiding, so, facing death; see Johansson, 2006). Three young ahwahnees can be seen in the opera Xochicuicatl cuecuechtli (2012).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World".
  2. ↑ "A Nahuatl-English Dictionary".
  3. ↑ William Bright; Erwin Gustav Gudde (30 November 1998). 1500 California place names: their origin and meaning. University of California Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-520-21271-8. Retrieved 20 January 2012.

References

Bierhorst, John (1985). A Nahuatl-English Dictionary and Concordance to the Cantares Mexicanos: With an Analytic Transcription and Grammatical Notes. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1183-6. OCLC 11185890. 
Clendinnen, Inga (1991). Aztecs: An Interpretation. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-40093-7. OCLC 22451031. 
Miller, Mary; Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317. 
Nutini, Hugo G. (1976). "Syncretism and Acculturation: The Historical Development of the Cult of the Patron Saint in Tlaxcala, Mexico (1519-1670)". Ethnology. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh. 15 (3): 301–321. doi:10.2307/3773137. ISSN 0014-1828. JSTOR 3773137. OCLC 1568323. 
Smith, Michael E. (2003). The Aztecs (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23015-7. OCLC 48579073. 
Johansson, Patrick (2006). "Dilogía, metáforas y albures en cantos eróticos nahuas del siglo XVI,". Revista De Literaturas Populares,. 6 (1): 63–95. 
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