Research Year:  1995
Culture:  Aztec
Chronology:  Pre-Classic
Location:  México City, México
Site:  Tenochtitlán

Introduction to Film

The painting in the Borgia Codex, a PreColumbian document resting in the Apostalic Library in the Vatican in Rome, Italy, was created by Mexican artists in the 16^th century. In it we see a detailed depiction of the highland Mesoamerican pantheon, the 260-day ritual calendar and the ceremonies and divination associated with it. Here is Quetzalcoatl, Precious Serpent, Lord of the West, Keeper of Intelligence with Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the North, of the Dead, of Perpetual Renewal. This is the Black Tezcatlipoca, Smoking Mirror, Lord of the South, Keeper of Memory. He is holding the days of the sacred calendar. These are manifestations of Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacihuatl, Lord and Lady who give us our flesh.

This film, produced in 1997, is hand painted in the style of the Borgia Codex and follows the sequence of the Sacred History of México told to us by the indigenous people, the ancestors of the Toltecas.

Screenplay by:
Lourdes Portillo

Additional writing by:
Patricia Amlin
Tlakaelel
Preston Arrow-Weed

A full list of contributors is noted in the film. These include the National Endowment for the Humanities, San Francisco State University, and the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., (FAMSI).

Click to download the report in PDF format:

Film:  The Five Suns:  A Sacred History of México  (100 KB)

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Submitted 01/01/1997 by:

San Francisco State University