The Totonac peoples existed as far back as 200 C.E. with a fully-functional civilization, but were at the height of their power from 800 to 1100, when they controlled the region between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The Totonac were conquered by the Aztecs in 1480, but resisted until 1519, when they encountered Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his colonial forces. Through assisting the Spanish, the Totonac assisted in the overthrowing of the Aztecs. While the makeup of the Totonac would change forever due to disease and displacement, their culture still persists through some identifying groups in what is now called Veracruz, Mexico.

The Aztec Empire spanned across Mexico from the 14th to 16th century, and it has left much in the way of architecture and artifacts, such as codices and instruments, like the head-shaped flute in our collection. Regarding pre-Columbian whistles as a whole, they were thought to have been designed to help people enter dream states or to cure sicknesses.

The Totonac and Aztecs began creating clay vessels many hundreds of years ago, including clay whistles or ocarinas. The sound from these instruments would not have been very loud, indicating they were not made for war or communication. Such whistles were often used in ceremonial settings, and are still used in the same context today within Central America. Technically these whistles are duct flutes, falling into the sub-category of “vessel flutes” due to their globular structure.

One of the larger of these instruments is labeled the “death whistle,” with an allusion to the Aztec god “Xipe Totec” attached to it. The Totonac actually passed the god on to the Aztecs through cultural diffusion when the Aztecs took over during the 15th century, as Xipe Totec was the patron god of the Totonac capital city of Cempoala before the Aztecs arrived. This whistle in particular could have been made in the image of Xipe Totec, who was the god of fertility and agriculture, and according to myth would flay his own skin to feed to humans as a symbol of renewal. Many rituals surronding Xipe Totec involved bloodshed and human sacrifice in which victims would be flayed and their skin worn by others.