The huehuetlatolli - words of the elders

Thelma D. Sullivan (1976:82), who studied Sahagun’s collection, describes the huehuetlatolli as “rhetorical orations in general - the prayers, discourses, salutations, and congratulatory speeches - in which the traditional religious, moral, and social concepts handed down from generation to generation were expressed in traditional language - that is rhetorical language.” Sullivan categorizes the huehuetlatolli into several subgenres: Prayers to the gods, Court orations, Orations of parents to offspring, Orations of the merchants, Orations relative to the life cycle, and miscellaneous. Among these orations, the parental orations have been most frequently cited in scholarly works and educational texts, as they demonstrate how diligently and strictly Aztec parents raised their children. In these orations, fathers give advice to their sons and daughters, and mothers do the same. Below is an example of the advice a father, as ruler, gives to their sons. It is quoted in Nahuatl and its English translation:-

Pic 2: ‘The wisdom of the Aztec elders’ - detail from a screen mural by Roberto Cueva del Río

Another example of parental advice from the huehuetlatolli is given during an Aztec marriage ceremony. When marrying off their children, Aztec families prepare a formal ceremony inviting many guests, with the attendance and advice of the elderly people being essential. Below is an excerpt of their advice to the bride at the ceremony:-
Nochpuchtze ca njcan timoietztica, ca moca veveti, moca ilamati, in monanoan, in motaoan: in axcan, ca ic intech tompachivi in jlamatque: ie toconpeoaltia in jlamanemjliztli: axcan xiccencaoa in pipillotl, in coconeiutl: aiocmo tiuhqujn tipiltontli tiez, aiocmo iuhqujn ticonetontli tiez: vel xiteixtli, xitemauhcaitta: vel xitlato, vel xitetlapalo: iooalli xiqujtzto, xicmocujtlavi in tlachpanaliztli, in tletlaliliztli, veca iooan ximeoa, ma titechpinauhti, ma titechvevetlaz: ma tiqujmjlamatlaz in monanoan.
“O my daughter, thou art here. For thy sake thy mothers, thy fathers have become old men, old women. Now thou approachest the old women; already thou commencest the life of an old woman. Forever now leave childishness, girlishness; no longer art thou to be like a child, no longer art thou to be like a girl. Be most considerate one; regard one with respect, speak well, greet one well. By night look to take care of the sweeping, the laying of the fire. Arise in the deep of night. Do not embarrass us; do not reject us as old men, do not reject thy mothers as old women.” (Florentine Codex 6: 130)

Pic 4: Aztec marriage ceremony. Bride and groom sit on a reed mat (top centre), with their clothes tied together. Two elders, likely the parents of the couple or witnesses of the marriage, give advice on how to behave as a married couple

Other scholars argue that certain huehuetlatolli were significantly influenced by European Renaissance rhetorical structures and themes (Pollnitz 2017) and that Spanish missionaries like Olmos and Sahagun may have shaped the huehuetlatolli by selectively recording oral traditions while ignoring other major indigenous discursive practices, such as pictorial writing system (Lee 2023). Nevertheless, scholars agree that the huehuetlatolli remains a crucial source for studying the historical, political, religious, and moral traditions of Prehispanic Mexico.

Bibliography
• García Quintana, Josefina. “Los huehuetlahtolli en el Códice Florentino.” Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 31 (2000): 123-148
• Lee, Jongsoo. “Toward a New Interpretation of Prehispanic Discourses: Reconstructing the Huehuetlatolli in the Prehispanic Context.” Humanities Bulletin 6 (2023): 101-122
• León-Portilla, Miguel. “Estudio introductorio” Huehuetlatolli: Testimonios de la antigua palabra, translated by Librado Silva Galeana. Mexico: Secretaría de Educación Pública/ Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1991, pp. 7-45
• Pollnitz, Aysha. “Old Words and the New World: Liberal Education and the Franciscans in New Spain, 1536-1601.” Transactions of Royal Historical Society, 27 (2017): 123-152
• Ruiz Bañuls, Mónica. El huehuetlatolli como discurso sincrético en el proceso evangelizador novohispano del siglo XVI. Roma: Bulzoni Editore, 2009
• Sullivan, Thelma D. “The rhetorical Orations, or Huehuetlatolli, Collected by Sahagún.” Sixteenth-Century Mexico: The Works of Sahagún, edited by Munro S. Edmonson. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1976, pp. 79-109.

Pic 6: An Aztec mother exhorts maidens, Florentine Codex Book VI