The huēhuētl is a

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

instrument from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, used by the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

s and other cultures. It is an upright tubular drum made from a wooden body opened at the bottom that stands on three legs cut from its base, with skin stretched over the top. It can be beaten by hand or wood mallet.

Description

This ancient percussion instrument originated from

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...

and was often used by the Aztecs and

Tarascan Tarascan or Tarasca is an exonym and the popular name for the Purépecha culture. It may refer to: * the Tarascan State, a Mesoamerican empire until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, located in (present-day) west-central Mexico * the Purépecha p ...

. The huehuetl were used during festivals such as warrior gatherings. The drum itself is made from hollowed tree trunks and thus, came in different sizes. Carvings of animals, faces or warriors were also often carved into the base of the drum. The skin used for the top of the drum was mainly from ocelots. Currently, there are still groups of musicians who use huehuetls to perform Aztec music.

Terminology

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 800px; height: 25px;" ! colspan="3", Terminology''Nahuatl dictionary.'' (1997). Wired humanities project. Retrieved August 31, 2012, fro
link
/ref> !colspan="3", 1st Component !colspan="3", 2nd Component , - ! English ! Nahuatl ! IPA ! English ! Nahuatl ! IPA ! English ! Nahuatl ! IPA , - , drum , huēhuētl , , old (

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

) , huēhuē , , singular noun suffix , -tl , , - , medium size drum , panhuēhuētl , , - , large drum , tlālpanhuēhuētl , , on the ground or
throughout the country , tlālpan , , drum , huēhuētl , , - , war drum , yāōhuēhuētl , , war , yāōtl , , drum , huēhuētl , , - , huēhuētl drummer , huēhuēhuah , , - , drumming , tlatzotzonalli , , - , to drum , tlatzotzona , , - , musical instrument , tlatzotzonalōni , {{IPA-nah, t͡ɬat͡sot͡sonaˈloːni}

Gallery

File:Huehuetl.jpg, ''Huēhuētl'' drawing in an ancient manuscript. File:Huehuetl Codex Magliabecchi page 060.png, ''huēhuētl'' from page 060 of the Codex Magliabecchi File:DrummerAmeca.JPG, Nahua stick drummer

Description

Terminology

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading