Song XXIV — XXV (In the Night the Dust Settles)
Song XXIV carries manuscript heading XXV and spans eleven sections entirely on folio 18v (§§294–304). No descriptive rubric accompanies the heading — only the Roman numeral. The song has two movements, a common Cantares structure: the outer frame is a war-song, the inner voice a flower-song.
The opening movement (§§294–299) turns on a repeated refrain: oyohualpan teuhtlan moteca — "in the night the dust settles." This is one of the most compressed war-images in the Cantares, the dust of battle (teuhtli = dust, but also the root of the honorific teuctli, lord) settling at nightfall. The war-zone is described through the glyph-word tlachinolli, the fire-water sign of war — burning, conflagration — the half of the famous atl-tlachinolli war-couplet ("water-burning") used here alone. The movement names two defeated peoples: the Chalca and the Amaquemecan (people of Amaquemecan, a Chalco-region city), who are depicted fleeing. This situates the song in the Acolhua or Texcocan military tradition, in which Chalco was a long-standing rival. The warrior-flowers of the battle (yaoxochitl, oceloxochitlin, chimalli xochitli, oceloncacahuaxochitl) are the classic Cantares flower-war imagery: the jaguar-flower, the shield-flower, the jaguar-cacao-flower — blooming on the riverbank amid battle-dust.
The second movement (§§300–304) introduces a speaker by name: Yohyontzin, a Texcocan noble associated with the court of Nezahualcoyotl. He arrives longing for flowers — nicxochehelehuia — and scatters two of them before the lord: cacahuaxochitl (cacao-flower) and ycniuhxochitl (friendship-flower, a compound that renders friendship itself as a flowering thing to be scattered and given). He declares that these flowers are Nezahualcoyotl's own flesh — a theologically loaded move, making the lord's body identical with the flower-offering. The movement closes with Yohyontzin's song of joyful longing (§§301–304): seeking the lord's beautiful song, desiring friendship and nobility, praising the song like jade and jewel, and dancing in the spring-house before God the Giver of Life.
Yohyontzin appears in Song XIX as well, in a similar court-song context. His name is the honorific of a Nahuatl personal name (possibly from yoyotl, bell-grasshopper, or a variant). The address in §300 to both Nezahualcoyotl and Yohyontzin in the third person — "O noble Nezahualcoyotl, lord Yohyontzin" — implies that Yohyontzin is both the speaker and the one being praised, a poetic self-address common in the Cantares court-song mode. Section 304 adds the colonial-syncretic frame: tota Dios Ypalnemoani, "our father God, Giver of Life" — the Christian God mapped onto the Nahua Ipalnemoani, the same theological negotiation seen in Songs XVIII, XXIII, and elsewhere.
Song XXIV spans folio 18v, sections 294–304. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
It seethes there — it ripples —
the burning place.
Glory is won,
one is given the shield-name.
In the night, the dust settles.
Ohuaya.
Never will the war-flower droop —
it remains, on the riverbank,
where they bloomed:
the jaguar-flowers,
the shield-flower.
In the night, the dust settles.
The jaguar-cacao-flower remains there,
scattering across the interior of the plain.
Its fragrance drifts over us.
Who among you desires glory?
Who desires renown?
Ohuaya.
Without rest, without rest —
fragrant flowers —
they have become heart-flowers
in the plain, near the battle.
From there it comes for the nobles:
glory, renown.
Ohuaya.
Eagle-shields meet
the jaguar-banner.
With precious shields,
zacuan-banners are raised —
they bend, they seethe.
From there the Chalca flee,
the Amaquemecan flee.
The battle resounds.
Ohuaya ohuaya.
Arrows are shattered,
obsidian points break apart.
Shield-dust spreads over us.
From there the Chalca flee,
the Amaquemecan flee.
The battle resounds.
Ohuaya ohuaya.
I have come here —
I, Yohyontzin —
longing only for flowers,
come to scatter them here upon the earth.
I scatter the cacao-flower,
I scatter the friendship-flower —
they are your flesh,
O noble, O Nezahualcoyotl, lord Yohyontzin.
Yya'o ohuili yya ayyo yao ayyaha yohuiya.
I seek your beautiful song —
I bring it down.
Our friends —
let there be great joy.
Let friendship be known.
Yyao ohuili.
Somewhat I rejoice —
somewhat my heart
goes about happy
here upon the earth —
I, Yohyontzin,
longing for flowers,
going about singing flower-songs.
Ohuaya.
I greatly desire, I yearn —
friendship and nobility.
I long for flowers,
going about singing flower-songs.
Ohuaya.
Like jade, like a jewel —
broad quetzal-feathers —
so I prize your beautiful song,
our father God, Giver of Life.
With it I rejoice,
with it I dance
in the drum-place,
inside the spring-house —
I, Yohyontzin.
My heart knows it.
Ohuaya ohuaya.
Colophon
Translated from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. The refrain oyohualpan teuhtlan moteca ("in the night the dust settles") is the organizing image of the first movement — a compression of the war-scene into a single nocturnal image: battle-dust (teuhtli) settling at nightfall, calm after violence. The compound tlachinolli (burning, conflagration) is one half of the war-couplet atl tlachinolli (water-fire), the quintessential Nahuatl glyph for warfare; here it appears alone, naming the battle-zone. The term nechimaltocayotilo in §294 — "one is given the shield-name" — refers to the warrior's title and recognition earned through the shield (chimalli), the specific form of military honor that comes from standing in battle. The Chalca and Amaquemecan (§§298–299) appear as the defeated peoples, placing the song in the Acolhua-Texcocan military tradition where Chalco was the rival power. The jaguar-cacao-flower (oceloncacahuaxochitl, §296) is the warrior-variant of the cacao-flower, marked by the jaguar prefix that signals the jaguar-warrior elite. The compound ycniuhxochitl (§300) — friendship-flower — makes friendship itself a flower that can be scattered and given, among the most beautiful coinages in the Cantares. Yohyontzin's declaration that the flowers are Nezahualcoyotl's flesh (monacayon, §300) is a striking equation: the flowers offered are not gifts to the lord but the lord's own body returned to him. Section 304 integrates the colonial-syncretic frame: tota Dios Ypalnemoani maps the Christian "our father God" onto the Nahua Giver of Life. The xopancalli (spring-house, §304) is the metaphorical paradise of flowers and song where Ipalnemoani receives worship through dance. All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl. No existing English translation was consulted during the translation process.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Manuscript Heading XXV
Classical Nahuatl source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, Biblioteca Nacional de México, sixteenth century, accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
[Folio 18v — manuscript heading XXV]
[Section 294, folio 18v]
Yn poçoni ya ye onca ça milini ya yntlachinolli ya nemahuizçotiloya nechimaltocayotilo o a oyohualpan teuhtlan moteca ya ohuaya etcetera
[Section 295, folio 18v]
O ahquenman ontlatzihuiz yaoxochitl mani yeehuaya atoyatempa in oncuepontimanique oceloxochitlin chimalli xochitli a oyohualpan teuhtlan moteca ya etcetera
[Section 296, folio 18v]
A oceloncacahuaxochitl aya onca ya mani ya çan ca y tzetzeliuhya yn ixtlahuatl ytiqui çan topan ahuiaxticac oo ac on anquinequi on anca ye timallotl yn mahuiçotl ohuaya etcetera
[Section 297, folio 18v]
O acemele xochitl hacemelle ahuia mochiuhticaqui yolloxochitl i a yxtlahuacan yaonahuac oncan quiçaya a yn tepilhuan ohya o anca ye timallotl yn mahuiçotl ohuaya
[Section 298, folio 18v]
Yn quauhtehuehueltica ocelopanitli nepanihui yeehuaya quetzallin chimaltica ye onnemamanalo çaquanpanitl huitoliuh on poçoni aye oncan o hualehua ya yn chalcatl oo amaqueme oo ayohuilo yhcahuaca yaoyotl ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 299, folio 18v]
Yn tlacotl xaxamacatoc ytztlin teyntimani o chimalteuhtli topan ia motecaya ho hualehua ya yn chalcatl oo amaqueme oo ayohuilo yhcahuaca yaoyotl ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 300, folio 18v]
Nihualacic ye nica ye niYohyontzi huiya çan nicxochehelehuia yeehuaya inxochintla'tlapanaco yan tlalticpac ye nica nocoyatlapana in cacahuaxochitl nocoyatlapana ycniuhxochitl i ye tehua monacayon tetepiltzin Neçahualcoyotl teuctli Yohyontzin i yya'o ohuili yya ayyo yao ayyaha yohuiya
[Section 301, folio 18v]
Çan nicyatemotihuitz mocuic in yectli yhuan nicyatemohuian titocnihuan aya ma onpapacohua yehua icniuhtlamachoya yyao ohuili etcetera
[Section 302, folio 18v]
Achin yc nonahuiya o achin yc ompahpactinemi noyollo yn tlalticpacqui ye niYohyontzin nixochiehelehuia oo nixochincuihcuicatinemi ya ohuaya etcetera
[Section 303, folio 18v]
Nicnehnequi nic ehelehuia yn icniuhyotl in tecpillotl nixochiehelehuiya oo nixochincuihcuicatinemi ya ohuaya
[Section 304, folio 18v]
O anca iuhquin chalchihuitl ohuaya çan ca yuhquin cozcatl in quetzallin patlahuac ypan ye nicmati a yectli ye mocuic aya tota Dios Ypalnemoani yca nonahuia yca nonnitotiya huehuetitlan o xopancalaitiqui ye niYohyontzin huiya ha noyol quimati ohuaya ohuaya
Source Colophon
Source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, Biblioteca Nacional de México, sixteenth century. Transcription accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx). The manuscript transcription is made available by the Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, UNAM, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Critical edition: Miguel León-Portilla et al., Cantares Mexicanos, 3 vols. (México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 2011). Song XXIV carries manuscript heading XXV, spanning folio 18v sections 294–304. Manuscript heading XXVI (Song XXV) begins at section 305 on folio 19r. This translation is complete.
No existing English translation was consulted during the translation process. All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl.
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