Aztec rattle figurines

Aztec pottery figurines are ubiquitous - found in pretty well every archaeological dig in Mexico and now populating museums all over the world. Many of these are actually hollow rattles, containing one or two small ceramic balls that produce a percussive sound when the figurine is shaken, and the majority of rattle figurines are of adult Mexica women. These all show women sporting the ‘two-prong’ hair style commonly thought to indicate marriage and/or motherhood. Overholtzer’s study of figurine collections from museums and excavations show that ‘rattle figurines selectively portray a very narrow range of society, specifically women who appear to be of reproductive age’. These young women have ‘perky’ breasts; some carry one or - less commonly - two much smaller figurines, either representing children (ie with their mother) or, more frequently, more figurines, in which case the larger figure could be a ‘figurine user’ such as a healer or midwife.

Pic 1: Three Aztec pottery rattle figurines depicting women ‘of reproductive age’, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City

Human reproduction involves far more than a single physical act, requiring all kinds of medical, cultural and even spiritual support for the mother-to-be. One place that played - and still plays today - a crucial role in successful childbirth is the Aztec sweat bath, known as temazcalli, associated strongly with ritual cleaning and healing. Significantly, scholars have noted that figurines found in sweat bath areas consistently depict the ‘two-prong hairdo’, mentioned in the Florentine Codex and thought to reference the goddess Xochiquetzal, patroness of sexuality and fertility, and of midwives and healers (pic 3). An entire third of Book 6 of the Codex is devoted to pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood, stressing all the precautions a pregnant woman should take ‘so that the baby not be formed like a pottery rattle, so that it not result as a gourd rattle, so that it not sicken’ - in other words, that the baby shouldn’t be dry, hollow, empty and lacking vital blood.

Pic 3: The goddess Xochiquetzal, Codex Borgia pl. 20 (detail); note her ‘two-prong hairdo’...

Miniature in size, 3-D Aztec figurines ‘might have helped people to deal with dangerous or stressful experiences related to childbirth by lessening the perceived severity and duration’ - ie, by compressing time.
Figurine producers may have ‘deliberately depicted women without blouses to draw attention to their breasts; anatomical features that were key in their role as mothers [pic 5].’
In short, female rattle figures served to remind women of their importance in controlling production and reproduction of both individual Aztec households and of Nahua society at large.

Pic 5: 3 Aztec ceramic female figurines holding infants, all with pronounced breasts; Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels