Broken flowers: An analysis of the use and function of the Flower-flute in the Aztec culture in Late-Postclassic times

This thesis focusses on the use and function of music and the so called Flower-flute in the Aztec culture, as well as the Toxcatl festival, in which this instrument played an important role. The Aztecs knew three different categories of music instruments; the aerophones, membranophones, and the idiophones. These instruments were mainly played by priests during public rituals. In the Aztec culture, music was seen as the voice of the gods through which the gods communicated with the world of humans. This was also the case with the Toxcatl festival, in which the Flower-flute played a central part. During this festival, one prisoner was chosen to impersonate the deity Tezcatlipoca for one year. During this year he would play the Flower-flute after which he would break it on the stairs of a temple. In this festival and instrument, a lot of symbolical meanings are embedded; like the fact that the breaking of the flutes stood symbol for the temporary break of relations between the gods and...Show moreThis thesis focusses on the use and function of music and the so called Flower-flute in the Aztec culture, as well as the Toxcatl festival, in which this instrument played an important role. The Aztecs knew three different categories of music instruments; the aerophones, membranophones, and the idiophones. These instruments were mainly played by priests during public rituals. In the Aztec culture, music was seen as the voice of the gods through which the gods communicated with the world of humans. This was also the case with the Toxcatl festival, in which the Flower-flute played a central part. During this festival, one prisoner was chosen to impersonate the deity Tezcatlipoca for one year. During this year he would play the Flower-flute after which he would break it on the stairs of a temple. In this festival and instrument, a lot of symbolical meanings are embedded; like the fact that the breaking of the flutes stood symbol for the temporary break of relations between the gods and humans. In this thesis, the Flower-flute was mainly analysed as a sound artefact, leaving slightly aside its symbolical meanings. For instance, there is a possibility that this instrument was played in a major pentatonic scale. There is also a possibility that the flute had a more rhythmic function than a solely melodical function. The exterior of the flute does contain some decorations that possess a symbolical meaning; on some flutes the 4-tonalli sign is present, which refers to the four cardinal directions of the Aztec cosmovision. The flute also has a decoration in the form of two or three red stripes that resemble the fabrication of ancient reed flutes, therefore, suggesting a connection with ancestor veneration.Show less

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Broken flowers: An analysis of the use and function of the Flower-flute in the Aztec culture in Late-Postclassic times