The Flower Song Symposium
A Dramatic Dialogue about Art
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Read an excerpt below!
Among speakers of Nahuatl (the language of the Mexica or Aztecs, along with many dozens of city-state populations based around the Valley of Anahuac in central Mexico), the phrase in xochitl in cuicatl—flower and song—means poetry, covering its range of activities from written composition through musical performance. Sometime in the late fifteenth century, Tecayehuatzin, the lord of Huexotzinco (now a mid-sized city in Puebla state), invited his political and poetical peers to his palace to engage in a conference about the theory and practice of in xochitl in cuicatl, tantamount to discussing the meaning of art. In the Cantares mexicanos collection in the National Library of Mexico, there exists a four-folio text in reference to this symposium, in which it is not always clear if we are reading a fragment of the dialogue, or a summary, or something in between. In my opinion, the text provides a delicate and tantalizing glimpse of a Mesoamerican treatise on aesthetics, part of a philosophical system that would be rigorously suppressed by the Spanish invaders in the sixteenth century and beyond.
In writing this play, my intent has been to breathe life into this historical dialogue (here, scenes VI-VIII of eight scenes), to make it better known by expanding and contextualizing it. I have attempted to accommodate Nahuatl speech patterns (formalized repetitions; couplets such as “face and heart” to mean “personality”) in the dialogue in English. Little is known regarding some of the dialogue participants; about others, we have no record beyond their participation at this encounter. Consequently, I have filled in detail and characterizations as necessary. For example, in some few instances, I have slightly altered age differences among the characters. I have given cameo appearances to three important poets who did not attend the gathering: Macuilxochitl, Nezahualcoyotl, and Nezahualpilli. Nonetheless, the majority of source information comes from the published studies and translations of the renowned scholar of Mesoamerica, Miguel León-Portilla. A brief glossary of terms in Nahuatl follows the text.
CAST
Men
Tecayehuatzin, Lord of Huexotzinco, 40
Cuauhtencoztli, Prince of Huexotzinco, 20
Motenehuatzin, Lord of Tlaxcala, 45
Ayocuan, Lord of Tecamachalco, 30
Monencauhtzin, Prince of Cholula, 25
Aquiauhtzin, Lord of Ayapanco, 35
*Nezahualcoyotl, Lord of Texcoco, 50
*Nezahualpilli, Prince of Texcoco, 15
Xayacamach, Lord of Tizatlan, 40
Women
*Macuilxochitl, Daughter of Tlacaelel, 35
*Xochiyollotl, Daughter of Macuilxochitl, 15
Tlapalteuccitzin, Lady of Amecameca, 50
Palace Servant (male or female)
Chocolate Bearers (4-6 youths, female and male)
*Actors portraying these parts can double as chocolate bearers.
Time: Late afternoon into the night, spring of 1480
Place: The palace garden of Tecayehuatzin in Huexotzinco, central Mexico. On stage, other than various potted plants to represent a garden, are three stone mini-temples, two of smaller sizes on the sides, similar to stone bleachers, and one in the middle large enough for an orator to stand on but no taller than 4 ft. These mini-temples, placed in an arc, are sturdy enough to support hammocks which will be extended between them, one each between the middle structure and the side structures. Backstage left and right have elevated platforms, parallel in height and area, and higher than the middle mini-temple. The house left elevated platform has a chiminea-type stove or brazier, and the house right has a waterfall, actual or simulated. The raised platforms should be dark except when indicated. Beyond them, on the backdrop, is the classic view of the volcanoes Popocatepetl (house left) and Ixtaccihuatl (house right) as seen from Huexotzinco.
Dress: Almost all the characters represent Mesoamerican nobility. The men should wear a maxtlatl (loincloth) and tilmatli (cloak), the latter of rich color and pattern. Optionally, the princes (Cuauhtencoztli, Monencautzin, as well as Nezahualpilli) can appear without cloaks to better mark a difference in age. The women should wear a huipilli (sleeveless tunic) of rich color and pattern, and cuetl (wraparound skirt tied with a sash). Only the servant should wear a plain white tilmatli or huipilli.
Scene I
TECAYE: (seated high on the house right mini-temple steps) Is there word?
SERVANT: (standing) Yes, my liege.
TECAYE: Then give it your breath.
SERVANT: Motenehuatzin will arrive shortly, and Ayocuan draws closer as well.
TECAYE: (laughing) Ah, yes. Even from far afield you must have heard Ayocuan singing. Did you learn his refrain?
SERVANT: (singing) “Let the earth remain! Let the mountains stay!”
TECAYE: Yes, steadfast Ayocuan. Tell me also: have you procured the talking drums?
SERVANT: (speaks) Yes… (sings) Yes, my liege.
TECAYE: Prepare the torches. And, make sure the cacao has been ground. (remembering) Double the usual amount of cacao.
SERVANT: I go, my liege.
(Exit Palace Servant stage left)
TECAYE: Double the usual amount, because among our guests will be Xayacamach! Ah, the face and heart of that Xayacamach: great poet, life of the party, drinks too much xocolatl (extends hands and arms to indicate girth)! But, like the full moon, he seems to hold sway over many, including the prince, my son. My son, Cuauhtencoztli, pesters me to close the calmecac. Eagerly he swoops down upon every chance to tell me that poets and scribes and musicians and dancers and painters and sculptors should be few, and that what few there are should go learn their arts elsewhere, in Tenochtitlan, or Texcoco. He sees the world around him as if through a smoky mirror, he sees not that here in Huexotzinco we have cultivated formidable talent, especially in flower and song.
Plenty of chocolate for Xayacamach. He’ll probably bring his own! Let him drink all the chocolate he wants, he will still help me defend the aim of those who write the red, who write the black, who sing and dance with drum and flute.
(Enter Cuauhtencoztli stage right, running)
CUAUHTEN: I find you, father. Why do you sit here alone? Do you not wish to remember that the new eagle and jaguar warriors are to be celebrated tomorrow eve?
TECAYE: I hear you, my son, and I have heard you speak it so loud and so often that even had I the wits of a lizard, I would remember it. Do I not know that you are to become an eagle warrior? But tell me this: do you remember who is coming to visit this very afternoon?
CUAUHTEN: It’s…(thinking)… it is your clutch of composers, the lovers of flower and song. It will please me to see and hear Xayacamach.
TECAYE: Indeed. Will it please you to see and hear Xayacamach say that in order to honor the new eagle and jaguar warriors tomorrow eve, we need to hear an appropriate flower song composed?
CUAUHTEN: Certainly. Xayacamach himself can compose it, he would do us the honor…
TECAYE: Son, just as we have new warriors, we also have new flower song composers, and they deserve the moment to be celebrated as well.
CUAUHTEN: This appears plain and just, but can they not use a flower, a song, from their repertoire of red and black?
TECAYE: So they will do, as is the custom, but there will also be new with the old. I have already heard the new flower song in the calmecac, and I am much pleased. I anticipate my…what did you call it?…clutch of composers will stay a day or two to participate in the celebration.
CUAUHTEN: This is good and true, father.
TECAYE: Your old nemesis from the sporting contests will be here, too. What is his name… the prince of Cholula?
CUAUHTEN: (dejectedly) Monencauhtzin.
TECAYE: Now, don’t let him get the best of you. You’ve grown, you’re stronger and faster now than when he won that footrace. You need to show more confidence in your abilities, son!
CUAUHTEN: I’ll beat him back to Cholula!
TECAYE: More confidence in your abilities, not just of strength and speed, but also of flower and song. I hear Monencauhtzin has developed a gifted voice among composers.
CUAUHTEN: I’ll let you be the judge of that. For me, these skills fight like fire and water, father. One invigorates the flesh, the other dulls the senses.
TECAYE: I do not think your senses will be dulled by Aquiauhtzin from Ayapanco—he’s built quite a name for himself as a daring composer, ribald, even. And the venerable Tlapalteuccitzin is expected as well, and Motenehuatzin…
CUAUHTEN: If you give me their names with their faces, I will remember them better.
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