Drums and dance
The upright skin drum (huehuetl) and the slit log drum (teponaztli) that sounded for Nahua songs and dances at festivals.
Songs of Flowers and Parting
Nahua singers, three songs from the Cantares mexicanos manuscript, as printed by Daniel G. Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry (Philadelphia, 1887), songs XXII–XXIV · sung before and after the Spanish conquest; written down in the sixteenth century; printed 1887
Nicaya quetza con tohuehueuh aoniquimitotia quauhtlocelo yn ca tiyayhcac in cuicaxochitl, nictemoan cuicatl ye tonequimilol ayyo.
I set up our drum. I make the eagle and jaguar warriors dance where you stand, among the flowers of song. I seek songs to adorn us.
Ma xochitl oyecoc ye nican ayyahue çan tlaahuixochitla moyahuaya motzetzeloa ancazo yehuatl in nepapaxochitl ayyo. Zan commoni huehuetl ma ya netotilo.
The flowers have come here. In the place of flowers they spread out and fall like rain, flowers of every kind. The drum is sounding: let the dancing begin!