Article suitable for older students

The story of the origin of maguey

26th Oct 2024

Mexicolore contributor Heungtae Yang

We are sincerely grateful to Heungtae Yang for writing for us this illuminating essay on the origin of one of the most important plants in the Mexica-Aztec world, the maguey. Heungtae Yang is a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology of SUNY Albany of New York state. His areas are Nahuatl Literature and Mesoamerican ethnohistory for the Mexica (Aztecs), Mixtecs, and Mayans. He will receive his degree in December 2024 and is currently preparing book projects.

’Maguey is a tree of wonders, where of the Notaries or Chapetons (as the Indians call them) are wont to write miracles, in that it yields water, wine, oil, vinegar, horny, syrup, thread, needles, and a thousand other things. It is a tree which the Indians esteem much in new Spain and have commonly in their dwellings some one of them for the maintenance of life’ Joseph de Acosta, Chapter 23 of The natural and moral history of the East and West Indies (Acosta 1590, 273-274).

This quote from Joseph de Acosta tells us of the importance of the maguey for the Mexicas. The maguey (metl in Nahuatl) means a plant classified as agave and its various sub-species. They are sources of a wine called octli in Nahuatl or pulque, fibre for textile and rope, vinegar, needles for weaving, and needles for rituals, medicines, and a paper called amatl in Nahuatl (amate in Mexican Spanish). The maguey has a fascinating origin story which reveals many things about Mexica culture. The story was found written in a manuscript called Histoyre du Méchique, a French translation of a lost Spanish text...

’In the beginning, after the creation of humans, the gods searched for a food to give humans pleasure and chances to sing and dance. They intended to reduce human suffering. To achieve this goal, Quetzalcoatl, who has another name called Ehecatl meaning Wind, decided to bring humans a goddess named Mayahuel, goddess of maguey. In heaven, Mayahuel had been guarded by her grandmother who was a member of a group of goddesses called Tzitzimimeh (plural of Tzitzimitl). While the grandmother was sleeping, Quetzalcoatl secretly visited Mayahuel. He asked her to travel together with him to earth and Mayahuel accepted. They descended by standing back-to-back. Once they landed, they transformed into two sacred trees entangling together like twisted threads. Quetzalcoatl became Quetzalhuexotl meaning Plumed Willow Tree, and Mayahuel became Xochicuahuitl meaning Flower Tree.

’Meanwhile, the grandmother noticed the absence of her daughter. She called the other Tzitzimimeh and descended to earth. Finally, they found the two sacred trees of the runaway gods. They attacked Mayahuel (now Xochicuahuitl). Mayahuel’s tree was cut down. The Tzitzimimeh broke and ate the tree. Then, the Tzitzimimeh went back to heaven.
Quetzalcoatl’s tree was not touched so he was saved. Once the Tzitzimimeh had left, Quetzalcoatl returned to his original form. He collected the remaining bones of Mayahuel. He buried them into the soil. From this, the maguey was created.’

This story introduces us to the flower stalk of the maguey which resembles a tree in its shape. It also introduces us to the Mexica idea that the gods as stars may cause the rise and fall of the maguey’s flower stalk. Thirdly, the story reveals that the Mexica perceived bones and seeds as symbols of both death and birth.
According to biologists’ observations, maguey species have a life span of 10-30 years. Once they become mature and near the end of life, they develop a tall stalk with multiple branches holding flowers. From a distance, this stalk with branches can look like a tall tree with branches (picture 5).

After pollination and formation of seeds, the maguey dies, and its flower stalk will become broken itself. After the flower stalk falls, the seeds in seed pods will be scattered on the earth (picture 6). The transformation of Mayahuel and Quetzalcoatl was inspired from this flower stalk of the maguey. Similarly, the death of Mayahuel corresponds to the death of maguey and the fall of the flower stalk. The story’s close tie to the maguey’s stalk means that the Mexica closely observe the life cycle of the maguey, their precious tree.

The fact that the trees of Quetzalcoatl and Mayahuel are twisted together reflects the trees’ nature as a sacred tree. According to a version of the Mexica creation story, Quetzalcoatl transforms into Quetzalhuexotl, meaning Plumed Willow Tree, and Tezcatlipoca transforms into Tezcacuahuitl, meaning Mirror Tree. Two gods as two cosmic trees twist themselves to separate heaven and earth. Similar pairs of trees can be found depicted in the famous Tepantitla mural of Teotihuacan (picture 7). In the mural, two twisted trees stand behind the goddess of the water in the centre. These examples show how the Mexica inherited a long tradition of considering maguey to be sacred.

Gods in the story also take on the role of stars which decide the fate of the maguey. For the Mexica, Quetzalcoatl represents Venus as Morning Star in the east. The fierce Tzitzimimeh represent a group of stars too. Their nature means that stars and changes of constellations would bring about the rise and fall of the maguey flower. In my opinion, Quetzalcoatl’s absence would correspond to the absence of Venus for eight days before its rise as the Morning Star at dawn. His return and his gathering of Mayahuel’s bones for new maguey may mean that the Morning Star foretells both sunrise and new birth.

Finally, the burying of Mayahuel’s bones and the birth of the maguey plant correspond to planting maguey seeds in the soil. It alludes to the Mexica symbolically considering the bone as a metaphor for a plant seed like a maize kernel or maguey seed. A similar idea can be found in the stories of creation of humans; when Quetzalcoatl retrieves the bones of humans who once lived in older eras, the goddess Cihuacoatl grinds the bones as if she grinds maize kernels. Other gods mix the bone powder with their blood as if making maize dough through mixing maize powder with water. These creation stories have been inspired by ancient cooking methods common in Mesoamerica. It reminds us of the myth that humans were formed out of maize.

As a result, the stories equate the bones with maize kernels, the seeds. For the Mexica, the fact that both bones and seeds are buried in the soil means death. The sprouting of new maize stalks from the buried seeds would mean the bones and seeds are symbols of rebirth. So, the Mexica equated the bones of Mayahuel to maguey seeds, attributing the birth of maguey to the goddess’s death.

The story of Maguey and its symbolism would explain why the Mexica carved so many bones on their monuments. As bones and seeds are symbols of both death and rebirth, the bones on Mexica monuments would represent death and subsequently new birth for Mexica warriors. Bones symbolised not fear but the cycle of death and birth. It shows clearly that the Mexica were a people who understood the life cycle of the cosmos.

Maguey is the source of pulque and many useful materials. It also offers a story which gives us the insight to better understand Mexica culture.

Further reading:-
• Cerón, Isaías Mendoza and Una Canger (1993) In Tequil de Morrales: Working with Maguey, Copenhagen: Bianco Luno, A/S
• MacCallum, William B. (1908 ‘The Flowering Stalk of the Century Plant’, The Plant World, 11 (7): 141-146
• Pasztory, Esther (1983) Aztec Art, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
• Taube, Karl A. (1993) Aztec and Maya Myths, London: British Museum Press
• Trandell, Jennifer (2018) Maguey: A Sacred Plant in the City of the Gods. Botanical Journey, accessed 20 April 2024
https://thebotanicaljourney.com/blogs/the-botanical-journey/maguey-the-plant-that- built-the-city-of-the-gods
• Yang, Heungtae (2024) ‘The Shifting Suns: A New Understanding of the Five Suns Story of the Mexica Empire and 16th Century Colonial Mexico’. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany.

Picture sources:-
• Pic 1: main image downloaded from Internet Archive (archive.org); title page image downloaded from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_de_Acosta (source: University of South Carolina, Thomas Cooper Library)
• Pix 2 & 12: photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore
• Pic 3: image source: Hamy, Ernest Théodore (1899) Codex Borbonicus: Manuscrit Mexicain de la Bibliothéque du Palais Bourbon (livre divinatoire et rituel figure) publie en fascimilé, avec un commentaire explicatif, Paris: Ernest Leroux
• Pic 4: image from the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer scanned from our own copy of the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1971
• Pix 5, 6, 10 & 13: photos by and thanks to Heungtae Yang
• Pic 7: image by Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata, from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tlalocan_-_Murales_de_Teotihuacan.jpg
• Pic 8: image created by Mexicolore
• Pic 9: image from the Florentine Codex scanned from our own copy of the Club Internacional del Libro 3-volume facsimile edition, Madrid, 1994
• Pic 11: photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore.

Aztec limerick no. 70 (ode to Maguey) -
Maguey – a plant we call ‘Century’
Lives to max 30, eventually.
Just before dying
Out shoots a stalk, trying
To escape from a sad penitentiary.

Learn more about the Maguey (century plant)‘Sacred Agave’“What exactly was ‘obsidian medicine’?”

Comments (1)

Tocompah Abe

28th Oct 2024

Tlahuel cualli tlahcuilolli. Nicamatqui miac nicpohuaz ni amatl.
Excellent contribution!

Mexicolore

Tlazohcamati!

Mexicolore contributor Heungtae Yang

Aztecs

Maya

The story of the origin of maguey

Comments (1)

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