THE GREAT GODS
METHOD OF TREATMENT
In the section descriptive of the gods, each divinity is dealt with
separately. The need for system and orderly arrangement in the study of
Mexican Mythology is clamant. In the hope that future students of the
subject may be spared the Herculean task of separating the mythology of
the Mexican people from their history, I have thought it best to
arrange my material in as systematic a fashion as its complex character
permits.
The plan employed is a simple one. I have prefaced the description of
each god with a table containing the following information concerning
him: Area of Worship, Name, Minor Names, Relationship, Calendar-place,
Compass-direction, Symbol, Festivals. In some cases where, for example,
a god has no festival or no minor names, the item relating to such
information is, of course, absent.
The description proper of each deity begins with an account of his
Aspect and Insignia, as observed in the several codices and paintings,
manuscripts, vases, or statuary. [75] A section is devoted to festivals
celebrated in his honour, another deals with the priesthood specially
attendant on him, and a further paragraph with the temples in which he
was worshipped. There follows a précis of all known myths relating to
him. In certain instances, too, hymns and prayers offered up to him are
quoted. The last section deals with his nature and status, so far as I
have been able to elucidate these.
UITZILOPOCHTLI = “HUMMING-BIRD WIZARD”
Area of Worship: Mexico.
Minor Names:
Tetzateotl—“Terrible God.”
Tetzahuitl—“The Raging.”
Ilhuicatl Xoxouhqui—“The Blue Heaven.”
Mexitli—“Hare of the Maguey.”
Compass Directions: The South; upper region.
Festivals:
Toxcatl, the fifth month; first of tlaxochimaco, the ninth
month.
Panquetzaliztli, the fifteenth month.
Movable feast ce tecpatl.
Relationships:
Son of Coatlicue.
Brother of the Centzonuitznaua.
Brother of Coyolxauhqui.
One of the Tzitzimimê.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Face-paint.—Blue and yellow horizontal stripes, the yellow known as
piloechinolli (“face-painting of children”) made of children’s
excrement, in allusion, perhaps, to his character of a young or
new-born god. He occasionally wears the stellar mask, [76] like
Mixcoatl and Camaxtli.
Body-paint.—Blue.
Dress.—Usually the humming-bird mantle, pictographic of his name. His
head is surmounted by a panache of feathers. On his breast is a white
ring made from a mussel-shell, like those of Quetzalcoatl,
Tezcatlipocâ, and Paynal, which is called eteocuitlaanauauh (“his
golden ring”) or eltezcatl (“his breast mirror”). Perhaps the best
representation of him is in Codex Borbonicus (sheet 34).
Weapons.—Shield (teueuelli), made of reeds, with eagle’s down adhering
to it in five places in the form of a quincunx. He carries spears
tipped with tufts of down instead of stone points (tlauacomalli), the
weapons of those doomed to a gladiatorial death, the fire-snake
xiuhcoatl as an atlatl, or spear-thrower, and the bow, which he was
supposed to have invented or introduced into Mexico. The flag held by
him on some occasions represents the panquetzaliztli festival in
Codices Telleriano-Remensis and Vaticanus A.
Variations.—He is frequently to be observed wearing the insignia of the
stellar gods of war and hunting (Mixcoatl, Camaxtli).
According to Seler (Commentary on the Codex Vaticanus B, p. 91),
Uitzilopochtli figures in that MS. as showing “in a general way the
devices and the dress-badges of the fire-god,” differing, however, in
colour and painting. When found along with Tezcatlipocâ as Ruler of the
Southern Heaven, in Codex Fejérváry-Mayer (sheet 25), he is seated on a
jaguar-skin seat, enveloped in a long robe of a light blue colour, with
balls of downy feathers. He wears the aztaxelli or forked heron-feather
ornament on his head and has the yellow face-paint alluded to above. In
the Sahagun MS. (Bib. del Palacio) he is represented as wearing on his
back the “dragon’s head” alluded to in the text. In the Duran MS. (2 o,
plate 2 a), drawn by a European hand, the humming-bird headdress forms
a helmet-mask, and in the Codex Ramirez (Juan de Tobar), in which the
figure is Europeanized almost out of recognition, the same is the case,
but the shield-marking is incorrect, consisting as it does of seven
tufts of down instead of five.
Clavigero (tom. ii, pp. 17–19) says of Uitzilopochtli’s insignia: “Upon
his head he carried a beautiful crest, shaped like the beak of a bird,
upon his neck a collar shaped like ten figures of the human heart. His
statue was of an enormous size, in the posture of a man seated on a
blue-coloured bench, from the four corners of which issued four snakes.
His forehead was blue, but his face was covered with a golden mask,
while another of the same kind covered the back of his head. In his
hand he carried a large blue, twisted club, in his left a shield in
which appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form of a cross,
and from the upper part of the shield rose a golden flag with four
arrows, which the Mexicans believed to have been sent to them from
heaven. His body was girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with
lesser figures of animals made of gold and precious stones, which
ornaments and insignia had each their peculiar meaning.”
Acosta says of his appearance: “The chiefest idoll of Mexico was, as I
have sayde, Vitziliputzli. It was an image of wood like to a man, set
upon a stoole of the coloure of azure, in a brankard or litter, in
every corner was a piece of wood in forme of a serpent’s head. The
stoole signified that he was set in heaven. This idol had all the
forehead azure, and had a band of azure under the nose from one ear to
another. Upon his head he had a rich plume of feathers like to the beak
of a small bird, the which was covered on the top with gold burnished
very brown. He had in his left hand a small target, with the figures of
five pineapples made of white feathers set in a cross. And from above
issued forth a crest of gold, and at his sides hee hadde foure dartes,
which (the Mexicaines say) had been sent from heaven which shall be
spoken of. In his right hand he had an azured staff cutte in the
fashion of a waving snake. All those ornaments with the rest hee had,
carried his sence as the Mexicaines doe shew.” [77]
Solis writes of his aspect as follows: “Opposite ... sat
Huitzilopochtli, on a throne supported by a blue globe. From this,
supposed to represent the heavens, projected four staves with serpents’
heads, by which the priests carried the god when he was brought before
the public. The image bore upon its head a bird of wrought plumes,
whose beak and crest were of burnished gold. The feathers expressed
horrid cruelty, and were made still more ghastly by two strips of blue,
one on the brow and the other on the nose. Its right hand leaned, as on
a staff, upon a crooked serpent. Upon the left arm was a buckler
bearing five white plums, arranged in the form of a cross, and the hand
grasped four arrows, venerated as heaven-descended.” [78]
Herrera says that his idol was a gigantic image of stone, covered with
a lawn called nacar, beset with pearls, precious stones, and pieces of
gold. It had for a girdle great snakes of gold, and a counterfeit visor
with eyes of glass. [79]
Torquemada writes: “In his right hand a dart or long blue pole, in the
left a shield, his face barred with lines of blue. His forehead was
decorated with a tuft of green feathers, his left leg was lean and
feathered, and both thighs and arms were barred with blue.” [80]
The Sahagun MS. states that “he wears a panache of yellow parrot
feathers stuck together, and having a bunch of quetzal-feathers at the
tip. His espitzalli is over his forehead. The face or mask is striped
in various colours, and the ear-plug is made of the feathers of the
blue cotinga. On his back is the fire-snake dress and on his arm he has
a quetzal-feather. At the back he is girded with a blue net cloth, and
his leg is striped with blue. Bells and shells decorate his feet, and
he is shod with sandals of the type usually worn by persons of high
degree. His shield is the teueuelli with a bundle of arrows without
points stuck in it, and in one hand he holds a serpent-staff.”
Sahagun (c. xxii, bk. iv) describes the insignia employed at the god’s
festival of ce tecpatl. These were the quetzalquemitl, or mantle of
green quetzal-feathers, the tozquemitl, the mantle made of the yellow
feathers of the toztli, a bird of the parrot species, the
Uitzitzilquemitl, or mantle of humming-bird’s feathers, “and others
less rich.”
FESTIVALS
The first festival of Uitzilopochtli was the tlaxochimaco, of which
Sahagun says: “The ninth month was styled tlaxochimaco. A festival was
held on the first day of this month in honour of Huitzilopochtli, god
of war, when he was offered the first flowers of the year. The night
before this festival everybody killed chickens and dogs with which to
make tamalli and other things good to eat. Very soon after the first
glimmerings of dawn on the day of the festival, the attendants of the
idols adorned the statue of Huitzilopochtli with flowers. The images of
the other gods were decked with garlands and wreaths of flowers, and
the same was done to all the other idols of the calpulli [81] and
telpochcalli. [82] The calpixque, [83] the principal people, and the
macehualli [84] covered the statues in their houses with flowers. These
preparations being completed, the viands prepared during the previous
night were partaken of, and shortly after this repast a dance was
engaged in, in which the nobles mingled with the women, taking them by
the hand, and even going the length of embracing them by placing their
arms round their necks. The usual movements of the areyto [85] were not
performed, the dancers moving step by step, to the strains of the
musicians and singers, who stood, some distance away, at the foot of a
round altar called momoztli. They sang thus until night, not only in
the courts of the temples, but also in the houses of people of rank and
of the macehualli, while the aged of both sexes indulged deeply in
pulque; but young people were not permitted to touch it, and anyone
allowing them to drink it was severely punished.”
Toxcatl.—For this festival see under Tezcatlipocâ, to whom it was also
and more especially sacred.
Panquetzalitztli.—The following account of this festival is summarized
from Sahagun’s pages: For twenty-four days prior to the incidence of
the festival the priests did penitence. They hung branches upon the
oratories and shrines of the gods of the mountains, and green reeds and
leaves of the maguey-plant. At the end of the quecholli festival
everyone took to dancing and singing, especially to the song or hymn of
Uitzilopochtli. Nine days before the sacrifice those doomed to die
bathed in the fountain called Uitzilotl (humming-bird water) in the
village of Uitzilopochco. The old men went to seek nine bunches of the
leaves of the tree called aueuetl (“old one of the waters”—the
Cupressus distica). The faces of the doomed ones were painted in the
colours of the god, yellow and blue in transverse bands, and adorned
with his insignia.
After five days of penitential exercises mingled with dancing and
singing, and on the day before the festival, the captives rose with
dawn and betook themselves to the houses of those who had dedicated
them to the slaughter, preceded by a man carrying a vessel full of
black ink or red ochre or blue tincture. On arriving at the houses of
those who had devoted them to death, they dipped their hands in the
vessel and pressed them on the gates and the pillars of the dwelling,
so that the imprint remained. [86] They then entered the kitchen of the
house and walked several times round the furnace. Then they marched in
procession to the temple, accompanied by porters bearing rich attire,
which the captives donned. The hair was then taken from their heads to
be kept “as a relic.” They were then given cylindrical cakes to eat,
which must be held on the point of a maguey thorn and not between the
fingers. With the dawn of day the god Paynal, the herald of
Uitzilopochtli, descended from the temple of Uitzilopochtli. Four
captives were then slain, two in honour of “the god Oappatzan.” Paynal,
borne by four “necromancers,” then took the road to Tlatelolco, whence
he passed to Nonoalco, the priest of the temple there receiving him
with the representative of the god Quauitlicac, “his companion” (see
“Myths”). The images were then carried to Tlaxotlan and Popotlan, where
other captives were slain. Then the procession took its way to
Chapultepec, passing the hill of that name and crossing the little
river Izquitlan, at the temple of which other captives called Izquiteca
(“who eat roasted maize”) were sacrificed. They then crossed to the
right under Coyoacan, passing by way of Tepetocan to Acachinanco.
During the time they made this progress the slaves who were about to
die engaged in a skirmish. They divided themselves into two parties,
the Uitznauatl (“They of the Thorny Wizard”), the other unnamed. The
former seem to have been professional soldiers armed with mock weapons;
the others slaves, armed with maquahuitls, wooden swords set with
obsidian flakes. On Paynal’s return those who watched them from the
summit of the temple, seeing the banner of the god (epaniztli), cried
out, “Mexicans, cease your strife, the lord Paynal has come.” The
warriors in the patrol of Paynal then rushed to the summit of the
temple, where they arrived in a breathless condition. They placed their
idol beside the paste image of Uitzilopochtli. Their ears were pierced
by the priest. They descended again, carrying an image of
Uitzilopochtli made of paste, which they divided, each bearing his own
portion to his own house, where he made festival with his parents and
neighbours. A tour of the temple was then made, the captives walking in
front.
A priest then descended from the summit of the temple bearing a sheaf
of white papers in his hand, which he held up to the four cardinal
points in turn, afterwards throwing them into a mortar called
quauhxicalco [87] (“cup of the eagles”). He was followed by another
holding a very long pine-torch called xiuhcoatl (“fire-snake”), shaped
like fire. (This was the fire-snake weapon with which one of
Uitzilopochtli’s followers had killed his rebellious sister
Coyolxauhqui). This was cast burning into the vessel containing the
papers, which were consumed. Paynal reappeared, and the slaves were
sacrificed according to rank to the sound of conch-shells. All then
returned home, where octli of special strength was drunk, festivities
engaged in, and presents of wearing apparel distributed to friends and
dependants (bk. ii, c. 34).
This festival took place at the period of the winter solstice, when the
sun has removed farthest to the south. The burning of the papers by the
xiuhcoatl, and the fact that the fire-festival of the new period of
fifty-two years, the making of the new fire, was usually postponed to
coincide with it, show it to be a fire-feast; for in his “avatar” of
the sun Uitzilopochtli was a fire-god.
Torquemada states that the priest of Quetzalcoatl hurled a dart into
the breast of the paste image of Uitzilopochtli, which fell. He then
pulled the “heart” out of it, giving it to the king. The body was then
divided among the men, no woman being allowed to eat of it. The
ceremony was called teoqualo, i.e. “god is eaten.” [88]
MYTHS
Regarding Uitzilopochtli, Clavigero says: “Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli,
was the god of war; the deity the most honoured by the Mexicans, and
their chief protector. Of this god some said he was a pure spirit,
others that he was born of a woman, but without the assistance of a
man, and described his birth in the following manner: There lived, said
they, in Coatepec, a place near to the ancient city of Tula, a woman
called Coatlicue, mother of the Centzonhuiznahuas, who was extremely
devoted to the worship of the gods. One day, as she was employed,
according to her usual custom, in walking in the temple, she beheld
descending in the air a ball made of various feathers. She seized it
and kept it in her bosom, intending afterwards to employ the feathers
in decoration of the altar; but when she wanted it after her walk was
at an end she could not find it, at which she was extremely surprised,
and her wonder was very greatly increased when she began to perceive
from that moment that she was pregnant. Her pregnancy advanced till it
was discovered by her children, who, although they could not themselves
suspect their mother’s virtue, yet fearing the disgrace she would
suffer upon her delivery, determined to prevent it by putting her to
death. They could not take their resolution so secretly as to conceal
it from their mother, who, while she was in deep affliction at the
thought of dying by the hands of her own children, heard an unexpected
voice issue from her womb, saying, ‘Be not afraid, mother, I shall save
you with the greatest honour to yourself and glory to me.’
“Her hard-hearted sons, guided and encouraged by their sister
Cojolxauhqui, who had been the most keenly bent upon the deed, were now
just upon the point of executing their purpose, when Huitzilopochtli
was born, with a shield in his left hand, a spear in his right, and a
crest of green feathers on his head; his left leg adorned with
feathers, and his face, arms, and thighs streaked with blue lines. As
soon as he came into the world he displayed a twisted pine, and
commanded one of his soldiers, called Tochchancalqui, to fell with it
Cojolxauhqui, as the one who had been the most guilty; and he himself
attacked the rest with so much fury that, in spite of their efforts,
their arms, or their entreaties, he killed them all, plundered their
houses, and presented the spoils to his mother. Mankind were so
terrified by this event, that from that time they called him Tetzahuitl
(terror) and Tetzauhteotl (terrible god).
“This was the god who, as they said, becoming the protector of the
Mexicans, conducted them for so many years in their pilgrimage, and at
length settled them where they afterwards founded the great city of
Mexico. They raised to him that superb temple, so much celebrated, even
by the Spaniards, in which were annually holden three solemn festivals
in the fifth, ninth, and fifteenth months; besides those kept every
four years, every thirteen years, and at the beginning of every
century. His statue was of gigantic size, in the posture of a man
seated on a blue-coloured bench, from the four corners of which issued
four huge snakes. His forehead was blue, but his face was covered with
a golden mask, while another of the same kind covered the back of his
head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful crest, shaped like the beak
of a bird; upon his neck a collar consisting of ten figures of the
human heart; in his right hand a large blue, twisted club; in his left
a shield, on which appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form
of a cross, and from the upper part of the shield rose a golden flag
with four arrows, which the Mexicans pretended to have been sent to
them from heaven to perform those glorious actions which we have seen
in their history. His body was girt with a large golden snake and
adorned with lesser figures of animals made of gold and precious
stones, which ornaments and insignia had each their peculiar meaning.
They never deliberated upon making war without imploring the protection
of this god, with prayers and sacrifices; and offered up a greater
number of human victims to him than to any other of the gods.” [89]
Boturini says of this god: “While the Mexicans were pushing their
conquests and their advance toward the country now occupied by them,
they had a very renowned captain, or leader, called Huitziton. He it
was that in these long and perilous journeys through unknown lands,
sparing himself no fatigue, took care of the Mexicans. The fable says
of him that, being full of years and wisdom, he was one night caught up
in sight of his army and of all his people, and presented to the god
Tezauhteotl, that is to say the Frightful God, who, being in the shape
of a horrible dragon, commanded him to be seated at his right hand,
saying: ‘Welcome, O valiant captain; very grateful am I for thy
fidelity in my service and in governing my people. It is time that thou
shouldest rest, since thou art already old, and since thy great deeds
raise thee up to the fellowship of the immortal gods. Return then to
thy sons and tell them not to be afflicted if in future they cannot see
thee as a mortal man; for from the nine heavens thou shalt look down
propitious upon them. And not only that, but also, when I strip the
vestments of humanity from thee, I will leave to thine afflicted and
orphan people thy bones and thy skull so that they may be comforted in
their sorrow, and may consult thy relics as to the road they have to
follow: and in due time the land shall be shown them that I have
destined for them, a land in which they shall hold wide empire, being
respected of the other nations.’
“Huitziton did according to these instructions, and after a sorrowful
interview with his people, disappeared, carried away by the gods. The
weeping Mexicans remained with the skull and bones of their beloved
captain, which they carried with them till they arrived in New Spain,
and at the place where they built the great city of Tenochtitlan, or
Mexico. All this time the devil spoke to them through this skull of
Huitziton, often asking for the immolation of men and women, from which
thing originated those bloody sacrifices, practised afterwards by this
nation with so much cruelty on prisoners of war. This deity was called,
in early as well as in later times, Huitzilopochtli—for the principal
men believed that he was seated at the left hand of Tezcatlipocâ—a name
derived from the original name Huitziton, and from the word mapoche,
‘left hand.’” [90]
Sahagun says of Uitzilopochtli that, being originally a man, he was a
sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer of
towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very
terrible to his adversaries; and the device he bore was a dragon’s
head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A
great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the
shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans esteemed
this man very highly for his strength and dexterity in war, and when he
died they honoured him as a god, offering slaves, and sacrificing them
in his presence. And they looked to it that those slaves were well fed
and well decorated with such ornaments as were in use, with earrings
and visors; all for the greater honour of the god. In Tlaxcala also
they had a deity called Camaxtli, who was similar to this
Huitzilopochtli. [91]
The myth of Uitzilopochtli, as given by Sahagun, may be condensed as
follows:
Under the shadow of the mountain of Coatepec, near the Toltec city of
Tollan, there dwelt a pious widow called Coatlicue, the mother of a
tribe of Indians called Centzonuitznaua, who had a daughter called
Coyolxauhqui, and who daily repaired to a small hill with the intention
of offering up prayers to the gods in a penitent spirit of piety.
Whilst occupied in her devotions one day she was surprised by a small
ball of brilliantly coloured feathers falling upon her from on high.
She was pleased by the bright variety of its hues and placed it in her
bosom, intending to offer it up to the Sun-god. Some time afterwards
she learnt that she was to become the mother of another child. Her
sons, hearing of this, rained abuse upon her, being incited to
humiliate her in every possible way by their sister Coyolxauhqui.
Coatlicue went about in fear and anxiety; but the spirit of her unborn
infant came and spoke to her and gave her words of encouragement,
soothing her troubled heart. Her sons, however, were resolved to wipe
out what they considered an insult to their race by the death of their
mother, and took counsel with one another to slay her. They attired
themselves in their war-gear, and arranged their hair after the manner
of warriors going to battle. But one of their number, Quauitlicac,
relented and confessed the perfidy of his brothers to the still unborn
Uitzilopochtli, who replied to him: “O uncle, [92] hearken attentively
to what I have to say to you. I am fully informed of what is going to
happen.” With the intention of slaying their mother, the Indians went
in search of her. At their head marched their sister, Coyolxauhqui.
They were armed to the teeth, and carried bundles of darts, with which
they intended to kill the luckless Coatlicue.
Quauitlicac climbed the mountain to acquaint Uitzilopochtli with the
news that his brothers were approaching to kill their mother.
“Mark well where they are at,” replied the infant god. “To what place
have they advanced?”
“To Tzompantitlan,” responded Quauitlicac.
Later on Uitzilopochtli asked: “Where may they be now?”
“At Coaxalco,” was the reply.
Once more Uitzilopochtli asked to what point his enemies had advanced.
“They are now at Petlac,” Quauitlicac replied.
Quauitlicac later informed them that his brothers and sister had
arrived at the middle of the mountain. At the moment they arrived
Uitzilopochtli was born, attired in full war panoply. He ordered one
named Tochâncalqui (inhabitant of our house) to attack his sister with
the fire-snake xiuhcoatl, and with a blow he shattered Coyolxauhqui in
pieces. Her head rested upon the mountain of Coatepec. The infant god
then pursued his brethren four times round the mountain. Several fell
into the lake and were drowned. Others he slew, only a few escaped, and
these were banished to Uitzlampa in the south. [93]
Torquemada says of Uitzilopochtli: “Huitzilopochtli, the ancient god
and guide of the Mexicans, is a name variously derived. Some say it is
composed of two words: huitzilin, ‘a humming-bird,’ and tlahuipuchtli,
‘a sorcerer that spits fire.’ Others say that the second part of the
name comes not from tlahuipuchtli, but from opuchtli, that is, ‘the
left hand’; so that the whole name, Huitzilopochtli, would mean ‘the
shining-feathered left hand.’ For this idol was decorated with rich and
resplendent feathers on the left arm. And this god it was that led out
the Mexicans from their own land and brought them into Anahuac.
“Some held him to be a purely spiritual being, others affirmed that he
had been born of a woman, and related his history after the following
fashion: Near the city of Tulla there is a mountain called Coatepec,
that is to say the Mountain of the Snake, where a woman lived, named
Coatlicue or Snake-petticoat. She was the mother of many sons called
Centzunhuitznahua, and of a daughter whose name was Coyolxauhqui.
Coatlicue was very devout and careful in the service of the gods, and
she occupied herself ordinarily in sweeping and cleaning the sacred
places of that mountain. It happened that one day, occupied with these
duties, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down to her through
the air, which she taking, as we have already related, found herself in
a short time pregnant.
“Upon this all her children conspired against her to slay her, and came
armed against her, the daughter Coyolxauhqui being the ringleader and
most violent of all. Then, immediately, Huitzilopochtli was born, fully
armed, having a shield called teuehueli in his left hand, in his right
a dart, or long blue pole, and all his face barred over with lines of
the same colour. His forehead was decorated with a great tuft of green
feathers, his left leg was lean and feathered, and both thighs and the
arms barred with blue. He then caused to appear a serpent made of
torches, teas, called xiuhcoatl; and he ordered a soldier called
Tochaucalqui to light this serpent, and taking it with him to embrace
Coyolxauhqui. From this embrace the matricidal daughter immediately
died, and Huitzilopochtli himself slew all her brethren and took their
spoil, enriching his mother therewith. After this he was surnamed
Tetzahuitl, that is to say Fright, or Amazement, and held as a god,
born of a mother without a father—as the great god of battles, for in
these his worshippers found him very favourable to them.” [94]
“Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas.” [95]—Collecting and
summarizing the scattered notices regarding Uitzilopochtli in the
above-named work, we find it stated that he was the fourth and youngest
son of Tonacatecutli and Tonacaciuatl, his elder brothers being the Red
Tezcatlipocâ, the Black Tezcatlipocâ, and Quetzalcoatl. Uitzilopochtli
is here also called Omitecatl, “and for another name Magueycoatl (Snake
of the Maguey). He was called Ochilobos (the Spanish rendering of
Uitzilopochtli) because he was left-handed and was chief god to those
of Mexico and their god of war. He was born without flesh but with
bones, and thus he remained six hundred years, in which nothing was
made, ‘neither the gods nor their father.’ Taking counsel with
Quetzalcoatl, they fashioned the sun, then they made a man, Oxomoco,
and a woman, Cipactonal, commanding him to till the earth and her to
spin and weave, and created other things.”
HYMNS
In the Sahagun MS. the following hymns or songs relate to
Uitzilopochtli:—
THE SONG OF UITZILOPOCHTLI
I
Uitzilopochtli the warrior, no one is my equal;
Not in vain have I put on the vestment of yellow feathers,
For through me the sun has risen (i.e. the time of sacrifice
appears).
II
The man out of the cold land knew (through him) a baneful omen.
He had taken a foot from the man out of the cold land.
III
In the place of Tlaxotlan, the feathers were distributed
With which the war chieftains stuck themselves.
My God is named Tepanquizqui (“He who overcomes the people”).
IV
He makes himself feared, the god of Tlaxotlan,
Dust whirls upon the God of Tlaxotlan,
Dust whirls upon him.
V
Our enemies, the people from Amantlan, assemble; meet me there.
So will in their own house the enemy be. Meet me there.
VI
Our enemies the people of Pipitlan assemble; meet me there.
So will in their own house the enemy be.
This song is probably a chant sung before sacrifice to the god. The
line “He had taken a foot from the man out of the cold land” seems to
allude to the maiming of one of the gods by Uitzilopochtli, or is
symbolic of the punishment of a human enemy by rendering him unfit for
war through the amputation of one of his feet. Tezcatlipocâ, one of
whose names was Yaotzin, “the enemy,” is frequently represented as
having but one foot, and the phrase “the man from the cold land,” i.e.
the North, applies almost certainly to him. The rest of the song
relates to the peoples with whom the Mexicans were frequently at war.
SONG OF THE SHIELD
I
In his shield of the young wife the great warrior chieftain was
born.
In his shield of the young wife (or maid) the great warrior
chieftain was born.
II
He who gained his heroic title on the serpent mountain
In his (warrior) face-painting, (and with the shield) teueuelli.
No one in truth rises.
The earth quakes
As he put on his (warrior) face-painting (and his shield)
teueuelli.
The first couplet is obscure to me, and seems to refer to a lost myth,
which perhaps stated that the god was born of a virgin. The second
strophe, of course, relates to the slaughter by Uitzilopochtli of his
brothers the Centzonuitznaua.
PRIESTHOOD
The high priest of Uitzilopochtli was called Totec tlamacazque, who
also bore the name of Quetzalcoatl (an honorary title, originating out
of the belief that the god of that name was regarded as the prototype
of all religious orders), and who, along with the Tlaloc tlamacazque,
occupied the chief religious office in Mexico. He was selected for his
piety and general fitness. [96]
TEMPLE
Acosta describes Uitzilopochtli’s great temple at Mexico as follows:
“There was in Mexico this Cu, the famous Temple of Vitziliputzli, it
had a very great circuite, and within a faire Court. It was built of
great stones, in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the
circuite was called Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon
the toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls were, was a
fine piller wrought with small stones, blacke as ieate, set in goodly
order, the ground raised vp with white and red, which below gave a
great light. Vpon the top of the pillar were battlements very
artificially made, wrought like snailes (caracoles), supported by two
Indians of stone, sitting, holding candlesticks in their hands, the
which were like Croisants garnished and enriched at the ends, with
yellow and greene feathers and long fringes of the same. Within the
circuite of this court there were many chambers of religious men, and
others that were appointed for the service of the Priests and Popes,
for so they call the soveraigne Priests which serve the Idoll.
“There were foure gates or entries, at the east, west, north, and
south; at every one of these gates beganne a fair cawsey of two or
three leagues long. There was in the midst of the lake where the citie
of Mexico is built, four large cawseies in crosse, which did much to
beautify it; vpon every portall or entry was a God or Idoll having the
visage turned to the causey, right against the Temple gate of
Vitziliputzli. There were thirtie steppes of thirtie fadome long, and
they divided from the circuit of the court by a streete that went
betwixt them; vpon the toppe of these steppes there was a walke thirtie
foote broad, all plaistered with chalke, in the midst of which walke
was a Palisado artificially made of very high trees, planted in order a
fadome one from another. These trees were very bigge, and all pierced
with small holes from the foote to the top, and there were roddes did
runne from one tree to another, to the which were chained or tied many
dead mens heades. Vpon every rod were twentie sculles, and these
ranckes of sculles continue from the foote to the toppe of the tree.
This Palisado was full of dead mens sculls from one end to the other,
the which was a wonderfull mournefull sight and full of horror. These
were the heads of such as had beene sacrificed; for after they were
dead and had eaten the flesh, the head was delivered to the Ministers
of the Temple, which tied them in this sort vntil they fell off by
morcells; and then had they a care to set others in their places. Vpon
the toppe of the temple were two stones or chappells, and in them were
the two Idolls which I have spoken of, Vitziliputzli, and his companion
Tlaloc. These Chappells were carved and graven very artificially, and
so high, that to ascend vp to it, there was a staire of stone of
sixscore steppes. Before these Chambers or Chappells, there was a Court
of fortie foot square, in the midst thereof, was a high stone of five
hand breadth, poynted in fashion of a Pyramide, it was placed there for
the sacrificing of men; for being laid on their backes, it made their
bodies to bend, and so they did open them and pull out their hearts, as
I shall shew heereafter.” [97]
NATURE AND STATUS
Prolonged deliberation upon the nature of Uitzilopochtli has led me to
the conclusion that he was originally a personification of the
maguey-plant (Agave americana). The grounds upon which I base this
hypothesis are as follows: A certain variety of the maguey-plant, or
metl, was known to the Aztecâ of Mexico-Tenochtitlan as
Uitzitzilteutli, or “beak of the humming-bird,” probably because of the
resemblance the long spiky thorns (uitztli) with which it is covered
bear to the sharp beak of that bird (the uitzitzilin), which suspends
its tiny, web-like nest from the leaves of the plant in question. The
connection of Uitzilopochtli with the maguey-plant is also proved by at
least two of his subsidiary titles. Thus in the Historia de los
Mexicanos por sus Pinturas [98] he is alluded to as Magueycoatl,
“Serpent of the Maguey,” and he was also known as Mexitli, or “Hare of
the Maguey,” a title from which one of the quarters of Tenochtitlan,
and later the entire city, took its name of Mexico. At the
panquetzaliztli festival held in his honour, the warriors who
skirmished on his side in mimicry of his combat with the
Centzonuitznaua were said to take the part of Uitznauatl, [99] or
“Thorn that speaks oracularly.” In certain of the place-names which are
hieroglyphically figured in the codices, too, the element of his name
is depicted as a maguey-plant. Sahagun further states that the
proprietors of the maguey plantations and the publicans who sold octli
or pulque cut their plants so that they might yield their juice during
the sign ce tecpatl, the movable feast of Uitzilopochtli, in the belief
that, were they tapped at this time, they would yield abundantly. [100]
Etymologically, there is good evidence that Uitzilopochtli originally
represented the maguey. The word uitztli means “thorn,” and appears in
such compounds as Uitzlampa, “Place of Thorns” (the South), and
Uitznauatl, “The Thorn that speaks,” which, as we have seen, was
another, and probably an older, title of the god. Uitzoctli, too, as
Seler has indicated, [101] means “pricking pulque,” newly fermented
octli. It would seem, then, that the name Uitzilopochtli, until now
generally translated as “Humming-bird-to-the-left,” and rendered by
Seler “Humming-bird of the South,” must possess another significance
for us. Opochtli certainly means both “south” and “left,” but it also
means “wizard,” as in the compound tlahuipuchtli, “wizard who spits
fire,” instanced by Torquemada, [102] who states that some persons
derived the god’s name from that word, combined with uitzilinin, “a
humming-bird.” [103] It is easy to see how the god came to be
associated with the humming-bird, which suspends its nest from the
foliage of the maguey. It would appear to the Mexicans to emerge from
the leaves of that plant, and would come to be regarded as the form
which the maguey-spirit took. Indeed, the humming-bird dress or
disguise is that in which Uitzilopochtli is almost invariably
represented in the codices. It was in the shape of a humming-bird that
the god was said to have led the Aztecâ from their ancient home to the
Valley of Anahuac, and his flights would probably be considered ominous
and suggestive to augurs, like those of the Latin Picus. But it is
possible that a certain degree of confusion arose between the elements
uitzilinin (humming-bird) and uitztli (thorn), that this assisted the
belief that he took the shape of a humming-bird and that the
explanatory myth of the hero-god Uitziton refers to this bird in an
anthropomorphic shape.
These facts lead me to infer that the name implies “Humming-bird
Wizard,” for Uitzilopochtli was, as Sahagun says, [104] “a necromancer
and friend of disguises,” and wizards are universally conceived of as
“sinister,” which English word means both “on the left hand” and
“inauspicious,” and “malign,” as does the Latin word from which it is
derived. The same holds good of the Mexican word. The sub-titles of the
god, Uitznauatl and Magueycoatl, show—the first, that the ideas of
sorcery and oracular speech were connected with him; and the second,
that he was of a serpentine or venomous disposition, like the liquor
distilled from the plant over which he presided, the intoxicating
qualities of which were regarded as inducing prophetic inspiration.
That the maguey-plant entered into Uitzilopochtli’s insignia seems
probable from the circumstance that at his festival in the month
toxcatl his dough image was surmounted by a flint knife half covered
with blood. [105] In the codices the sacrificial stone knife is
frequently depicted as growing in plant-like bundles out of the ground,
this artistic and conventional form bearing a close resemblance to the
maguey plant, with the spines of which the Mexican priests pierced
their tongues and ears to procure a blood-offering.
His primary character notwithstanding, Uitzilopochtli in later times
came to possess a very different significance for the Mexicans of
Tenochtitlan—such a significance, in short, as the development of their
religious conceptions demanded. Thus we find him at the period of the
Spanish Conquest possessing solar characteristics and a place in the
Mexican pantheon which, if not the most important, had essentially the
greatest local significance in the city of Tenochtitlan, of which he
was the tutelary god. His status in the days of the second Motecuhzoma
is, perhaps, most clearly illustrated by the circumstances of his myth
as given by Sahagun, which is obviously ætiological and exhibits the
influences both of priestly contrivance and popular imagination. His
mother, Coatlicue, has been elsewhere in this work identified with the
earth, but in the myth is euhemerized as a pious widow. That she was
originally one of those mountain goddesses, like Xochiquetzal, from
whose sacred heights the rain descended to the parched fields of
Mexico, seems plain from the name of her abode, Coatepetl (“Serpent
Mountain”), the serpents of which her skirt is composed, being
symbolical, perhaps, of the numerous streams flowing from the tarns or
pools situated on its lower acclivities. That such a mountain actually
existed in the vicinity of Tollan is proved by the statement of
Sahagun. Uitzilopochtli is the sun which rises out of the mountain,
[106] or is born from it, fully armed with the xiuhcoatl, or fire-snake
(the red dawn), with which he slays his sister Coyolxauhqui, the moon,
whose lunar attributes are clearly defined in her face-painting, which
comprises half-moons and a shell-motif, a lunar symbol. Her nose-plate
is also the half-moon symbol. The Centzonuitznaua, or “Four Hundred
Southerners,” are the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. These the
new-born god puts to flight with ease. [107] If further verification of
what is obviously a most artificial and operose myth is required, it is
only necessary to indicate that one of the subsidiary names of
Uitzilopochtli, as recorded by Sahagun, was Ilhuicatl Xoxouhqui, “The
Blue Heaven,” the expanse of the sky, showing that, like many another
sun-god, he typified the blue vault of heaven. [108] Acosta, too,
states that the azure colour of his throne signified “that he sat in
the heavens.” [109] But the myth possesses an allegorical as well as an
ætiological character. Thus Coatlicue, the earth, is fructified by the
ball of humming-birds’ feathers, that is, by the humming-bird itself,
which, in Mexico, is the means of fructifying the plants, its movements
causing the transfer of the pollen from the stamens to the germ-cells.
How, then, may we reconcile the primitive fetish of the maguey-plant
with the later solar deity? In my view the course of development of the
concept of Uitzilopochtli is much the same as that of the Hellenic god
Apollo, who, originally a spirit of the apple-tree, [110] came in like
manner to be regarded as the god of the sun. But, to adhere to the
Mexican concept, the sun was regarded by the peoples of Anahuac as the
great eater of hearts and drinker of blood. These must be obtained for
him by war, or he would perish, and all creation along with him.
Uitzilopochtli, as the spirit of the maguey-plant, was the tribal
fetish of the Aztecâ, and therefore their natural leader in battle. The
connection is obvious and does not require to be laboured. Because of
his tribal leadership in war, a governance of which Mexican myth and
history bear eloquent testimony, he became confounded with the luminary
which demanded blood and lived by human strife.
The solar connection of the octli liquor yielded by his plant is also
most clear. Says Duran [111]: “The octli was a favourite offering to
the gods, and especially to the god of fire. Sometimes it was placed
before a fire in vases; sometimes it was scattered upon the flames with
a brush (aspergillum?); at other times it was poured out around the
fire-place.” Fire is, of course, a surrogate of the sun, and Seler has
already identified Uitzilopochtli as a fire-god in virtue of his status
as a sun-deity, [112] showing that the drilling of the solar fire
before the beginning of the new cycle of fifty-two years was deferred
until the panquetzalitztli, the great feast of Uitzilopochtli. Jacinto
de la Serna, too, says that the octli ritual invoked the “shining Rose;
light-giving Rose, to receive and rejoice my heart before the god.” The
“rose,” of course, referring to the fire or sun. It would seem,
however, that before he became confounded or identified with the sun,
Uitzilopochtli may have possessed a lunar significance, and this may
have obtained in the period while yet the calendar was reckoned upon a
lunar basis and its solar connection still remained undefined. The name
Mexitli, which has already been remarked upon, and which means “Hare of
the Maguey” appears to place Uitzilopochtli upon a level with the other
gods of octli, if not to class him as one of these. It bears a
suspicious resemblance, too, to the name of the Moon-god, Metztli. The
hare or rabbit in Mexico was invariably associated both with the moon
and the octli-gods, whose chief characteristic, perhaps, is the lunar
nose-plate. But among many of the native tribes of North America the
hare or rabbit is the representative of the sun or the dawn, under the
names of Michabo, Manibozho, Wabos, and so forth, being described in
myth as a warrior, hero-god and culture-bringer. Perhaps the Nahua,
while still in a more northern region where the agave was unknown to
them, worshipped the rabbit of the sun or moon, and on establishing
themselves in a region where the maguey was one of the salient features
in the landscape, fused his myth with that of a newly-acquired fetish,
discarding later the more ancient belief, or retaining but a confused
memory of it. But this train of reasoning lacks evidence to support it.
Nor need the consideration of Uitzilopochtli’s serpent-form detain us
long. I think I see in the myth which recounts how the Aztecâ, on
settling in Tenochtitlan, beheld an eagle perched on a cactus with a
serpent in its talons, some relation to Uitzilopochtli, but what it
precisely portends is still obscure to me. In any case the symbol of
the eagle enters into his insignia, as does that of the serpent. We
will recall that he was known as Magueycoatl, [113] “Serpent of the
Maguey.” Again the solar character of the serpent in America, as
elsewhere, readily accounts for his later connection with it, and for
the prevalence of serpentine forms in his insignia and temple. But I
confess that these two points of contact with the serpent do not
altogether satisfy me as regards the god’s connection with it, nor does
the fact of the serpentine character of his mother commend itself to me
as altogether explanatory of this, and I think we must look to
Uitzilopochtli’s nature as a wizard or sorcerer to enlighten us upon
this point. Jacinto de la Serna [114] states that in his time some of
the Mexican conjurers used a wand around which was fastened a living
serpent, in much the same way as the priests of the Pueblo Indians do
at the present day; and as the great invisible medicine man of the
tribe, Uitzilopochtli may have been thought of as doing the same. “Who
is a manito?” asks the Meda chant of the Algonquins. “He,” is the
reply, “who walketh with a serpent, he is a manito.” For the connection
of the Indian magicians with the serpent the reader is referred to the
pages of Brinton. [115]
In many lands the serpent is the symbol of reproductive power and has a
phallic significance. In Mexico he casts his winter skin near the time
of Uitzilopochtli’s first festival, about the beginning of the rainy
season. Moreover, this reptile is connected with soothsaying, and in
this respect resembles the god.
His myths, as well as his status in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, of which he
was the tutelary deity, make it plain that Uitzilopochtli was a tribal
god of the Aztecâ, their national god par excellence. The brave
Quauhtemoc, the last native defender of the city, imagined himself
invincible when armed with the bow and arrows of Uitzilopochtli, and we
know that the advice of the oracle of that deity was sought by the
Mexicans when hard pressed by the Conquistadores.
Nor is there any dubiety regarding his character as a god of war. This
may have arisen from the circumstance that he presided over the liquor
which was given to the troops when about to engage in battle, or, as
has been said, may have followed his promotion to the rank of sun-god,
the deity of human sacrifice, the god who demanded human hearts and
blood. A larger number of captives were devoted to him than to any
other divinity, and as the waging of war was the only means by which so
many victims might be procured, the sun would naturally become the
great patron of strife.
As the sun is the great central cause of all agricultural success, so
Uitzilopochtli came to be looked upon as one of the promoters of plant
growth, as is witnessed by his festivals, which synchronize with the
first rainfall of the year, the growth of plant life, and the end of
the fruitful season, when, in the form of a paste image, the god was
slain. He is thus the sun of the season of plenty, as his “brother”
Tezcatlipocâ represents that of sereness and drought. He is the “young
warrior” of the South, who drives away the evil spirits of the dry
season and causes the land to rejoice.
TEZCATLIPOCÂ = “FIERY MIRROR”
Area of Worship: Nahua territory generally, with extension into
Central America (as Hurakan).
Minor Names:
Titlacahuan—“He whose slaves we are.”
Yaotl—“Enemy.”
Yaomauitl—“Dreaded Enemy.”
Chico Yaotl—“Enemy on one side.”
Necoc Yaotl—“Enemy on both sides.”
Moyocoyotzin—“Capricious Lord.”
Uitznahuac Yaotl—“Warrior in the Southern House or Temple.”
Tlacochcalco Yaotl—“Warrior in the (Northern) Spear House.”
Telpochtli—“The Youth.”
Neçaualpilli—“Fasting Lord.”
Itztli—“Obsidian.”
Festivals: Toxcatl, teotleco, and the movable feasts ce miquiztli,
ce malinalli, and ome coatl.
Compass Directions: North and south in different aspects. Guardian
of the fifth quarter, “the below and above.”
Calendar Place: Ruler of the 18th day, tecpatl; ruler of the second
tonalamatl quarter, the region of the north; as Itztli, second of
the nine lords of the night; ruler of the 13th day-count acatl.
Symbol: The smoking or fiery mirror; the obsidian knife.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Borgia.—By far the best representation of Tezcatlipocâ in any of
the manuscripts is that to be found on page 17 of Codex Borgia, where
he is seen in connection with the insignia of the twenty calendric
days. The picture on the lower right portion of page 21 is without
these symbols, but is almost identical with the former figure. The god
wears the black body-paint of a priest, and his face-painting is
similar to that of Uitzilopochtli, that is, it consists of black
horizontal stripes upon a yellow ground, the latter having the same
origin as in the case of Uitzilopochtli. From his back rises a very
large and elaborate bunch of feather plumes, which arches itself over
his head. His hair, dressed in a manner which resembles the
“night-hair” of Mictlantecutli, is ornamented with feather-balls as
indicating his sacrificial character, and in the picture on page 21
several of these depend from his side-locks. He wears the white ring
(anauatl) on his breast, and a short tunic, seemingly covered with
stellar devices. His right foot ends in the smoking mirror symbolic of
his name and in which he was supposed to observe the actions of
humanity, and on page 21 he carries the jaguar-skin purse in which the
priests placed copal for incense. In his left hand he holds a shield,
the field of which is a tawny yellow in colour, traversed by two white
stripes, and a paper banner. On page 3 the god is shown in a springing
attitude. He wears the face and body-paint characteristic of him, and
the warrior’s headdress, with hair tousled on one side, and the blue
nasal rod, with square plaque, falling over the mouth. At the side of
the head is the fiery mirror which gives him his name. On page 14 he is
seen wearing on his breast, and fastened to two strong red leather
straps, the white ring teocuitlaanauatl, an ornament resembling a
large, round eye. On his back is a feather device known as the “quetzal
feather-pot.” The right foot, as in other pictures of him, is replaced
by a small fiery mirror and his left by an obsidian knife.
Codex Borbonicus.—In this manuscript Tezcatlipocâ is depicted with the
yellow-and-black face-painting, but in his form as a black god. At his
forehead is the smoking mirror, on his back the large quetzal-feather
ornament with a banner, on his breast the anauatl, and round his loins
the hip-cloth, with a bordering of red eyes. On his feet he wears
sandals showing the motif of the obsidian snake, and his headdress is
painted with the stellar symbol, the round white spots on a black
ground, which typifies the night sky. Here also we see two bamboo
staves attached to his neck—undoubtedly the collar worn by captives or
slaves which rendered flight impossible, and which Tezcatlipocâ wears
to symbolize his enslavement of the Mexican people and in allusion to
his name Titlacauan, which means “He whose slaves we are.” The spear
and the net-pouch in this place recall the insignia of Mixcoatl, and
seem to indicate that Tezcatlipocâ was a god of the Chichimec or
hunting folk of the North Steppes, or perhaps it may merely symbolize
the proneness of all stellar, lunar and solar deities in Mexico to the
chase.
Tonalamatl of the Aubin Collection.—In this manuscript Tezcatlipocâ
appears as the representative of the Moon-god and sits opposite the
Sun-god. He is shown with his usual attributes and face-painting, the
smoking mirror in the region of the ear, the white ring on his breast,
and on his back the quetzalcomitl, the large quetzal-feather ornament
in which a banner is stuck. In his right hand he holds several of the
agave-spikes which the priests employed for piercing the tongue. In
this manuscript the Death-god is also depicted as Tezcatlipocâ, and
wears his body-and-face painting and his general insignia, as well as
the rosette at the nape of the neck. In this place, however, the
snail-shaped shield rises above the forehead, which is also decorated
with a row of feather balls and a single arara plume.
Codex Magliabecchiano.—A good illustration of Tezcatlipocâ will be
found on page 89 of this codex. The figure of the god is surrounded by
footprints, symbolic, probably, of the circumstance that as the
youngest and swiftest of the gods he arrived first at the teotleco
festival (coming of the gods) and impressed his footprint on the heap
of maize arranged by the priests for its reception in order that they
might know of his coming. He wears a large panache of green feathers,
consisting of two parts; that immediately above the face being inserted
in a tumbler-shaped ornament painted blue, with a red rim, and having
six white disks upon its field. To the lower part of this is joined a
rainbow-like device in various colours, from which springs the main
part of the feather panache. The upper fore-part of the face is painted
yellow, the rear portion purple or grey, and the region about the mouth
is bright red. He is bearded. The tunic is white, with a white
shoulder-knot, and a bunch of maize springs from the right shoulder. On
the breast is the god’s mirror, and at the waist an ornament or symbol
resembling the Maya Kin (sun) sign, painted blue. The rest of the
body-colour is purple-grey. In the left hand he carries an atlatl, or
spear-thrower, with a serpent’s head having a brown mane, and bearing a
resemblance to some horse-like ornamental motifs found in Guatemala. In
the right hand he bears a shield, the field of which is divided into
two parts, the right painted blue and bearing what would seem to be the
nose-ornament of the pulque-gods, whilst the left resembles the design
found on the skirt of the Earth-goddess. The shield is crossed behind
by four darts and is surmounted by a befeathered banner. In this place
Tezcatlipocâ is undoubtedly represented in his variant of “the young
warrior,” as his equipment shows.
Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The god’s feather crown is set
with obsidian knives. His face is barred with horizontal lines of
black, and on his back he carries a basket filled with
quetzal-feathers. His arm-ring is set with obsidian knives, and
one-half of his leg is painted black. On his legs and feet he wears
shells and sandals, the latter the so-called “obsidian sandals,”
painted with a picture of the obsidian snake. His arms are covered with
paper fans. His shield is inlaid with feather balls, and in one of his
hands he holds the “seeing” or scrying implement tlachialoni.
Acosta, describing Tezcatlipocâ, says [116]: “They called this idol
Tezcallipuca, he was made of black, shining stone like to Jayel, being
attired with some Gentile devises after their manner. It had ear-rings
of gold and silver, and through the nether lip a small canon of
christall, in length half a foote, in the which they sometimes put a
greene feather, and sometimes an azure, which made it resemble
sometimes an emerald and sometimes a turquois. It had the haire broided
and bound up with a haire-lace of gold burnished, at the end whereof
did hang an eare of gold, with two fire-brands of smoke painted therein
which did signify the praires of the afflicted and sinners that he
heard, when they recommended themselves to him. Betwixt the two eares
hanged a number of small herons. He had a jewell hanging at his neck so
great that it covered all his stomake. Upon his armes bracelets of
gold, upon his navill a rich, green stone, and in his left hand a fanne
of precious feathers, of greene, azure and yellow, which came forth of
a looking-glasse of gold, shining and well-burnished, and that
signified, that within this looking-glasse he saw whatever was done in
the world. They called this glasse or chaston of gold irlacheaya, [117]
which signifies his glass for to look in. In his right hand he held
foure darts which signified the chastisement he gave to the wicked for
their sins.... They held this idoll Tescatlipuca for the god of
drought, of famine, barrenness and pestilence. And therefore they
painted him in another form, being set in great majesty upon a stoole,
compassed in with a red curtin, painted and wrought with the heads and
bones of dead men. In the left hand it had a target with five pines,
like unto pine apples of cotton, and in the right a little dart with a
threatening countenance, and the arm stretched out as if he would cast
it and from the target came foure darts. It had the countenance of an
angry man and in choller, the body all painted blacke and the head full
of quailes feathers.”
Bernal Diaz says of him (bk. vi. c. 91): “Then we saw on the other side
on the left hand there stood the other great image the same height as
Huichilobos, and it had a face like a bear [118] and eyes that shone,
made of their mirrors which they call Tezcat, and the body plastered
with precious stones like that of Huichilobos, for they say that the
two are brothers; and this Tezcatepuca was the god of Hell and had
charge of the souls of the Mexicans, and his body was girt with figures
like little devils with snakes’ tails.”
Face-mask.—When Cortéz landed at Vera Cruz, the messengers of
Motecuhzoma tendered him, along with other presents, “the ornaments or
finery with which Tezcatlipocâ was decorated.” The mask belonging to
this costume is still in existence, and is to be seen in the room
devoted to American antiquities in the British Museum. It consists of a
human skull encrusted with mosaic in alternate bands of black and
green, the nasal cavity being set with a red stone and the eyes with
pyrites ringed with white.
Statuette.—A statuette of Tezcatlipocâ from the Valley of Mexico, and
now in the Uhde collection, shows the god as nude, with the exception
of a loin-cloth and a flat headdress, rising in the middle.
Tezcatlipocâ in His Black and Red Forms.—Tezcatlipocâ was regarded by
the Mexican people as possessing two definite forms, the Black and the
Red. In this paragraph we will deal only with the insignia of these and
not with their mythological significance, which we will attempt to
explain in its proper place. Perhaps the best and most classical
examples of these forms we possess are to be observed on sheet 21 of
Codex Borgia, on both halves of which we see the two forms represented
as parallel figures, closely resembling one another in nearly every
detail. It should at once be stated that the Red Tezcatlipocâ is merely
a variant of Xipe, and indeed in one place in Codex Vaticanus B we
observe that his loin-cloth forks in the swallow-tail fashion
noticeable in the loin-cloth of that god, and, generally speaking, the
red colours he wears are those of the roseate spoon-bill, the feathers
of which are typical of Xipe’s dress. These pictures in the Codex
Borgia are supplemented by two on sheets 85 and 86 of Vaticanus B,
where the swallow-tail ends of the loin-cloth and the nasal rod show
distinctly that the Red Tezcatlipocâ is only a form of Xipe. The Black
Tezcatlipocâ opposite him is, however, represented with the striped
body-paint of Tlauizcalpantecutli, the arms being entirely black. In
the Borgia paintings the Black Tezcatlipocâ wears the black body-paint
of the priest, his face-paint is alternately black and yellow, he has
the warrior’s tousled hair, the nasal rod with the square plaque
falling over the mouth, the forked heron-feather adornment in his hair,
and on his temple the smoking mirror. The foot, too, is torn off and
replaced by a smoking mirror—all symbolical of the “standard” character
of the god’s sable form. The Red Tezcatlipocâ represented in the upper
portion of Borgia (sheet 21) has a yellow face-painting striped with
horizontal bands of red and his body-paint is red. On the red bands
crossing the face is seen the stellar eye. A brown fillet encircles a
red headdress, and the torn-off foot is also replaced by the smoking
mirror. On his back is seen the bundle of the merchant, surmounted by
the arara bird, two symbols which indicate his southern character. The
representation of the Red Tezcatlipocâ in the lower portion of sheet 21
is practically similar to this, save that he wears feather balls and
heron plumes in his headdress, is without the merchant’s pack, and
holds in one hand the jaguar-skin copal-bag of the priests and the
smoking rubber ball used as incense.
These forms of the god have been laid down in myth as distinctly
separate deities, especially in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus
Pinturas. [119]
FESTIVALS
Toxcatl.—This, one of the most important of all the Mexican festivals,
is described by Sahagun substantially as follows: The fifth month
called toxcatl and sometimes tepopochuiliztli, was begun by the most
solemn and famous feast of the year, in honour of the principal Mexican
god, a god known by a multitude of names and epithets, among which were
Tezcatlipocâ, Titlacaoan, Yautl, Telpuchtli, and Tlamatzincatl. A year
before this feast one of the most distinguished of the captives
reserved for sacrifice was chosen for his superior grace and personal
appearance from among all his fellows, and given in charge to the
priestly functionaries called calpixques. These instructed him with
great diligence in all the arts pertaining to good breeding, such as
playing on the flute, deportment, conversation, saluting those he
happened to meet, the use of straight cane tobacco-pipes and of
flowers. He was attended upon by eight pages, who were clad in the
livery of the palace, and had perfect liberty to go where he pleased
night and day; while his food was so rich that, to guard against his
growing too fat, it was at times necessary to vary the diet by a purge
of salt and water. Everywhere honoured and adored as the living image
and accredited representative of Tezcatlipocâ, he went about playing on
a small shrill clay flute or fife, and adorned with rich and curious
raiment furnished by the king, while all he met did him reverence,
kissing the earth. All his body and face was painted black, his long
hair flowed to the waist; his head was covered with white hens’
feathers stuck on with resin, and covered with a garland of the flowers
called izquixochitl, [120] while two strings of the same flowers
crossed his body in the fashion of cross-belts. Earrings of gold, a
necklace of precious stones, with a great dependent gem hanging to the
breast, a lip-ornament (barbote) of sea-shell, bracelets of gold above
the elbow on each arm, and strings of gems called macuextlu winding
from wrist almost to elbow, were part of his ornaments. He was covered
with a rich, beautifully fringed mantle of netting, and bore on his
shoulders something like a purse made of white cloth of a span square,
ornamented with tassels and a fringe. A white maxtle of a span broad
went about his loins, the two ends, curiously wrought, falling in front
almost to the knee. Little bells of gold hung upon his feet, which were
shod with painted sandals called ocelunacace.
All this was the attire he wore from the beginning of his year of
preparation; but twenty days before the coming of the festival they
changed his vestments, washed away the paint or dye from his skin, and
cut down his long hair to the length, and arranged it after the
fashion, of the hair of the captains, tying it up on the crown of the
head with feathers and fringe and two gold-buttoned tassels. At the
same time they married to him four damsels, who had been pampered and
educated for this purpose, and who were surnamed respectively after the
four goddesses, Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Atlantonan, and Uixtociuatl.
Five days before the great day of the feast, the day of the feast being
counted one, all the people, high and low, the king it would appear
being alone excepted, went out to celebrate with the man-god a solemn
banquet and dance, in the ward called Tecanman; the fourth day before
the feast the same was done in the ward in which was guarded the statue
of Tezcatlipocâ. The little hill or island called Tepetzinco, rising
out of the waters of the Lake of Mexico, was the scene of the next
day’s solemnities; which were renewed for the last time on the next
day, or that immediately preceding the great day, on another like
island called Tepelpulco, or Tepepulco. There, with the four women who
had been given to him for his consolation, the honoured victim was put
into a covered canoe usually reserved for the sole use of the king, and
he was carried across the lake to a place called Tlapitzaoayan, near
the road that goes from Yztapalapan to Chalco, at a place where was a
little hill called Acaccuilpan, or Cabaltepec. Here left him the four
beautiful girls whose society for twenty days he had enjoyed, they
returning to the capital with all the people. There accompanied him
only those eight attendants who had been with him all the year. Almost
alone, done with the joys of beauty, banquet, and dance, bearing a
bundle of his flutes, he walked to a little cu, some distance from the
road mentioned above, and about a league removed from the city. He
marched up the temple steps; and as he ascended he dashed down and
broke on every step one of the flutes that he had been accustomed to
play on in the days of his prosperity. He reached the top, where he was
sacrificed. From the sacrificial stone his body was not hurled down the
steps, but was carried by four men down to the tzompantli, to the place
of the spitting of heads.
In this feast of toxcatl, in the cu called Uitznahuac, where the image
of Uitzilopochtli was always kept, the priests made a bust of this god
out of tzoalli dough, with pieces of mizquitl [121]-wood inserted by
way of bones. They decorated it with his ornaments; putting on a jacket
wrought over with human bones, a mantle of very thin nequen, and
another mantle called the Tlaquaquallo, covered with rich feathers,
fitting the head below and widening out above; in the middle of this
stood up a little rod, also decorated with feathers, and sticking into
the top of the rod was a flint knife half covered with blood. The image
was set on a platform made of pieces of wood resembling snakes, and so
arranged that heads and tails alternated all the way round; the whole
borne by many captains and men of war. Before this image and platform a
number of strong youths carried an enormous sheet of paper resembling
pasteboard, twenty fathoms long, one fathom broad, and a little less
than an inch thick; it was supported by spear-shafts arranged in pairs
of one shaft above and one below the paper, while persons on either
side of the paper held one of these pairs in one hand. When the
procession, with dancing and singing, reached the cu to be ascended,
the platform was carefully and cautiously hoisted up by cords attached
to its four corners, the image was set on a seat, and those who carried
the paper rolled it up and set down the roll before the bust of the
god. It was sunset when the image was so set up; and the following
morning everyone offered food in his own house before the image of
Uitzilopochtli, incensing also such images of the other gods as he had,
and then went to offer quails’ blood before the image set up on the cu.
The king began, wringing off the heads of four quails; the priests
offered next, then all the people; the whole multitude carrying clay
fire-pans and burning copal incense of every kind, after which everyone
threw his live coals on a great hearth in the temple yard. The virgins
painted their faces, put on their heads garlands of parched maize, with
strings of the same across their breasts, decorated their arms and legs
with red feathers, and carried black paper flags stuck into split
canes. The flags of the daughters of the nobles were not of paper, but
of a thin cloth called canauac, painted with vertical black stripes.
These girls, joining hands, danced round the great hearth, upon or over
which, on an elevated place of some kind, there danced, giving the time
and step, two men, having each a kind of pine cage covered with paper
flags on his shoulders, the strap supporting which passed, not across
the forehead—the usual way for men to carry a burden—but across the
chest, as was the fashion with women. They bore shields of paper,
crumpled up like great flowers, their heads were adorned with white
feathers, their lips and part of the face were smeared with sugar-cane
juice, which produced a peculiar effect over the black with which their
faces were always painted. They carried in their hands pieces of paper
called amasmaxtli [122] and sceptres of palm-wood tipped with a black
flower and having in the lower part a ball of black feathers. In
dancing they used this sceptre like a staff, and the part by which they
grasped it was wrapped round with a paper painted with black lines. The
music for the dancers was supplied by a party of unseen musicians, who
occupied one of the temple buildings, where they sat, he that played
the drum in the centre, and the performers on the other instruments
about him. The men and women danced on till night, but the strictest
order and decency were preserved, and any lewd word or look brought
down swift punishment from the appointed overseers.
This feast was closed by the death of a youth who had been during the
past year dedicated to and taken care of for Uitzilopochtli, resembling
in this the victim of Tezcatlipocâ, whose companion he had indeed been,
but without receiving such high honours. This Uitzilopochtli youth was
entitled Ixteocalli, [123] or Tlacauepan, or Teicauhtzin, [124] and was
held to be the image and representative of the god. When the day of his
death came the priests decorated him with papers painted over with
black circles, and put a mitre of eagles’ feathers on his head, in the
midst of whose plumes was stuck a flint knife, stained half-way up with
blood and adorned with red feathers. Tied to his shoulders by strings
passing across the breast was a piece of very thin cloth, about a span
square, and over it hung a little bag. Over one of his arms was thrown
a wild beast’s skin, arranged somewhat like a maniple; bells of gold
jingled at his legs as he walked or danced. There were two peculiar
things connected with the death of this youth: first, he had absolute
liberty of choice regarding the hour in which he was to die; and,
second, he was not extended upon any block or altar, but when he wished
he threw himself into the arms of the priests, and had his heart so cut
out. His head was then hacked off and spitted alongside that of the
Tezcatlipocâ youth, of whom we have spoken already. In this same day
the priests made little marks on children, cutting them, with thin
stone knives, in the breast, stomach, wrists, and fleshy parts of the
arms; marks, as the Spanish priests considered, by which the devil
should know his own sheep.
Teotleco.—The movable feasts sacred to Tezcatlipocâ and alluded to in
the list of his festivals are only briefly mentioned by Sahagun, and do
not appear to have been of any particular importance. As regards the
Teotleco Sahagun says: “The twelfth month was called Teotleco, which
signifies the arrival of the gods. A festival was celebrated in honour
of all the gods who were said to have gone to some country, I know not
where. On the last day of the month a greater one was held, because the
gods had returned.
“On the fifteenth day of this month the young boys and the servitors
decked all the altars or oratories of the gods with boughs, as well
those which were in the houses as the images which were set up by the
wayside and at the cross-roads. This work was paid for in maize. Some
received a basketful, and others only a few ears.
“On the eighteenth day the ever-youthful god Tlamatzincatl, or
Titlacauan, arrived. It was said that he marched better and arrived the
first because he was young and strong. Food was offered him in his
temple on that night. Everyone drank, ate, and made merry; the old
people especially celebrated the arrival of the god by drinking wine,
and it was alleged that his feet were washed by these rejoicings. The
last day of the month was marked by a great festival, on account of the
belief that the whole of the gods arrived at that time. On the
preceding night a quantity of flour was kneaded on a carpet into the
shape of a cheese, it being supposed that the gods would leave a
footprint thereon as a sign of their return. The chief attendant
watched all night, going to and fro to see if the impression appeared.
When he at last saw it he called out, ‘The master has arrived,’ and at
once the priests of the temple began to sound the horns, trumpets, and
other musical instruments used by them. Upon hearing this noise
everyone ran forthwith to offer food in all the temples or oratories,
and gave themselves up to renewed rejoicings, to wash the feet of the
gods, as we have already described.
“The next day the aged gods were said to come last, because they walked
more slowly on account of their age. On that day several captives were
doomed to be burnt alive. A great brazier was prepared; young men
disguised as monsters danced round about it, and while dancing, hurled
the unhappy victims into the fire, in the manner already explained.
Other ceremonies took place which will be described in the account of
this festival.”
MYTHS
Sahagun says of Tezcatlipocâ that he was invisible and was able to
penetrate into all places, heaven, earth, and hell. The Mexicans, he
says, believed that he wandered over the earth stirring up strife and
war, and setting men against one another. He also remarks that he was
the true giver of prosperity, and extremely capricious. [125]
Acosta calls him the god of drought, famine, barrenness, and
pestilence. [126]
Clavigero alludes to him as the chief of the gods worshipped in Mexico,
the god of providence, the soul of the world, the creator of heaven and
earth and master of all things. “They represented him as young, to
denote that no length of years ever diminished his power. They believed
that he rewarded with various benefits the just, and punished the
wicked with diseases and other afflictions.” [127]
The interpreter of Codex Telleriano-Remensis states that “Tezcatlipocâ
is he who appeared to the nation on the mountain of the mirror, as they
say, and is he who tempted Quetzalcoatl the penitent.” Elsewhere he
says: “They do not here paint Tezcatlipocâ with a foot formed of a
serpent, since they say that this festival [panquetzaliztli] relates to
a time previous to his sinning while still in heaven, and that hence
happened the war in heaven, from whence wars sprung below.”
The interpreter of Codex Vaticanus A. says of him: “Tezcatlipocâ, here
represented, was one of their most potent gods. They say that he
appeared in that country on the top of a mountain called Tezcatepu,
which signifies the mountain of mirrors.” Later on he remarks that the
god was sometimes painted with the feet of a man and of a cock, “as
they say his name bears allusion to this circumstance. He is clothed
with a fowl, which seems to cry in laughing accents, and when it crows,
Oa, Oa, Oa, they say that it deceived the “first woman, who committed
sin, and accordingly they place him near the goddess of pollution.”
A report on the Huaxtec territory, dated 1579, states that: “They
relate another fable, that they had two other effigies as gods, one
called Ometochtli, who is the god of wine, the other Tezcatlipocâ,
which is the name of the most exalted idol worshipped by them, and with
these they had painted the figure of a woman named Hueytonantzin, that
is ‘our great mother,’ because they said that she was the mother of all
these gods or demons. And those four above-mentioned male demons, they
related, had killed this great mother, founding with her the
institution of human sacrifice, and taking her heart out of her breast,
and presenting it to the sun. Similarly, they related that the idol
Tezcatlipocâ had killed the god of wine with his consent and
concurrence, giving out that in this way he gave eternal life, and that
if he did not die, all persons drinking wine must die; but that the
death of this Ometochtli was only the sleep of one drunk, that he
afterwards recovered, and again became fresh and well.”