Unbroken: Indigenous Peoples Today

Aztec Butterfly Cocoon Ankle Rattles (Cochipilotl)

Aztec spiritual elder and dancer, América December, performs a ceremony while wearing a unique pair of ankle rattles called butterfly cocoons (which in the proper Aztec language, Nahuatl, are called "cochipilotl"). The instruments are made by drying real butterfly or moth cocoons, and then placing small pebbles or other items inside to produce a mesmerizing rattle sound.

Although most Aztec dancers wear ayayotes (which are hollowed out tree nuts from the chachayotl tree), América sometimes prefers to wear her cochipilotl for better spiritual focus.

"Most [dancers] wear the seed pods, the ayayotes, and that's usually what I have, but for myself, in times where it's more ceremonious, I try to simplify. I try to simplify and really just go back to that style where I can hear that voice, that really small voice and listen. Where I hear the wind and the creator. And so the cocoons, they're more quiet and I walk a little more peaceful. A little more tranquil.

"For me, they symbolize the continuation of life even through the hardest struggles. They symbolize that even through the worst pain, transformation happens. Healing brings beauty, rebirth and gratitude. A favorite quote, 'Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.'

"I also feel my connection to all my relations. From the smallest insect to the sky. When I am dancing my feet take flight, like the butterfly. I feel free, I feel the revolution in each step that would not be possible without the bloodshed and sacrifices of my ancestors and all who came before...Ōmeteōtl."

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