Mexica
The Nahuatl-speaking people of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, often called Aztecs, who ruled much of central Mexico when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. Spanish writers called them Mexicans.
Raising Children, Ages Three to Fourteen (Codex Mendoza)
Codex Mendoza (Mexico City, about 1541), folios 58r–60r: the raising of children from three to fourteen, in Agostino Aglio's lithographs for Lord Kingsborough (London, 1831) · painted in Mexico City, probably about 1541; the customs are those before the Spanish conquest of 1521
Declaracion de la plana siguiente despues desta, de las figuras en ella contenidas, en que se platica el tiempo y modo en que los naturales davan consejo á sus hijos de como havian de vivir, segun que sucesivamente estan figurados, que son cuatro partidas que son las que siguen.
This explains the next page and its pictures. It shows when and how the native people advised their children on how to live. The pictures run in order in four sections, as follows.
Declaracion de la plana siguiente de las figuras en ella contenidas, en que se platica el tiempo y modo en que los naturales de Mexico dotrinavan y corregian á sus hijos, para evitalles toda ociosidad, y que siempre anduviesen aplicados, y se ejercitasen en cosas de provecho, segun que sucesivamente estan figurados, que son cuatro partidas, y ansi en esta plana por su orden van declaradas las cuatro partidas, que son las que se siguen.
This explains the next page and its pictures. It shows when and how the native people of Mexico taught and corrected their children, to keep them from all idleness, so that they would always work hard and keep busy with useful things. The pictures run in order in four sections, explained here one by one.
Cacao, Chili and Maize
Francisco Hernández, Treasury of Medical Things of New Spain (written in New Spain in the 1570s; Recchi's selection, printed at Rome, 1651): cacao, chili and maize · written in New Spain about 1571–1577; Recchi's selection printed at Rome, 1651
De hoc celeberrimo semine, & quod in nostram vsque tempestatem, & nummi & vini apud illos subeat vicem, agendum est, ab ipsa arbore sumpto initio. Est ergo Cacaua Quahuitl arbor, amplitudine, & folijs mali Medicæ, longè tamen maioribus, atque amplioribus. fructu oblongo, Peponi magno simile, sed striato, & rufo, Cacauacentli nuncupato: semine Cacahuatl pleno, quod semen, vt diximus, Mexicanis pro nummo est, materiemq. potionis eidem genti gratissimè præbet. Substantia idem constat pulpa in dispares diuisa particulas, sed probè compositas inter se, tenera, multi nutrimenti, subamara, subdulcique & temperata natura, aut paululum frigida, atque humenti.
I must speak of this famous seed, which among them still takes the place of both money and wine, and I will begin with the tree itself. The cacaua quahuitl is a tree the size of a citron tree, with leaves like a citron's but much larger and broader. Its fruit is long, like a large melon, but ridged and reddish; it is called cacauacentli. It is full of the seed cacahuatl, which, as I have said, is money to the Mexicans and the stuff of a drink they love. The seed is made of a pulp divided into uneven pieces that fit closely together. It is tender, very nourishing, a little bitter and a little sweet, and temperate in nature, or a little cold and moist.
Teotihuacan Answers the King
The elders of San Juan Teotihuacan, answers to the king's questionnaire, recorded by the corregidor Francisco de Castañeda, March 1, 1580 · March 1, 1580 (customs remembered from before the Spanish conquest of 1521)
Llamase el pueblo de San Juan, en lengua de yndios Teutiguacan, que quiere dezir «templo de dioses», por que en el dicho pueblo estaua el oraculo donde ydolatrauan los yndios mexicanos y de los demas pueblos de a la redonda.
In the Indians' language the town of San Juan is called Teutiguacan, which means “temple of gods.” It has this name because the oracle stood here where the Mexican Indians and the other towns round about worshiped their idols.