THE FIRE-GODS
XIUHTECUTLI = “LORD OF THE YEAR”
Area of Worship:
Mexico.
Toltec.
Minor Names:
Tzoncaztli = “The Yellow-haired.”
In Xiuhtetzaqualco maquitoc = “He who enters the Blue Stone
Pyramid.”
Yei itzcuintli = “Three Dog.”
Cuezaltzin = “The Flame.”
Chicunaui tecutli = “Nine Lord.”
Ueueteotl = “The Old God.”
Tlatic paque = “Lord of the Earth’s Surface.”
Tota = “Our Father.”
Tloque Nahuaque = “Lord of the Close Vicinity.”
Tlalxictentica = “Dweller in the Navel of the Earth.”
Ixcoçauhque = “The Yellow-faced.”
Calendar Place:
Ruler of the ninth day-count, atl (water).
Ruler of the ninth tonalamatl division, ce coatl.
Ruler of the twentieth tonalamatl division, ce tochtli.
First of the nine lords of the night.
First of the thirteen lords of the day.
Festivals:
Xocohuetzi, in the tenth month.
Izcalli, in the eighteenth month.
The day ce itzcuintli (“one dog”) (movable feast).
Compass Direction: Lord of the Middle and of the four quarters.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Vaticanus B.—Sheet 19: In this place he is represented standing
before a temple with a bundle of firewood and a rubber ball in his
hand. The temple contains implements of war. He is painted red, with
the lower part of the face blackened by melted rubber and a black
cross, the foot of which rests on a level with his eye. The fillet
round his head is a strap set with jewelled disks. On the necklace is
seen a blue bird (cotinga, or humming-bird). That part of his face
which is not black, and which in the Codex Borgia is painted a red
colour like the rest of the body, is on sheet 89 painted yellow, with
slender thread-shaped longitudinal stripes of red. On sheet 57 he is
seen as in the ninth day-count—red, and with red and black
face-painting and flame-coloured hair, with the cotinga bird flying
down on the frontal side of the fillet, and with arrow-shaft feathers
in the crown. At the nape of the neck can be seen a short crest of red
points enclosing three tufts of red feathers, which, perhaps, originate
in the xiuhcoatl, or fire-snake worn in the Mexican MSS. proper by the
Fire-god on his back as a disguise (cf. Codex Borbonicus). He has here
the scorpion and atltlachinolli “spear-throwing and fire” sign, and is
seated on a royal throne, with an abundance of food before him, which
probably symbolizes wealth. He also wears a breast-ornament of blue
turquoise mosaic with golden bells. He sometimes wears the priest’s
tobacco-calabash as a sign of wealth or abundance.
Aubin-Goupil Tonalamatl.—Sheet 20: He holds the copal bag in one hand
and in the other two agave-leaf spikes with flowers (blood) at the
upper end. Before the face of the Fire-god we see a sea-snail’s shell,
which is, perhaps, symbolic of fire shut up or enclosed in the house.
Before him, too, is a vessel with offerings or sacrificial balls. Below
is an agave spike with the flower-emblem of blood. Beside it are the
symbol of midnight, the eye enveloped in darkness, and a tuft of
quetzal-feathers—all symbolic of the midnight penance.
Codex Borgia.—Sheet 14: In this codex the representation of the
Fire-god is in many respects similar to that in Vaticanus B. The face
and body-paint are red. The jewelled fillet is ornamented with the
conventional representation of a cotinga bird in the attitude of flying
down such as may be observed in the figures allied with the Fire-god,
and which is also seen in reliefs at Chichen-Itzà, Yucatan. In the
fillet are placed two arrow-shafts, which represent the two wooden
fire-disks—an ornament that is called “arrow-wig” or “spear-wig.” Above
this is seen a tiara, which broadens as it rises upwards. Xiuhtecutli
wears attached to a long pendant necklace a square plate of blue
colour, made of turquoise mosaic. In some places he wields the
“shooting implement,” the throwing-stick, or the blue throwing-stick,
xiuhatlatl, fashioned in the form of a snake. The scorpion is
frequently placed beside the god, symbolizing, perhaps, the stinging
character of fire.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.—He holds in one hand the xiuhatlatl, the
throwing-stick painted blue, decked with turquoise mosaic and having a
figure on the top, probably intended for a snake. In the other hand he
has a staff, which at the upper crutch-like end shows an animal’s head,
and the lower a snake’s tail-rattles.
Codex Magliabecchiano.—The Fire-god is here seen in a dancing or
fighting attitude. The dragon-mask lies behind the neck, and he wears a
yellow and red hat resembling an inverted cone, with a serpent motif in
front. The face-paint is yellow for the upper part of the face, the
mouth-region red and the lower posterior part black. His tunic is
white, with a blue sash or centre-piece, and he wears the yellow
breast-ornament. In one hand he carries the atlatl, or spear-thrower,
and in the other a white, unpainted shield.
Sahagun MS.—Sahagun, describing Xiuhtecutli under his minor name of
Ixcoçauhque (“The Yellow-faced”), says that he is painted red and
black, and is smeared with indiarubber on lips and chin. He wears a
headband set with precious stones and a paper crown with a plume of
quetzal-feathers. He carries on his back his fire-snake dress and round
his shoulders is slung a band of bark paper. On his feet he wears bells
and shells. His shield is ornamented with precious stones, and in one
hand he carries an instrument the use of which is apparently
divinatory.
MYTHS
A song given by Sahagun has reference to the Fire-god.
SONG OF THE YELLOW-FACED
(The Fire-gods)
O, in Tzommolco my father shall I dishonour Thee? (i.e. withhold
the sacrifice);
In Tetemocan shall I dishonour Thee?
2
O my master, in the Temple of Mecatlan the yucca Tree shakes (the
kettle-drum made out of wood from the Yucca tree);
In Chicueyocan in the house of the masked, the masked dancers have
come.
3
In Tzommolco they have begun to sing,
In Tzommolco they have begun to sing;
Why do they not come here?
Why do they not come here?
4
In Tzommolco men shall be given (sacrificed);
The sun has risen,
Men shall be given.
5
In Tzommolco song now comes to an end.
Without trouble he has become rich;
He has become lord.
His mercy is wonderful.
6
O, little woman, hold speech (give warning),
Mistress of the mist house, from the door hold speech.
Sahagun says of him [286]:
“He had other names—Ixcozauhqui, ‘Yellow-face,’ and Cuezaltzin, or
‘Flame.’ They called him also Ueueteotl, or ‘Very Old God,’ and they
said that the fire was his father. They celebrated his feast at the end
of the month called izcalli, and dressed the idol in his robes and
ornaments. He wore the robes of a king.”
In the Sahagun Mexican MS. he is described as “the mother of the gods,
the father of the gods, who dwells in the navel of the earth, who
enters the Turquoise Pyramid ... the Old God, the Fire-god.” [287]
Sahagun [288] also alludes to the god in the prayer of the merchants,
which says: “Sit still on thy throne, noble Lord, thou that in the
navel of the earth hast thy seat, Lord of the Four Quarters.”
In this prayer he is also frequently addressed as “Lord of the With and
the By” (the contiguous neighbourhood), “the Lord of Heaven, the Lord
of the Surface of the Earth.”
Sahagun in a prayer to Tezcatlipocâ alludes to Xiuhtecutli as “the
ancient god, who is father and mother to thyself, and is god of fire,
who stands in the midst of flowers, in the midst of the place bounded
by four walls, who is covered with shining feathers that are as wings”
[289]; and in another prayer to Tezcatlipocâ, speaks of Xiuhtecutli as
“the ancient god, the father of all the gods, the god of fire, who is
in the pond of water among turrets surrounded with stones like roses,
who is called Xiuhtecutli, who determines, examines, and settles the
business and law-suits of the nation and of the common people, as it
were washing them with water.” [290]
Clavigero says of Xiuhtecutli:
“Xiuhtecutli (master of the year and of the grass) was among these
nations the god of fire, to whom they likewise gave the name of
Ixcozauhqui, which expresses the colour of fire. This god was greatly
revered in the Mexican empire. At their dinner they made an offering to
him of the first morsel of their food, and the first draught of their
beverage, by throwing both into the fire; and burned incense to him at
certain times of the day. In honour of him they held two fixed
festivals of the most solemn kind, one in the tenth, and another in the
eighteenth month; and one movable feast, at which they created the
usual magistrates and renewed the ceremony of the investiture of the
fiefs of the kingdom. He had a temple in Mexico, and some other
palaces.”
FESTIVALS
Xocohuetzi.—Sahagun’s account of this festival is substantially as
follows [291]:
A great tree of five and twenty fathoms long was cut down and the
branches lopped off except a few at the top. The tree was then dragged
by ropes into the city, great precautions being taken against damaging
it. The women met the procession, giving those who had helped cocoa to
drink. The tree, which was called zocotl, was received into the court
of a teocalli with acclamation, and there set up in a hole in the
ground and allowed to remain for twenty days. On the eve of the
festival they lowered the tree gently to the ground by means of ropes
and trestles made of beams lashed together. It was dressed until quite
smooth, and where the branches had been left, near the top, a
cross-beam of five fathoms long was secured by ropes. On the summit of
the pole a statue of the god Xiuhtecutli was set, made out of the dough
of wild amaranth seeds, and decorated with white papers. To the head of
the image were affixed pieces of paper instead of hair, bands of paper
crossed the body from each shoulder, on the arms were pieces of paper
like wings painted over with figures of sparrow-hawks, a maxtli of
paper covered the loins, and a kind of paper garment covered all. Great
strips of paper, half a fathom broad and ten fathoms long, floated from
the feet of the image, and into his head were stuck three rods with a
tamalli, or small cake, on the top of each. Ten ropes were then
attached to the middle of the tree, and the structure was reared into
an upright position and there secured with great uproar.
Those who had captives to sacrifice came decorated for dancing, the
body painted yellow (the colour of the god), and the face vermilion.
They wore the red plumes of the parrot arranged to resemble a
butterfly, and carried shields covered with white feathers. Each danced
side by side with his captive. These had the body painted white, and
the face vermilion, save the cheeks, which were black. They were
adorned with papers, and they had white feathers on the head and
lip-ornaments of feathers. At set of sun the dancing ceased, the
captives were shut up in the calpulli and watched by their owners, not
being permitted to sleep. About midnight every owner shaved away part
of the hair from the scalp of the head of his captive, which, being
fastened with red thread to a little tuft of feathers, he put in a
small case of cane and attached to the rafters of the house, that
everyone might see that he was a valiant man and had taken a captive.
The knife with which this shaving was accomplished was known as the
claw of the sparrow-hawk. At daybreak the captives were arranged in
order in front of the tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed
were spitted in rows. A priest walked along the row of captives, taking
from them certain little banners that they carried and all their
raiment or adornment, which he burnt in a fire. While they stood naked
and waiting for death, another priest, carrying in his arms the image
of the god Paynal and his ornaments, ran up with this idol to the top
of the teocalli known as Tlacacouhcan, where the victims were to die.
He descended, then returned to the summit, and as he went up for the
second time, the owners took their slaves by the hair and led them to
the place called Apetlac, where they left them. The priests who were to
perform the sacrifice then descended from the teocalli bearing bags of
a narcotic incense called yauhtli (absinthe, wormwood, or mugwort),
which they threw by handfuls into the faces of the victims to mitigate
their death-agonies. Each captive was then bound hand and foot and
carried up to the top of the teocalli. On the summit a great fire
burned. Upon this the priests cast the captives, who, when
half-roasted, were dragged out with the aid of grappling-hooks and
sacrificed by having their hearts torn out. The statue of Paynal was
then carried away to its own temple and all returned home. The young
men and boys with the women began at midday to dance and to sing in the
courtyard of Xiuhtecutli. Suddenly they made in a body for the place
where the tree already described had been raised. At a given signal all
might attempt to scale the pole to reach the dough image at the top.
The first youth at the top seized the idol of dough, took the shield
and the arrows, the darts and the tamalis from the head of the statue,
then threw the crumbs with the plumes of the image down into the crowd,
who fought and scrambled for them. When the successful youth descended
from the pole with the weapons of the god, he was received with
acclamations and carried up to the teocalli Tlacacouhcan, to receive
jewels and a rich mantle which no one else might wear, and the honour
of being carried to his house by the priests, amid the music of horns
and shells. Then the people seized the ropes fastened to the tree and
dragged it down.
Izcalli.—The following is a digest of Sahagun’s description of this
festival [292]:
Another feast of the god of fire was held in the month yzcalli, the
eighteenth month; it was called motlaxquiantota, that is to say, “our
father the fire roasts his food.” An image of the god of fire was made,
by tying a frame of hoops and sticks together and covering them with
his ornaments. On the head of the image was placed a mask of turquoise
mosaic, banded across with rows of green chalchihuitls. Upon the mask
was put a crown fitting to the head below, wide above, and covered with
rich plumage. A wig of reddish hair was attached to this crown so that
the locks flowed from below it, behind and around the mask. A robe of
feathers covered the front of the image and fell over the ground before
the feet. The back of the image was probably left unadorned and was
concealed by a throne covered with a jaguar-skin. Before this statue
new fire was made at midnight with the fire-stick. The spark obtained
was put on the hearth and a fire lit. At break of day boys and youths
came with game and fish that they had captured on the previous day.
Walking round the fire, they gave it to certain old men that stood
there, who, taking it, threw it into the flames before the god, giving
the youths in return certain tamalis made for this purpose by the
women. To eat these tamalis it was necessary to strip off the
maize-leaves in which they had been wrapped and cooked; these leaves
were not thrown into the fire, but were all put together and thrown
into water. After this all the old men of the quarter in which the fire
was drank octli and sang before the image of Xiuhtecutli till night.
This was the tenth day of the month, and completed that part of the
feast which was called vauquitamalqualiztli.
On the twentieth and last day of the month was made another statue of
the Fire-god, on a frame of sticks and hoops. They placed on the head a
mask with a ground of mosaic with small pieces of the shell called
tapaztli, composed below the mouth of black stones, banded across the
nostrils with black stones of another sort, and the cheeks made of a
still different stone called tezcapuchtli. As in the previous case,
there was a crown on this mask, and over all and over the body of the
image costly and beautiful decorations of feather-work. Before the
throne on which this statue sat there was a fire, and the youths
offered game to and received cakes from the old men with various
ceremonies, the day closing with the drinking of octli by the old
people, though not to the point of intoxication.
The festivals of this month were usually without human sacrifices, but
every fourth year was an exception to this. In such a year, on the
twentieth and last day of the month, men and women were slain as images
of the god of fire. The women who had to die carried all their apparel
and ornaments on their shoulders, and the men did the same. They were
decorated to resemble the god of fire; they ascended the teocalli,
walked round the sacrificial stone, and then descended and returned to
the place where they were to be kept for the night. Each man had a rope
tied round the middle of his body, which was held by his guards. At
midnight the hair of the crown of the head of each was shaven off
before the fire and kept for a relic, and the head itself was covered
with a mixture of resin and hen’s feathers. After this the victims
burned their clothing, or gave it away to their keepers, and as the
morning broke they were decorated with papers and led to the place of
sacrifice with singing and dancing. These festivities went on till
midday, when a priest of the temple, arrayed in the ornaments of the
god Paynal, came down, passed before the victims, and then went up
again. They were led up after him in the order in which they had to
die. There was then a grand dance of the nobles, led by the king
himself, each dancer wearing a high-crowned paper coronet, a kind of
false nose of blue paper, earrings of turquoise mosaic, or of wood
wrought with flowers, a blue, flowered jacket, and a mantle. Suspended
from the neck of each was the figure of a dog made of paper and painted
with flowers. In the right hand was carried a stick shaped like a
chopping-knife, the lower half of which was painted red and the upper
half white. In the left hand was carried a little paper bag of copal.
The dance was begun on the top of the teocalli, and finished by the
dancers descending and going four times round the courtyard of the
temple, after which all entered the palace with the king. This dance
took place only once in four years, and none but the king and his lords
could take part in it. On this day the ears of all children born during
the three preceding years were pierced with a bone awl, and the
children themselves passed near or through the flames of a fire. There
was a further ceremony of taking the children by the head and lifting
them up, “to make them grow,” and from this the month took its name,
yzcalli, meaning “growth.”
Ce itzcuintli.—Of this movable feast Sahagun says [293]:
“They said that the sign ce itzcuintli was the sign of fire, and on it
they made a great feast to Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, to whom they
offered copal incense and numbers of quails. They decked his image with
paper of different kinds and many rich ornaments. Then the great made
high celebration of the event in their houses. It was under this sign
that they made election of the king and the consuls, which was
celebrated in the fourteenth temple by banquets, dances, and great
liberality. It was at those feasts that war upon enemies was
proclaimed.”
TEMPLE
Sahagun states [294] that the tzommolco was the temple of Xiuhtecutli.
At the foot of the steps of this temple was a terrace to which several
steps gave access, and upon this certain female slaves were
occasionally sacrificed.
PRIESTHOOD
The Ixcocauhqui Tzommolco teohua appear to have been the especial
priests of Xiuhtecutli. [295]
NATURE AND STATUS
Although Xiuhtecutli undoubtedly appeared to the Mexicans as the
personification of fire, it was more as that element in its primeval
and original form, its chaotic and elemental shape. He is, indeed, the
pre-solar fire which existed before the creation of the sun or moon,
and just as the gods of water ruled over moisture wherever it was to be
found, so was Xiuhtecutli imagined as holding sway over fire, whether
it came from the heavens above or the earth beneath. Thus we find him
spoken of by Sahagun as dwelling in the navel of the earth, where the
volcanic fires have their origin, and as having his place above in what
appears to be a species of cloud-castle, for the Mexican word for
“embattlement” is derived from that for “cloud.” [296] He is also
called “He who entereth the blue stone pyramid,” which is, of course,
the sky.
He corresponds to the hour before sunrise, which makes it clear that
his prehistoric precedence to the sun was insisted upon in the list of
the day-hours. The texts dwell upon his antiquity, for he is, indeed,
the Old God, the god who existed before the foundations of the world,
father and mother of the gods, and in this I think I see a reference to
the shaping nature of fire, its moulding or creating influence, as
observed in many mythologies. But in most pantheons fire-gods undertake
the work of the smith, and this seems to have given rise to the idea of
their creative capacity. That particular craft, however, was unknown in
Mexico, and I am therefore at a loss to understand this particular
phase of Xiuhtecutli, unless it be that as fire was regarded by the
Mexicans as a symbol of renewal or rebirth (from the fact that fresh
fuel was capable of adding renewed life to a dying fire), and that the
idea of creation had no place in their minds except as a renewal of the
universe, it may have been that they regarded that element as a vehicle
or a symbol of recreation. Out of this conception, too, arose the
belief that Xiuhtecutli renewed the year, from which circumstance he
takes his title “Lord of the Year.” Izcalli, too, the name of one of
his festivals, means “growth,” or perhaps “continuance,” and seems to
be connected in some manner with this belief.
His rulership of the ninth day and the ninth week, of which the symbol
is atl, water, seems directly opposed to all our ideas of his
character, but, as Seler points out, the Mexicans thought of water
“primarily as a derivative concrete element, which originally means
something like ‘the shooting thing,’ derived from the verb a, which was
in fact used in the sense of ‘to shoot, to throw the spear.’” It is
also connected with the symbol tlachinolli, which Seler [297] states
means “spear-throwing and firebrand,” that is, “war.” In the Codex
Borgia group, too, where the Fire-god is pictured as ruler of the ninth
day, we find equivalents to this symbol, which undoubtedly connect him
with the destruction which follows upon war, and there are also
pictorial indications, such as the throne with the jaguar-skin
covering, which associate him with the idea of justice, of law-giving,
and, again, with that of sustenance.
As Lord of the Middle, of the Centre, too, he is undoubtedly ruler of
the domestic hearth, which in the houses of the Mexicans was situated
in the middle of the dwelling. He was also thought of as the “Lord of
Wealth,” especially that hoarded in the house by careful housekeeping
and foresight, and diligent workmanship in the fields. [298]
CHANTICO = “IN THE HOUSE”
Area of Worship: Xochimilco.
Minor Names:
Quaxolotl = “Two-headed.”
Chicunaui itzcuintli = “Nine Dog.”
Papaloxaual = “Butterfly Painting.”
Tlappapalo = “She of the Red Butterfly.”
Yei Cuetzpalin = “Three Lizard.”
Calendar Place: Ruler of the eighteenth tonalamatl division, ce
eecatl.
Compass Direction: The west.
Festival: Chichunaui itzcuintli, the day “nine dog.”
Symbol: The eagle’s foot.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Sahagun MS.—The lower half of her face is black, daubed with rubber,
and the upper half is red. She has a golden ear-plug. She wears a red
garment and her hair is bound up in a fillet of cotton rags. On her
back she wears the arrow-like device meiotli. Her overdress is “the
colour of spring flowers.” In one hand she holds a feather staff, the
paper covering of which is painted with the acute-angled figure which
denotes cotton, and in the other she bears the shield with the device
of the eagle’s foot. Sahagun says her priest had to keep in readiness
for her festival red and black pigments, a robe, white sandals, and
small shells.
Codex Borgia.—In this MS. she is represented with a yellow face and a
yellow body. She wears a red tippet, white skirt, and a step-shaped
nose-ornament, while her head is wrapped round with a red cloth edged
with white shell disks, a feather decoration surmounting the cloth.
Codex Vaticanus B.—Here she has a yellow face with two red cross-lines
like the narrow black stroke on the face of the Fire-god.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.—Her face is painted yellow, disposed in a
number of fields, each containing a ring in the centre. She has the
long tusk of a carnivorous beast. She wears golden pendants in nose and
ears, possibly a symbol of the solar pictograph, and on her head she
wears the water-and-fire symbol tlachinolli. She wears the maxtlatl of
the men, to symbolize her warlike nature, with a death’s-head behind
her girdle.
Codex Borbonicus.—The lower half of her face is painted black, and the
upper red, like that of Xiuhtecutli. She wears a blue nose-plug, the
decoration of the dead warriors. On her head she has the water-and-fire
symbol.
MYTHS
The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis regards Chantico as a
male god, and states that:
“Chantico or Cuaxolotle presided over these thirteen signs and was lord
of Chile, or of the yellow woman. He was the first who offered
sacrifice after having eaten a fried fish; the smoke of which ascended
to heaven, at which Tonacatecotle became incensed and pronounced a
curse against him that he should be turned into a dog, which
accordingly happened, and they named him on this account Chantico,
which is another name for Miquitlantecotle. From this transgression the
destruction of the world ensued. He was called Nine Dogs from the sign
on which he was born.”
The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A deals with Chantico in almost
the same words:
“Chantico, they say, was the first who offered sacrifice after having
eaten a fried fish, and that in consequence of the presumption of
offering sacrifices without having fasted, Tonacatecutli became
incensed and pronounced a curse against him that he should be changed
into a dog, which is an animal of a very voracious nature; and
accordingly they named him Nine Dogs.”
This myth should be compared with that of Nata and Nena in the chapter
on Cosmogony.
FESTIVAL
Chicunaui itzcuintli (“Nine Dog”).—Sahagun [299] states that the
lapidaries of Xochimilco who cut precious stones adored, among others,
this goddess and made a feast to her on the above sign. They attributed
to her the articles of feminine toilet, and ornamented her with golden
earrings and a butterfly nose-plug of the same metal. At her festival
four captives represented Chantico, Naualpilli, [300] Macuilcalli,
[301] and Cinteotl, and were dressed in their insignia. Duran (who
confounds Chantico with Tlazolteotl) states that at this feast these
captives were cast into a fire exactly as at the xocohuetzi festival to
Xiuhtecutli (q.v.), and that after the offering the priests mortified
themselves by letting the resin from burning copal torches drop on
their limbs.
TEMPLE AND PRIESTHOOD
The idol of Chantico was kept in close confinement in the dark Tlillan,
and was not visible to the vulgar gaze. Sahagun states that she had a
temple in Mexico called Tetlanman, and priests who lived in the
Tetlanman Calmecac, [302] and that the office of these priests, the
tecamma teoua, was the furnishing of paint, feathers, and other
necessaries for the feast of the goddess.
NATURE AND STATUS
Like Xiuhtecutli, the character of Chantico is expressed by a watery
sign, that of quiauitl (rain). This, however, is really connected with
the old mythic fire-rain at the end of the water-sun age, when fire
fell from heaven and “the foam-stones foamed up and the rocks became
red.”
The goddess must be regarded as the consuming fire, as is proved by an
account of her image by Duran, representing her with open jaws and
hungry fangs. It is because of this, too, that she came to be connected
with the dog, [303] the biting animal, and that her festival is held on
the date chicunai itzcuintli, “nine dog.”
She is further the volcanic fire which is hidden in the centre of the
earth, and which was symbolically represented by the fire shut up in
the tlillan temple or sacred edifice, and this plutonic significance is
perhaps the reason why the interpreters speak of her as having the
characteristics of Mictlantecutli, the god of Hades; but they speak of
her as well as the “Yellow Woman.” Her butterfly names also have
reference to the flitting shapes seen in flame.
She is the patroness of chilli pepper, which was naturally associated
with the fiery element and was therefore connected with the end of a
period of fasting, the Mexicans regarding abstinence from this
condiment as equivalent to a fast. The myth which speaks of her as
having been punished for eating fish before a sacrifice is also
eloquent of this relationship, and also by its reference to her
transformation into canine form connects her further with the dog and
makes her a patroness of the nanualtin, or wizards, who on the day
itzcuintli (“dog”) had especial power to transform themselves into
animals.
Her name “In the House” alludes, of course, to her character as a
goddess of the domestic hearth. She was also the patroness of the
goldsmiths and jewellers of Xochimilco, who of all crafts required the
assistance of her element.
QUAXOLOTL = “SPLIT AT THE TOP” (FLAME)
Relationship: A variant of Chantico.
Festival: Ce xochitl, “one flower.”
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
She is so called because she wears Xolotl’s decoration on her head. The
double face of Xochiquetzal in Codex Borgia (sheet 60) is regarded by
Seler as that of Quaxolotl—the goddess parting into two heads. She is
also the goddess who has borne twins.
NATURE AND STATUS
Quaxolotl is a variant of Chantico. The name, which signifies “split at
the top,” seems to signify the kind of flame which bifurcates or splits
into two tongues. She is thus connected with things double, and is the
goddess who has borne twins. Sahagun, who calls her Quaxolotl-Chantico,
[304] thereby identifies her with that goddess, and states that she was
housed in the twenty-ninth temple in the great court at Mexico, the
Tetlanman, which he distinguishes from that of Chantico proper, the
Tetlanman Calmecac, the twenty-seventh. He states that slaves were
sacrificed here on the sign ce xochitl, “one flower,” and perhaps this
fixes the date of the festival of the goddess.