Mixtec writing

The Mixtec are an indigenous people of Mesoamerica, located in the western region of the modern Mexican states of Oaxaca, eastern part of Guerrero, and southern part of Puebla. The history of the Mixtec people can be traced back to the Formative period, and continues through the Classic and Post-Classic periods to the arrival of Europeans in 1520 AD. Today the region is still populated by the Mixtec and Mixtecan speakers. During the 2500 years before the arrival of Europeans, the Mixtec developed complex social and economic traditions, effectively exploited their diverse environment, created a method of writing, and maintained their autonomy from other civilizations, such as the Aztecs. The Mixtec language is part of the Otomanguean family of languages, a family found in Mesoamerican that includes Zapotec, another indigenous language found in Oaxaca. Mixtec speakers arrived in Oaxaca, notably the Alta region, during the early Formative period, 1500-750 BCE. Agriculture formed the base for Mixtec civilization and agricultural villages have been dated to 1350 BCE. The arrival of the Spanish in Oaxaca in 1520 AD began the Colonial period. The Mixtec gave only minor resistance. The encomienda system was established in the region between 1525 and 1530 AD, and missionaries began their efforts to convert the Mixtec in 1538 AD. The arrival of the Spanish influence brought changes to the Mixtec culture, as is seen in the following example of the Mixtec writing system. ==Mixtec writing and codices==

Mixtec writing is classified as logographic, meaning the characters and pictures used represent complete words and ideas instead of syllables or sounds. In Mixtec the relationships among pictorial elements denote the meaning of the text, whereas in other Mesoamerican writing the pictorial representations are not incorporated into the text. Pictographic symbols can resemble the item they are intended to represent, and refer to one or more words. They are often found in person and place names. Ideographic symbols do not require knowledge of the Mixtec language to understand them, as they are found in other languages of the region and represent the idea which they are intended to portray. These symbols may also be referred to as ideograms or ideographs. Common topics found in the codices are biographies of rulers and other influential figures, records of elite family trees, mythologies, and accounts of ceremonies. After the arrival of the Spanish in 1520 AD, the Mixtec writing system became hybridized with European writing styles and motifs. Some of these codices include European glosses, which facilitates translation when applied to the codices of the pre-Columbian period. Others show alphabetic writing replacing the pictorial traditional writing. Only indigenous authors participated in this hybrid style of writing, while Spanish writers used strictly European writing methods, reflecting their role as conquerors. The function of the codices changed during this period too; the ritual and divinatory aspects of the codices disappeared, while genealogical and culture records were maintained. New genres developed as a result of Spanish sponsorship, as they commissioned Mixtec authors to record information about the people and their past. In addition to being used as a tool for colonial power, Mixtec writings were admissible legal documents. Mixtec writings during the Colonial period were used to document and legitimate land claims of the hereditary nobility and to preserve and maintain the Mixtec culture. Origin myths continued to be recorded as part of genealogical records. The Church, knowing of the religious motifs and creation myths recorded in these codices, confiscated and destroyed them; it is believed many more codices were in existence before the Colonial period. == Calendar ==

Like most other Mesoamerican cultures, the Mixtec people had a 260-day sacred calendar. The days that made up this calendar were represented in Mixtec writing by the combination of a numeral, called the coefficient, and a certain sign or symbol. This numeral ranges between one and thirteen, while there are 20 signs which progress from crocodile to flower. The calendar moves in such a way that the numbers and signs move in parallel, so they start on crocodile, and move onto two Wind and three House. However, after thirteen Reed, the number resets, giving the next sign (which is a Jaguar at this point) an assigned coefficient of one. However, when seven flower is reached, the signs reset, but the coefficient continues to rise, giving eight crocodile. Years worked differently on the Mixtec calendar, and there were only four signs used to denote actual year-lengths. These were rabbit, reed, flint, and house. It was these signs and symbols that allowed Mixtec history to be traced to almost as far back as 940 CE, because the Mixtecs dated many important events with these signs and coefficients. ==Present day==

Today the codices are studied for their importance to the ethnohistory of the Mixtec and the region. Ethnohistoric data gathered from these codices can be applied and compared with other codices, European writings and records of events, and with the archaeological data of the Post-Classic and Colonial periods. In addition to these other materials, the study of Mixtec codices is supplemented by consulting the Mixtec who live in the areas featured in the writings. Examining the oral traditions associated with the codices provides a more complete understanding of the information and stories they hold, as they were often used for recitations and readings. == See also ==