Notcheztli, “blood of the tuna,” is the Nahuatl name for cochineal, a crimson pigment derived from the hemolymph of parasitic insects on the nopal cactus. The cochineal insects (Dactylopius coccus) are in many regions in Mexico and are nourished by eating the stalks of the nopal cactus. The female insects are used to create dyes, since they carry crimson acid, a defense mechanism against predators, which is what creates the coloring. Mexico, in particular in Oaxaca, is the center of domestication of the cochineal, which extended through Central America, South America and Europe. In his “General History,” Frair Bernardino de Sahagún mentions the exportation of cochineal to China and Türkiye.
In the “Matrícula de Tributos,” a pictographic record of the taxes submitted to the Triple Alliance of Mexico-Tenochtitlán, there is documentation of an annual tax of 65 loads of cochineal (approximately 4 tons). The Mixteca Alta, in Oaxaca, was the main taxpayer of this raw material, although it was also cultivated in several areas of the central Highlands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, cochineal held a privileged position as a raw material and economic activity, just behind gold and silver mining.
From ancient times, cochineal has been used as an intense color for codices and murals, especially in central and southwestern regions of Mesoamerica. This crimson was also used to paint ceramics, bodies and teeth, given its symbolic importance associated with the Sun, blood, fire, the east and certain gods, such as Tezcatlipoca or Tláloc, who was linked to war by the people of Teotihuacán. During the Colonial era, production and commerce of cochineal had an impact on several levels of daily life, such as in cooking; currently, in some towns in Puebla, the viceregal tradition of using cochineal to dye the sugar to decorate bread continues.
This product was also sold in the markets in the shape of “tortillas” (nocheztlaxcalli) or “little buns” (coarse or fine grain), to be used by painters and dyers. This prized pigment is still used to dye textiles made of natural fibers, such as cotton, wool and linen. During the Colonial and Viceregal periods, the cochineal red was considered one of the most expensive dyes in the world, associated with royalty, status and luxury. This fascination led the Spaniard to hiding the origin of the dye—attributing the origin to a vegetable—and to control the quality of the product for exportation, giving the appearance of “false cochineal” (ixquimiliuhqui) and “low quality cochineal” (tlapalnextli), mixed with flour, ashes or clay. The fraudsters were severely punished, the death penalty was even proposed.
During the 16th century, the Catholic church substituted the “bishop’s purple,” derived from the kermes insect, similar to cochineal, to dye clothing and decorative objects such as curtains and tapestries red. The British army also used this crimson pigment. The advantage of cochineal over kermes was the intensity and durability of the color. The distribution of the dye among Italian and Belgian dyers, especially in the textile headquarters of Antwerp, Venice and Florence, led to the creation of “secret formulas” derived from cochineal and its use as a pigment in paint.
However, cochineal production was not always consistent, since during the Viceregal period it had its ups and downs because of the exploitation of the Indigenous people and the excessive profiting of the Spanish merchants and mayors. By the end of the 19th century, Mexican cochineal was competing with artificial dyes, like aniline, and with the cochineal being produced in Peru. Even so, the Mexican dye has been able to prevail and keep up production in greenhouses, rising in popularity thanks to the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Yet, it has been the artisans who have upheld the tradition of dying clothing with the “blood of the nopal cactus.”