#huastec

~ Hunchback Leaning on Staff.

Date: 10th–12th century

Place of origin: Mexico, Mesoamerica, Veracruz

Culture: Huastec

Donají, poncho vs quechquemitl

Did this for Codex Black's book 2. Donají's iconic garment is actually a quechquemitl, but I explain there why I use the word "poncho" instead.

This was a February P*treon reward!

“ Este portaestandartes huasteco retrata a una deidad del pulque, puesto que la fecha dos-conejo era el día en que se le festejaba junto a esta bebida. La rigidez de la composición denota influencia mexica, pues la escultura huasteca era mucho menos rígida en periodos anteriores”.

Huastec Goddess Tlazolteotl, 900 - 1450 C.E.

Goddess Tlazolteotl is associated with creating life and curing illness. She was a primary Aztec deity celebrated in the harvest festival called Ochpaniztli that was held September 2–21. The ceremonies included ritual cleaning, sweeping, repairing, casting seeds, dancing, and military ceremonies.

Head, Huastec, 750, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of the Americas

Gift of Ethel and Julian Goldsmith Medium: Ceramic and pigment

Life-Death Figure

Huastec, ca. 900-1250 CE

Possibly found at the site of Chilitujú, near San Vicente Tancuayalab, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Sandstone with traces of pigment

From the museum label:

This sculpture of a man carrying a human skeleton on his back exemplifies the dualism of life and death that permeates Huastec and Mexica (Aztec) art. Representing life, the human figure is the Aztec wind god, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, who created humankind and is identifiable by his J-shaped ear pendants. Representing death, the skeletal figure with a protruding heart wears a collar and skirt decorated with a half-circle motif that was associated with the sun and the planet Venus. Venus, called the morning star, was another important god, thought to pull the sun across the sky and down into the underworld. Densely patterned designs on the sculpture’s arms and legs include ears of corn, which, like the sun and Venus imagery, are related to agriculture, fertility, life, and death.