VARIANTS OF THE GREAT GODS
ITZTLI = “STONE KNIFE” (OBSIDIAN)
Area of Worship: Mexico.
Calendar Place: Second of the nine lords of the night.
Compass Direction: East.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Vaticanus B.—Sheet 19: He looks out from the open jaws of a stone
knife, which is designed with teeth and the socket of an eye above
them. Otherwise he is pictured as a black Tezcatlipocâ with the yellow
cross-bands on his face. The smoking mirror, the badge of Tezcatlipocâ,
is clearly to be discerned. The clouds of incense reach a great height,
and are set with feather-work. He wears the blue nose-rod from which a
little plate falls over the mouth, and he has a white breast-ring.
Codex Borgia.—Sheet 14: In this place he is represented with his hair
brushed up on one side, over the brow, the warrior’s hairdressing, and
the forked heron-feather ornament in his hair, part of the warrior’s
dancing attire. The smoking mirror at the temple is given with great
clearness.
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.—Sheet 2: The one foot exhibited as missing or
torn off is stuck in the throat of a stone knife. The body-paint has
perhaps been forgotten here, and the facial painting differs from
Tezcatlipocâ’s usual adornment, being perhaps reminiscent of that of
Tezcatlipocâ-Itzlacoliuhqui. The head and neck are wrapped in a cloth
with a fringed hem, and which must be regarded as decked with feather
balls on the surface as in the picture of the red Tezcatlipocâ in
Borgia (sheet 11). He is associated with the crossway in all MSS.
NATURE AND STATUS
This deity is a surrogate of Tezcatlipocâ in his guise of the obsidian
knife of sacrifice, and as such is, of course, representative of the
paramount connection of that god with the obsidian cult alluded to in
the Introduction. He is, indeed, nothing more or less than a
personalization of the obsidian knife; his name implies this and the
picture of him in Codex Vaticanus B (sheet 19), where he is seen
looking out of the jaws of an obsidian knife disguise, affords absolute
proof, if more were required, of the identification.
ITZTLACOLIUHQUI-IXQUIMILLI = “THE CURVED OBSIDIAN KNIFE,” “THE BLIND
ONE”
Area of Worship: Mexico-Tenochtitlan.
Minor Names: Cipactonal.
Calendar Place: Ruler of the thirteenth day, acatl; and of the
twelfth week, ce cuetzpalin.
Compass Direction: South.
Relationship: Variant of Cinteotl: son of Tlazolteotl.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Borgia.—The god is indicated by a bundle having a peculiar object
with two black, longitudinal stripes for a head. At the eye-level a
bandage is worn, and the whole is crowned with a hair wig and bound
with a double-jewelled fillet. The crown of the “head” is also
indicated by two longitudinal stripes which terminate in an involuted
peak, curving backwards. Two malinalli (grass) stripes are worn as a
breast-ornament, and the lower extremities are draped with a flowing
cloth.
General.—The head is more elaborately shown in the Mexican MSS. proper.
Through the peak is thrust a carefully inserted arrow and its anterior
edge is evenly notched. In Codex Telleriano-Remensis and Codex
Borbonicus the face of this personage, who is called by the
interpreters “the curved sharp stone,” Itztlacoliuhqui, is decorated
with the gold crescent nasal ornament of Tlazolteotl and the
octli-gods. That this figure is the god of avenging justice is
indicated by its bandaged eyes, which recall the appearance of
Tezcatlipocâ-Ixquimilli, or Tezcatlipocâ as god of the thirteenth
day-count. The stone and club were used for punitive purposes, so the
figure symbolic of “justice” was thus represented as a hard stone.
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.—Itztlacoliuhqui is shown here as of a blue
colour, and his face is painted with blue and white cross-bands instead
of yellow and black, like Tezcatlipocâ. He wears Tezcatlipocâ’s
breast-ornament, while in his hair is the forked adornment of
heron-feathers.
MYTHS
The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A says:
“Ytzlacoliuhqui signifies the lord of sin or of blindness, and for this
reason they paint him with his eyes bandaged. They say that he
committed sin in a place of the highest enjoyment and delight, and that
he remained naked; on which account his first sign is a lizard, which
is an animal of the ground naked and miserable. He presided over these
thirteen signs, which were all unlucky. They said likewise that if
false evidence should be adduced on any one of these signs it would be
impossible to make the truth manifest. They put to death those who were
taken in adultery before his image if the parties were married; as this
not being the case, it was lawful for them to keep as many women or
concubines as they pleased. Ytzalcoliuhqui is a star in heaven which as
they pretend proceeds in a reverse course; they considered it a most
portentous sign, both as concerned with nativities and war. This star
is situated at the south.”
The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis says:
“Ytzlacoliuhqui, the lord of sin. Ytzlacoliuhqui was the lord of these
thirteen days. They say he was the god of frost. They put to death
before his image those who were convicted of adultery during these
thirteen days; this was the punishment of married persons both men and
women, for, provided the parties were unmarried, the men were at
liberty to keep as many concubines as they pleased.
“Ytzlacoliuhqui was the lord of sin or of blindness, who committed sin
in paradise; they therefore represented him with his eyes bandaged, and
his day was accordingly the lizard and, like the lizard, he is naked.
He is a star in heaven which ... proceeds in a backward course with its
eyes bandaged. They considered it a great prognostic.
“All these thirteen days were bad, for they affirmed that if evidence
should be adduced in these days it would be impossible to arrive at
justice, but they imagined that justice would be perverted in such a
manner that unjust condemnations would ensue, which was not the case in
the days immediately following, when if evidence was adduced they
supposed that justice would be made apparent. They believed that those
who were born on the sign dedicated to him would be sinners and
adulterers.”
NATURE AND STATUS
This deity is a variant of Tezcatlipocâ in his character of the
obsidian knife, the god of the stone and therefore of blood, avenging
justice, of blinding, of sin, of cold. The obsidian stone was regarded
as the instrument of justice, as has already been stated in the section
on Tezcatlipocâ. The figure became a general symbol of all things hard,
and is therefore explained by the authors of the Interpretative Codices
as “the god of cold.” Frost, ice, or low temperature is in the Sahagun
MS. symbolized by a man wearing the headdress of this deity, which was
also worn by Uitzilopochtli at the ochpanitztli festival, when the
knife of sacrifice had such free play. The manner in which the god is
represented in Codex Borbonicus as blindfolded is probably a late
conception of him as the god of justice. But he seems also to have had
a stellar connection which is a little vague.
PAYNAL = “THE HASTY”
Area of Worship: Mexico, Tlaxcallan.
Relationship: Precursor or forerunner of Uitzilopochtli.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Sahagun MS.—He has the stellar face-painting, and wears a many-pointed
crown of yellow feathers, the lower part of which is white. The front
of this white portion ends in three small globes or bells. At the back
is a bow, and he is furnished with an ear-plug and nose-plug of
turquoise. On the head he wears a shell ring like Uitzilopochtli and
Quetzalcoatl, and he holds a narrow striped banner ending in a sort of
fleur-de-lis motif. The shield is blue, inlaid with turquoise mosaic.
He has a peculiar skirt with a train marked with cross-hatchings. The
banner he carries is a golden one, and he also bears the fire-drill. On
his face is painted a chaffinch, which composes his face-mask.
FESTIVAL
See Uitzilopochtli.
NATURE AND STATUS
Seler identifies the god with the morning star. Sahagun calls him “the
messenger” or “page” of Uitzilopochtli. He acted as “forerunner” of
that god at the panquetzalitztli festival, thus perhaps signifying the
manner in which the morning star precedes the sun. But I think the
chaffinch painted upon his face and his general birdlike appearance may
justify us in concluding that he was developed from some such form. The
myth which alludes to Uitzilopochtli as a “little bird” which led the
Aztecâ into Mexico may be a confused form of an older story in which a
hero of the name of Uitzilopochtli may have been spoken of as accepting
the augury and following the flight of a little bird.
YACATECUTLI = “LORD WHO GUIDES,” OR “GUIDANCE”
Area of Worship: Plateau of Anahuac (worshipped by Mexican
merchants while at home and when travelling).
Festival: Panquetzalitztli.
Symbol: The merchant’s staff.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The ground of the face-painting
is white, but portions of the face, especially the forehead, nose, and
chin, and the region in front of the ears, are brilliantly coloured.
The hair is puffed up and is bound with bands of quetzal-feathers. The
ear-plugs are of gold. The large mantle which almost covers the body is
decorated with the cross-hatching symbolic of water and has the red rim
of the eye-motif. The shield bears the Greek key motif, such as is seen
in the tribute-lists of the Codex Mendoza. In his hand the god bears
the bamboo staff of the merchant or traveller, which typifies his
nature and which was worshipped, as being symbolic of him, by all
traders.
FESTIVAL
Panquetzalitztli.—Yacatecutli, says Sahagun, [329] was the first
merchant and prototype of traffickers, so was chosen by the merchants
as their god. They dressed his statue with paper and greatly venerated
the staff he carried, which was of massive wood, or else of dark cane,
very light, but strong, such as the merchants carried on their
journeys. He had four brothers and a sister, also reverenced by
traders. He was usually depicted as a man on a journey, equipped with
such a staff as has been mentioned.
Arrived at the place where they were to pass the night, the merchants
laid their staves in a heap and drew blood from their ears and limbs,
which they offered to it, burning incense before it, and praying for
protection from the dangers of the road. At the festival of
panquetzalitztli, thousands of members of the powerful Pochteca, or
merchant guild, proceeded to the vicinity of Tochtepec, where they
invited the Tlatelolcans of that place to a festival in honour of
Yacatecutli. They decorated his temple and spread mats before his
image. Then they opened the bundles in which they had brought presents
and ornaments for the god, and placed them, along with their staves,
before his idol. If a merchant laid two staves at the feet of the god,
that signified that it was his intention to sacrifice two slaves, a man
and a woman, in his honour; if four, he would devote two wretched
creatures of either sex. These slaves were covered with rich mantles
and paper. If the staff represented a male slave, it was also equipped
with the maxtli, or loin-cloth, but if a female, the uipilli, or
chemise, and the cueitl, or skirt.
The Mexican merchants then accompanied their Tlatelolcan confrères to
the villages, where they feasted, drank cocoa, and smoked. Quails were
then decapitated, their heads thrown into the fire, and incense was
offered to the four cardinal points. An address was delivered by one of
their number practised in oratory. The magnificence of this festival,
with its richly jewelled accessories, was probably unsurpassed in
Mexican ritual, as on this occasion the Pochteca employed their entire
stock of trinkets and ornaments for the temporary decoration of the
victims. Yacatecutli was also associated in worship with Coyotlinauatl,
god of the guild of feather-workers of the quarter of Amantlan.
NATURE AND STATUS
Bancroft [330] connects Yacatecutli with the Fire-god, with whom,
indeed, Clavigero would seem to equate him, and in describing the
return of the gods in the twelfth month, Sahagun makes both deities
arrive together. Xiuhtecutli was certainly the god who was believed to
settle disputes at law, but I am unable to connect Yacatecutli with him
in any satisfactory manner. Yacatecutli, “the lord who guides,” seems
to me a mere deification of the merchant’s staff, an artificial deity
invented as the patron of a caste in an environment where it was not
difficult to invent gods. By this I do not mean to convey the
impression that the staff was necessarily his earliest form, but that,
whatever his primitive shape, the merchant’s stick came to symbolize
him.
The names of Yacatecutli’s brothers and sister seem to me to allegorize
the circumstances of the travelling merchant’s career in the same
manner as the names of the companions of a folk-tale hero may have a
bearing upon his story.
Thus Chiconquiauitl (“Seven-rains” or “All-weathers”) may portend the
varied climatic conditions which the chapman has to face; Xomocuitl
(“Caught-drake”) the kind of fare he may expect in an unfrequented
country; Naxtit (“Four-feet”) may typify endurance in walking;
Cochimetl, (Sleeping-maguey) may apply to the leaves of the
maguey-plant which shaded the traveller from the heat during his
noonday siesta, or from the wind if he used them to construct a
temporary shelter, as was often done; Yacapitzanac (“Sharp-nose”) needs
little explanation in connection with the peddler’s calling, and the
name of the one goddess of the series, Chalmecaciuatl, is evidently
that of a tribal deity of the Chalmeca, with whom the Mexicans traded.