GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.
VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE BIRTH, ORIGIN, AND DERIVATION OF THE
NAME OF THE MEXICAN WAR GOD, HUITZILOPOCHTLI, OF HIS TEMPLE,
IMAGE, CEREMONIAL, FESTIVALS, AND HIS DEPUTY, OR PAGE, PAYNAL
-- CLAVIGERO -- BOTURINI -- ACOSTA -- SOLIS -- SAHAGUN --
HERRERA -- TORQUEMADA -- J. G. MÜLLER'S SUMMARY OF THE
HUITZILOPOCHTLI MYTHS, THEIR ORIGIN, RELATION, AND
SIGNIFICATION -- TYLOR -- CODEX VATICANUS -- TLALOC, GOD OF
WATER, ESPECIALLY OF RAIN, AND OF MOUNTAINS -- CLAVIGERO, GAMA,
AND IXTLILXOCHITL -- PRAYER IN THE TIME OF DROUGHT -- CAMARGO,
MOTOLINIA, MENDIETA, AND THE VATICAN CODEX ON THE SACRIFICES TO
TLALOC -- THE DECORATIONS OF HIS VICTIMS AND THE PLACES OF
THEIR EXECUTION -- GATHERING RUSHES FOR THE SERVICE OF THE
WATER GOD -- HIGHWAY ROBBERIES BY THE PRIESTS AT THIS TIME --
DECORATIONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE PRIESTS -- PUNISHMENTS FOR
CEREMONIAL OFFENCES -- THE WHIRLPOOL OF PANTITLAN -- IMAGES OF
THE MOUNTAINS IN HONOR OF THE TLALOC FESTIVAL -- OF THE COMING
RAIN AND MUTILATION OF THE IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS -- GENERAL
PROMINENCE IN THE CULT OF TLALOC, OF THE NUMBER FOUR, THE
CROSS, AND THE SNAKE.
[Sidenote: BIRTH OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
Huitzilopochtli, Huitziloputzli, or Vitziliputzli, was the god of war
and the especially national god of the Mexicans. Some said that he was
a purely spiritual being, others that a woman had borne him after
miraculous conception. This legend, following Clavigero, ran as
follows:
In the ancient city of Tulla, lived a most devout woman, Coatlicue by
name. Walking one day in the temple as her custom was, she saw a
little ball of feathers floating down from heaven, which, taking
without thought, she put into her bosom. The walk being ended,
however, she could not find the ball, and wondered much, all the more
that soon after this she found herself pregnant. She had already many
children, who now, to avert this dishonor of their house, conspired to
kill her; at which she was sorely troubled. But, from the midst of her
womb the god spoke: Fear not, O my mother, for this danger will I turn
to our great honor and glory. And lo, Huitzilopochtli, perfect as
Pallas Athena, was instantly born, springing up with a mighty
war-shout, grasping the shield and the glittering spear. His left leg
and his head were adorned with plumes of green; his face, arms, and
thighs barred terribly with lines of blue. He fell upon the unnatural
children, slew them all, and endowed his mother with their spoils. And
from that day forth his names were Tezahuitl, Terror, and
Tetzauhteotl, Terrible god.
This was the god who became protector of the Mexicans, who conducted
them so many years in their pilgrimage, and settled them at last on
the site of Mexico. And in this city they raised him that proud temple
so much celebrated even by the Spaniards, in which were annually held
their solemn festivals, in the fifth, ninth, and fifteenth months;
besides those kept every four years, every thirteen years, and at the
beginning of every century. His statue was of gigantic size, in the
posture of a man seated on a blue-colored bench, from the four corners
of which issued four huge snakes. His forehead was blue, but his face
was covered with a golden mask, while another of the same kind covered
the back of his head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful crest,
shaped like the beak of a bird; upon his neck a collar consisting of
ten figures of the human heart; in his right hand, a large, blue,
twisted club; in his left, a shield, on which appeared five balls of
feathers disposed in the form of a cross, and from the upper part of
the shield rose a golden flag with four arrows, which the Mexicans
pretended to have been sent to them from heaven to perform those
glorious actions which we have seen in their history. His body was
girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with various lesser
figures of animals made of gold and precious stones, which ornaments
and insignia had each their peculiar meaning. They never deliberated
upon making war without imploring the protection of this god, with
prayers and sacrifices; and offered up a greater number of human
sacrifices to him than to any other of the gods.[VIII-1]
A different account of the origin of this deity is given by Boturini,
showing the god to have been a brave Mexican chief, who was afterward
apotheosized:--
While the Mexicans were pushing their conquests and their advance
toward the country now occupied by them, they had a very renowned
captain, or leader, called Huitziton. He it was that in these long and
perilous journeys through unknown lands, sparing himself no fatigue,
took care of the Mexicans. The fable says of him that being full of
years and wisdom he was one night caught up in sight of his army, and
of all his people, and presented to the god Tezauhteotl, that is to
say the Frightful God, who, being in the shape of a horrible dragon,
commanded him to be seated at his right hand, saying: Welcome, O
valiant captain; very grateful am I for thy fidelity in my service and
in governing my people. It is time that thou shouldest rest, since
thou art already old, and since thy great deeds raise thee up to the
fellowship of the immortal gods. Return then to thy sons and tell them
not to be afflicted if in future they cannot see thee as a mortal man;
for from the nine heavens thou shalt look down propitious upon them.
And not only that, but also, when I strip the vestments of humanity
from thee, I will leave to thine afflicted and orphan people thy bones
and thy skull so that they may be comforted in their sorrow, and may
consult thy relics as to the road they have to follow: and in due time
the land shall be shown them that I have destined for them, a land in
which they shall hold wide empire, being respected of the other
nations.
Huitziton did according to these instructions, and after a sorrowful
interview with his people, disappeared, carried away by the gods. The
weeping Mexicans remained with the skull and bones of their beloved
captain, which they carried with them till they arrived in New Spain,
and at the place where they built the great city of Tenochtitlan, or
Mexico. All this time the devil spoke to them through this skull of
Huitziton, often asking for the immolation of men and women, from
which thing originated those bloody sacrifices, practiced afterwards
by this nation with so much cruelty on prisoners of war. This deity
was called, in early as well as in later times, Huitzilopochtli--for
the principal men believed that he was seated at the left hand of
Tezcatlipoca--a man derived from the original name Huitziton, and
from the word _mapoche_, 'left hand.'[VIII-2]
[Sidenote: IMAGE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
Acosta gives a minute description of the image and temple of this
god:--
"The chiefest idoll of Mexico was, as I have sayde, Vitziliputzli. It
was an image of wood like to a man, set vpon a stoole of the colour of
azure, in a brankard or litter, at every corner was a piece of wood in
forme of a Serpent's head. The stoole signified that he was set in
heaven: this idoll hadde all the forehead azure, and had a band of
azure vnder the nose from one eare to another: vpon his head he had a
rich plume of feathers, like to the beake of a small bird, the which
was covered on the toppe with golde burnished very browne: hee had in
his left hand a white target, with the figures of five pine apples,
made of white feathers, set in a crosse: and from above issued forth a
crest of gold, and at his sides hee hadde foure dartes, which (the
Mexicaines say) had beene sent from heaven to do those actes and
prowesses which shall be spoken of: In his right hand he had an azured
staffe, cutte in fashion of a waving snake. All those ornaments with
the rest hee had, carried his sence as the Mexicaines doe shew; the
name of Vitziliputzli signifies the left hand of a shining feather. I
will speake heereafter of the prowde Temple, the sacrifices, feasts
and ceremonies of this great idoll, being very notable things. But at
this present we will only shew, that this idoll thus richly appareled
and deckt, was set vpon an high Altare, in a small peece or boxe, well
covered with linnen clothes, jewells, feathers and ornaments of golde,
with many rundles of feathers, the fairest and most exquisite that
could be found: hee had alwaies a curtine before him for the greater
veneration. Ioyning to the chamber or chappell of this idoll, there
was a peece of lesse worke, and not so well beautified, where there
was another idoll they called Tlaloc. These two idolls were alwayes
together, for that they held them as companions, and of equal power.
[Sidenote: TEMPLE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
There was in Mexico, this Cu, the famous Temple of Vitziliputzli, it
had a very great circuite, and within a faire Court. It was built of
great stones, in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the
circuite was called Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon
the toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls were, was a
fine piller wrought with small stones, blacke as ieate, set in goodly
order, the ground raised vp with white and red, which below gave a
great light. Vpon the top of the pillar were battlements very
artificially made, wrought like snailes [caracoles], supported by two
Indians of stone, sitting, holding candlesticks in their hands, the
which were like Croisants garnished and enriched at the ends, with
yellow and greene feathers and long fringes of the same. Within the
circuite of this court, there were many chambers of religious men, and
others that were appointed for the service of the Priests and Popes,
for so they call the soveraigne Priests which serve the Idoll.
There were foure gates or entries, at the east, west, north, and
south; at every one of these gates beganne a faire cawsey of two or
three leagues long. There was in the midst of the lake where the
cittie of Mexico is built, foure large cawseies in crosse, which did
much beautify it; vpon every portall or entry, was a God or Idoll,
having the visage turned to the causey, right against the Temple gate
of Vitziliputzli. There were thirtie steppes of thirtie fadome long,
and they divided from the circuit of the court by a streete that went
betwixt them; vpon the toppe of these steppes there was a walke
thirtie foote broad, all plaistered with chalke, in the midst of which
walke was a Pallisado artificially made of very high trees, planted in
order a fadome one from another. These trees were very bigge, and all
pierced with small holes from the foote to the top, and there were
roddes did runne from one tree to another, to the which were chained
or tied many dead mens heades. Vpon every rod were twentie sculles,
and these ranckes of sculles continue from the foote to the toppe of
the tree. This Pallissado was full of dead mens sculls from one end to
the other, the which was a wonderfull mournefull sight and full of
horror. These were the heads of such as had beene sacrificed; for
after they were dead, and had eaten the flesh, the head was delivered
to the Ministers of the Temple, which tied them in this sort vntil
they fell off by morcells; and then had they a care to set others in
their places. Vpon the toppe of the temple were two stones or
chappells, and in them were the two Idolls which I have spoken of,
Vitziliputzli, and his companion Tlaloc. These Chappells were carved
and graven very artificially, and so high, that to ascend vp to it,
there was a staire of stone of sixscore steppes. Before these Chambers
or Chappells, there was a Court of fortie foote square, in the midst
thereof, was a high stone of five hand breadth, poynted in fashion of
a Pyramide, it was placed there for the sacrificing of men; for being
laid on their backes, it made their bodies to bend, and so they did
open them and pull out their hearts, as I shall shew heereafter."[VIII-3]
Solis describes this temple also:--
The top of the truncated pyramid on which the idols of Huitzilopochtli
and Tlaloc were placed was forty feet square, and reached by a stair
of a hundred and twenty steps. On this platform, on either hand, at
the head of the stairs, stood two sentinel-statues supporting great
candlesticks of an extraordinary fashion. And first, from the jasper
flags, rose a hump-backed altar of green stone. Opposite and beyond
was the chapel wherein behind curtains sat Huitzilopochtli, on a
throne supported by a blue globe. From this, supposed to represent the
heavens, projected four staves with serpents' heads, by which the
priests carried the god when he was brought before the public. The
image bore on its head a bird of wrought plumes whose beak and crest
were of burnished gold. The feathers expressed horrid cruelty and were
made still more ghastly by two stripes of blue one on the brow and the
other on the nose. Its right hand leaned as on a staff upon a crooked
serpent. Upon the left arm was a buckler bearing five white plumes,
arranged in form of a cross; and the hand grasped four arrows
venerated as heaven-descended. To the left of this was another chapel,
that of Tlaloc. Now these two chapels and idols were the same in every
particular. These gods were esteemed brothers--their attributes,
qualities, powers, inclinations, service, prayers, and so on, were
identical or interchangeable.[VIII-4]
[Sidenote: HUITZILOPOCHTLI AND CAMAXTLI.]
Sahagun says of Huitzilopochtli, that, being originally a man, he was
a sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer
of towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very
terrible to his adversaries; and the devise he bore was a dragon's
head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A
great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the
shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans
esteemed this man very highly for his strength and dexterity in war,
and when he died they honored him as a god, offering slaves, and
sacrificing them in his presence. And they looked to it that those
slaves were well fed and well decorated with such ornaments as were in
use, with ear-rings and visors; all for the greater honor of the god.
In Tlaxcala also they had a deity, called Camaxtli, who was similar to
this Huitzilopochtli.[VIII-5]
Gage, in a pretty fair translation of Herrera, describes this god with
Tezcatlipoca. He says:--
"The gods of Mexico (as the Indians reported to the first Spaniards)
were two thousand in number; the chiefest were Vitzilopuchtli, and
Tezcatlipoca, whose images stood highest in the temple upon the
altars. They were made of stone in full proportion as big as a giant.
They were covered with a lawn called Nacar; they were beset with
pearls, precious stones, and pieces of gold, wrought like birds,
beasts, fishes, and flowers, adorned with emeralds, turquies,
chalcedons, and other little fine stones, so that when the lawn was
taken away, the images seemed very beautiful and glorious to behold.
These two Indian idols had for a girdle great snakes of gold, and for
collars or chains about their necks ten hearts of men made of gold;
and each of them had a counterfeit visor with eyes of glass, and in
their necks Death painted. These two gods were brethren, for
Tezcatlipoca was the god of providence, and Vitzilopuchtli, god of the
wars, who was worshiped and feared more than all the rest."[VIII-6]
Torquemada goes to some length into the legend and description of
this god of war, Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitl:[VIII-7]--
Huitzilopochtli, the ancient god and guide of the Mexicans, is a name
variously derived. Some say it is composed of two words: _huitzilin_,
'a humming-bird', and _tlahuipuchtli_, 'a sorcerer that spits fire.'
Others say that the second part of the name comes not from
tlahuipuchtli, but from _opuchtli_, that is, 'the left hand;' so that
the whole name, Huitzilopochtli, would mean 'the shining-feathered
left hand.' For this idol was decorated with rich and resplendent
feathers on the left arm. And this god it was that led out the
Mexicans from their own land and brought them into Anáhuac.
Some held him to be a purely spiritual being, others affirmed that he
had been born of a woman, and related his history after the following
fashion: Near the city of Tulla there is a mountain called Coatepec,
that is to say the Mountain of the Snake, where a woman lived, named
Coatlicue, or Snake-petticoat. She was the mother of many sons called
Centzunhuitznahua, and of a daughter whose name was Coyolxauhqui.
Coatlicue was very devout and careful in the service of the gods, and
she occupied herself ordinarily in sweeping and cleaning the sacred
places of that mountain. It happened that one day, occupied with these
duties, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down to her through
the air, which she taking, as we have already related, found herself
in a short time pregnant.[VIII-8]
[Sidenote: DOUGH STATUE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
Upon this all her children conspired against her to slay her, and
came armed against her, the daughter Coyolxauhqui being the ringleader
and most violent of all. Then, immediately, Huitzilopochtli was born,
fully armed, having a shield called _teuehueli_ in his left hand, in
his right a dart, or long blue pole, and all his face barred over with
lines of the same color. His forehead was decorated with a great tuft
of green feathers, his left leg was lean and feathered, and both
thighs and the arms barred with blue. He then caused to appear a
serpent made of torches, _teas_, called _xiuhcoatl_; and he ordered a
soldier named Tochaucalqui to light this serpent, and taking it with
him, to embrace Coyolxauhqui. From this embrace the matricidal
daughter immediately died, and Huitzilopochtli himself slew all her
brethren and took their spoil, enriching his mother therewith. After
this he was surnamed Tetzahuitl, that is to say, Fright, or Amazement,
and held as a god, born of a mother, without a father--as the great
god of battles, for in these his worshipers found him very favorable
to them. Besides the ordinary image of this god, permanently set up in
the great temple of Mexico, there was another, renewed every year,
made of grains and seeds of various kinds. In one of the halls in the
neighborhood of the temple the priests collected and ground up with
great devotion a mass of seeds, of the amaranth and other plants,
moistening the same with the blood of children, and making a dough
thereof, which they shaped into a statue of the form and stature of a
man. The priests carried this image to the temple and the altar,
previously arranged for its reception, playing trumpets and other
instruments, and making much noise and ado with dancing and singing at
the head of the procession. All this during the night; in the morning
the high-priest and the other priests blessed and consecrated the
image, with such blessing and consecration as were in use among them.
This done, and the people assembled, every person that could come at
the image touched it wherever he could, as Christians touch a relic,
and made offerings thereto, of jewels of gold and precious stones,
each according to his means and devotion, sticking the said offerings
into the soft fresh dough of which the idol was confected. After this
ceremony no one was allowed to touch the image any more, nor to enter
the place where it was, save only the high-priest. After that they
brought out the image of the god Paynalton,[VIII-9]--who is also a war
god, being vicar or sub-captain of the said Huitzilopochtli--an image
made of wood. It was carried in the arms of a priest who represented
the god Quetzalcoatl, and who was decorated with ornaments rich and
curious. Before this priest there marched another carrying [the image
of] a great snake, large and thick, twisted and of many coils. The
procession filed along at great length, and here and there at various
temples and altars the priests offered up sacrifices, immolating human
captives and quails. The first station, or stopping-place, was at the
ward of Teotlachco. Thence the cortège passed to Tlatelulco (where I,
Torquemada, am now writing this history); then to Popotlan; then to
Chapultepec--nearly a league from, the city of Mexico; then to
Tepetoca; then to Acachinanco; then back again to the temple whence it
had set out; and then the image of Paynalton was put on the altar
where stood that of Huitzilopochtli, being left there with the banner,
called _ezpaniztli_, that had been carried before it during the march:
only the great snake, mentioned above, was carried away and put in
another place, to which it belonged. And at all these places where
the procession appeared, it was received with incensings, sacrifices,
and other ceremonies.
This procession finished, it having occupied the greater part of the
day, all was prepared for a sacrifice. The king himself acted the part
of priest; taking a censer, he put incense therein with certain
ceremonies and incensed the image of the god. This done, they took
down again the idol, Paynalton, and set out in march, those going in
front that had to be sacrificed, together with all things pertaining
to the fatal rite. Two or three times they made the circle of the
temple, moving in horrid cortège, and then ascended to the top, where
they slew the victims; beginning with the prisoners of war, and
finishing with the fattened slaves, purchased for the occasion,
rending out their hearts and casting the same at the feet of the idol.
[Sidenote: SYMBOLIC DEATH OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
All through this day the festivities and the rejoicings continued, and
all the day and night the priests watched vigilantly the dough statue
of Huitzilopochtli, so that no oversight or carelessness should
interfere with the veneration and service due thereto. Early next day
they took down said statue and set it on its feet in a hall. Into this
hall there entered the priest, called after Quetzalcoatl, who had
carried the image of Paynalton in his arms in the procession, as
before related; there entered also the king, with one of the most
intimate servants, called Tehua, of the god Huitzilopochtli, four
other great priests, and four of the principal youths, called
Telpochtlatoque, out of the number of those that had charge of the
other youths of the temple. These mentioned, and these alone, being
assembled, the priest named after Quetzalcoatl took a dart tipped with
flint and hurled it into the breast of the statue of dough, which fell
on receiving the stroke. This ceremony was styled, 'killing the god
Huitzilopochtli so that his body might be eaten.' Upon this the
priests advanced to the fallen image and one of them pulled the heart
out of it, and gave the same to the king. The other priests cut the
pasty body into two halves. One half was given to the people of
Tlatelulco, who parted it out in crumbs among all their wards, and
specially to the young soldiers--no woman being allowed to taste a
morsel. The other half was allotted to the people of that part of
Mexico called Tenochtlitlan; it was divided among the four wards,
Teopan, Atzaqualco, Quepopan, and Moyotlan; and given to the men, to
both small and great, even to the men-children in the cradle. All this
ceremony was called _teoqualo_, that is to say, 'god is eaten,' and
this making of the dough statue and eating of it was renewed once
every year.[VIII-10]
Closely as J. G. Müller studied the character of Quetzalcoatl, his
examination of that of Huitzilopochtli, has been still more minute and
was indeed the subject of a monograph published by him in 1847. A
student of the subject cannot afford to overlook this study, and I
translate the more important parts of it in the paragraphs which
follow; not, indeed, either for or against the interests of the theory
it supports, but for the sake of the accurate and detailed handling,
rehandling, and grouping there, by a master in this department of
mythological learning, of almost all the data relating to the matter
in hand:--
Huitzilopochtli has been already referred to as an original god of the
air and of heaven. He agrees also with Quetzalcoatl in a second
capital point, in having become the anthropomorphic national god of
the Aztecs, as Quetzalcoatl of the Toltecs. On their marches and in
their wars, in the establishment of codes and towns, in happiness as
well as in misfortune, the Aztecs were guided by his oracle, by the
spirit of his being. As the Toltecs, especially in their later
national character, differ from the Aztecs, so differ their two chief
national gods. If the capital of the Toltecs, Cholula, resembled
modern Rome in its religious efforts, so the god enthroned there was
transformed into the human form of a high-priest, in whom this people
saw his human ideal. In the same manner one might be led to compare
the capital of the Aztecs with ancient Rome, on account of its warlike
spirit, and therefore it was right to make the national god of the
Aztecs a war god like the Roman Mars.
[Sidenote: THE NAME HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
We will commence with the name of the god, which, according to
Sahagun, Acosta, Torquemada, and most of the writers, signifies 'on
the left side a humming-bird;' from _huitzilin_, 'a humming-bird,' and
_opochtli_, 'left.' In connecting the Aztec words, the ending is cut
off. The image of the god had in reality, frequently, the feathers of
the humming-bird on the left foot. The connection of this bird with
the god is, in many ways, appropriate. It no doubt appeared to them as
the most beautiful of birds, and as the most worthy representant of
their chief deity. Does not its crest glitter like a crown set with
rubies and all kinds of precious stones? The Aztecs have accordingly,
in their way, called the humming-bird, 'sun-beam,' 'or sun-hair;' as
its alighting upon flowers, is like that of a sun-beam. The chief god
of the Caribs, Juluca, is also decorated with a band of its feathers
round the forehead. The ancient Mexicans had, as their most noble
adornment, state-mantles of the same feathers, so much praised by
Cortés; and even at the present time the Aztec women adorn their ears
with these plumes. This humming-bird decoration on the left foot of
the god was not the only one; he had also a green bunch of plumage
upon his head, shaped like the bill of a small bird. The shield in his
left hand was decorated with white feathers, and the whole image was
at times covered with a mantle of feathers. To the general virtues
which make comprehensible the humming-bird attribute as a divine one,
must be added the special virtue of bravery peculiar to this bird,
which is specially suited to the war god. The English traveler Bullock
tells how this bird distinguishes itself for its extraordinary
courage, attacking others ten times its own size, flying into their
eyes, and using its sharp bill as a most dangerous weapon. Nothing
more daring can be witnessed than its attack upon other birds of its
own species, when it fears disturbance during the breeding-season. The
effects of jealousy transform these birds into perfect furies, the
throat swells, the crest on their head, the tail, and the wings are
expanded; they fight whistling in the air, until one of them falls
exhausted to the ground. That such a martial spirit should exist in so
small a creature shows the intensity of this spirit; and the religious
feeling is the sooner aroused, when the instrument of a divine power
appears in so trifling and weak a body. The small but brave and
warlike woodpecker stood in a similar relation to Mars, and is
accordingly termed _picus martius_.
This, the most common explanation of the name Huitzilopochtli, as
'humming-bird, left side' is not followed by Veytia, with whom
Prichard agrees. He declares the meaning of the name to be 'left
hand,' from _huitzitoc_, 'hand,' because Huitzilopochtli, according to
the fable, after his death, sits on the left side of the god
Tezcatlipoca, Now, Huitzilopochtli is in another place considered as
the brother of this god; he also stands higher, and can therefore
scarcely have obtained his name from his position with respect to the
other deity. Besides, hand in Aztec is properly translated as _maitl_,
or _toma_.
Over and above this attribute which gives the god his name, there are
others which point towards the conception of a war god.
Huitzilopochtli had, like Mars and Odin, the spear, or a bow, in his
right hand, and in the left, sometimes a bundle of arrows, sometimes a
round white shield, on the side of which were the four arrows sent him
from heaven wherewith to perform the heroic deeds of his people. On
these weapons depended the welfare of the state, just as on the
_ancile_ of the Roman Mars, which had fallen from the sky, or on the
_palladium_ of the warlike Pallas Athena.
By-names also point out Huitzilopochtli as war god; for he is called
the terrible god, Tetzateotl, or the raging, Tetzahuitl. These names
he received at his birth, when he, just issued from his mother's womb,
overthrew his adversaries.
[Sidenote: KINDRED OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
Not less do his connections indicate his warlike nature. His youngest
brother, Tlacahuepancuextotzin, was also a war god, whose statue
existed in Mexico, and who received homage, especially in Tezcuco. In
still closer relationship to him stands his brother-in-arms, or, as
Bernal Diaz calls him, his page, Paynalton, that is, 'the fleet one;'
he was the god of the sudden war alarm, _tumultus_ or general _levée
en masse_; his call obliged all capable of bearing arms to rush to the
defence. He is otherwise considered as the representant of
Huitzilopochtli and subordinate to him, for he was only a small image,
as Diaz says, and as the ending _ton_ denotes. The statue of this
little war-crier was always placed upon the altar of Huitzilopochtli,
and sometimes carried round at his feast.
Other symbolic attributes establish Huitzilopochtli as the general
national god of this warlike people, and symbolized his personal
presence. On the march from the ancient home, the priests took their
turn, in fours, to carry his wooden image, with the little flag fallen
from heaven, and the four arrows. The litter, upon which the image was
carried, was called the 'chair of god,' _teoicpalli_, and was a holy
box, such as was used among the Etruscans and Egyptians, the Greeks
and the Romans, in Ilium, among the Japanese, among the Mongols. In
America, the Cherokees are also found with such an ark. The ark of the
covenant carried by the Levites through the desert and in battle, was
of a similar kind. Wherever the Aztecs halted for some time during
their wanderings, they erected an altar or a sacrifice mound to their
god, upon which they placed this god's-litter with the image; which
ancient observance they kept up, in later times, in their temples. By
its side they erected a movable tent, _tabernaculum_, (Stiftshütte),
in the open country, as is customary among nomadic people, such as the
Mongols. The god, however, gave them the codes and usages of a
cultured people, and received offerings of prisoners, hawks, and
quails.
As the head of a sparrow on a human body points to the former worship
of Quetzalcoatl under the form of a sparrow, so the humming-bird
attribute on the image and in the name of Huitzilopochtli, points him
out as an original animal god. The general mythological rule, that
such animal attributes refer to an ancient worship of the god in
question under the form of an animal, points this out in his case, and
the special myth of Huitziton assists here in the investigation of the
foundation of this original nature.
When the Aztecs still lived in Aztlan, a certain Huitziton enjoyed
their highest esteem, as the fable tells. This Huitziton heard the
voice of a bird, which cried "tihui," that is 'let us go.'[VIII-11] He
thereupon asked the people to leave their home, which they accordingly
did. When we consider the name Huitziton, the nature of the story, and
the mythical time to which it refers, no doubt remains as to who this
Huitziton is supposed to be. It is evident that he is none other than
the little bird itself, which, in our later form of the myth, as an
anthropomorphic fable, is separated from him; separated
euhemeristically, just as the Latin Picus was separated from his
woodpecker. This Picus, whose songs and flight were portentous, was
represented as a youth with a woodpecker on his head, of which he made
use for his seer-art; but was originally, as denoted by his name,
nothing else than a woodpecker, which was adored on the wooden pillar
from which it sent its sayings. This woodpecker placed itself upon the
_vexillum_ of the Sabines, and guided them to the region which has
been named Picenum after it. As this bird guided its people to their
new abode, like Huitziton, so many other animal gods have lead those
who, in ancient times, sought new homes. Thus a crow conducted Battus
to Cyrene; a dove led the Chalcidians to Cyrene; Apollo, in the form
of a dolphin, took the Cretans to Pytho; Antinous founded a new
settlement, to which a snake had pointed the way; a bull carried
Cadmus to Thebes; a wolf led the Hirpinians. The original stock of the
South American people, the Mbayas, received the divine order, through
the bird Caracara, to roam as enemies in the territories of other
people instead of settling down in a fixed habitation--this is an
anti-culture myth. As the founding of towns favors the birth of myths
like the preceding, so also does the founding of convents, the sites
of which, according to the numerous fables of the Christian mediæval
age, were pointed out by animals--one of the remnants of old
heathenism then existing in the popular fancy. To resume the subject,
Huitziton is, therefore, the humming-bird god, who, as oracular god,
commanded the Aztecs to emigrate. His name signifies nothing else than
'small humming-bird,' the ending _ton_ being a diminutive syllable, as
in Paynalton. Thus the humming-bird was the bearer, at the time of the
great flood, of the divine message of joy to the Tezpi of the
Michoacans, a people related to the Aztecs. It had been let loose as
the water receded, and soon returned with a small twig to the
ark.[VIII-12] On the Catherine Islands [islands of Santa
Catalina],[VIII-13] in California, crows were adored as interpreters
of the divine will. From the above it is also self-evident that
Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli were one, which is the conclusion
arrived at by the learned researcher of Mexican languages and
traditions, the Italian Boturini. The name, myth, and attributes of
Huitzilopochtli point then to the humming-bird. Previous to the
transformation of this god, by anthropomorphism, he was merely a small
humming-bird, _huitziton_; by anthropomorphism, the bird became,
however, merely the attribute, emblem or symbol, and name of the
god--a name which changed with his form into 'humming-bird on the
left,' or Huitzilopochtli.
The identity of the two, in spite of the different explanations of
the name, is accepted by Veytia, who gives Huitzitoc as the name of
the chief who led the Aztec armies during their last wanderings from
Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves, into Anáhuac. Under his leadership
the Aztecs were everywhere victorious, and for this reason he was
placed, after his death, on the left side of the god Tezcatlipoca;
since which time he was called Huitzilopochtli.
[Sidenote: HUITZITON AND PAYNALTON.]
The identity of Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli, is also shown by other
facts besides the name, the attribute, and the mythological analogy:
the same important acts are ascribed to both. We have seen that
Huitziton commanded the Aztecs to leave their home; according to
another account of Acosta, this was done on the persuasion of
Huitzilopochtli. If other Spanish authors state that this was done by
instigation of the devil, they mean none other than Huitzilopochtli,
using a mode of speech which had become an established one. This name
became a common title of the devil in Germany, under the form of
Vizliputzli, soon after the conquest of Mexico, as may be seen in the
old popular drama of Faust. The fable further relates of Huitziton
that he taught the Aztecs to produce fire by friction, during their
wanderings. The gift of fire is usually ascribed to a culture-god.
Huitzilopochtli was such a deity; he introduced dress, laws, and
ceremonies among his people. The statement that Huitziton had at some
time, given fire to the people, has no historical meaning; there is no
people without fire, and a formerly told myth mentions that man made
fire even before the existence of the present sun. The signification
of the fable is a religious one, it is a myth in which the Aztecs
ascribe the origin of all human culture to Huitziton their
culture-god, afterward Huitzilopochtli.
[Sidenote: SACRIFICE MYTHS.]
This god wore also a band of human hearts and faces of gold and
silver; while various bones of dead men, as well as a man torn in
pieces, were depicted on his dress. These attributes like those of the
Indian Schiwa and Kali, clearly point him out as the god to whom
human sacrifices were made. It was extensively believed among the
nations composing the Mexican Empire that human sacrifices had been
introduced by the Aztecs within the last two centuries. Before that
time only bloodless offerings had been made. A myth places the
commencement of human sacrifices in the fourteenth century, in which
the three first successive cases thereof are said to have occurred.
The Colhuas, the ruling nation at that time in the valley of Anáhuac,
are said to have fought a battle with their enemies of Xochimilco,
which was decided in favor of the Colhuas, owing to the impetuous
attack made by the tributary Aztecs in their aid. While the Colhuas
were presenting a large number of prisoners before their king, the
Aztecs had only secured four, whom they kept secreted, but exhibited,
in token of their bravery, a number of ears that they had cut from
their slain enemies, boasting that the victory would have been much
delayed had they lost time in making prisoners. Proud of their
triumph, they erected an altar to Huitzilopochtli, in Huitzilopochco,
and made known to their lord, the king of the Colhuas, that they
desired to offer this god a costly and worthy sacrifice. The king sent
them, by the hands of priests, a dead bird, which the messengers laid
irreverently upon the altar, and departed. The Aztecs swallowed their
chagrin, and set a fragrant herb with a knife of iztli beside the
bird. As the king with his suite arrived at the festival, more for the
sake of mocking the proceedings than to grace them, the four prisoners
taken from the Xochimilcos were brought out, placed upon the stone of
sacrifice, their breasts cut open with the iztli, and the palpitating
heart torn out. This sacrifice brought consternation upon the Colhuas,
they discharged the Aztecs from their service and drove them away. The
Aztecs wandered for some time about the country, and then, at the
command of their god, founded the town of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, on
a site where they had found a nopal (Opuntie) growing upon a rock.
At the second sacrifice a Colhua was the victim. An Aztec was hunting,
on the shore of the lake, for an animal to offer his patron deity,
when he met a Colhua called Xomimitl; he attacks him furiously, bears
him down, and the defeated man is made to bleed upon the sacrifice
stone.
Both myths are aitiological, and explained by the sacrifice system
(Opferkultus). This is shown in the case of the four prisoners, of
whom we shall learn more in the third story. The second story
personifies the Aztec and the Colhua peoples in the two men, the
second nation supplying the first with human sacrifices. With the
sacrifice of Xomimitl, the parallelism of which to the four
Xochimilcos cannot be overlooked by any one, the first temple of
Huitzilopochtli, in Tenochtitlan, was inaugurated.
The third sacrifice shows still more closely the religious basis
(Kultusgrundlage) of the myth. Here also, as in the former, we have to
do with a Colhua. The Aztecs offered the Colhua king to show divine
honors to his daughter and to apotheosize her into the mother of their
national god, declaring that such was the will of the deity. The king,
rejoicing at the honor intended for his daughter, let her go, and she
was brought to Tenochtitlan with great pomp. No sooner, however, had
she arrived than she was sacrificed, flayed, and one of the bravest
youths dressed in her skin. The king was invited to the solemn act of
the deification of his daughter, and only became aware of her death
when the flame from the copal gum revealed to him the bloody skin
about the youth placed at the side of the god. The daughter was,
however, at once formally declared mother of Huitzilopochtli and of
all the gods.
[Sidenote: TETEIONAN.]
This aitiological cultus-myth is easily explained. The name of the
daughter is Teteionan, whom we have learned to know as the
gods'-mother, and as Tocitzin, 'our grandmother.'[VIII-14] She was never
the daughter of a human king, but has been transformed into one by
euhemerism, somewhat as Iphigenia is to be considered as originally
Artemis. The goddess Teteionan had her special festival in Mexico,
when a woman, dressed as goddess, was sacrificed; while held on the
back of another woman, her head was cut off, then she was flayed, and
the skin carried by a youth, accompanied by a numerous retinue, as a
present to Huitzilopochtli. Four prisoners of war were, moreover,
previously sacrificed.
Similar to this story, told by Clavigero, is another, narrated by
Acosta. According to the latter, Tozi was the daughter of the king of
Culhuacan, and was made the first human sacrifice by order of
Huitzilopochtli, who desired her for a sister. Tozi is, however, none
other than Tocitzin, and is also shown to be 'our grandmother.'
According to the Aztec version, the custom of dressing priests in the
skin of sacrificed beings dates from her--such representations are
often seen, especially in Humboldt; the Bâsle collection of Mexican
antiquities possesses also the stone image of a priest dressed in a
human skin. The fourth month, Tlacaxipehualitzli, this is, 'to flay a
man,' derived its name from this custom, which is said to have been
most frequent at this period of the year.
Goddesses, or beings representing goddesses, are sacrificed in both of
these fables. We have met with human sacrifices among the Muyscas in
Central America, and in connection with many deities of the Mexicans,
in which the human victim represents the god to whom he is to be
sacrificed. Slaves impersonating gods were also sacrificed among the
northern Indians, the so-called _Indios bravos_. The person sacrificed
is devoured by the god, is given over to him, is already part of him,
is the god himself. Such was the case with the slave that personated
Quetzalcoatl in the merchants' festival in Cholula.
The critic is only able to admit the relative truth of the recentness
of the period in which the origin of Mexican human sacrifices is
placed by these three myths. We already know that human sacrifices are
very ancient in all America, and that they have only been put aside at
a few places by humane efforts; as in Peru to some extent by means of
the Incas. We have met with them throughout all South America.
The statement so generally made that the Toltec Quetzalcoatl preached
against human sacrifices, certainly implies the previous existence of
such sacrifices. This statement about Quetzalcoatl also points out the
way to the assimilation of the varying accounts, fables, and myths. In
very ancient times human sacrifices predominated everywhere. The
Toltecs, like the Incas, endeavored more or less to abolish them, and,
even if not altogether successful, they reduced them considerably. The
Aztecs reintroduced them. In the East Indies, these sacrifices date
back to the era before the flood, and the Greeks there met with
remains of anthropophagy, the basis thereof.
Brahmanism sought to exterminate these ancient sacrifices, and the
Vedas forbid them, a prohibition which, in connection with the custom
of pretending to sacrifice human beings, gives evidence of a former
use of actual sacrifices. The later sect of Shiwaits again introduced
them.
However ancient the national political phase of Huitzilopochtli may
be, the nature phase is still older. This god, too, has a nature-basis
which not only explains his being, but throws light upon his further
unfolding as a national or war god. All searchers who do not begin
with this basis, see nothing but inexplicable riddles and
contradictions before them.
[Sidenote: TWO MOTHERS OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
This nature-basis is first seen in the myth about his birth. In the
neighborhood of Tulla there was a place called Coatepec, where lived a
god-fearing woman, called Coatlicue. One day, as she was going to the
temple, according to her custom, a gaily colored ball of feathers fell
down from heaven; she picked it up, and hid it in her bosom,
intending to decorate the altar therewith. As she was on the point of
producing it for this purpose, it could not be found. A few days
afterward she was aware of being pregnant. Her children, the
Centzunhuitznahuas, also noticed this, and, in order to avoid their
own disgrace, they determined to kill her before she was delivered.
Her sorrow was however, miraculously consoled by a voice that made
itself heard from within her womb, saying: Fear not, O mother, I will
save thee to thy great honor, and to my great fame! The brothers,
urged on by their sister, were on the point of killing her, when,
behold, even as the armed Athena sprang from her father's head,
Huitzilopochtli was born; the shield in his left hand, the spear in
his right, the green plumage on his head, and humming-bird feathers on
his left leg; his face, arms, and legs being, moreover, striped with
blue. At once he slew his opponents, plundered their dwellings, and
brought the spoils to his mother. From this he was called Terror and
the Frightful God.
If we dissect this myth, we notice that another mother appears than
the one formerly sacrificed in his honor, Teteionan. Two mothers
present nothing remarkable in mythology, I have only to mention
Aphrodite and Athena, who according to different accounts, had
different fathers. So long as the formation of myths goes on, founded
upon fresh conceptions of nature, somewhat different ideas (for wholly
different, even here, the two mothers are not) from distinct points of
view, are always possible. It is the anthropomorphism of the age that
fixes on the one-sided conclusion. Teteionan is Huitzilopochtli's
mother, because she is the mother of all the gods. The mother, in this
instance, is the Flora of the Aztecs, euhemerized into a god-fearing
woman, Coatlicue, or Coatlantana, of whose worship in Coatepec and
Mexico we have already spoken.
The second point prominent in the myth, is the close connection of
Huitzilopochtli with the botanical kingdom. The humming-bird is the
messenger of spring, sent by the south to the north, by the hot to
the temperate region. It is the means of fructifying the flowers, its
movements causing the transfer of the pollen from the stamens to the
germ-shells. It sticks its long, thin little bill deep into the
flower, and rummaging beneath the stamens, drinks the nectar of the
flower, while promoting the act of plant-reproduction. In the Latin
myth also, Mars stands in close connection with Flora: Juno gives him
birth with Flora's aid, without the assistance of Jupiter. In our
mythology of the north, Thor is on a friendly footing with Nanna, the
northern Flora. We are already acquainted also with a fable of the
Pimas, according to which the goddess of maize became pregnant by a
raindrop, and bore the forefather of the people, he who built the
great houses.
[Sidenote: SISTERS OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.]
The question, why Huitzilopochtli should be the son of the goddess of
plants, and what his real connection with the botanical kingdom
consists in, is solved by examining his worship at the three ancient
yearly feasts, which take place exactly at those periods of the year
that are the most influential for the Mexican climate, the middle of
May, the middle of August, and the end of December. As a rule, in the
first half of May the rain begins. Previous to this, the greatest
drought and torpidness reign; the plants appear feeble and drooping;
nature is bare, the earth gray with dry, withered grass. After a few
days of rain, however, the trees appear in a fresh green, the ground
is covered with new herbs, all nature is reanimated. Trees, bushes,
plants, develop their blossoms; a vapory fragrance rises over all. The
fruit shoots from the cultivated field, the juicy, bright green of the
maize refreshes the eye. Mühlenpfordt, who stayed a long time in these
regions, gives this description of the season. Völker's statement that
rain and water stand as fructifying principles in the first rank in
ancient physics, and that they meet us in innumerable myths, holds
doubly good for the tropics. It requires little imagination to
understand what a powerful impression transformed nature, with all its
beauty and blessings, must produce in the soul of the child of
nature. It is on this account that the ancient Tlaloc came to enjoy so
high a regard among the Aztecs, nor has Quetzalcoatl disdained to
adorn his mantle with the crosses of a rain-god. And so
Huitzilopochtli's first feast of the year, the festival of the arrival
of the god, of the offering of incense, stands at the beginning of the
season of the reinvigorating of nature by the rain. The pagan Germans
used to say that Nerthus, Freya, Hulda, Bertha, Frieg, and other
divinities, entered the country at this period. The Aztecs prepared
especially for this feast an image of their chief god, made of edible
plants and honey, of the same size as the wooden image; and the youths
sang the deeds of their god before it, and hymns praying for rain and
fertility. Offering of multitudes of quails, incense-burning, and the
significant dance of priests and virgins, followed. The virgins, who
on this day were called sisters of Huitzilopochtli, wore garlands of
dry maize-leaves on their heads, and carried split reeds in their
hands; by this representing the dry season. The priests, on the
contrary, represented the quickened nature, having their lips smeared
with honey.
Now although, according to Max von Wied, there were no bees in America
before the arrival of the Europeans, the bees are here represented by
humming-birds, also called honey or bee birds, which, hovering and
humming like bees, gather their food from the tube-shaped flowers.
This food consists of a small insect that lives on honey, and they
feed their young by letting them suck at the tongue covered with this
honey. The priests bore, further, another symbol of spring: each one
held a staff in his hand, on which a flower of feathers was fixed,
having another bunch of feathers fixed over it; thus too, Freya's
hawk-plumage denoted the advent of the fine season. A prisoner had
been selected a year in advance as a victim, and was called 'wise lord
of the heaven,' for he personated the god, and had the privilege of
choosing the hour of the sacrifice; he did not die, like the other
prisoners, on the sacrifice stone, but on the shoulders of the
priests. The little children were consecrated to the god of their
country, at this festival, by a small incision on the breast.
So also Mars appears as god of spring, he to whom the grass and the
sacred spring time of the birth of animals (_ver sacrum_) were
dedicated, whose chief festival and whose month are placed at the
commencement of spring, at which time the Salii also sang their old
religious songs, and a man personated the god. The Tyrian festival of
the awaking of Hercules fell also in spring, for the same reason.
Thus, in the myth of the birth of Huitzilopochtli, and in his first
festival, spring, or the energy that produces spring, is made the
basis of his being. His warlike attributes are appendages of the
anthropomorphized national and war god.
The second great festival of the deity takes place in the middle of
August. The rains which have lasted and refreshed up to this time,
become intermittent, and the fine season approaches, during which the
azure sky of the tropics pours its splendor and its beneficial warmth
upon men, animals, and plants, scattered over a plain situated 8500
feet above the level of the sea. This is the twelfth month there, the
month of ripe fruits. The idols in all temples and dwellings are
decorated with flowers. It is now no longer the rain which is the
blessing, but the blue sky which cherishes the variegated
flower-world. For this reason the image of Huitzilopochtli was blue,
his head was wound round with an azure ribbon, in his right hand he
held an azure staff or club, and he sat on an azure stool, which,
according to ancient accounts, represents heaven as his
dwelling-place. His arms and legs had also blue stripes, and costly
blue stones hung round his neck. The Egyptian god of fertility, Khem,
was also represented in blue.
[Sidenote: DEATH OF VEGETATION.]
The third festival of Huitzilopochtli takes place during the winter
solstice, a period which plays a great rôle in all worships and myths.
The best-known festival of this kind is the one held on the 25th of
December throughout the Roman Empire, to celebrate the birth of
Mithras, the invincible sun. The Chipewas in North America call
December the month of the small spirit, and January that of the great
spirit. The Mexican festival of this month represented the character
of the entering season, and the new state of nature. The cold sets in,
the mountains are covered with snow, the ground dries up, the plants
search in vain for their nourishment, many trees lose their
foliage--in a word, nature seems dead. And so it happened with their
god. The priests prepared his image of various seeds kneaded with the
blood of sacrificed children. Numerous religious purifyings and
penances, washings with water, blood-lettings, fasts, processions,
burning of incense, sacrifices of quails and human beings, inaugurated
the festival. One of Quetzalcoatl's priests then shot an arrow at this
image of Huitzilopochtli, which penetrated the god who was now
considered as dead. His heart was cut out, as with human victims, and
eaten by the king, the representative of the god on earth. The body,
however, was divided among the various quarters of the city, so that
every man received a piece. This was called _teoqualo_ 'the god who is
eaten.'
The meaning of the death of this god is, on the whole, evident; it
corresponds with the death of vegetation; and a comparison of the myth
of his birth, with the two other feasts of Huitzilopochtli, leads to
the same conclusion. This third feast is, therefore, at the same time,
a festival in honor of the brother of this god, Tezcatlipoca, the god
of the under-world, of death, of drought, and of hunger, whose rule
commences where that of his brother ends. The myth gives a similar
form and sense to the death of Osiris, who is killed by Typhon, and
the death of Dionysos and Hercules in the Phœnician colonies.
Adonis lives with Aphrodite during one half of the year, and with
Persephone the other half; the Indian Krishna leaves for the
under-world; thus, too, Brahma and the Celtic sun-god, Hu, died
yearly, and were yearly born again. The festival of the self-burning
of the Tyrian Heracles is also of this kind; it takes place at the
time of the dying off of vegetation, even if this should be in the
summer.
As regards the custom of eating the god, this also occurs at another
feast which is celebrated during this season, in honor of the gods of
the mountains and the water. Small idols of seeds and dough were then
prepared, their breasts were opened like those of human victims, the
heart was cut out, and the body distributed for eating. The time at
which this occurs, shows that it stands in necessary connection with
the death of the god. When the god dies it must be as a sacrifice in
the fashion of his religion, and when the anthropomorphized god dies,
it is as a human sacrifice amid all the necessary usages pertaining
thereto: he is killed by priests, the heart is torn out, and his body
eaten at the sacrifice meal, just as was done with every human
sacrifice. Could it be meant that the god, in being eaten, is imparted
to, or incorporated with, the person eating him? This is no doubt so,
though not in the abstract, metaphysical, Christian or moral sense,
but only with regard to his nature-sense, (seiner Naturseite), which
is the real essence of the god. He gives his body, in seed, to be
eaten by his people, just as nature, dying at the approach of the
winter, at this very period, has stored up an abundance of its gifts
for the sustenance of man. It gives man its life-fruit, or its fruit
of life as a host or holy wafer. As a rule, the god, during the time
of sacrifice, regales with the offering those bringing sacrifices;
and, the eating of the flesh of the slave, who so often represents the
god to whom he is sacrificed, is the same as eating the god. We have
heard of the custom among some nations of eating the ashes of their
forefathers, to whom they give divine honors, in order to become
possessors of their virtues. The Arkansas nation, west of the
Mississippi, which worshiped the dog, used to eat dog-flesh at one of
its feasts. Many other peoples solemnly slaughter animals, consume
their flesh, and moreover pay divine honors to the remains of these
animals. Here the eating of the god, in seeds, is made clear--this
custom also existed among the Greeks. The division of the year-god by
the ancients, in myth and religious system, has, for the rest, no
other sense than has this distribution of the body of Huitzilopochtli.
This is done with the sun-bull at the festival of the Persian Mithras,
as at the feast, and in the myth of the Dionysos-Zagreus, of Osiris
and Attys.
[Sidenote: YEARLY LIFE OF THE PLANT-WORLD.]
The three yearly festivals, as well as the myth of his birth, all tend
to show the positive connection of Huitzilopochtli with the yearly
life of the plant-world. The first festival is the arrival of the god,
as the plant-world is ushered in, with its hymns praying for rain, its
virgins representing the sisters of the god and the inimical drought,
in the same sense as the brothers and sister, especially the latter,
are his enemies in the myth of his birth, and, as Tezcatlipoca, the
god of drought is his brother. Brothers and sisters not seldom
represent parallel contrasts in mythology and worship. The second
celebration presents the god as the botanical kingdom in its splendor,
for which reason the Mexicans call the humming-bird the sunbeam, from
the form assumed by the god at this time. The humming-bird, moreover,
takes also his winter sleep, and thus the god dies in winter with the
plants. The Greenlanders asked the younger Egede if the god of heaven
and earth ever died, and, when answered in the negative, they were
much surprised, and said that he must surely be a great god. This
intimate connection with the plant-world is also shown in the
birth-myth of Huitzilopochtli, who here appears as the son of the
goddess of plants. It now becomes easier to answer the question of
Wuttke: has the fable of this birth reference merely to the making a
man out of a god already existing, or to the actual birth of the god?
The Aztecs, it is true, were undecided on this point, some conceding
to him a human existence on earth, others investing him with a
consciousness of his nature being. We, however, answer this question
simply, from the preceding: the birth of the god is annual, and the
myth has therefrom invented one birth, said to have taken place at
some period, while the anthropomorphism fables very prettily the
transformation into a man. Of the former existence of a born god, the
myth knows nothing, for it is only afterward that it raises the god
into heaven. It has not, however, come to euhemerism in the case of
Huitzilopochtli, though it has with Huitziton. In placing the god in
the position of son to the plant-goddess, the myth separates his being
from that of the mother, consequently, Huitzilopochtli is not the
plant-world himself, however closely he may be related to it. This is
made clearer by following up the birth-myth, which makes him out to be
not only the son of Coatlicue, but also of the force causing her
fructification. The variegated ball of feathers which fell from
heaven, is none other than Huitzilopochtli himself, the little
humming-bird, which is the means of fructifying the plants, and the
virile, fructifying nature-force manifested by and issuing from him in
the spring. He is also born with the feather-tuft, and this symbol of
the fine season never leaves him in any of his forms, it remains his
attribute.
The Tapuas in South America have, after a similar symbolism, the
custom, at their yearly seed-sowing festivals, of letting some one
hang a bunch of ostrich-feathers on his back, the feathers being
spread over like a wheel. This feather-bunch is their symbol of the
fructifying power which comes from heaven. Their belief that bread
falls from heaven into this tuft of feathers is thus made clear. In
this myth we find the natural basis of such a birth-myth. In our
northern mythology, Neekris, the ball, is, in the same manner, the
father of Nanna, the northern Flora. That this virile power of heaven
is made to appear as a ball of feathers, suits the humming-bird god.
The Esths also imagined their god of thunder, as the god of warmth, in
the form of a bird. In the same sense, doves were consecrated to Zeus,
in Dodona and Arcadia, and a flying bird is a symbol of heaven among
the Chinese. This force may, however, be symbolized in another form,
and give rise to a birth-myth of exactly the same kind. Thus, the
daughter of the god Sangarius, in the Phrygian myth, hid in her bosom
the fruit of an almond-tree, which had grown out of the seed of the
child of the earth, Agdistis: the fruit disappeared, the daughter
became pregnant and bore the beautiful boy Attes. According to
Arnobius, it was the fruit of a pomegranate-tree, which fructified
Nanna. Among the Chinese, a nymph, called Puzza, the nourisher of all
living things, became pregnant by eating a lotus-flower, and gave
birth to a great law-giver and conqueror. Danaë, again, becomes
pregnant from the golden shower of Zeus--an easily understood
symbolism. It is always the virile nature-power, either as seen in the
sun, or in the azure sky (for which reason Huitzilopochtli is called
the lord of the heaven, Ochibus or Huchilobos), which puts the
variegated seed into the womb of the plant-world, 'at the same time
bringing himself forth again, and making himself manifest in the
plant-world.' This heavenly life-force no sooner finds an earthly
mother-womb than its triumph is assured, even before birth, while
developing its bud; just as the inner voice, in the myth, consoled the
mother, and protected her against all her enemies. It is only after
his birth that the myth holds Huitzilopochtli as a personal
anthropomorphic god.
[Sidenote: THE VIRILE NATURE-POWER.]