Figure 5

My growing conviction that the Bear constellations had furnished the

archetype of the different forms of swastika and cross-symbols, found

subsequent support when I referred to the map showing the geographical

distribution of the ancient symbol published by Prof. Thomas Wilson in his

valuable and comprehensive monograph on the subject,(1) to which I am

indebted for much information and several illustrations (pl. II, _a-f_,

etc.). The map, reproduced here (fig. 5), proves that, with two

exceptions, which can be attributed to a migration southward, the

employment of the swastika has been confined to the northern hemisphere,

_i. e._, precisely to that portion of our globe from which the circumpolar

constellations are visible.

[Illustration.]

Figure 6. Star-Map, Representing The Precessional Movement Of The

Celestial Pole From The Year 4000 B.C. To The Year 2000 A.D. (_From Piazzi

Smyth_.)

The interesting possibility of being able to determine, approximately, the

date in the world’s history when the swastika began to be employed as a

symbol, next occurred to me. Piazzi Smyth’s star-map, discussed and

reproduced in Professor Lockyer’s work already cited (fig. 6), illustrates

the changes of direction of the earth’s axis in space, which gives rise to

what is called the precession of the equinoxes and has a cycle of

something like 25,000 or 26,000 years. Reference to this star-map (fig. 6)

proved that the observations, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a

symbol, could not possibly have been made until after Ursa Major had

become circumpolar, about 4,000 B.C. At that period, when Draconis was the

pole-star, the circle described about it by Ursa Major was considerably

closer than it is at present. The accompanying illustrations (fig. 7),

subject to correction, demonstrate the relative distance of the

constellation about 2,770 B.C., 1,800 B.C., and 2,000 A.D., and show how

much more strikingly impressive the polar region of the heavens was in

remote antiquity.

[Illustration.]

Figure 7.

Let us now briefly review some of the ideas which would naturally suggest

themselves to the mind of the primitive observer, after he had recognized

the apparent immovability of the polar-star, concentrated his attention

upon this feature, and contrasted it with the varying motions of all other

celestial bodies in general and with the rotation of the circumpolar

star-groups in particular.

This recognition would lead to his gradually learning to utilize Polaris

as a means of ascertaining direction. His appreciation of valuable

guidance rendered in perilous wanderings would develop feelings of trust,

dependence and gratitude towards the one changeless star which permanently

rendered valuable services and under whose guidance difficult and

essential nocturnal expeditions could be safely undertaken. Superiority

and, eventually, extensive supernatural power would more and more be

attributed to it, as knowledge was gained of the laws of motion from which

it alone seemed to be exempt. This exemption would cause it to be viewed

as superior to all other heavenly bodies and even to the sun, and it is

easy to see how this idea, becoming predominant, might cause the cult of

the pole-star to disestablish an organized sun-cult amongst some tribes.

Historical evidence, to which I shall revert more fully proves, indeed,

that a native American ruler and reformer actually employed the following

reasoning in order to convert his council and people from the worship of

the sun to that of a superior divinity which could have been no other but

Polaris: “It is not possible that the sun should be the God who created

all things, for if so he would sometimes rest and light up the whole world

from one spot. Thus it cannot be otherwise but that there is someone who

directs him and this truly is the true Creator.”

These words shed a whole flood of light upon primitive religious ideas at

an early stage of development. They prove that the association of repose

and immovability with the supreme power signified a radical change of

thought, based upon prolonged astronomical observation, and indicated

intellectual advancement. Attempts to render the new idea objective, to

express it and impress it upon the multitude, would naturally end in the

production of images of the supernatural power, representing or typifying

immovability, changelessness, strength combined with absolute repose.

It is thus rendered evident what a deep significance may be embodied in

the rudest images of supernatural beings in attitudes of repose, since a

prolonged course of astronomical observation and reasoning may have

preceded their production.

Simultaneously with the recognition of Polaris as an immutable centre of

axial energy, the rotatory movement of Ursa Major must have excited

interest and observation. It was inevitable that star-gazers should

gradually recognize a constant agreement between certain positions of Ursa

Major and Cassiopeia after dusk for instance, and the annual recurrence of

rain, verdure and bountiful food-supplies.

The members of a tribe who, more observant than others, had learned to

associate certain positions of these constellations with the seasons and,

as a consequence, were able to decide when expeditions to distant

localities, in quest of game or fruit, might be successfully undertaken,

would naturally assume leadership and command obedience and respect.

The sense of responsibility, superiority and, possibly, rivalry would act

upon such individuals as a powerful incentive to further observation and

thought and it is evident that, as their mental faculties expanded and one

generation transmitted its store of accumulated knowledge to the next, a

regular caste of astronomer-leaders would develop, with a tendency to

conceal the secrets of their power from the ignorant majority. A broken

line, carved on a rock by one of these primitive observers, would have

constituted a valuable secret note of the position of Ursa Major on a

memorable occasion and would be looked upon as a mystic or magical sign by

the uninitiated. A series of such inscriptions might represent the store

of astronomical knowledge accumulated by several generations of observers,

and it is interesting to recognize that such astronomical records as these

were probably the first which men were impelled to perpetuate in a lasting

form; since it was absolutely necessary that they should be permanently

available for reference at prolonged intervals of time. What is more, the

mere fact of being obliged to refer to these inscriptions would cause the

astronomers to reside permanently in one locality. The habit of consulting

the prophet or oracle before undertaking important steps, involving the

welfare of the tribe, would gradually cause the rocks or cavern in which

he resided to be invested with a certain sacredness.

It is thus evident that the first men, who rudely scratched the outline of

Ursa Major or Minor on a rock, took what was probably one of the most

momentous steps in the history of the human race, and it is easy to see

how a variety of combinations of circumstances would have led many men, in

widely-separated localities and at different periods of the world’s

history, to perform precisely the same action. In some cases, under

favorable surroundings, the rudimentary attempt would mark the starting

point for a long line of patient observation and study, which would

inevitably lead to the creation of centres of intellectual growth, to the

association of the different positions of the constellation with the

seasons and culminate in the habitual employment of a swastika as the sign

for a year, or cycle of time.(2)

The idea of rotation, associated with calendar signs and periods, finds

its most striking and convincing exemplification in the following

description of the ancient Mexican game “of those who fly,” translated

from Clavigero (op. et ed. cit. p. 236). This performance, which furnished

a diversion to the Spaniards after the Conquest, had evidently been,

originally, connected with religious ideas. “The Indians selected a tall,

stout and straight tree, and, lopping off its branches, planted it firmly

in the centre of the great square” (which was always situated in the

centre of the city and had four roads leading to it from the four

quarters). “On the summit they placed a large cylinder of wood, the shape

of which was compared by the Spaniards to that of a mortar. Four strong

ropes hung from this and supported a square frame composed of four wooden

beams. Four other ropes were fastened by one end to the pole itself and

wound around it thirteen times. Their loose ends were passed through holes

in the middle of each beam and hung from these. Four Indians, masked as

eagles or other birds, ascended the pole singly, by means of certain loops

of cord, and mounting on the cylinder they performed in this perilous

position a few dance-like movements. Each man then attached himself to the

loose end of one of the hanging ropes, and then, with a violent jerk and

at the same moment, the four men cast themselves into space from their

positions on the beams. This simultaneous movement caused the frame and

cylinder to revolve and uncoil the ropes to which the men were fastened

and these descended to the ground after performing a series of widening

circles in the air. Meanwhile a fifth individual, who had mounted the

wooden cylinder after the others, stood on this as it revolved, beating a

small drum with one hand, whilst he held a banner aloft with the other.”

Whilst it is obvious that this peculiar and dangerous performance clearly

symbolized axial rotation, typified by the revolving pivot and the four

men in aërial motion, its full meaning and intention are only made clear

by the following explanation recorded by Clavigero. “The essential point

in this game was to calculate so exactly the height of the pole and the

length of the ropes, that the men should describe precisely thirteen

circles each before reaching the ground, so as to represent the cycle (of

4×13=)52 years.”

This passage constitutes absolute proof that the Mexican Calendar system

was intimately associated with axial rotation and ideas such as could only

have been derived from observation of Polaris and of the circumpolar

constellations. The game itself was a beautiful and well-conceived

illustration of the flight of time, typified by the aërial circles

performed by the men masked as birds, and of its methodical division into

fixed periods.

Leaving the subject of the calendar for the present we must revert to my

tables recording the apparent annual and nocturnal axial rotation of the

circumpolar constellations.

Whilst studying these the reflection naturally arose, that the people who

observed Ursa Major must have paid equal attention to Cassiopeia and

noticed that these constellations ever occupied opposite positions to each

other as they circled around the pole. Dwelling on the fact that in

ancient Mexico Ursa Major was associated with an ocelot, I remembered the

many representations in which an ocelot is represented as confronting an

eagle, usually in mortal combat. Mexican war-chiefs were classed into two

equally honorable grades, designated as the “ocelots and the quauhtlis,

_i. e._, eagles.” The constellation of Cassiopeia presents to me, a marked

resemblance to the image of a bird with outspread wings, whose head is

turned toward Polaris. The fact that when this star-group seems to be

above, Ursa Major seems to be below, and _vice versa_, would obviously

suggest the idea of an eternal combat between two adversaries who

alternately succumbed and resuscitated. It was interesting on reasoning

further, to note that once the above idea had taken root it must have been

impossible not to associate in course of time, the quadruped and the bird

with the elements to which they seemed to pertain, and gradually to

conceive the idea of an everlasting antagonism between the powers of the

sky and of the earth, or light and darkness, and other opposites which

suggested themselves naturally, or were artificially created, by the

fertile mind of man. In this connection it should be observed that the

mythical adversary of Tezcatlipoca, the ocelot, designated as Ursa Major,

is Huitzilopochtli, whose idol, in the Great Temple of Mexico, represented

him masked as a hummingbird (see Atlas Duran). The special reason why this

bird became associated with the god is explained by the following passage

in Gomara (Histoire générale des Indes. Paris, 1584, chap. 96, p. 190):

“This bird died, or rather fell asleep in the month of October and

remained attached by its feet to a twig. It awakened again in April when

the flowers blossomed. For this reason, in the language of the country it

is named Huitzitzilin, the resuscitated.” We therefore see that whilst it

is stated in the myth that the ocelot arose again after having been cast

down from the sky by Huitzilopochtli, the very name of the latter

betokened that the bird-god had also only just “resuscitated” from a

presumably similar defeat.

[Illustration.]

Figure 8.

As one and the same object may suggest several resemblances at the same

time or consecutively, and thus give rise to a group of associations

around a single figure, I venture to point out that the zigzag form of

Cassiopeia may well have been compared to forked lightning and caused the

idea of lightning and thunder to become indissolubly connected with the

conception of a great celestial bird. Again there is the possibility that

the same star-group may have more strikingly suggested, to other people,

the idea of the winding body of a serpent describing a perpetual circle

around a central star. In Mexico, as elsewhere, we find the serpent

closely associated with the idea of time. It is represented as encircling

the calendar wheel published by Clavigero (fig. 8). Four loops, formed of

its body, mark the four divisions of the year. Twin serpents, whose heads

and tails almost meet, are sculptured around the famous calendar-stone of

Mexico. Four serpents whose bent bodies form a large swastika and whose

heads are directed towards a central figure, are represented in the Codex

Borgia in association with calendar-signs (fig. 9, _cf._ Féjérvary, p.

24). I shall have occasion to refer in detail to Mexican serpent-symbolism

further on.

Meanwhile I would submit the interesting results obtained on combining the

positions apparently assumed by the circumpolar constellations during a

single night. The tables exhibit four composite groups representing the

positions at the solstitial and equinoctial periods (fig. 10).

[Illustration.]

Figure 9.

[Illustration.]

Figure 10.

The night of the winter solstice, the longest of the year, yielded alone a

symmetrical figure. It resembled the well-known triskelion, the

companion-symbol of the swastika (figs. 10 and 11). Just as this had

proved to be the most natural of year symbols, so the triskelion revealed

itself as a natural sign of the winter solstice, the period recognized and

celebrated by most inhabitants of the northern hemisphere as the

turning-point of the year. In a climate like that of Mexico and Central

America, however, where the year divided itself naturally into a dry and a

rainy season, it is evident that the winter solstice would be less

observed and that the ardently-desired recurrence of the rainy season,

after a long and trying period of drought, should be regarded as the

annual event of utmost importance. Indeed, if carefully looked into, the

entire religious cult of these people seems to express but one great

struggling cry to the God of Nature for life-giving rain, and a hymn of

thanksgiving for the annual, precious, but uncertain gift of water.

[Illustration.]

Figure 11.

To these supplicants the winter solstice betokened little or nothing and

it is not surprising to find no proofs of the employment of the triskelion

as a sacred symbol in ancient Mexico. On the other hand, it has been

traced by Mr. Willoughby on pottery from Arkansas, and in Scandinavia,

where the circumpolar constellations have doubtlessly been observed from

remote times, and the winter solstice has ever been hailed as the herald

of coming spring, the triskelion is often found associated with the

swastika.

[Illustration.]

Figure 12.

I am indebted to Prof. Thomas Wilson’s work already cited for the two

following illustrations of objects exhibiting this association. The first

is a spearhead found in Brandenburg, Germany (fig. 12). The second is a

bronze brooch from Scandinavia, to which I shall presently revert (fig.

13). It exhibits, besides the triskelion, swastika and circle, the

S-shaped figure which was, as I shall show further on, the sign actually

employed by the ancient Mexicans and Mayas as the image of the

constellation Ursa Minor, whose outline it indeed effectually reproduces.

Before referring to the Mexican and Maya representations of the

star-group, I would next demonstrate that the sacred numbers of Mexico,

and of other countries situated in the northern hemisphere, coincide

exactly with the number of stars in the circumpolar constellations

themselves and in simple combinations of the same.

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor each contains seven stars, and the number seven

is the most widely-spread sacred number. Ancient traditions record that

the race inhabiting Mexico consisted of seven tribes who traced their

separate origins to seven caves, situated in the north. In memory of

these, at the time of the Conquest, there were seven places of sacrifice

in the city of Mexico. I shall recur to the number seven further on, in

discussing the native social organization, and now direct attention to the

five stars of Cassiopeia and to the fact that the combination of the stars

in this constellation with Polaris and Ursa Major yields the number

thirteen. This result is specially interesting since the entire

Calendar-system of Mexico and Yucatan is based on the combination of the

numerals 13+7=20, the latter again being 4×5.

[Illustration.]

Figure 13.

On the other hand the same number, 13, is also obtained by the combination

of the Ursæ star-groups with Polaris. The number 5 is constantly yielded

by Cassiopeia and the four-fold repetitions of the groups supply the

suggestion of the number 4. The combination of Ursa Minor and Cassiopeia

yields 12. The accompanying figure exhibits swastikas composed of Ursa

Minor accompanied by Ursa Major and Cassiopeia separated and combined

(fig. 14). I next direct attention to the peculiar difference in the

numerical values of the Ursæ swastikas.

In the first, the central star, surrounded by four repetitions of the

seven-star constellation, yielded a total of twenty-nine stars—4x5+9.

Further combinations will be seen by a glance at the Ursa Major swastika

(fig. 4). The analysis of the Ursa Minor swastika is not so simple and

occasions a certain perplexity.

When I had first combined the four positions of this constellation, I had,

naturally, and without further thought, figured Polaris but once, as the

fixed centre, whereas I had repeated the other stars of the compact group

four times. It was not until I began to count the stars in the swastika

that I realized how I had, unconsciously, made one central star stand for

four, and thus deprived the composite group of the numerical value of

three stars. On the other hand, if I repeated the entire constellation

four times, I obtained a swastika with four repetitions of Polaris in the

middle. In this way, however, Polaris became displaced, and the idea of a

fixed centre was entirely lost. A third possible method of composing the

swastika was to allow one central star for each cross-arm. But this gave

two central stars, each of which would represent two stars. Unless

enclosed in a circle and considered as a central group by themselves, the

four and the two repetitions of Polaris could not convey the idea of a

pivot or fixed centre. The three respective numerical values obtained from

these experimental combinations were 4×6+1=25, 4×7=28, and finally 2×13 or

4×6+2=26. In each swastika the central star forcibly stood for and

represented two or four (fig. 15).

[Illustration.]

Figure 14.

In the triskelions the same perplexity arose: if Polaris was repeated, the

idea of a fixed centre was lost (fig. 15); if figured singly, it

nevertheless necessarily and inevitably stood as an embodiment of three

stars. Reasoning from my own experience, I could but perceive, in the

foregoing facts, a fruitful and constant source of mental suggestions, the

natural outcome of which would be the association of the central star with

an enhanced numerical value, and a familiarity with the idea of one star

being an embodiment of two, three or four.

[Illustration.]

Figure 15.

As the evolution of religious thought and symbolism progressed, this idea

would obviously lead to the conception of a single being uniting several

natures in his person. In this connection it is certainly extremely

interesting to find the serpent associated with the Calendar in Mexico and

Yucatan, its Nahuatl name being homonymous for twin, _i. e._ two, and the

Maya for serpent, _can_ or _cam_, being homonymous for the number four.

The serpent was, therefore, in both countries the most suggestive and

appropriate symbol which could possibly have been employed in pictography,

to convey the idea of dual or quadruple natures embodied in a single

figure.(3) Added to this the circumstance that, to the native mind, the

serpent, upon merely shedding its skin, lived again, we can understand why

the ancient Mexicans not only employed it as a symbol of an eternal

renewal or continuation of time and of life, but also combined it with the

idea of fecundity and reproductiveness. In Yucatan where the Maya for

serpent, _can_, is almost homonymous with _caan_=sky or heaven and the

adjective _caanlil_=celestial, divine, the idea of a divine or celestial

serpent would naturally suggest itself. It is therefore not surprising to

find, in both countries, the name of _serpent_ bestowed as a title upon a

supreme, celestial embodiment of the forces of nature and its image

employed to express this association in objective form. In Yucatan one of

the surnames of Itzamná, the supreme divinity, was Canil, a name clearly

related to _caanlil_=divine and _can_=serpent.

In Mexico the duality and generative force implied by the word “coatl” are

clearly recognizable in the native invocations addressed to “Our lord

Quetzalcoatl the Creator and Maker or Former, who dwells in heaven and is

the lord of the earth [Tlaltecuhtli]; who is our celestial father and

mother, great lord and great lady, whose title is Ome-Tecuhtli [literally,

two-lord=twin lord] and Ome-Cihuatl [literally, two-lady=twin lady”]

(Sahagun, book VI, chaps. 25, 32 and 34).

The following data will suffice to render it quite clear that the Mexicans

and Mayas employed the serpent as an expressive symbol merely, signifying

the generative force of the Creator to whom alone they rendered homage. It

is no less an authority than Friar Bartholomew de las Casas who maintained

that “in many parts of the [American] Continent, the natives had a

particular knowledge of the true God; they believed that He created the

Universe and was its Lord and governed it. And it was to Him they

addressed their sacrifices, their cult and homage, in their

necessities...” (Historia Apologetica, chap. 121).

Friar Bartholomew specially adds that this was the case in Mexico

according to the authority of Spanish missionaries and no one can doubt

that this was the case when they read that in the native invocations,

preserved by Sahagun, the supreme divinity is described as “invisible and

intangible, like the air, like the darkness of night,” or as the “lord who

is always present in all places, who is [as impenetrable as] an abyss, who

is named the wind [air or breath] and the night.” “All things obey him,

the order of the universe depends upon his will—he is the creator,

sustainer, the omnipotent and omniscient.” He is termed “the father and

mother of all,” “the great god and the great goddess,” “our lord and

protector who is most powerful and most humane,”—“our lord in whose power

it is to bestow all contentment, sweetness, happiness, wealth and

prosperity, because thou alone art the lord of all things.” One prayer

concludes thus: “Live and reign forever in all peace and repose thou who

art our lord, our shelter, our comfort, who art most kind, most bountiful,

invisible and impalpable!” (Sahagun, book VI, on the rhetoric, moral

philosophy and theology of the Mexicans, chaps. 1-40). It is related that,

in gratitude for the birth of a son, the ruler of Texcoco, Nezahual-coyotl

erected a temple to the Unknown God.... It consisted of nine stories, to

symbolize the nine heavens. The exterior of the tenth, which formed the

top of the nine other stories, was painted black with stars. Its interior

was encrusted with gold, precious stones and feathers and held “the said

god, who was unknown, unseen, shapeless and formless” (Ixtlilxochitl,

Historia Chichimeca ed. Chavero, p. 227; see also p. 244). A passage in

Sahagun (book VI, chap. VII) states that “the invisible and imageless god

of the Chichimecs was named Yoalli-ehecatl [literally, night-air or wind],

which means the invisible and impalpable god ... by whose virtue all live,

who directs by merely exerting his wisdom and will.” In the Codex Fuenleal

(chap. 1) the remarkable title of “wheel of the winds=Yahualliehecatl,” is

recorded as “another name for Quetzalcoatl.” This undeniably proves that

the Mexicans not only figured the Deity by the image of a serpent but also

thought of him as a wheel which obviously symbolized centrical force,

rotation, lordship over the four quarters, _i. e._, universal rulership.

[Illustration.]

Figure 16.

Returning from these ideas of later development to the primitive source of

their suggestion, let us now examine the native picture of Xonecuilli,

Ursa Minor, preserved in the unpublished Academia MS. of Sahagun’s

Historia, in Madrid (fig. 16, no. 1). It is an exact representation of the

star-group. The fact that the seven stars are figured of the same size in

accurate relation to each other, either proves that the eyesight of the

native astronomers was extremely keen and their atmosphere remarkably

clear, or that possibly, the minor stars of the group were more brilliant

in ancient times, than they are now. Astronomers tell us, for instance,

that as late as the seventeenth century the star in the body of Ursa Major

nearest to the tail, was as bright as the others, while it is now of the

fourth magnitude only.

It must be admitted that the shape of the constellation resembles an S. An

SS sign is mentioned by Sahagun (Historia, book VIII, chap. 8) as

occurring frequently, as a symbolical design on native textile fabrics. It

figures as such, in the black garments of the female consort of

Mictlantecuhtli in the Vienna Codex, pp. 23 and 33. He denounces it as

suspect and hints that it was intimately connected with the ancient

religion.

S-shaped sacred cakes, called Xonecuilli, were made during the feast of

Macuilxochitl=five flowers, and are figured (fig. 16, no. 2) in the B. N.

MS. (p. 69) with a four-cornered cross-shaped cake of a peculiar form

(fig. 20, III), which is found associated with five dots or circles in the

Codices and also with the Tecpatl-symbol of the North (fig. 20, I and II).

A recurved staff, which is held in the hand of a deity in the B. N. MS. is

designated in the text as a _xonoquitl_ (fig. 16, no. 3). Amongst the

insignia of the “gods,” sent as presents by Montezuma to Cortés upon his

landing at Vera Cruz, were three such recurved “sceptres,” the

descriptions of which I have collated and translated in my paper on the

Atlatl or Spear-thrower of the Ancient Mexicans (Peabody Museum Papers,

vol. 1, no. 3, Cambridge, 1891, p. 22). In this work I presented my

reasons for concluding that these recurved sceptres were ceremonial forms

of the atlatl. I now perceive that they were endowed with deeper

significance and meaning. The Nahuatl text of Sahagun’s Laurentian MS. of

the Historia de la Conquista (lib. XII, chap. IV) records the name of one

of these staffs as “hecaxonecuilli,” literally “the curved or bent over,

air or wind,” and describes it as made of “bent or curved wood, inlaid

with stars formed of white jade=chalchihuite.” This passage authorizes the

conclusion that four representations in the B. N. MS. of black recurved

sceptres, exhibiting a series of white dots, are also heca-xonoquitl,

inlaid with stars, and that all of these are none other but conventional

representations of the constellation Xonecuilli, the Ursa Minor. In each

case the deity, carrying the star-image, also displays the ecacozcatl the

“jewel of the wind,” the well-known symbol of the wind-god. In one of

these pictures (p. 50) he not only bears in his hand the star-image, but

also exhibits a star-group on his head-dress, consisting of a

central-star, on a dark ground, surrounded by a blue ring. Attached to

this against a dark ground, six other stars are depicted, making seven in

all. In connection with this star-group it is interesting to note that the

hieroglyph, designated by Fra Diego de Landa as “the character with which

the Mayas began their count of days or calendar and named Hun-Imix,”

furnishes a case of an identical though inverted group (Relacion de las

Cosas de Yucatan, ed. B. de Bourbourg, p. 237). Enclosed in a black ring,

the glyph displays, above, a large black dot with six smaller ones grouped

in a semicircle about it, and below, four perpendicular bars.

Subject to correction, I am inclined to interpret this glyph as a hieratic

sign for the constellation Ursa Minor and its four movements, and to

consider it as furnishing a valuable proof of the origin of the Maya

Calendar.

The seemingly inappropriate procedure of figuring shining stars by black

dots actually furnishes the strongest proof that a star group is thus

represented; for, in the Maya language, “ek” is a homonym for star and

black, and a black spot was, in consequence, the most expressive sign for

a star. This fact affords a valuable explanation of the reason why the

ocelot, whose skin is spotted with black, was employed as the figure of

the nocturnal sky, and clearly proves that the Mexicans adopted this

symbol and its meaning from the Mayas.

[Illustration.]

Figure 17.

We will now revert to the S-shaped sign. Its association with images of

star is further exemplified in Mexican Codices. It occurs on the wall of a

temple, in combination with symbols for stars and the North-Mictlan, which

consist in this case, of skulls and cross-bones (fig. 17, II).

In the Dresden Codex, of Maya origin, there is an extremely important page

on which the S-sign occurs in connection with twin deities, besides rain

and cross symbols (fig. 17, I). A careful examination of the group shows

that one of the seated figures is accompanied by a downpour of water

(painted blue in the original), besides the S-symbol which is also

repeated above the head of his companion. Higher up, on the same page, the

S occurs again in a group of glyphs alongside of twin-seated figures.

These, as well as the single-seated form beneath them, have an eye or a

large black spot surmounted by dots instead of a head (Vocabulaire de

l’écriture hiératique de Yucatan, p. 38). Monsieur Léon de Rosny has

identified this figure, which also occurs in the Codex Troano, as the

image of the supreme divinity of the Mayas, of whom more anon, one of

whose titles was Kin-ich-ahau, literally Sun-eye lord.

A similar sign consisting of the lower half of a human body seated, with a

large eye on its knees is repeated several times in the Borgian Codex.

This form is also figured as seated in a temple, without the eye-star, but

three stars are on the roof and the S-sign is on the lower wall of the

building (Borgian Codex, p. 16).

The above facts demonstrate that, in both MSS. derived from different

sources, the same association of ideas is expressed.(4) The S sign appears

in connection with twin- or single-seated forms, surmounted by a symbol

for star. It is unnecessary for me to lay further stress upon the obvious

facts: that the only celestial body which could possibly have been

associated with a seated form, suggesting repose, was Polaris. It is,

moreover, only by assuming that the sign of the seated star represents the

stationary pole-star that its combination in the Codices with the

S-sign—Xonecuilli—Ursa Minor, can be understood. I likewise draw attention

to the possibility that the S, or single representation of the

constellation, may well have been employed as a sign for the summer

solstice, since, in some localities, during the shortest night of the

year, Ursa Minor may have been visible in one position only. Assuming that

the triskelion was the sign for the winter solstice we should thus have

natural signs for the two nights marking the turning-points of light and

darkness in the year.

Reverting to fig. 17, I, from the Codex Dresdenis, I draw attention that

it furnishes definite proof that the Mayas associated the idea of the

immovable seated star with twin deities and that they connected the

S-symbol with cross and rain symbols. A striking combination of the latter

symbols is represented under the principal seated figures. It consists of

a diagonal cross traversed perpendicularly by a band of blue water.

[Illustration.]

Figure 18.

Further Maya cross-symbols should be cursorily examined here, viz: fig.

18, I, II, III, VI, VII and VIII. They will be found to consist of

variations of two fundamental types, often figured alongside of each other

and enclosed in a square, or circle. One type consists of two diagonally

crossed bars, plain or representing cross bones (I). A rectilinear cross

with interlaced circle (II) is also found. The other type exhibits a small

cross, square, circle or dot in the centre of the square with a circle in

each corner. In some cases these are united by a series of dots to the

central circle and thus form a diagonal cross (VI and VIII) which is

sometimes figured as contained in a flower with four petals, such as is

also found in Mexican symbolism. The diagonal, dotted cross is frequently

combined with four pairs of black bars, placed in the middle of each side

of the square, pointing towards the centre. Similar pairs of black bars

are figured in the B. N. MS. (p. 3) on the manta of Mictlantecuhtli, with

stars, around one of his symbols, a spider. They likewise recur on two of

several sacrificial papers on p. 69, amongst which one exhibits a diagonal

cross, another the S-sign, while others display realistic drawings of

stars with six or eight points.

The pairs of bars figure in the hieroglyph designated by Maya scholars as

the sign for _Kin_, the sun, which may be seen in the centre of large

diagonal cross-symbols in fig. 18, VII, VIII, from the Dresden Codex: The

cross, of fig. 18, VII, is composed of two bones and two arrowpoints, a

particularly interesting combination considering that in the Maya a bone

is _bak_, an arrow is _kab-cheil_ and the name given to the gods of the

four quarters “the sustainers of the world,” is _Bakab_. It cannot be

denied that the phonetic elements of this name occur in the words for

bones and arrows which form the cross, symbolic of the four quarters. In

fig. 18, VIII, the cross may be composed of four bones, but of this I am

not certain. In both cases, however, the crosses rest on a curious double

and parti-colored symbol and are associated with serpent signs, in which

the open jaws and teeth are prominent features. It is noteworthy that

while “can” or “cam” is the Maya for serpent, the word “camach” means jaw.

The figure consisting of the upper jaw only of a serpent, in the left hand

corner of the band above, fig. 18, VIII, proves, therefore, to be a

cursive phonetic sign for serpent.

The parti-colored symbol combined with the cross obviously signifies a

duality, such as light and darkness, the Above and the Below and a series

of dualities—possibly the two divisions of the year, the dry and rainy

seasons. In Mexico we are authorized by documentary evidence, to give a

wider and deeper interpretation to the symbol of duality, for it can be

absolutely proven that the Mexican philosophers divided the heavens into

two imaginary portions, and respectively identified these with the male

and female principles.

In Nahuatl the West was designated as Cihuatlampa, “the place or part of

the women.” The souls of the women who had earned immortality were

supposed to dwell there, whilst the souls of the men resided in the East.

In the appendix to book III of Sahagun’s Historia, it is described how,

according to the native belief, the souls of the male warriors hailed the

daily appearance of the sun above the eastern horizon, and escorted it to

Nepantla, the zenith. Here the souls of the women awaited it and assumed

the duty of escorting the sun to the western horizon, the symbol for which

was calli=the house. The above passage indicates that the native

philosophers imagined across the middle of the sky a line of demarcation,

separating the portions of the heaven respectively allotted to the male

and female souls. For four years after death these souls retained their

human form, and then, after passing through nine successive heavens,

entered into the celestial paradise where they assumed the forms of

different kinds of butterflies and humming-birds. The names of these are

enumerated in the Nahuatl text of Sahagun’s Laurentian MS. (book III).(5)

The symbolism of the humming-bird has already been explained by a passage

cited from Gomara’s Historia. In this connection it is extremely

interesting to find the humming-bird represented in the B. N. MS., as

sucking honey from a flower, which is attached by a cord, covered with

bird’s down, to a bone, the symbol of death.

This peculiar but expressive group of symbols figures only on the

head-dresses of deities wearing certain other symbols, amongst which we

find the Eca-cozcatl and Eca-xonequilli the image of Ursa Minor, already

described.

The merest indication of the association of a circumpolar constellation

with the idea of death (disappearance) and resurrection (re-appearance) is

of special interest, since the ancient Mexicans located the Underworld,

the “place of the dead,” in the North. Reflection showed, however, that

such an association could only have suggested itself to the minds of

star-observers living in southern latitudes, approximate to the equator,

or in localities where the northern horizon was more or less shut off from

view by intervening mountains. In such places Polaris would appear

comparatively close to the boundary-line of the northern sky so that the

Ursa constellations and Cassiopeia would be invisible to the local

astronomers at midnight during that period of the year when one or the

other of the star-groups seemingly stretched between Polaris and the

northern horizon. A glance at plate I shows that, at the present time, it

is about the period of the autumnal equinox that Ursa Minor would be

invisible at midnight, in such localities, while Ursa Major would

gradually disappear from view towards midnight, during a certain number of

nights, according to latitude and locality, between the autumnal equinox

and the winter solstice whilst Cassiopeia would seem to hover above the

horizon. The total or partial alternate periodical disappearance of the

two most familiar star-groups in the extreme North and their re-appearance

after sometimes regular intervals of time could but have made a profound

impression upon primitive astronomers and thinkers. Whilst the mere

periodical reversal of the positions of Cassiopeia and Ursa Major

suggested alternate victory and defeat, the actual though brief and

partial disappearance of either star-group must have appeared to be a

descent into an under-ground space, associated with darkness and death,

followed by a resurrection. In his Cronica, Tezozomoc records, besides

Mictlan (the land of the dead), another name for the underworld,

Opochcal-ocan, literally, the place of the house to the left. This

appellation can only be understood when it is realized that, in a

sufficiently southern latitude, an observer, watching the setting of a

circumpolar constellation below the horizon, would always see it disappear

to his left and subsequently rise to his right. It is evident that in time

this fact would give rise to the association of the left with the

underworld, the lower region, and the right with the region above. The

native idea of a dwelling in the underworld is further demonstrated by the

bestowal of the symbol _calli_=house, upon the western horizon below which

all heavenly bodies were seen to disappear. A definite connection between

the West and one half of the North being thus established, it would

naturally result that a corresponding union of the South and East would be

thought of in time, and that these quarters would become associated with

the rising of celestial bodies, _i. e._, with light, the Above, while the

opposite quarters became identified with their setting, _i. e._, with

darkness, the Below.

Pausing to review the foregoing conclusions, which I have shown to be the

natural and inevitable result of simple but prolonged astronomical

studies, observation and plain reasoning, we see that they led to a

conception of the Cosmos as divided into seven parts, _i. e._, the fixed

Centre, the pivot, primarily suggested by Polaris who was regarded as the

creative, generative and ruling power of the universe; the Four Quarters,

seemingly ruled by the central force and associated with the elements; the

Above and the Below, suggested by the rising and setting of celestial

bodies and associated with light and darkness, sky and earth, etc., etc.

Many of my readers will doubtless recognize at once that the above

organization of the Cosmos into the Centre or Middle, the Above and the

Below, and the Four Quarters, is precisely that which the Zuñi priests

taught Mr. Frank Cushing, when they initiated him into their secret

beliefs. Other explorers have recorded the same conception amongst

different native American tribes and with these proofs that this set of

ideas is still held on our Continent at the present time, I point out the

fact that the Maya figures (fig. 18, VII and VIII, from the Dresden Codex)

become perfectly intelligible only when interpreted as representing the

Centre, the Four Quarters, the Above and the Below, the latter figured by

the dark and light halves of the dual sign. Furthermore, I can demonstrate

that this fundamental set of elementary, abstract ideas, furnishing the

first principles of organization, is plainly visible under the surface of

the ancient Mexican civilization and can be traced not only in Yucatan and

Central America, but also in Peru. In these countries, as I shall show, it

assumed an absolute dominion over the minds of the native sages, directly

suggesting the forms of government and social organization existing at the

time of the Conquest and faintly surviving to the present day. It entirely

controlled the development of aboriginal religious cult and philosophical

speculations and pervaded not only the native architecture and decorative

art, but also all superstitious rites and ceremonies, and entered into the

very games and pastimes of the people.

The following table presents the bare outline of the scheme of

organization exposed in the preceding text. In making it I have, after due

consideration, definitely adopted the assignment of the Mexican symbols

and colors to the cardinal points given by Friar Duran in the

Calendar-swastika contained in his atlas and reproduced (pl. II, _g_).

Each of these is North; West; South; then East.

Symbols: Tecpatl, Flint; Calli, House; Acatl, Cane; Tochtli,

Rabbit.

Colors: Red; Yellow; Blue; Green.

Elements: Fire; Earth; Air; Water.

Warmth; Darkness; Breath; Rain.

Together, North and West are The Below, the “female” region.

TEZCATLIPOCA=MICTLANTECUHTLI.

South and East are The Above, the “male” region, HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

Combined, they are The Centre.

The dual, generative, ruling and directive Force.

QUETZALCOATL.

The Divine Twin.

Before proceeding to examine more closely the great edifice of human

thought which was reared, in the course of centuries, on the ground plan

designated above, we must retrace our steps and consider what a deep

impression the gradual realization of the changes in the relative

positions of Polaris and certain familiar star-groups must have produced

upon those who were the first to realize them. Transporting ourselves back

to the gray dawn of civilization, let us endeavor to understand the

position of the native priest astronomers who, having received and

transmitted a set of religious and cosmical ideas, based on the assumption

of the absolute and eternal immutability of the centre of the heaven,

Polaris, gradually became aware that it also was subject to change,

evidently obeyed an unseen higher power and that the ancient order of

things, recorded by their predecessors, had actually passed away.

It is obvious that, in all centres of astronomical observation and

intellectual culture, a complete revolution of fundamental doctrine or

thought must have taken place. A period of painful misgivings and doubt

must have been passed through, during which an earnest and anxious

observation of all celestial bodies must have seemed imperative and

obligatory. Under such circumstances astronomy must have made great

strides and astronomical observation become the foremost and highest duty

of the intellectual leaders of the native races. Pyramids and temples

would be built for the purpose of verifying and recording the positions of

sun, moon, planets and stars, and the orientation of these buildings would

be carefully planned accordingly. Before obtaining glimpses of the great

evolution of religious thought which progressed on our Continent in olden

times, it is well to realize, by means of Piazzi Smyth’s map (fig. 6) that

the world ceased to possess a brilliantly conspicuous, absolutely

immovable pole-star for a prolonged period of time, stretching somewhere

between 500 B.C. and 1200 A.D.

The ancient native chronicles record that under “divine” leadership great

migrations of tribes took place within this period, the purpose of which

was to find a locality which fulfilled certain ardently-desired conditions

connected with religious cult.

From various centres of civilization in Mexico and Central America we also

hear different accounts of how, at different times, small bands of earnest

men, under a leader of superior intelligence, bent on a peaceable but

unexplained errand, arrived from distant regions and departed for an

unknown goal, after delaying just long enough to teach social organization

and impart a higher civilization to the tribes encountered on their

passage.

These preserved the memory of the _title_ of the leader, in their

different languages and he became the culture-hero of their tribe. The

fact that, in each case, these sages taught the ignorant tribes the

division of time and instituted the calendar, proves that they were

skilled in astronomy.

From a sentence uttered by Montezuma to the native astronomers whom he

termed “the Sons of the Night,” we learn that it was their custom “to

climb mountains” so as “to study the stars.” When one considers the full

import of the problems which had to be faced by these ancient sages, who

earnestly endeavored to account for the great changes which had taken

place in the heavens, within the memory of man, it seems natural to

suppose that many an expedition was undertaken for the purpose of

acquiring further astronomical knowledge, of finding, perhaps, the

immovable star which had been revered in past ages by the ancestors of the

native race.

The cult of Polaris may well have made such expeditions assume the aspect

of an imperative religious duty and sacred pilgrimage. As all expeditions

across Mexico and Central America would necessarily be limited by the

oceans and be fruitless as far as Polaris was concerned, it is obvious

that the line of exploration which would be ultimately adopted, would run

from south to north and _vice versa_. A small band of enthusiasts, setting

forth under the leadership of some of the most advanced thinkers of the

time, would undoubtedly have been prepared to devote their entire lives to

the object in view. As long as a single member of such an expedition

existed, he would be a powerful and active agent in spreading the

fundamental set of ideas derived from the observation of Polaris. In lapse

of time, by transmission, its influence might travel to a region too

remote perhaps for direct contact to have taken place.

If I have indulged in the foregoing line of conjecture and surmise, it is

because it is my purpose also to demonstrate, by absolute proof, that the

dominion of the above set of ideas extended over Yucatan, Honduras,

Guatemala and even reached Peru, where its influence is distinctly

visible.

It also extended far to the north in prehistoric times, for certain carved

shell-gorgets which have been found in prehistoric graves in Illinois,

Missouri and Tennessee exhibit emblems which have definite meanings in the

Maya language, spoken in Yucatan.

In order to maintain this assertion I must make a slight digression from

the main subject and revert to the myth already cited, recording the

casting down from heaven of Tezcatlipoca who arose and ascended again in

the form of an ocelot. There are interesting native pictures of this

combat and the fall of the ocelot in the Vatican Codex II, p. 34, the

Féjérvary Codex, p. 56, and others equally important, representing the

fall or descent of an eagle from the sky, to which I shall revert.

It is moreover recorded by Mendieta (p. 82) that Tezcatlipoca likewise

descended or let himself down from the sky by a spider’s thread, and in

the Bodleian MS. (p. 12) there are two curious pictures one of an ocelot

and a cobweb, the other of an ocelot, descending head foremost from stars.

The same incident is also pictured in the Vienna Codex (p. 9) where the

ocelot, attached by the tail, is connected by a cord with star-emblems.

There are two facts of special interest in regard to the above descent of

Tezcatlipoca by a spider’s thread. The first is that the title

Tzontemoc=“he who descends head foremost” is recorded in the Codex

Fuenleal immediately after the name Mictlantecuhtli. The second is that

the spider is figured on the manta of Mictlantecuhtli in the B. N. MS. and

is sculptured in the centre, above his forehead, in his sculptured image,

identified as such by Señor Sanchez (Anales del Museo Nacional III, p.

299) and reproduced here (fig. 19). It represents “the lord of the North

or Underworld” descending, head foremost, with a tecpatl or flint knife

issuing from his mouth and with outspread limbs, the outlines of which are

almost lost under the multitude of symbols which are grouped around him.

These symbols are carefully analyzed in my commentary on the B. N. MS. in

which I also describe other known carved representations of the same

conception and point out analogous pictures in the Maya Codices. The

position of the limbs of the descending figure is best understood by a

glance at fig. 20, II, from the Dresden Codex. It represents a bar with

cross symbols from which a human body is descending. The feet rest on dual

symbols, about which more could be written than the scope of the present

paper allows. A tecpatl or flint knife, attached to the body by a double

bow with ends, may be seen between the dual symbols, and its presence is

of utmost importance since it proves that the Mayas also associated the

flint with the same figure. Instead of a head the body exhibits a sort of

equidistant cross with four circles. Strange to say, the only analogous

cross-figures I have been able to find in all the Codices are those

reproduced in fig. 20, I, III, and IV. The latter exhibits a curious,

conventionalized flower growing on the top of a pyramid. Its stem and

leaves are painted brown and are spotted, resembling the skin of an

ocelot. As there is a Mexican flower, the Tigridia, of which the native

name was ocelo-xochitl, it may be that it is this which is thus

represented. Fig. 20, III, from the B. N. MS., figures as a sacred cake,

alongside of the S-shaped xonecuilli breads which were made in honor of

Ursa Minor at a certain feast. Finally, fig. 20, I, represents a certain

kind of ceremonial staff which is inserted between the two peaks of a

mountain—a favorite method employed by the native scribes, to convey the

idea that the object figured was in the exact centre. This kind of staff

occurs frequently in certain Codices, sometimes being carried by a high

priest. It invariably exhibits a flower-like figure with five circles and

is surmounted by a tecpatl or flint knife. Without pausing to discuss the

subject fully I merely point out here that, collectively, these symbols

explain each other and convey the idea of the Centre and the Four Quarters

evidently associated with the tecpatl, the symbol of the north, and the

ocelot and xonecuilli=Ursa Minor. It is particularly interesting to note

that the outspread human body is made to serve as a sort of cross-symbol.

A careful study of the conventional representation of the face of “the

lord of the North,” in fig. 19, gives the impression that it was also used

to convey the idea of duality, or the union of two in one. The upper half

of the face exhibits a numeral on either cheek under the eyes, seeming to

convey the idea of dualities. The two circular ear ornaments, united by a

band above the head, and the two nostrils united in one nose, seem to

convey the idea of the union of the dualities, whilst the lower half of

the face, which is rendered strikingly different to the upper, by being in

higher relief and marked with perpendicular lines, exhibits a mouth from

which a flint knife, with symbolical eye and fangs carved on it, is

hanging like a tongue. I have already shown that the flint knife was

regarded as the sacred producer of the “vital spark.” I may add here that

I have also found, in the Codices, tecpatl-symbols on which the curved

symbol of air or breath was figured. To my idea the sculptured face is

meant to symbolize the dual creator, the dispenser of the spark and breath

of life, whilst the human skull on his back betokens that he is also the

giver of death. Though unable to enter fully into the subject here, I

would nevertheless state that I can produce further data to prove that the

human face was frequently employed for a symbolical purpose by the native

American races who were evidently entirely under the dominion of the idea

of duality, of the Above and Below and the life-producing union of both.

[Illustration.]

Figure 19.

[Illustration.]

Figure 20.

The question why the spider, named “tocatl” in Nahuatl, should have been

adopted as the chief symbol of Mictlantecuhtli, occupied me much until I

found the clue to its significance in the Maya language. In this the word

for North is _Aman_ and the name for “the spider whose bite is mortal,” is

_Am_. This striking fact may be interpreted as a positive proof that the

spider-symbol, employed by the Mexicans, must have originated in Yucatan,

from the mere homonymy of two Maya words.

On the other hand shell-gorgets exhibiting the effigy of a spider, and

obviously intended to be worn with its head turned downwards, have not

only been found in Illinois but also in Tennessee and Missouri. On the

gorgets from the latter States a cross is carved on the body of the spider

(fig. 22, _a_). As certain spiders exhibit cross-markings, it is, of

course, possible that it was chosen as a cross-symbol for this reason

only, in some localities, just as the butterfly was evidently adopted in

Mexico, as an apt image of the Centre and the Four Quarters on account of

its shape and its possession of four wings. The conventionalized figure of

a butterfly, with a star on its body and four balls, painted with the

colors of the quarters, was a sacred symbol which is minutely described by

Sahagun and is figured on a manta in the B. N. MS. A glance at its

reproduction (fig. 21, no. 13) shows how the form of the insect has been

conventionalized so as to resemble the ollin (no. 12) and other Mexican

cross-symbols (nos. 2, 4, 11, 14 etc.). The eye or star in its centre,

like that in the ollin, and circle (no. 4), signify Polaris; the

conventionalized head and antennæ are obviously made to convey the idea of

“two in one,” of the Above and Below united in the Centre.

[Illustration.]

Figure 21.

I venture to suggest that the dragon-fly was employed as a cross-symbol in

an analogous manner, on the Algonquin garment preserved at the Riksmuseum,

Stockholm, and described by Dr. Hjalmar Stolpe in his admirable study on

American art (Amerikansk Ornamentik, Stockholm, 1896, p. 30). As I shall

revert to it later on, I now draw special attention to the circumstance

that instead of the cross, on a spider-gorget from Tennessee, there is a

round hole which, when the shell-disc is held aloft, lets a ray of light

shine through and furnishes an apt presentation of a star. This and the

cross furnish analogies to the Mexican and Maya symbols of Polaris which

are too obvious to need to be emphasized. Nor do these gorgets alone

furnish an undeniable indication that an identical symbolism extended from

Yucatan to Illinois. Other gorgets, also figured in Mr. Wm. H. Holmes’

monograph “Art in Shell,” several of which are in the Peabody Museum, from

the stone graves in Tennessee, exhibit variously carved representations of

a serpent. In all specimens the identical idea is carried out: the eye of

the serpent forms the centre of the design on the disc and four circles on

the body of the reptile, or four solid bars, interrupting a hollow line

encircling the central motif, emphasized a division of the disc into four

equal parts. The idea of the Serpent in repose, the Centre and the Four

Quarters is thoroughly carried out and the true meaning of the design is

only appreciated by the light of the Maya and Mexican symbolism which has

already been so fully discussed.

[Illustration.]

Figure 22.

The third Tennessee gorget reproduced here (fig. 22, _c_), from Mr.

Holmes’ work, exhibits a combination of numerals which is particularly

interesting if confronted with the sacred numbers of the Mexicans and

Mayas. From a central circle three curved lines issue in a fashion

resembling those on fig. 21, no. 2, but the fact that the circular band

exhibits seven double circles and the outer edge is divided into thirteen

parts, is of special moment. Still another design, on a shell-gorget from

Tennessee, not only exhibits the peculiarity, pointed out by Mr. Holmes,

of a square with loops, resembling certain figures in Mexican Codices, but

also other significant details which I shall point out (fig. 22, _b_). The

cross in the centre occupies the centre of a star with eight rays and the

four birds’ heads at the sides of the square illustrate rotation from

right to left. I am inclined to view in this gorget an emblem of Polaris

with Cassiopeia in rotation around it, figured as a bird, but whether this

is the case or not it must be conceded that it is indeed remarkable to

find a set of symbols, consisting of the spider, the cross, the serpent

and the bird, carved on prehistoric gorgets found in the United States

whilst the deep meaning of these identical symbols is furnished by Maya

and Mexican records. I venture to remark here that no more expressive and

appropriate ornament than these shell-gorgets could have been designed, or

worn by the ancient Maya or Mexican priests, prophets and leaders who, in

a remote past, had guided themselves by the light of Polaris and

instituted its cult as the basis of their native religion.

On realizing the above-mentioned identity of symbolism, it is impossible

not to conclude that the prehistoric race which inhabited certain parts of

the United States was under the dominion of the same ideas as were the

Mexicans and Mayas. The indications point, in fact, to the probability

that the origin of the employment of the spider-symbol originated in

Yucatan, and if this be admitted then there is no reason to deny the

possibility that the serpent-symbol came from there also, since the Maya

language suggests an affinity between the serpent, _can_, and the

sky=_caan_, and the numeral 4=_can_. I refrain, for the present, from

expressing any final conclusion on this subject, which will doubtless

afford ample food for reflection and argument to all interested in the

important problem as to where the cradle of ancient American civilization

was situated. But these symbolic gorgets go far towards substantiating

Professor Putnam’s oft-expressed conclusions that the ancient peoples of

the central and southern portions of the United States were, to a certain

extent, offshoots of the ancient Mexicans.

[Illustration.]

Figure 23.

Before abandoning the subject of native symbolism and star-emblems I

should like to present, as a curiosity, with an appeal to specialists to

enlighten me as to the astronomical knowledge of the Eskimos, an Eskimo

drawing from Professor Wilson’s instructive and useful monograph. It is

said to represent a “flock of birds,” but so closely resembles Cassiopeia

and Polaris that I am tempted to view it as an indication that the Eskimos

may also have associated the idea of a celestial bird, or birds, wheeling

around a central point, with the constellation and the pole-star (fig.

23). Having once ventured so far afield, I cannot refrain from presenting

here an interesting set of aboriginal star-symbols, reproduced from

Professor Wilson’s comprehensive work (fig. 24), each composed of a cross

combined, with a single exception, with a circle. I draw attention to the

striking resemblance of some of these signs to those painted on the finely

decorated pottery found on the hacienda of Don José Luna, in Nicaragua,

and described by J. F. Brandsford, M.D. (Archaeological Researches in

Nicaragua, Smithsonian Inst., 1881, p. 30, B), and suggest that, in both

localities, the symbol may be a rudimentary swastika, and represent

Polaris and circumpolar rotation.

[Illustration.]

Plate III. 1. Shell gorget, Missouri. 2, 5-14. Pottery vessels, Arkansas.

3, 4, 15-17, 19-28. Pottery vessels, Missouri. 18. Pottery vessel,

Kentucky. 6. National Museum. 3, 16, 17, 21, 24, 25. St. Louis Academy.

All others Peabody Museum. Willoughby, “Pottery from the Mississippi

Valley.” Journal of American Folk-lore, January-March, 1897.

In conclusion I refer the reader to Mr. C. C. Willoughby’s valuable and

most interesting “Analysis of the decorations upon pottery from the

Mississippi Valley” (Journal Amer. Folk-lore, vol. X, 1897), in which he

figures the remarkable specimens preserved in the Peabody Museum,

Cambridge, the designs on which, as he states, “are mostly of symbolic

origin and have been in use among various tribes within the historic

period from the Great Lakes to Mexico.” With the kind permission of the

editor of the Journal, I reproduce some of Mr. Willoughby’s illustrations

on Plate III.

[Illustration.]

Figure 24. Crosses And Circles Representing Star Symbols, Arizona.

Returning to consider the probable result of the gradual diffusion of

star-cult owing to natural causes and of the consequent divergence from

the idea of the Centre, which had so deeply influenced the minds of

primitive men during many centuries, with earnest, and extended

astronomical observation, keeping pace with the development of the idea of

the Above and Below, it is obvious that the utmost attention would be next

given to the conspicuous star groups and planets which are visible at

certain times and then seem to have departed or descended into the under

world. Any one who has read the interesting communications by Herr Richard

Andree (Globus. bd. LXIV, nr. 22), On the relation of the Pleiades to the

beginning of the year amongst primitive people, followed by a note by Herr

Karl von den Steinen on the same subject, will realize that

widely-separated tribes of men, by dint of simple observation, knew the

exact length of the periodical appearance and disappearance of this star

group and regulated their year accordingly. Herr Andree cites, for

instance, that “in the Society islands, the year was divided into two

portions, the first of which was named Matari-i-inia=the Pleiades above.

It began and lasted during the time when these constellations were visible

close to the horizon after sunset. The second period, named

Matarii-i-raro=the Pleiades below, began and lasted for the time during

which the star-group was invisible after sunset” (W. Ellis, Polynesian

Researches, vol. II, p. 419, London 1829). That the ancient Mexicans had

likewise observed the Pleiades and been deeply impressed by them is proven

by the well-known fact that the ceremony of the kindling of the sacred

fire, which betokened the commencement of a new cycle, was performed “when

the Pleiades attained the zenith at midnight precisely.” In my complete

monograph in the ancient Mexican calendar-system it will be my endeavor to

present all the data I have collected concerning the degree of elementary

astronomical knowledge attained by the native astronomers. I shall,

therefore, content myself with pointing out here that besides the

foregoing testimony about the Pleiades, the native name for which was the

miec=the many, or the tianquiztli=the marketplace, there are records

proving that the cult of the planet Venus was a firmly established feature

of the native religion at the time of the Conquest. Sahagun records that

the Nahuatl names for this planet were citlalpul or hueycitlallin both

signifying “the great star.” “In the great temple of Mexico an edifice

named ilhuicatitlan [literally, the land of the sky] consisted of a great,

high column, on which the morning star was painted.... Captives were

sacrificed in front of this column annually, at the period when the star

re-appeared” (_op. cit._ appendix to book II).

With regard to the connection of the Pleiades with the beginning of the

Mexican cycle, it is interesting to note Herr Andree’s statements that the

most intimate connection of the star-group with the thoughts of primitive

people, would naturally take place in such localities where its periodical

movements coincided with the changes of season, wind and weather which

affected agriculture. A survey of the data presented by Herr Andree shows

that the cult of the Pleiades attained its greatest development amongst

tribes inhabiting a southerly latitude. It was in South America, indeed,

that the Peruvians, alongside of their highly developed sun-cult, rendered

homage and offered sacrifices to the Pleiades. In Mexico, the cult of the

Pleiades appears as intimately associated with that of the sun and to have

assumed importance only in historical and comparatively recent times,

probably when the periodicity of the sun’s movements had been taught or

recognized and the sign _ollin_, which is an exact presentation of the

annual course of the sun, had been invented and adopted as a symbol. I

have already pointed out that this sign occurs on the calendar-stone, for

instance, which has a human face in its centre, bearing two numerals on

the forehead and obviously symbolizing the union of two in one. In other

instances the centre displays the eye, or star symbol and conveys the

suggestion that the “four movements” of the circumpolar constellations

were thereby symbolized. It may be that, in ancient Mexico, the two

symbols, respectively referring to the movements of the sun and of the

circumpolar star-groups, were emblematic of the two different cults or

religions which existed alongside of each other. The first, the cult of

the Above, of the Blue Sky, was directed towards the sun and the planets

and stars intimately associated with sunrise and sunset, amongst them the

Pleiades. The cult of the Below, of the Nocturnal Heaven, was directed

towards the moon, Polaris and the circumpolar constellations—also to the

stars and planets during the period of their disappearance and possibly in

the same way to the enigmatical “Black Sun,” figured in the B. N. MS.

which may have been the sun during its nightly stay in the House of the

Underworld, whose door was in the west. In order to obtain an idea of the

immense proportions ultimately assumed by these two diverging cults and

the enormous influence they exerted upon the entire native civilization,

it will be necessary to examine the form of the social organization in

Montezuma’s time.

In order to comprehend this, however, it is first necessary to study

carefully the myths relating to its origin. Torquemada (lib. VI, chap. 41)

cites the authority of Friar Andreas de Olmos for the following native

account of the creation of man, which was differently recounted to him in

each province. He states that the majority of the natives, however, agreed

that “there was in heaven a god named ‘Shining Star’ (Citlal-Tonac) and a

goddess named ‘She of the starry skirt’ (Citlal-Cue), who gave birth to a

flint knife (Tecpatl). Their other children, startled at this, cast the

flint down from the sky. It fell to earth at the place named ‘Seven caves’

and ‘produced 1,600 gods and goddesses,’ ” a figure of speech which

evidently expressed the idea that, in coming in forcible contact with the

soil the flint gave forth sparks innumerable which conveyed vitality to

numberless beings. It is evidently the same idea of “life sparks” being

called into existence by the union of heaven and earth which underlies the

Texcocan version of the creation of man recorded as follows by Torquemada

(_op. et loc. cit._). “The sun ... shot an arrow towards the land of

Acolma near the boundary of Texcoco. This made a hole in the ground whence

issued the first man....”

[Illustration.]

Figure 25.

The illustrated version of the above myths, given in the Vatican Codex I,

designates the celestial progenitor of human life as Quetzalcoatl, also

named Tonaca-Tecuhtli=the lord of our subsistence, Chicome-xochitl=“Seven

roses or flowers” and Citlalla-Tonalla=“The Milky Way,” literally, The

shining stars. The dual divinity is figured (fig. 25, no. 4) as two

persons with the shaft of an arrow over each of their heads and with the

symbol Tecpatl=flint, between them as the issue of their union. In the

Borgian Codex (fig. 25, no. 1), a barbed arrowpoint, instead of the

Tecpatl, figures between the celestial parents. Their union is symbolized

by a covering, the shape of which, in further representations (fig. 25,

nos. 3 and 5) in the same MS., offers resemblance to the tau-shaped

windows which are such a common feature in Maya and also in Pueblo

architecture (fig. 25, no. 2_b_). The preceding data, which could be

amplified, seem to show that the natives associated the tau-shape not

merely with the idea of the Male and Female principles, but also with the

Above and the Below, or Heaven (air and water) and Earth (earth and fire).

I shall have occasion, further on, to refer again to the symbolism of the

native tau.

The above illustrations, however, definitely prove that the flint knife

and the arrow (with a flint point, presumably), were indiscriminately

designated as the medium by means of which the spark of life was created

and imparted to earth-born beings.

It will be proved further that, at the period of the Conquest, the arrow

was revered as an image of life-producing force in Yucatan and Mexico. The

flint knife cased in wrappings was called “the son” of Cihuacoatl, the

earth-mother, and was regarded as her special symbol. It is significant,

therefore, to find that it was the emblem of office of one of the two high

priests, who alone employed it, as a sacrificial knife, in performing his

awful duty of immolating human victims.

The fact that the cane-shaft of an arrow figures above the head of the

celestial couple in the Vatican Codex is particularly interesting because

the name Ome-Acatl=Two-Cane, is given as the name of a divinity by Sahagun

(book I, chap. 15) and that the ceremony of kindling the New Fire, at the

commencement of a cycle of years was also associated with the calendar

sign Ome-Acatl (Sahagun, book VII, chap. 10).

At a certain festival images of Omacatl were manufactured and carried by

the devout to their houses in order to receive from them “blessings and

multiplication of possessions” (Sahagun, book II, chap. 19).

I draw attention to the fact that life is supposed to have proceeded from

the union of stellar divinities, that the Tecpatl and flint are the

well-known symbols for the North and Fire and that the Vatican commentator

identifies the celestial parent as “Seven-Flowers.” What is more, Duran

(vol. I, pp. 8 and 9) relates that the native race was organized into

seven separate tribes and that these “claimed to have come out of ‘seven

caves’ (Chicom-oztoc) which were situated in Teo-Culhuacan or Aztlan ‘a

land of which all men know that it is in the North.’ ” Now Teo-Culhuacan

is composed of the word Teotl, which designated the stars, the sun, the

gods and, by extension, something divine or celestial. Culhua (_cf._

Coloa) means something bent over or recurved, or the action of describing

a circle by moving around something, and _can_ means “the place of” in

Nahuatl. This locality is represented in the picture-writings by a strange

and impossible mountain with a recurved summit (fig. 26, no. 1). Aztlan

literally means “the land of whiteness, brightness, light.” In Duran’s

Atlas the seven caves are represented as containing men and women—the

progenitors of the seven tribes. The order in which these are described,

in the Mexican myth, as having issued from the caves, is instructive and

sheds light upon the provenance and purpose of the tradition. It

represents the Mexicans as the superior predestined race who remained in

their cave the “longest, by divine command,” their “god having promised

them this land.” The tradition relates that six tribes reached and settled

down in the central plateau of Mexico, 302 years before the Aztecs

arrived, under the leadership of Huitzilopochtli an oracular divinity,

whose commandments were transmitted to the people by four priests (Duran,

chap. II).

In my opinion it is impossible to study the above and supplementary data

without realizing that the native race assigned its origin to a dual

star-divinity, associated with the Tecpatl, the symbol for the North and

for Fire. The peculiarity that the divinity is designated as

Seven-flowers, and that there were seven tribes, indicates that the native

idea was that each tribe came from one of the seven stars in Ursa Major or

Minor. The Aztecs seem to have claimed for themselves the descent from the

superior star, the central one, and to have thus justified or supported

their ultimate establishment of a central government which ruled over the

other six tribes.

[Illustration.]

Figure 26.

The assumption that the native race claimed descent from the Ursa Major or

Minor constellation is further supported by the fact that the shape of the

mythical recurved mountain and the name Aztlan=land of light or brightness

are simultaneously explained, as well as the number of caves and tribes.

It does not seem to be a mere coincidence that in two totally different

Codices (the Selden MS. p. 7, Kingsborough, vol. 1, and the B. N. MS., p.

70) a sacred dance is represented as executed by seven individuals who

move around a central seated personage. In the latter MS. the seated

figure wears a head-dress surmounted by flint knives and his face is

painted _red_ the color assigned to the North. Moreover the dance is

taking place before an image of Mictlan-Tecuhtli, the lord of the North,

whose raiment is strewn with cross-symbols. Referring to other native

dances we find that the most sacred of all dances was performed at the

festival of the god of fire by priests only, who, smeared with black paint

to typify darkness and night, carried two torches in each hand and first

sat, then slowly moved, in a circle, around the “divine brazier,” and

finally cast their torches into it (Duran II, p. 174). This, probably the

most ancient of sacred dances, must have been extremely impressive and

significative to those who witnessed it, at night-time, from the base of

the pyramid and heard the distant solemn chant of the dancers. To watchers

from afar, the fire and the lighted torches revolving around must have

seemed like a great central star with other stars wheeling about it.

Further on, it will be shown that the earliest form under which the Deity

was revered was that of fire and the foregoing description fully explains

why it was first chosen as the most fitting image of the central immovable

star. It has already been shown that, in the popular game of “the flyers,”

a high pole surmounted by one man served as the pivot for the

circumvolation of the four performers, who “acted” the “flight of time.”

The idea of an extended rule, proceeding from a central dual force, was,

however, carried out on a grand scale in the most solemn of all public

dances named the Mitotiliztli. Duran (II, p. 85) states that as many as

“8,600 persons danced in a wheel in the courtyard of the Great Temple,

which had four doorways, facing the cardinal points and opening out on to

the four principal high roads leading to the capital. The doorways were

respectively named after the four principal gods and were spoken of as

‘the doorway of such and such a god.’ ”

Clavigero, to whose work (Historia, ed. Mora, Mexico, 1844, p. 234) I

refer the reader for further details, describes the dances at the time of

the Conquest as having been most beautiful, and relates that the natives

were exercised in these, from their childhood, by the priests. This

authority also relates that the Mitotiliztli was performed by hundreds of

dancers at certain solemn festivals, in the great central square of the

city or in the courtyard of the temple, and gives the following

description:

The centre of the space was occupied by two individuals (designated

elsewhere as high priests) who beat measure on sacred drums of two kinds.

One, the large huehuetl, emitted an extremely loud, deep tone, which could

be heard for miles and was usually employed in the temples as a means of

summoning to worship, etc. The second, the teponaztle, was a small

portable wooden drum which was usually worn suspended from the neck by the

leader in warfare and emitted the shrill piercing note he employed as a

signal. The chieftains (each of which personified a god) surrounded the

two musicians, forming several concentric circles, close to each other. At

a certain distance from the outer one of these, the persons of an inferior

class were placed in circles and these were separated by another interval

of space, from the outermost circles, composed of young men and boys. The

illustration given by Clavigero records the order and disposition of this

sacred dance, which represented a kind of wheel, the centre of which was

occupied by the instruments and their players. The spokes of the wheel

were as many as there were chieftains in the innermost circle. All moved

in a circle while dancing and strictly adhered to their respective

positions. Those who were nearest the centre, the chieftains and elders,

moved slowly, with gravity, having a smaller circle to perform. The

dancers forming the outer circles were, however, forced to move with

extreme rapidity, so as to preserve the straight line radiating from the

centre and headed by the chieftains. The measure of the dance and of the

chorus chanted by the participants was beaten by the drums and the

musicians asserted their absolute control of the great moving wheel of

human beings, by alternately quickening or slackening the measure. The

perfect harmony of the dance, which successive sets of dancers kept going

for eight or more hours, was only disturbed occasionally by certain

individuals who pushed their way through the lines of dancers and amused

these by indulging in all sorts of buffoonery. No one, on reading the

above description of the most ancient and sacred of native dances can fail

to recognize that it was an actual representation of axial rotation and

that no more effective method of rendering the apparent differences in the

degrees of velocity in the movements of the circumpolar and equatorial

stars, could possibly have been devised. The fact that this dance was a

most solemn and sacred rite, whose performance was obligatory to the

entire population, indicates that it constituted an act of general

obedience and homage and a public acknowledgment of the absolute dominion

of a central dual, ruling power.

It is particularly interesting that, in this dance, the latter is

represented by two individuals who respectively employ the sacred drum of

the priesthood, and that used by war chieftains only (the one instrument

emitting a low and the other a high tone); for the culture hero of the

Tzendals, Votan, who, with the aid of his followers, taught this tribe the

civil laws of government and the religious ceremonials, was entitled “the

Master of the sacred Drum.” (See Brinton, American Hero-Myths, p. 214.)

Reverting to the organization of the native race into seven tribes and the

wandering of the seventh and principal division, under the leadership of

Huitzilopochtli: according to Tezozomoc (Cronica, p. 23), Huitzilopochtli

was accompanied by “a woman who was called his sister and was carried by

four men. She was a powerful sorceress, possessed the power of assuming

the shape of an eagle, had made herself greatly feared and caused herself

to be adored as a goddess.” Indignant at her arrogance the priests

counselled a course which was adopted by the Mexicans. The woman and her

family were left behind at Malinalco where they settled and populated a

town, whilst the other portion of the tribe, under strictly masculine

rule, advanced towards Tula where they established themselves. “This was

the second division which had taken place, amongst the Mexicans or Aztecs

... and when they reached Tula they found their number greatly

diminished.” This same incident is related with greater detail by

Torquemada (vol. I, chap. II) from which we learn what a great animosity

was felt against the woman. On one occasion, which I shall not pause to

describe, two war chiefs menaced her. The “talk” she gave them in return

is so remarkable that it deserves to be quoted in full; for it affords a

deep insight into the native mode of expression, teaches us the titles of

the woman and shows that her position was undoubtedly one of powerful

authority.

“I am Quilaztli, your sister and of your tribe ... you know this and yet

you think that the dispute or difference you have with me is like an

ordinary one, such as you might wage with any ordinary base woman, who

possessed little spirit or courage. If you indulge in this thought you are

deceiving yourselves, for I am valiant and manly and my titles will oblige

you to acknowledge this. For besides the ordinary name of Quilaztli, by

which you know me, I also possess four titles, by which I know myself: the

first of these is Cihuacoatl=the Woman-serpent (or twin); the second is

Quauh-Cihuatl=the Eagle-woman; the third is Yao-Cihuatl=the Woman-warrior

and the fourth is Tzitzimi-Cihuatl, the Woman of the Underworld. From the

properties or qualities conveyed by these titles you can appreciate who I

am; what power I yield and what harm I can do you and if you want to test

the truth of this, here is my challenge!”

“The two brave captains, undaunted by the arrogant words by which she

attempted to terrify them, responded: ’If you are as valiant as you

describe yourself to be, we are not less so; but you are a woman and it is

not meet that it should be said of us that we took up arms against women;’

and without speaking further they left her, much affronted that a woman

should challenge and defy them. And they kept silence about this

occurrence so that their people should not know of it.” Señor Alfredo

Chavero (appendix, p. 125, to Duran’s Historia, Mexico, 1880), commenting

upon this passage, says: “It is impossible to doubt that this tradition

refers to an important event in the history of the Aztec tribe.... I think

it contains the record of a religious struggle.”

The full significance of the narrative will become clear, I think, when

the following points are dwelt upon. One thing is certain: here is a

historical personage, a woman, who was termed _the sister_ of

Huitzilopochtli, who evidently exerted a high authority and whose titles

were actually the names of the highest female divinity. Sahagun (book VI,

chap. 37) states that Quilaztli, a goddess, the same as Cihuacoatl, was

the mother of all and was also named Tonant-zin=“our mother.” What is more

significant still is that, in all historical records antedating the

Conquest, a man bearing the feminine title of Cihuacoatl=serpent woman, is

distinctly and repeatedly mentioned as the coadjutor of the Mexican ruler.

Mr. Ad. Bandelier, in his careful study “On the social organization and

mode of government of the Ancient Mexicans” (Twelfth Annual Report of the

Peabody Museum of Am. Arch, and Ethn., Cambridge, 1879) to which I refer

the reader, discusses the relative positions of Montezuma and the

Cihuacoatl and states: “there is no doubt about their _equality_ of rank

though their duties were somewhat different” (p. 665). This equality is

illustrated by the records that both rulers shared the same privileges

regarding dress. Thus they alone wore sandals and the Cihuacoatl is termed

“the second or double of the king, his coadjutor” (Duran, chap. XXXII, p.

255 and Tezozomoc, chap. XL, p. 66). The latter author, however, gives the

full “sacred title” as Tlil-Potonqui Cihuacoatl, literally, “the

black-powdered woman-serpent” and we thus learn that, whilst Montezuma’s

garments were habitually blue like Huitzilopochtli, his coadjutor, like

Tezcatlipoca, was associated with black. It is well known that some of the

Mexican priests always smeared their bodies with black, which was

therefore their special mark.

To my idea the foregoing data, with circumstantial evidence too diffuse to

be conveniently produced, clearly indicate that at one time, in the early

history of the Aztec race, it had been governed jointly by a male and a

female ruler on a footing of perfect equality, the one being the living

representative of the Above or masculine elements and the other

personifying the Below or feminine elements. The fact that Cihuacoatl is

named “the sister” of Huitzilopochtli shows that the female ruler was not

necessarily his wife, although she was his coadjutor in her own right.

Both rulers were respectively served by four persons presumably of their

respective sex. Besides these Duran (chap. 3) records that “there were

also other seven teotls=lords, who were much reverenced on account of the

seven caves out of which the seven tribes had come.”

We thus perceive that at one time the chief authority was vested in a man

and a woman, his sister, who enjoyed a perfect equality. Four persons

administered the government of each ruler and each of the seven tribes had

“its honoured representative.” For how long this organization had existed

it is impossible to tell. Dissension arose and division supervened, but to

the time of the Conquest the identical form of government was in force

with the remarkable difference that the title and office of the

Cihuacoatl, originally held by a woman, were held by a man, whom I do not

hesitate to identify as one of the two “supreme pontiffs,” whose emblem of

office was the flint knife, the offspring of Cihuacoatl, the earth-mother.

Historical evidence shows that this alteration had not been made without

bloodshed and renewed difficulties. Thus it is related that, long after

the Mexicans had separated from the sister of Huitzilopochtli and her

adherents, they were induced to “ask the daughter of the ruler of

Culhuacan to become the Queen of the Mexicans and mother of their god. She

conformed with their request but was subsequently killed by her subjects,

who flayed her body and dressed a youth in her skin [a figure of native

speech which symbolized his assumption of her office]. Under this form she

was revered as a goddess, was named our grandmother and ‘the mother of the

god,’ etc.” These and the following details, taken from well-known

authentic native sources, are attractively rendered in the “Newe Welt und

Amerikanische Historien” (Johann Ludwig Gottfriedt. Frankfurt-a.-M., 1613,

pp. 54 and 55).

Again, after the Mexicans had been settled at Tenochtitlan for some time,

they desired to make an alliance with the King of Culhuacan and therefore

“chose to nominate, as their ruler, Acamapichtli, who was the son of a

Mexican chieftain by a daughter of the Culhuacan ruler” and evidently

lived with the latter. For it is related that, on giving his consent, the

king of Culhuacan stated that if only a _woman_ (of his family) had been

nominated he would have refused (to trust her to the Mexicans). The

farewell words he addressed to Acamapichtli are worthy of quotation: “Go

my son, serve thy god, be his representative. Rule the creatures of the

god by whom we live; the god of day, of the night and of the winds. Go and

be the lord of the water and land owned by the Mexicans.”

As it is subsequently stated that Acamapichtli _and his queen_ were

received at Tenochtitlan with great honors, it would seem as though the

Mexicans who, from some deeply-rooted religious idea, considered it

essential to have a female ruler of the line of the king of Culhuacan,

obtained their desire only by accepting a male member of her family as a

protection and safeguard for her sacred person. It may be that for the

reasons of safety and preservation the female ruler, who was the living

representative of the Cihuacoatl, gradually retired into absolute

seclusion whilst a man of her kin assumed, in public, her title and

prerogatives.

Unless it is assumed that this was the case, it seems impossible to

explain why Acamapichtli is designated in the Codex Mendoza (Kingsborough,

vol. I, pl. II) as having begun to rule in the year I Tecpatl or flint

(approximately corresponding to A.D. 1364) with the title of

“Woman-serpent”=Cihuacoatl. From this date the title seems always to have

been borne by a man. When human sacrifices had become a prominent feature

of the native cult and it became a duty of the Cihuacoatl to perform the

bloody rite, it is obvious that it became impossible for a woman to fill

the position.

We obtain, however, glimpses of the shadowy form of an invisible and

venerable female ruler who is at the head of the “House of Women,” watches

over the welfare of the women of the tribe and officiates as a priestess,

with her assistants, at births, baptisms and marriages. In order to

account for the obscurity which surrounds her, it should be noticed that

the mere fact that the ideas of darkness and seclusion became indelibly

associated with the female sex, would naturally and inevitably cause women

to be housed up, veiled and condemned to comparative inaction and

immobility. A primitive stage in the growth of the above idea is shown in

the case of the Huaxtecas, the women of which tribe wore abundant covering

whilst the men, on religious principle, wore none. A careful study of the

conditions surrounding the Cihuacoatl or high priest shows that he also

conformed to the exigencies of his position when he acted as the

representative of the hidden forces of Nature, of the female principle. He

and the entire priesthood smeared their bodies with black, cultivated long

hair, and wore, during the performance of certain religious ceremonies, a

wide and long garment reaching to the ground. It is noticeable that the

designs on the garments of the priests, in the B. N. MS., are invariably

executed in red and yellow, the symbolical colors of the north and west,

combined with black the symbol of the union of both, the Below. In this

connection it is noteworthy that in Mexican pictography the faces of women

are usually painted yellow—the color of the West=the female region. The

association of darkness, concealment and secrecy, with the female

principle, is exemplified by the fact that a building in the enclosure of

the Great Temple of Mexico, named the “house of darkness,” was dedicated

to the earth-mother=Cihuacoatl (Sahagun, appendix to book II). Other

temples of hers are described as being cave-like, underground, dark, with

a single low entrance, the door of which was sometimes sculptured in the

form of the great open jaws of a serpent. Only priests were allowed to

penetrate into these mysterious chambers where sacred and secret rites

were performed and a sacred fire was also kept burning in an adjoining

chamber. Evidence, which I shall produce further on, establishes that the

high-priest Cihuacoatl dwelt, at times, in a house named “place of

darkness” and annually sacrificed a human victim in honor of the lord of

the underworld, in an edifice called “the navel of the earth.”

The religious cult of one-half of the Mexican hierarchy was distinctly

nocturnal. The chief duties of certain priests were astronomical

observation and the supervision of the sacred fire, which was kept

perpetually burning on the summit of each temple-crowned pyramid, in what

was termed “the sacred or divine brazier” of sculptured stone. Two priests

jointly watched by night and day and received and transmitted to the

flames the incense offerings of the devout. The temple fires were

extinguished only at the expiration of a cycle of fifty-two years and were

then rekindled by the high priest at midnight precisely, with impressive

solemnity.

In ancient Mexico, it should however be observed, although the logical

association of women with the hidden forces of nature, the underworld and

the Below, had exerted a certain influence over her practical existence,

it had not yet given rise to the idea of her inferiority as compared to

man, the associate of the Heaven, the Above, the visible and active forces

of nature. The native sages did not identify her so intimately with the

earth as to deny her the possession of a soul—the celestial spark. On the

other hand it is curious to note that the Nahuatl word for wife is

Cihua-tlan-tli and for husband is Te-o-quichtli. Is it possible that the

particle _tlan_ in the first and _Teo_ in the second may have contributed

to strengthen the association of the woman with earth=tlalli (tlan=land

of) and the man with Teotl, the sun, something divine and celestial? In

course of time it doubtlessly would have transpired, in Mexico as

elsewhere, that the set of primitive ideas which, during untold centuries,

imposed upon women seclusion, obscurity and inactivity and thus hindered

her development of strength of body and mind, would have directly induced

an inferiority. This has been subsequently proclaimed, as we know, in many

countries, as a direct proof of her lower nature and of her affinity with

the element earth. The assumed and actual inferiority of woman may

therefore be regarded as the logical, inevitable but artificial result of

primordial classification and association. Suggested by the same natural

phenomena which were visible to all inhabitants of the same latitudes,

these ideas occurred to all people at a certain stage of their development

and exerted a dominating influence over the subsequent growth of their

intelligence. It is but now, that, unconsciously, mankind is beginning to

emerge from the leading strings of its infancy, which became an iron

bondage to its prolonged childhood. In Mexico, at the period of the

Conquest, the absolute equality of the male and female principles was

theoretically maintained. At the same time it is possible to discern

certain agencies at work which were tending to connect the Below, the

female principle, with harm and evil. From time immemorial it had been the

custom of the Chichimecs, who, according to Sahagun (book XII, chap. 12,

par. 5), inhabited an extremely poor and barren region of Mexico, to

sacrifice the first animal killed in a hunting expedition and to offer it

to “the Sun whom they called father and to the earth their mother.” They

severed its head and raised this as though offering it to the sun. They

_then tilled the earth where the blood had been spilt_ and left the animal

which had been sacrificed, on the spot (Ixtlilxochitl, Historia Chichimeca

chap. VI and Relaciones p. 335). This passage, establishing the

cultivation of the soil where the blood had been spilt, sheds a flood of

light on the origin of the offerings of human blood and the sacrifices of

human life, which were such a prominent and hideous feature of the Aztec

religion.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, instead of the blood being

spilt directly upon the earth, to insure and increase the fruitfulness of

the soil, a human being was stretched across a conical stone which became

thus the image of the earth-mother, his heart was extracted and offered to

the sun, the Above, and his blood was then smeared on the mouth of certain

idols representing the Below. In the B. N. MS. an interesting illustration

and account are given of an idol of the earth-mother who is figured as

standing on a pedestal adorned with skulls and cross-bones with

outstretched tongue which signified, “that she always had great thirst for

human blood” and “never refused sacrifices offered to her.”

Two priests are likewise pictured in the act of offering bowls containing

human blood to the idol and a third, mounted on a ladder, is pouring the

contents of another bowl over its head. It is obvious how the constant

associations of the earth-mother with sanguinary sacrifices and

bloodthirstiness would, in time, give rise to the idea of a hostile,

maleficent power, linked with darkness and devouring fire, who, under the

aspect of the serpent-woman, waged an eternal warfare on the human race

and clamored for victims and bloody sacrifices. The natural sequence to

the above associations is that in ancient Mexico the powers exerting fatal

influence upon the human race are all represented as female, viz.: the

Cihuacoatl or woman-serpent, the Ciuapipiltin and the Tzit-zime, etc.

These and various other personifications of the female principle are

described in detail in my notes and commentary to the B. N. MS.

After considering the foregoing data it seems impossible not to conclude

that it must have taken centuries of time for the idea of duality, or of

the Above and Below to have taken such a deep hold upon the native mind

and to have produced such a growth of symbolism and association in so many

ramifications of thought. Let us endeavor to obtain a further insight into

the native mode of thought by carefully studying some significant details

concerning the social organization of the Mexicans from the time of

Acamapichtli to that of Montezuma and the influences it had been subjected

to gradually. This, the first ruler, unquestionably ruled as the

Cihuacoatl, a name which means either Woman-serpent or Female-twin. This

fact in itself testifies to an epoch-making change in the organization of

the Mexican government, in the making of which a concession was made to a

previously existing order of things, by the retention of the female title

by a male ruler.