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About the above image: The upper-center quadrant is divided between the two folios, as screen-fold documents did not rely on page turning like Western-style books.
The Codex Laud (ca. 1450)
The Codex Laud is a member of the Borgia Group.
Borgia texts like the Fejérváry-Mayer, Borgia, and Cospi subdivide their Tonalamatl, or 260-day ritual calendar, into twenty trecenas (thirteen-day “months”) of seven- and six-day. On the other hand, the Laud uniquely subdivides its ritual festivals into increments of eight and five days. It also names different patron deities for its divergent (half) media-trecenas. Further, the Laud is the only codex in the Borgia Group likely read in reverse (right to left). Maarten Jansen says this is possibly the result of local variation in divinatory preferences and stylistic traditions, though we are unable to say for sure.
Another aspect that the Laud shares with the Borgia is a brief chapter regarding the prognostication of marriages (folios 33-38). Many of the codices –including many outside this group– concern themselves with the theme of marriage. However, when compared to the Codex Egerton, which is primarily a historical record of actual marriages, the Laud’s divinatory nature seems to suggest favorable, future matches.
Which of the four categories of CONTINUITY apply to the Codex Laud?
Bibliography
Boone, Elizabeth H. “Marriage Almanacs in the Mexican Divinatory Codices.” Anales del instituto de investigaciones estéticas, vol. 89, no. 1, 2006, pp. 71-92.
Jansen, Maarten E.G.R.N. “La división mántica de las trecenas.” Mexicon, vol. 8, no. 5, 1986, pp. 102–107.
--. "Laud, Codex." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxfordreference.com. 13 Sep. 2018.
Valero de García Lascuráin, Ana Rita. Entre Códices. México: Universidad Anáhuac México Norte, 2012, pp. 55-56.
Curation Date
9-2018
Photo Source
All scans courtesy of University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center and carried out by Jacob S. Neely.
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