‘Codex Corner’: gestures

Interestingly, researcher Pablo Escalante found that it’s far more common in the codices to see - as in the main picture above - women exchange a gesture consisting of the arms being extended, one pointing upwards, the other with the hand open downwards: he suggests this indicates ‘el uso más frecuente de las manos para hablar entre las mujeres’ (the more frequent use of the hands to communicate between women).

Whilst in most cases the pointing-finger hand appears to be part of the language of conversation, it could also, argues Escalante, in some circumstances indicate an expression of power and/or command (see picture 1).

• Info from Los Códices mesoamericanos antes y después de la conquista española by Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City, 2010, pp. 283-4, 295.

• Images from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall scanned from the ADEVA facsimile edition, Graz, Austria, 1987.

Pic 1: Mixtec ruler Eight-Deer uses a pointing finger to express his authority; Codex Zouche-Nuttall pl. 45 (detail)