Primary Account of Mesoamerican Births

This week’s post will be about the readings on Nahuatl Speeches and Dialogues, more specifically, the excerpts from the midwife’s speeches from the Florentine Codex, Book VI. This speech discusses the rituals involved with the birth of a child and the differences in preparation of male and female babies. Mesoamericans viewed women’s “duties” as a sort of war making. Sweeping the floor was making war with chaos, for example, in addition to making war in giving birth. This act was something to be proud of and was not viewed upon lightly, for women who had survived labor were highly regarded as bravely birthing a male physical warrior or a female warrior for the home. When the baby appears, the midwife shouted war cries, “which meant the woman had fought a good battle, had become a brave warrior, had taken a captive, had captured a baby”.

Much like everyday life to these Mesoamericans, births are also very much paralleled by gender. When a male child was born, his umbilical cord was buried under the battle field, signifying the life he will live ruled by battle to protect his land. Conversely, a female child’s umbilical cord was buried under the hearth, signifying that the female was not to go anywhere outside the home, for her sole duty was maintaining the household.

It is interesting that the midwife stresses more to the female that her work will be hard and that she will fatigue and work hard to provide for the household, than to the male who will fight on the battlefield. This shows how much importance is placed on the women’s work and how important their “battles” are.

By today’s standards, this “putting women in their place” concept of women’s purpose to take care of the house would be seen as grotesquely sexist and demoralizing, yet in the Mesoamerican’s world, this system worked for them and each were seen as equally important. Saying that women need to be in the kitchen is just as sexist as protesting that they need to be out working with men. However, it is refreshing to read firsthand accounts about these people and how they are constantly working together for the betterment of their society.