accepted as the basis of all other developments of the god, and for
this universal reason, namely, that the most ancient heathen gods are
nature-gods, mythologic rules being followed, and that the pagan
religion is essentially a nature-worship as well as a polytheism. The
special investigation and following up of the various virtues have led
to the same result. But, as this view has not yet been generally
accepted in regard to this god, a few words concerning the union of
the anthropomorphic national aspect of Huitzilopochtli, with his
natural one may be added. It has been thought necessary to make the
martial phase of Huitzilopochtli the basis of the others, as with
Mars. War is, from this point of view, a child of spring, because
weapons are then resumed after the long winter armistice. This is not
at all the case with Huitzilopochtli, because the rainy season,
setting in in spring, when the arrival and birth of the god are
celebrated, renders the soft roads of Mexico unsuitable for war
expeditions. Wars were originally children of autumn, at which time
the ripe fruits were objects of robbery. But the idea of a war and
national god is easily connected with the basis of a fructifying god
of heaven. This chief nature-god may either be god of heaven, as
Huitzilopochtli, as the rain-giving Zeus is made the national god by
Homer, to whom human sacrifices were brought in Arcadia down to a late
period, or he may be a sun-god, like Baal, to whom prayers for rain
were addressed in Phoenicia, to further the growth of the fruit, and
who also received human sacrifices. The Celtic Hu is also an ethereal
war god, properly sun-god, who received human sacrifices in honor of
the victory of spring; none the less is Odin's connection with war,
battle, and war horrors; he is a fire-god, like Moloch and Shiva, to
whom human sacrifices were made for fear of famine and failure of
crops. The apparent basis of such a god has not to be considered so
much as the point that the people ascribed to him the chief government
of the course of the year. In such a case, the chief ruler also
becomes the national god, the life of the nation depending immediately
on the yearly course of nature. Is the nation warlike, then, the
national god naturally becomes a war god as well. As anthropomorphism
connects itself with the nature-god only at a later period, so does
his worship as war god and national god. In the case of Mars, as well
as of Picus and Faunus, the same succession is followed. Mars, for
example, is called upon in a prayer which has been preserved by Cato,
to protect shepherds and flocks, and to avert bad weather and
misgrowth; Virgil refers to him as a god of plants. In the song of the
Arvalian brothers, he is called upon as the protector of the flowers.
Thus, in his case also, the nature side is the basis. The Chinese
symbolism of the union of the two sides or phases, is expressed in
such a manner as to make spears and weapons representations of the
germs of plants. This union has already been illustrated among the
Aztecs, in the humming-bird, the sunbeam which plays round the
flowers, in whose little body the intensest war spirit burns. Among
the Egyptians, the beetle was placed upon the ring of the warrior,
with whom it signified world and production.
[Sidenote: SNAKE SYMBOLISM.]
It remains to speak of another attribute of Huitzilopochtli, the snake
attribute. Huitzilopochtli is also a snake-god. We have already, when
treating of the snake-worship of the Mayas, referred to the numerous
snakes with which this god is connected by myth and image, and how
this attribute was added to the original humming-bird attribute, in
Coatepec, where the snake-goddess Coatlicue gave him birth. If the
snake signifies, in one case, time, in another, world, and in another
instance, water, or the yearly rejuvenation of germs and blossoms, the
eternal circle of nature, domination, soothsaying--it is quite
proper; for all these qualities are found united in the god. Still
other qualities, not seemingly possessed by him, we pass over, such as
a connection with the earth and with the healing power, to be found in
other Mexican gods, or the evil principle, which is entirely wanting.
Just as the snake changes its skin every year, and takes its winter
sleep, so does Huitzilopochtli, whose mother, Flora, is, therefore, a
snake-goddess. Even so the snake represents the seed-corn in the
mysteries of Demeter. In the Sabazii it represents the fructifying
Zeus and the blessing. It is also the symbol of productive power and
heat, or of life, attribute of the life-endowing Shiva; among the
Egyptians it represents the yearly rejuvenation of germs and blossoms.
The snake Agathodæmon appears with ears of grain and poppies, as the
symbol of fertility. If the god exhibits this nature of his, in
spring, in the rain, then the snake is a suitable attribute. In India,
snakes are genii of seas, and the Punjab, whose fertility is assured
by the yearly inundations, has the name of snake lands (Nagakhanda),
and claims an ancient worship. The sustaining water-god, Vishnu, also
received the snake attribute. Among the Chinese, the water could be
represented by a snake. The Peruvians call the boa constrictor the
mother of nature.
The idea of the yearly renewal of nature is also connected with that
of time forever young, and the Aztecs, therefore, encircle their cycle
with a snake as the symbol of time. The more positive signification
which the snake, placed by the side of the humming-bird, gives to
Huitzilopochtli, is that of a soothsaying god, like the snake Python
among the Greeks. The snake signified 'king' among the Egyptians, and
this suits Huitzilopochtli also, who may properly enough be considered
the real king of his people. If, as connected with Huitzilopochtli,
the snake also represents the war god, on account of its spirited mode
of attack, I cannot with certainty say, but the myth as well as the
worship places it in this relation to the war goddess Athene. Although
the idea of a national and a war god is not quite obscured in the
snake attribute, yet the nature side is especially denoted by it, as
in the southern countries, where snake worship prevailed; the
reference to the southern nature of this god is quite evident in the
snake attribute. In the north, moisture, represented by the snake, has
never attained the cosmological import which it has in the hot
countries of the south. There, the snake rather represents an
anticosmogonic, or a bad principle.[VIII-15]
[Sidenote: WINTER-SOLSTICE FESTIVAL.]
Mr Tylor, without committing himself to any extent in details, yet
agrees, as far as he goes, with Müller. He says: "The very name of
Mexico seems derived from Mexitli, the national war-god, identical or
identified with the hideous gory Huitzilopochtli. Not to attempt a
general solution of the enigmatic nature of this inextricable compound
parthenogenetic deity, we may notice the association of his principal
festival with the winter solstice, when his paste idol was shot
through with an arrow, and being thus killed, was divided into morsels
and eaten, wherefore the ceremony was called the _teoqualo_, or
'god-eating.' This, and other details, tend to show Huitzilopochtli as
originally a nature-deity, whose life and death were connected with
the year's, while his functions of war-god may be of later
addition."[VIII-16]
Of this festival of the winter solstice the date and further
particulars are given by the Vatican Codex as follows:--
The name Panquetzaliztli, of the Mexican month that began on the first
of December, means, being interpreted, 'the elevation of banners.'
For, on the first day of December every person raised over his house a
small paper flag in honor of this god of battle; and the captains and
soldiers sacrificed those that they had taken prisoners in war, who,
before they were sacrificed, being set at liberty, and presented with
arms equal to their adversaries, were allowed to defend themselves
till they were either vanquished or killed, and thus sacrificed. The
Mexicans celebrated in this month the festival of their first captain,
Vichilopuchitl. They celebrated at this time the festival of the wafer
or cake. They made a cake of the meal of bledos, which is called
_tzoalli_, and having made it, they spoke over it in their manner, and
broke it into pieces. These the high priest put into certain very
clean vessels, and with a thorn of maguey, which resembles a thick
needle, he took up with the utmost reverence single morsels, and put
them into the mouth of each individual, in the manner of a
communion--and I am willing to believe that these poor people have
had the knowledge of our mode of communion or of the preaching of the
gospel; or perhaps the devil, most envious of the honor of God, may
have led them into this superstition in order that by this ceremony he
might be adored and served as Christ our Lord. On the twenty-first of
December they celebrated the festival of this god--through whose
instrumentality, they say, the earth became again visible after it had
been drowned with the waters of the deluge: they therefore kept his
festival during the twenty following days, in which they offered
sacrifices to him.[VIII-17]
[Sidenote: DECORATIONS OF TLALOC.]
The deity Tlaloc, or Tlalocateuchtli, whom we have several times found
mentioned as seated beside Huitzilopochtli in the great temple, was
the god of water and rain, and the fertilizer of the earth. He was
held to reside where the clouds gather, upon the highest
mountain-tops, especially upon those of Tlaloc, Tlascala, and Toluca,
and his attributes were the thunderbolt, the flash, and the thunder.
It was also believed that in the high hills there resided other gods,
subaltern to Tlaloc--all passing under the same name, and revered not
only as gods of water but also as gods of mountains. The prominent
colors of the image of Tlaloc were azure and green, thereby
symbolizing the various shades of water. The decorations of this image
varied a good deal according to locality and the several fancies of
different worshipers: the description of Gama, founded on the
inspection of original works of Mexican religious art, is the most
authentic and complete. In the great temple of Mexico, in his own
proper chapel, called _epeoatl_, adjoining that of Huitzilopochtli,
this god of water stood upon his pedestal. In his left hand was a
shield ornamented with feathers; in his right were certain thin,
shining, wavy sheets of gold representing his thunderbolts, or
sometimes a golden serpent representing either the thunderbolt or the
moisture with which this deity was so intimately connected. On his
feet were a kind of half-boots, with little bells of gold hanging
therefrom. Round his neck was a band or collar set with gold and gems
of price; while from his wrists depended strings of costly stones,
even such as are the ornaments of kings. His vesture was an azure
smock reaching to the middle of the thigh, cross-hatched all over with
ribbons of silver forming squares; and in the middle of each square
was a circle also of silver, while in the angles thereof were flowers,
pearl-colored, with yellow leaves hanging down. And even as the
decoration of the vesture so was that of the shield; the ground blue,
covered with crossed ribbons of silver and circles of silver: and the
feathers of yellow and green and flesh-color and blue, each color
forming a distinct band. The body was naked from mid-thigh down, and
of a grey tint, as was also the face. This face had only one eye of a
somewhat extraordinary character: there was an exterior circle of
blue, the interior was white with a black line across it and a little
semi-circle below the line. Either round the whole eye or round the
mouth was a doubled band, or ribbon of blue; this, although unnoticed
by Torquemada, is affirmed by Gama to have been never omitted from any
figure of Tlaloc, to have been his most characteristic device, and
that which distinguished him specially from the other gods. In his
open mouth were to be seen only three grinders; his front teeth were
painted red, as was also the pendant, with its button of gold, that
hung from his ear. His head-adornment was an open crown, covered in
its circumference with white and green feathers, and from behind it
over the shoulder depended other plumes of red and white. Sometimes
the insignium of the thunderbolt is omitted with this god, and
Ixtlilxochitl represents him, in the picture of the month Etzalli,
with a cane of maize in the one hand, and in the other a kind of
instrument with which he was digging in the ground. In the ground thus
dug were put maize leaves filled with a kind of food, like fritters,
called _etzalli_; from this the month took its name.[VIII-18]
[Sidenote: PRAYER TO TLALOC.]
[Sidenote: PRAYER FOR RAIN.]
A prayer to this god has been preserved by Sahagun, in which it will
be noticed that the word Tlaloc is used sometimes in the singular and
sometimes in the plural:--
O our Lord, most clement, liberal giver and lord of verdure and
coolness, lord of the terrestrial paradise, odorous and flowery, and
lord of the incense of copal, woe are we that the gods of water, thy
subjects, have hid themselves away in their retreat, who are wont to
serve us with the things we need and who are themselves served with
_ulli_ and _auchtli_ and copal. They have left concealed all the
things that sustain our lives, and carried away with them their sister
the goddess of the necessaries of life, and carried away also the
goddess of pepper. O our Lord, take pity on us that live; our food
goes to destruction, is lost, is dried up; for lack of water, it is as
if turned to dust and mixed with spiders' webs. Woe for the miserable
laborers and for the common people; they are wasted with hunger, they
go about unrecognizable and disfigured every one. They are blue under
the eyes as with death; their mouths are dry as sedge; all the bones
of their bodies may be counted as in a skeleton. The children are
disfigured and yellow as earth; not only those that begin to walk, but
even those in the cradle. There is no one to whom this torment of
hunger does not come; the very animals and birds suffer hard want, by
the drought that is. It is pitiful to see the birds, some dragging
themselves along with drooping wings, others falling down utterly and
unable to walk, and others still with their mouths open through this
hunger and thirst. The animals, O our Lord, it is a grievous sight to
see them stumbling and falling, licking the earth for hunger, and
panting with open mouth and hanging tongue. The people lose their
senses and die for thirst; they perish, none is like to remain. It is
woeful, O our Lord, to see all the face of the earth dry, so that it
cannot produce the herbs nor the trees, nor anything to sustain
us--the earth that used to be as a father and mother to us, giving us
milk and all nourishment, herbs and fruits that therein grew. Now is
all dry, all lost; it is evident that the Tlaloc gods have carried all
away with them, and hid in their retreat, which is the terrestrial
paradise. The things, O Lord, that thou wert graciously wont to give
us, upon which we lived and were joyful, which are the life and joy
of all the world, and precious as emeralds or sapphires--all these
things are departed from us. O our Lord, god of nourishment and giver
thereof, most humane and most compassionate, what thing hast thou
determined to do with us? Hast thou, peradventure altogether forsaken
us? Thy wrath and indignation shall it not be appeased? Hast thou
determined on the perdition of all thy servants and vassals, and that
thy city and kingdom shall be left desolate and uninhabited?
Peradventure, this has been determined, and settled in heaven and
hades. O our Lord, concede at least this, that the innocent children,
who cannot so much as walk, who are still in the cradle, may have
something to eat, so that they may live, and not die in this so great
famine. What have they done that they should be tormented and should
die of hunger? No iniquity have they committed, neither know they what
thing it is to sin; they have neither offended the god of heaven nor
the god of hell. We, if we have offended in many things, if our sins
have reached heaven and hades, and the stink thereof gone out to the
ends of the earth, just it is that we be destroyed and made an end of;
we have nothing to say thereto, nor to excuse ourselves withal, nor to
resist what is determined against us in heaven and in hades. Let it be
done; destroy us all, and that swiftly, that we may not suffer from
this long weariness which is worse than if we burned in fire.
Certainly it is a horrible thing to suffer this hunger; it is like a
snake lacking food, it gulps down its saliva, it hisses, it cries out
for something to devour. It is a fearful thing to see the anguish of
it demanding somewhat to eat; this hunger is intense as burning fire,
flinging out sparks. Lord, let the thing happen that many years ago we
have heard said by the old men and women that have passed away from
us, let the heavens fall on us and the demons of the air come down,
the Izitzimites, who are to come to destroy the earth with all that
dwell on it; let darkness and obscurity cover the whole world, and the
habitation of men be nowhere found therein. This thing was known to
the ancients, and they divulged it, and from mouth to mouth it has
come down to us, all this that has to happen when the world ends and
the earth is weary of producing creatures. Our Lord, such present end
would be now dear to us as riches or pleasures once were--miserable
that we are! See good, O Lord, that there fall some pestilence to end
us quickly. Such plague usually comes from the god of hades; and if it
came there would peradventure be provided some allowance of food, so
that the dead should not travel to hades without any provision for the
way. O that this tribulation were of war, which is originated by the
sun, and which breaks from sleep like a strong and valiant one--for
then would the soldiers and the brave, the stout and warlike men, take
pleasure therein. In it many die, and much blood is spilt, and the
battle-field is filled with dead bodies and with the bones and skulls
of the vanquished; strewn also is the face of the earth with the hairs
of the head of warriors that rot; but this they fear not, for they
know that their souls go to the house of the sun. And there they honor
the sun with joyful voices, and suck the various flowers with great
delight; there all the stout and valiant ones that died in war are
glorified and extolled; there also the little and tender children that
die in war are presented to the Sun, very clean and well adorned and
shining like precious stones. Thy sister, the goddess of food,
provides for those that go thither, supplying them with provision for
the way; and this provision of necessary things is the strength and
the soul and the staff of all the people of the world, and without it
there is no life. But this hunger with which we are afflicted, O our
most humane Lord, is so sore and intolerable that the miserable common
people are not able to suffer nor support it; being still alive they
die many deaths; and not the people alone suffer but also all the
animals. O our most compassionate Lord, lord of green things and gums,
of herbs odorous and virtuous, I beseech thee to look with eyes of
pity on the people of this thy city and kingdom; for the whole world
down to the very beasts is in peril of destruction, and disappearance,
and irremediable end. Since this is so, I entreat thee to see good to
send back to us the food-giving gods, gods of the rain and storm, of
the herbs and of the trees; so that they perform again their office
here with us on the earth. Scatter the riches and the prosperity of
thy treasures, let the timbrels of joy be shaken that are the staves
of the gods of water, let them take their sandals of india-rubber that
they may walk with swiftness. Give succor, O Lord, to our lord, the
god of the earth, at least with one shower of water, for when he has
water he creates and sustains us. See good, O Lord, to invigorate the
corn, and the other foods, much wished for and much needed, now sown
and planted; for the ridges of the earth suffer sore need and anguish
from lack of water. See good, O Lord, that the people receive this
favor and mercy at thine hand, let them see and enjoy of the verdure
and coolness that are as precious stones; see good that the fruit and
the substance of the Tlalocs be given, which are the clouds that these
gods carry with them and that sow the rain about us. See good, O Lord,
that the animals and herbs be made glad, and that the fowls and birds
of precious feather, such as the _quechotl_ and the _caguan_, fly and
sing and suck the herbs and flowers. And let not this come about with
thunderings and lightnings, symbols of thy wrath; for if our lords the
Tlalocs come with thunder and lightning the whole people, being lean
and very weak with hunger, would be terrified. If indeed some are
already marked out to go to the earthly paradise by the stroke of the
thunderbolt, let this death be restricted to them, and let no injury
befall any of the other people in mountain or cabin; neither let hurt
come near the magueys or the other trees and plants of the earth; for
these things are necessary to the life and sustenance of the people,
poor, forsaken, and cast-away, who can with difficulty get food enough
to live, going about through hunger with the bowels empty and
sticking to the ribs. O our Lord, most compassionate, most generous,
giver of all nourishment, be pleased to bless the earth and all the
things that live on the face thereof. With deep sighing and with
anguish of heart I cry upon all those that are gods of water, that are
in the four quarters of the world, east and west, north and south, and
upon those that dwell in the hollow of the earth, or in the air, or in
the high mountains, or in the deep caves, I beseech them to come and
console this poor people and to water the earth; for the eyes of all
that inhabit the earth, animals as well as men, are turned toward you,
and their hope is set upon your persons. O our Lord, be pleased to
come.[VIII-19]
[Sidenote: VENGEANCE OF TLALOC.]
This is a prayer to Tlaloc. But it was not with prayers alone that
they deprecated his wrath and implored his assistance; here as
elsewhere in the Mexican religion sacrifices played an important part.
When the rain failed and the land was parched by drought, great
processions were made in which a number of hairless dogs, common to
the country, and good to eat, were carried on decorated litters to a
place devoted to this use. There they were sacrificed to the god of
water by cutting out their hearts. Afterwards the carcasses were eaten
amid great festivities. All these things the Tlascaltec historian,
Camargo, had seen with his own eyes thirty years before writing his
book. The sacrifices of men, which were added to these in the days of
greatness of the old religion, he describes as he was informed by
priests who had officiated thereat. Two festivals in the year were
celebrated to Tlaloc, the greater feast and the less. Each of these
was terminated by human sacrifices. The side of the victim was opened
with a sharp knife; the high priest tore out the heart, and turning
toward the east offered it with lifted hands to the sun, crushing it
at the same time with all his strength. He repeated this, turning in
succession towards the remaining three cardinal points; the other
_tlamacaxques_, or priests, not ceasing the while to darken with
clouds of incense the faces of the idols. The heart was lastly burned
and the body flung down the steps of the temple. A priest, who had
afterwards been converted to Christianity, told Camargo that when he
tore out the heart of a victim and flung it down, it used to palpitate
with such force as to clear itself of the ground several times till it
grew cold. Tlaloc was held in exceeding respect and the priests alone
had the right to enter his temple. Whoever dared to blaspheme against
him was supposed to die suddenly or to be stricken of thunder; the
thunderbolt, instrument of his vengeance, flashed from the sky even at
the moment it was clearest. The sacrifices offered to him in times of
drought were never without answer and result; for, as Camargo craftily
insinuates, the priests took good care never to undertake them till
they saw indications of coming rain; besides, he adds--introducing,
in defiance of _nec deus intersit_, a surely unneeded personage, if we
suppose his last statement true--the devil, to confirm these
people in their errors, was always sure to send rain.[VIII-20]
Children were also sacrificed to Tlaloc. Says Motolinia, when four
years came together in which there was no rain, and there remained as
a consequence hardly any green thing in the fields, the people waited
till the maize grew as high as the knee, and then made a general
subscription with which four slave children, of five or six years of
age, were purchased. These they sacrificed in a cruel manner by
closing them up in a cave, which was never opened except on these
occasions.[VIII-21]
According to Mendieta, again, children were sometimes offered to this
god by drowning. The children were put into a canoe which was carried
to a certain part of the lake of Mexico where was a whirlpool, which
is no longer visible. Here the boat was sunk with its living cargo.
These gods had, according to the same author, altars in the
neighborhood of pools especially near springs; which altars were
furnished with some kind of roof, and at the principal fountains were
four in number set over against each other in the shape of a
cross--the cross of the rain god.[VIII-22]
The Vatican Codex says that in April a boy was sacrificed to Tlaloc
and his dead body put into the maize granaries or maize fields--it is
not clearly apparent which--to preserve the food of the people from
spoiling.[VIII-23] It is to Sahagun, however, that we must turn for the
most complete and authentic account of the festivals of Tlaloc with
their attendant sacrifices.
[Sidenote: SACRIFICES OF CHILDREN.]
In the first days of the first month of the year, which month is
called in some parts of Mexico, Quavitleloa, but generally Atlcaoalo,
and begins on the second of our February, a great feast was made in
honor of the Tlalocs, gods of rain and water. For this occasion many
children at the breast were purchased from their mothers; those being
chosen that had two whirls (remolinos) in their hair, and that had
been born under a good sign; it being said that such were the most
agreeable sacrifice to the storm gods, and most likely to induce them
to send rain in due season. Some of these infants were butchered for
this divine holiday on certain mountains, and some were drowned in the
lake of Mexico. With the beginning of the festival, in every house,
from the hut to the palace, certain poles were set up and to these
were attached strips of the paper of the country, daubed over with
india-rubber gum, said strips being called _amateteuitl_; this was
considered an honor to the water-gods. And the first place where
children were killed was Quauhtepetl, a high mountain in the
neighborhood of Tlatelulco; all infants, boys or girls, sacrificed
there were called by the name of the place, Quauhtepetl, and were
decorated with strips of paper dyed red. The second place where
children were killed was Yoaltecatl, a high mountain near Guadalupe.
The victims were decorated with pieces of black paper, with red lines
on it, and were named after the place, Yoaltecatl. The third
death-halt was made at Tepetzingo, a well-known hillock that rose up
from the waters of the lake opposite Tlatelulco; there they killed a
little girl, decking her with blue paper, and calling her Quetzalxoch,
for so was this hillock called by another name. Poiauhtla, on the
boundary of Tlascala, was the fourth hill of sacrifice. Here they
killed children, named as usual after the locality, and decorated with
paper on which were lines of india-rubber oil. The fifth place of
sacrifice was the no longer visible whirlpool or sink of the lake of
Mexico, Pantitlan. Those drowned here were called Epcoatl, and their
adornment _epuepaniuhqui_. The sixth hill of death was Cocotl,[VIII-24]
near Chalcoatenco; the infant victims were named after it and
decorated with strips of paper of which half the number were red and
half a tawny color. The mount Yiauhqueme, near Atlacuioaia, was the
seventh station; the victims being named after the place and adorned
with paper of a tawny color.
All these miserable babes before being carried to their death were
bedecked with precious stones and rich feathers and with raiment and
sandals wrought curiously; they put upon them paper wings (as if they
were angels); they stained their faces with oil of india-rubber, and
on the middle of each tiny cheek they painted a round spot of white.
Not able yet to walk, the victims were carried in litters shining with
jewels and awave with plumes; flutes and trumpets bellowed and
shrilled round the little bedizened heads, all so unfortunate in their
two whirls of hair, as they passed along; and everywhere as the
litters were borne by, all the people wept. When the procession
reached the temple near Tepetzinco, on the east, called Tozocan, the
priests rested there all night, watching and singing songs, so that
the little ones could not sleep. In the morning the march was again
resumed; if the children wept copiously those around them were very
glad, saying it was a sign that much rain would fall; while if they
met any dropsical person on the road it was taken for a bad omen and
something that would hinder the rain. If any of the temple ministers,
or of the others called _quaquavitli_, or of the old men, broke off
from the procession or turned back to their houses before they came to
the place where the sacrifice was done, they were held for infamous
and unworthy of any public office; thenceforward they were called
_mocauhque_, that is to say, 'deserters.'[VIII-25]
[Sidenote: SPOLIATION OF CÆSAR FOR THE CHURCH.]
More ludicrous than diabolical are the ceremonies of the next feast of
Tlaloc. In the sixth Aztec month, the month Etzalqualixtli, there was
held a festival in honor of the gods of water and rain. Before the
commencement of this festival the idol priests fasted four days, and
before beginning to fast they made a procession to a certain piece of
water, near Citlaltepec, to gather tules; for at that place these
rushes grew very tall and thick and what part of them was under water
was very white. There they pulled them up, rolled them in bundles
wrapped about with their blankets, and so carried them back on their
shoulders. Both on going out for these rushes and on coming back with
them, it was the custom to rob anyone that was met on the road; and
as every one knew of this custom the roads were generally pretty clear
of stragglers about this time. No one, not even a king's officer
returning to his master with tribute, could hope to escape on such an
occasion, nor to obtain from any court or magistrate any
indemnification for loss or injury so sustained in goods or person;
and if he made any resistance to his clerical spoilers they beat and
kicked and dragged him over the ground. When they reached the temple
with their rushes they spread them out on the ground and plaited them,
white with green, into as it were painted mats, sewing them firm with
threads of maguey-root; of these mats they made stools, and chairs
with backs. The first day of the fast arrived, all the idol ministers
and priests retired to their apartments in the temple buildings. There
retired all those called _tlamacaztequioagues_, that is to say,
'priests that have done feats in war, that have captured three or four
prisoners;' these although they did not reside continually in the
temple, resorted thither at set times to fulfil their offices. There
retired also those called _tlamacazcayiaque_, that is, 'priests that
have taken one prisoner in war;' these also, although not regular
inmates of the cues, resorted thither, when called by their duties.
There retired also those that are called _tlamacazquecuicanime_,
'priest singers,' who resided permanently in the temple building
because they had as yet captured no one in war. Last of all those also
retired that were called _tlamacaztezcahoan_, which means 'inferior
ministers,' and those boys, like little sacristans, who were called
_tlamacatoton_, 'little ministers.'
Next, all the rush mats that had been made which were called
_aztapilpetlatl_, 'jaspered mats of rushes, or mats of white and
green' were spread round about the hearths (hogares) of the temple,
and the priests proceeded to invest themselves for their offices. They
put on a kind of jacket that they had, called _xicolli_, of painted
cloth; on the left arm they put a kind of scarf, _macataxtli_; in the
left hand they took a bag of copal, and in the right a censer,
_temaitl_, which is a kind of sauce-pan or frying-pan of baked clay.
Then they entered into the court-yard of the temple, took up their
station in the middle of it, put live coals into their censers, added
copal, and offered incense toward the four quarters of the world,
east, north, west, and south. This done they emptied the coals from
their incense-pans into the great brasiers that were always burning at
night in the court, brasiers somewhat less in height than the height
of a man, and so thick that two men could with difficulty clasp them.
[Sidenote: BATHING IN THE FESTIVAL OF TLALOC.]
This over, the priests returned to the temple buildings, _calmecac_,
and put off their ornaments. Then they offered before the hearth
little balls of dough, called _veutelolotli_; each priest offering
four, arranging them on the aforementioned rush mats, and putting them
down with great care, so that they should not roll nor move; and if
the balls of any one stirred, it was the duty of his fellows to call
attention to the matter and have him punished therefor. Some offered
instead of dough four little pies or four pods of green pepper. A
careful scrutiny was also observed to see if any one had any dirt on
his blanket, or any bit of thread or hair or feather, and that no one
should trip or fall; for in such a case he had to be punished; and as
a consequence every man took good heed to all his steps and ways
during these four days. At the end of each day's offerings, certain
old men, called _quaquacuiltin_ came, their faces dyed black, and
their heads shaved, save only the crown of the head, where the hair
was allowed to grow long, the reverse of the custom of the Christian
priests. These old men daily collected the offerings that had been
made, dividing them among themselves. It was further the custom with
all the priests and in all the temples, while fasting these four days,
to be wakened at midnight by the blast of horns and shells and other
instruments; when all rose up and, utterly naked, went to where were
certain thorns of maguey, cut for the purpose the day before, and with
little lancets of stone they hacked their ears, staining the prepared
thorns of maguey and besmearing their faces with the blood that
flowed; each man staining maguey-thorns with his blood in number
proportioned to his devotion, some five, others more, others less.
This done all the priests went to bathe themselves, how cold soever it
might be, attended by the music of marine shells and shrill whistles
of baked clay. Every one had a little bag strapped to his shoulders,
ornamented with tassels or strips of painted paper; in these bags was
carried a sort of herb ground fine and made up with a kind of black
dye into little longish pellets.[VIII-26] The general body of the priests
marched along, each one carrying a leaf of maguey in which the thorns
were stuck, as in a pincushion, which he had to use. Before these went
a priest with his censer full of live coals and a bag of copal; and in
advance of all these walked one carrying a board on his shoulder of
about a span broad and two yards long, hollowed apparently in some
way, and filled with little rollers of wood that rattled and sounded
as the bearer went along shaking them.[VIII-27] All the priests took part
in this procession, only four remaining behind to take care of the
temple-building, or calmecac, which was their monastery. These four
during the absence of the others remained seated in the calmecac and
occupied themselves in devotion to the gods, in singing and in
rattling with a hollow board of the sort mentioned above. At the piece
of water where the priests were to bathe there were four houses,
called _axaucalli_, 'fog houses,' set each toward one of the four
quarters of the compass; in the ablutions of the first night one of
these houses was occupied, on the second night another, and so on
through all the four nights and four houses of the fog. Here also were
four tall poles standing up out of the water. And the unfortunate
bathers, naked from the outset as we remember, reached this place
trembling and their teeth chattering with cold. One of their number
mumbled a few words, which being translated mean: this is the place of
snakes, the place of mosquitos, the place of ducks, and the place of
rushes. This said, all flung themselves into the water and began to
splash with their hands and feet, making a great noise and imitating
the cries of various aquatic birds.[VIII-28] When the bathing was over,
the naked priests took their way back accompanied by the music of
pipes and shells. Half dead with cold and weariness they reached the
temple, where drawing their mantles over them they flung themselves
down in a confused heap on the rush mats, so often mentioned, and
slept as best they could. We are told that some talked in their sleep,
and some walked about in it, and some snored, and some sighed in a
painful manner. There they lay in a tangled weary heap not rising till
noon of the next day.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE.]
The first thing to be done on waking was to array themselves in their
canonicals, take their censers, and to follow an old priest called
Quaquacuilti to all the chapels and altars of the idols, incensing
them. After this they were at liberty to eat; they squatted down in
groups, and to each one was given such food as had been sent to him
from his own house; and if any one took any of the portion of another,
or even exchanged his for that of another, he was punished for it.
Punishment also attended the dropping of any morsel while eating, if
the fault were not atoned for by a fine. After this meal, they all
went to cut down branches of a certain kind called _acxoiatl_, or,
where these were not to be found, green canes instead, and to bring
them to the temple in sheaves. There they sat down, every man with his
sheaf, and waited for an arranged signal. The signal given, every one
sprang up to some appointed part of the temple to decorate it with his
boughs; and if any one went to a place not his, or wandered from his
companions, or lagged behind them, they punished him--a punishment
only to be remitted by paying to his accuser, within the four days of
which we are now speaking, either a hen or a blanket or a
breech-clout, or, if very poor, a ball of dough in a cup.
These four days over, the festival was come, and every man began it by
eating _etzalli_, a kind of maize porridge, in his own house. For
those that wished it there was general dancing and rejoicing. Many
decked themselves out like merry-andrews and went about in parties
carrying pots, going from house to house, demanding etzalli. They sang
and danced before the door, and said, "If you do not give me some
porridge, I will knock a hole in your house;" whereupon the etzalli
was given. These revels began at midnight and ceased at dawn. Then
indeed did the priests array themselves in all their glory: underneath
was a jacket, over that a thin transparent mantle called
_aiauhquemitl_, decorated with parrot-feathers set cross-wise. Between
the shoulders they fastened a great round paper flower, like a shield.
To the nape of the neck they attached other flowers of crumpled paper
of a semi-circular shape; these hung down on both sides of the head
like ears. The forehead was painted blue and over the paint was dusted
powder of marcasite. In the right hand was carried a bag made of
tiger-skin, and embroidered with little white shells which clattered
as one walked. The bag seems to have been three-cornered; from one
angle hung down the tiger's tail, from another his two fore feet, from
another his two hind feet. It contained incense made from a certain
herb called _yiauhtli_.[VIII-29] There went one priest bearing a hollow
board filled with wooden rattles, as before described. In advance of
this personage there marched a number of others, carrying in their
arms images of the gods made of that gum that is black and leaps,
called _ulli_ (india-rubber), these images were called _ulteteu_, that
is to say 'gods of ulli.' Other ministers there were carrying in their
arms lumps of copal, shaped like sugar loaves; each pyramid having a
rich feather, called quetzal, stuck in the peak of it like a plume. In
this manner went the procession with the usual horns and shells, and
the purpose of it was to lead to punishment those that had
transgressed in any of the points we have already discussed. The
culprits were marched along, some held by the hair at the nape of the
neck, others by the breech-clout; the boy offenders were held by the
hand, or, if very small, were carried. All these were brought to a
place called Totecco, where water was. Here certain ceremonies were
performed, paper was burned in sacrifice, as were also the pyramids of
copal and images of ulli, incense being thrown into the fire and other
incense scattered over the rush mats with which the place was adorned.
While this was going on those in charge of the culprits had not been
idle, but were flinging them into the water. Great was the noise, it
is said, made by the splash of one tossed in, and the water leaped
high with the shock. As any one came to the surface or tried to
scramble out he was pushed in or pushed down again--well was it then
for him who could swim, and by long far diving keep out of the reach
of his tormentors. For the others they were so roughly handled that
they were often left for dead on the water's edge, where their
relatives would come and hang them up by the feet to let the water
they had swallowed run out of them; a method of cure surely as bad as
the malady.
[Sidenote: THE FOUR BALLS.]
The shrill music struck up again and the procession returned by the
way it had come; the friends of the punished ones carrying them. The
monastery or calmecac reached, there began another four days' fast,
called _netlacacaoaliztli_; but in this the sharp religious etiquette
of the first four days' fast was not observed, or at least one was not
liable to be informed upon or punished for a breach of such etiquette.
The conclusion of this fast was celebrated by feasting. Again the
priests decorated themselves in festal array. All the head was painted
blue, the face was covered with honey (miel) mixed with a black dye.
Over the shoulders were carried the incense-bags embroidered with
little white shells--bags made of tiger-skins, as before described,
for the chief priests, and of paper painted to imitate tiger-skin in
the case of the inferior priests. Some of these satchels were
fashioned to resemble the bird called _atzitzicuilotl_, others to
resemble ducks. The priests marched in procession to the temple, and
before all marched the priest of Tlaloc. He had on his head a crown of
basketwork, fitting close to the temples below and spreading out
above, with many plumes issuing from the middle of it. His face was
anointed with melted india-rubber gum, black as ink, and concealed by
an ugly mask with a great nose, and a wig attached which fell as low
as the waist. All went along mumbling to themselves as if they prayed,
till they came to the cu of Tlaloc. There they stopped and spread tule
mats on the ground, and dusted them over with powdered tule-leaves
mixed with yiauhtli incense. Upon this the acting priest placed four
round chalchiuites, like little balls; then he took a small hook
painted blue, and touched each ball with it; and as he touched each he
made a movement as if drawing back his hand, and turned himself
completely round. He scattered more incense on the mats, then he took
the board with the rattles inside and sounded with it--perhaps a kind
of religious stage thunder in imitation of the thunder of his god.
Upon this every one retired to his house or to his monastery and put
off his ornaments; and the unfortunates who had been ducked were
carried at last to their own dwellings for the rest and recovery that
they so sorely needed. That night the festivities burst out with a new
glory, the musical instruments of the cu itself were sounded, the
great drums and the shrill shells. Well watched that night were the
prisoners who were doomed to death on the morrow. When it came they
were adorned with the trappings of the Tlaloc gods--for it was said
they were the images of these gods--and those that were killed first
were said to be the foundation of the others, which seemed to be
symbolized by those who had to die last being made to seat themselves
on those who had been first killed.[VIII-30]
The slaughter over, the hearts of the victims were put into a pot that
was painted blue and stained with ulli in four places. Together with
this pot offerings were taken of paper and feathers and precious
stones and chalchiuites, and a party set out with the whole for that
part of the lake where the whirlpool is, called Pantitlan. All who
assisted at this offering and sacrifice were provided with a supply of
the herb called _iztauhiatl_, which is something like the incense used
in Spain, and they puffed it with their mouths over each other's faces
and over the faces of their children. This they did to hinder maggots
getting into the eyes, and also to protect against a certain disease
of the eyes called _exocuillo-o-alixtli_; some also put this herb into
their ears, and others for a certain superstition they had held a
handful of it clutched in the hand. The party entered a great canoe
belonging to the king, furnished with green oars, or paddles, spotted
with ulli, and rowed swiftly to the place Pantitlan, where the
whirlpool was. This whirlpool was surrounded by logs driven into the
bottom of the lake like piles--probably to keep canoes from being
drawn into the sink. These logs being reached, the priests, standing
in the bows of the royal vessel, began to play on their horns and
shells. Conspicuous among them stood their chief holding the pot
containing the hearts; he flung them far into the whirling hollow of
water, and it is said that when the hearts plunged in, the waters were
strangely moved and stirred into waves and foam. The precious stones
were also thrown in, and the papers of the offering were fastened to
the stakes with a number of the chalchiuites and other stones. A
priest took a censer and put four papers called _telhuitl_ into it,
and burned them, offering them toward the whirlpool; then he threw
them, censer and all, still burning into the sink. That done, the
canoe was put about and rowed to the landing of Tetamacolco, and every
one bathed there.
All this took place between midnight and morning, and when the light
began to break the whole body of the priests went to bathe in the
usual place. They washed the blue paint off their heads, save only on
the forehead; and if there were any offences of any priest to be
punished he was here ducked and half drowned as described above.
Lastly all returned to their monasteries, and the green rush mats
spread there were thrown out behind each house.[VIII-31]
We have given the description of two great festivals of the
Tlalocs--two being all that are mentioned by many authorities--there
still remain, however, two other notable occasions on which they were
propitiated and honored.
[Sidenote: IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS.]
In the thirteenth month, which was called Tepeilhuitl, and which
began, according to Clavigero, on the 24th of October, it was the
custom to cut certain sticks into the shape of snakes. Certain images
as of children were also cut out of wood, and these dolls, called
_hecatotonti_, together with the wooden snakes, were used as a
foundation or centre round which to build up little effigies of the
mountains; wherein the Tlalocs were honored as gods of the mountains,
and wherein memorial was had of those that had been drowned, or killed
by thunderbolts, or whose bodies had been buried without
cremation--the dolls perhaps representing the bodies of these, and
the snakes the thunderbolts. Having then these wooden dolls and snakes
as a basis, they were covered with dough mixed from the seeds of the
wild amaranth; over each doll certain papers were put; round one snake
and one doll, set back to back, there appears next to have been bound
a wisp of hay, (which wisp was kept from year to year and washed on
the vigil of every feast), till the proper shape of a mountain was
arrived at; over the whole was then daubed a layer of dough, of the
kind already mentioned. We have now our image of the mountain with two
heads looking opposite ways, sticking out from its summit. Round this
summit there seem to have been stuck rolls of dough representing the
clouds usually formed about the crests of high mountains. The face of
the human image that looked out over these dough clouds was daubed
with melted ulli; and to both cheeks of it were stuck little
tortillas, or cakes of the everywhere-present dough of wild amaranth
seeds. On the head of this same image was put a crown with feathers
issuing from it.[VIII-32] These images were made at night, and in the
morning they were carried to their 'oratories,' and laid down on beds
of rushes or reeds; then food was offered to them, small pies or
tarts, a porridge of maize-flour and sugar, and the stewed flesh of
fowls or of dogs. Incense was burned before them, being thrown into a
censer shaped like a hand, as it were a great spoon full of burning
coals. Those who could afford it sang and drank pulque in honor of
their dead ones and of these gods.
[Sidenote: SACRIFICES TO TLALOC.]
In this feast four women and a man were killed in honor of the Tlalocs
and of the mountains. The four women were named respectively, Tepoxch,
Matlalquac, Xochetecatl, and Mayavel--this last was decorated to
appear as the image of the magueyes. The man was called Milnaoatl; he
stood for an image of 'the snakes.' These victims, adorned with crowns
of paper stained with ulli, were borne to their doom in litters. Being
carried to the summit of the cu, they were thrown one by one on the
sacrificial stone, their hearts taken out with the flint and offered
to Tlaloc, and their bodies allowed to slide slowly down the
temple-steps to the earth--a too rapid descent being hindered by the
priests. The corpses were carried to a place where the heads were cut
off and preserved, spitted on poles thrust through the temples of each
skull. The bodies were lastly carried to the wards from which they had
set out alive, and there cut in pieces and eaten. At the same time the
images of the mountains, which we have attempted to describe, were
broken up, the dough with which they were covered was set out to dry
in the sun, and was eaten, every day a piece. The papers with which
the said images had been adorned were then spread over the wisps of
hay, above mentioned, and the whole was fastened up in the rafters of
the oratory that every one had in his house; there to remain till
required for the next year's feast of the same kind; on which
occasion, and as a preliminary to the other ceremonies which we have
already described in the first part of this feast, the people took
down the paper and the wisp from their private oratories, and carried
them to the public oratory called the _acaucalli_, left the paper
there, and returned with the wisp to make of it anew the image of a
mountain.[VIII-33]
[Sidenote: KILLING IMAGES OF THE MOUNTAINS.]
The fourth and last festival of Tlaloc which we have to describe, fell
in our December and in the sixteenth Aztec month, called the month
Atemuztli. About this time it began to thunder round the
mountain-tops, and the first rains to fall there; the common people
said, "Now come the Tlalocs," and for love of the water they made vows
to make images of the mountains--not, however, as it would appear,
such images as have been described as appertaining to the preceding
festival. The priests were very devout at this season and very earnest
in prayer, expecting the rain. They took each man his incense-pan or
censer, made like a great spoon with a long round hollow handle filled
with rattles and terminating in a snake's head, and offered incense to
all the idols. Five days before the beginning of the feast the common
people bought paper and ulli and flint knives and a kind of coarse
cloth called _nequen_, and devoutly prepared themselves with fasting
and penance to make their images of the mountains and to cover them
with paper. In this holy season, although every one bathed, he washed
no higher than the neck, the head was left unwashed; the men,
moreover, abstained from their wives. The night preceding the great
feast-day was spent wholly, flint knife in hand, cutting out paper
into various shapes. These papers called _tetevitl_, were stained with
ulli; and every householder got a long pole, covered it with pieces of
this paper, and set it up in his court-yard, where it remained all the
day of the festival. Those that had vowed to make images of the
mountains invited priests to their houses to do it for them. The
priests came, bearing their drums and rattles and instruments of music
of tortoise-shell. They made the images--apparently like human
figures--out of the dough of wild amaranth seed, and covered them with
paper. In some houses there were made five of such images, in others
ten, in others fifteen; they were figures that stood for such
mountains as the clouds gather round, such as the volcano of the
Sierra Nevada or that of the Sierra of Tlascala. These images being
constructed, they were set in order in the oratory of the house, and
before each one was set food--very small pies, on small platters,
proportionate to the little image, small boxes holding a little sweet
porridge of maize, little calabashes of cacao, and other small green
calabashes containing pulque. In one night they presented the figures
with food in this manner four times. All the night too they sang
before them, and played upon flutes; the regular flutists not being
employed on this occasion, but certain small boys who were paid for
their trouble with something to eat. When the morning came, the
ministers of the idols asked the master of the house for his
_tzotzopaztli_, a kind of broad wooden knife used in weaving,[VIII-34]
and thrust it into the breasts of the images of the mountains, as if
they were living men, and cut their throats and drew out the hearts,
which they put in a green cup and gave to the owner of the house. This
done, they took all the paper with which these images had been adorned,
together with certain green mats that had been used for the same
purpose, and the utensils in which the offering of food had been put,
and burned all in the court-yard of the house. The ashes and the
mutilated images seem then to have been carried to a public oratory
called Aiauhcalco, on the shore of the lake. Then all who assisted at
these ceremonies joined themselves to eat and drink in honor of the
mutilated images, which were called _tepieme_. Women were allowed to
join in this banquet provided they brought fifteen or twenty heads of
maize with them; they received every one his or her share of food and
pulque. The pulque was kept in black jars and lifted out to be drunk
with black cups. This banquet over, the paper streamers were taken
down from the poles set up in the court-yards of the houses and
carried to certain places in the water that were marked out by piles
driven in--we may remember that our whirlpool of Pantitlan, in the
lake of Mexico, was one place so marked--and to the tops of the
mountains, and left there as it would appear.[VIII-35]
In taking leave here of Tlaloc I may draw attention to the prominence
in his cult of the number four, the cross, and the snake; and add that
as lord of one of the three Aztec divisions of the future world, lord
of the terrestrial paradise, we shall meet with him again in our
examination of the Mexican ideas of a future life.
FOOTNOTES:
[VIII-1] Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words: _huitzilin_, the
humming-bird, and _opochtli_, left--so called from the left foot of
his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers. _Clavigero_,
_Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 17-19.
[VIII-2] _Boturini_, _Idea de una Hist._, pp. 60-1.
[VIII-3] _Acosta_, _Hist. Nat. Ind._, pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a
description of the wanderings of the Mexicans and how their god
Vitziliputzli, directed and guided them therein, much as the God of
Israel directed his people, across the wilderness to the Promised
Land. Tradition also tells, how he himself revealed that manner of
sacrifice most acceptable to his will:--some of the priests having
overnight offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men;
their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which
rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that
deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish
husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares. _Purchas
his Pilgrimes_, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3.
[VIII-4] _Solis_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 396-8. This writer
says: 'The Spanish soldiers called this idol _Huchilobos_, a corrupt
pronunciation: so too Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors
differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de
Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gómara too closely. We shall follow
Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors.' _Id._, p.
395.
[VIII-5] _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. i., p. i.
[VIII-6] _Gage's New Survey_, pp. 116-7; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, tom.
i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.
[VIII-7] 'Pero los mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de
el Dios Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el
uno Huitzilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir
Ombligo de Maguey.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 293.
[VIII-8] 'Aconteciò, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come
acostumbraba, viò bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequeña, hecha de
plumas, à manera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino à los
manos, la qual tomò, y metiò entre los Nahuas, ò Faldellin, y la
carne, debajo de la faja que le ceñia el cuerpo (porque siempre traen
fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin
de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y buscò la pelota de pluma, para vèr
de què podria aprovecharla en servicio de sus Dioses, y no la hallò.
Quedò de esto admirada, y mucho mas de conocer en sì, que desde aquel
punto se avia hecho preñada.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii.,
pp. 41-2.
[VIII-9] This Paynalton, or Paynal, was a kind of deputy-god, or
substitute for Huitzilopochtli; used in cases of urgent haste and
immediate emergency, where perhaps it might be thought there was not
time for the lengthened ceremonies necessary to the invocation of the
greater war deity. Sahagun's account of Paynal is concise, and will
throw light on the remarks of Torquemada, as given above in the text.
Sahagun says, in effect: This god Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to
Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chief-captain, dictated the deliberate
undertaking of war against any province; the former, as vicar to the
other, served when it became unexpectedly necessary to take up arms
and make front hurriedly against an enemy. Then it was that
Paynal--whose name means 'swift, or hurried,'--when living on earth
set out in person to stir up the people to repulse the enemy. Upon his
death he was deified and a festival appointed in his honor. In this
festival, his image, richly decorated, was carried in a long
procession, every one, bearer of the idol or not, running as fast as
he could; all of which represented the promptness that is many times
necessary to resist the assault of a foe attacking by surprise or
ambuscade. _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. i., p. 2.
[VIII-10] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 293, tom. ii., pp.
41-3, 71-3.
[VIII-11] See this vol., p. 69, note.
[VIII-12] See this vol. p. 67.
[VIII-13] See this vol. p. 134.
[VIII-14] If some of the names and myths, mentioned or alluded to from
time to time, by Müller and others, are yet unknown to the reader, he
will remember the impossibility of any arrangement of these mixed and
far-involved legends by which, without infinite verbiage, this trouble
could be wholly obviated. In good time, and with what clearness is
possible, the list of gods and legends will be made as nearly as may
be complete.
[VIII-15] _Müller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 591-612.
[VIII-16] _Tylor's Prim. Cult._, vol. ii., p 279.
[VIII-17] _Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano_ (Vaticano),
tav. lxxi.-ii., in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., pp. 195-6.
[VIII-18] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 14;
_Leon y Gama_, _Dos Piedras_, pt i., p. 101, pt ii., pp. 76-9.
[VIII-19] _Sahagun_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., pp.
372-6; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, vol. ii., pp. 64-70.
[VIII-20] _Camargo_, _Hist. de Tlaxcallan_, in _Nouvelles Annales des
Voy._, 1843, tom. 99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlascaltec,
most of his writings have particular reference to his own province,
but in this as in other places he seems to be describing general
Mexican customs.
[VIII-21] The text, without saying directly that these unfortunate
children were closed there alive, appears to infer it: 'Cuando el maiz
estaba á la rodilla, para un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que
compraban cuatro niños esclavos de edad de cinco á seis años, y
sacrificábanlos á Tlaloc, dios del agua, poniéndolos en una cueva, y
cerrábanla hasta otro año que hacian lo mismo. Este cruel sacrificio.'
_Motolinia_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 45.
[VIII-22] 'Tambien tenian ídolos junto á los aguas, mayormente cerca de
las fuentes, á do hacian sus altares con sus gradas cubiertas por
encima, y en muchas principales fuentes cuatro altares de estos á
manera de cruz unos enfrente de otros, y allí en el agua echaban mucho
encienso ofrecido y papel.' _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, pp. 87, 102.
[VIII-23] 'In questo mese ritornavano ad ornare li tempj, e le immagini
come nello passato, ed in fine delli venti dí sacrificavano un putto
al Dio dell' acqua, e lo mettevano infra il maiz, a fine che non si
guastasse la provisione di tutto l' anno.' _Spiegazione delle Tavole
del Codice Mexicano_, tav. lx., in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol.
v., p. 191.
[VIII-24] 'Whence is derived the name _cocoles_, by which the boys of
the choir of the cathedral of Mexico are now known.' _Bustamante_, note
to _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., p. 85.
[VIII-25] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., pp. 37-8; _Sahagun_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7.
[VIII-26] 'En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha á la
manera de estiercol de ratones, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era
conficionada con tinta y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman
yietll; és como veleños de Castilla.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._,
vol. vii., p. 51.
[VIII-27] Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument: 'Una
tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo ó poco mas. Yvan
dentro de estas tablas unas sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando
con ellas. Llamaban á esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, ó Nacatlquoavitl.'
The second description is: 'Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de
largura de dos brazas; á trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos
pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados á la misma tabla, y dentro de
ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llamaba
aiauhchicaoaztli.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., pp. 51 and
53.
[VIII-28] 'Comenzaban á vocear y á gritar y a contrahacer las aves del
agua, unos á los anades, otros á unas aves zancudas del agua que llama
pipititi, otros á los cuervos marinos, otros á las garzotas blancas,
otros á las garzas. Aquellas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que
eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en
al agua.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., p. 51.
[VIII-29] 'Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro.' _Molina_,
_Vocabulario_.
[VIII-30] 'Comenzaban luego á matar á los captivos; aquellos que primero
mataban decian que eran el fundamento de los que eran imagen de los
Tlaloques, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos
Tlaloques que (ivan aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los
que morian á la postre ivanse á sentar sobre los que primero habian
muerto.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., p. 54.
[VIII-31] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., pp. 49-55; _Sahagun_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 111-124.
[VIII-32] This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains
is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use
largely any constructive imagination one may possess to reproduce even
a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make
rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of
Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity: 'Al trece mes llamaban
Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubrian de masa de
bledos unos palos que tenian hechos como culebras, y hacian imagenes
de montes fundadas sobre unos palos hechos á manera de niños que
llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos.
Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de
bledos á manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas
imagenes á honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en
memoria de los que habian muerto en agua ó heridos de rayo, y de los
que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes
hacianlos sobre unos rodeos ó roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate,
y guardabanlas de un año para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban
á lavar estas roscas al rio ó á la fuente, y quando las llevaban
ivanlas tañendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido ó con unos
caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas ú oratorias que estaban
hechos á la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con
unas ojas de cañas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa
las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas á su casa con la misma
musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como está
dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca
del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y
otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y
hacian unas tortillas prequeñuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y
ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de una parte y de
otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tetcuitli; ponianlos
unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien á los imagenes
de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en
amaneciendo ponian estas imagenes en sus oratorios, sobre unos lechos
de espadañas ó de juncias ó juncos.' _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._,
vol. vii., pp. 71-2.
[VIII-33] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., pp. 71-3; _Sahagun_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-162.
[VIII-34] 'Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y
aprietan la tela que se texe.' _Molina_, _Vocabulario_.
[VIII-35] _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vii., pp. 80-1; _Sahagun_,
_Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice
of Tlaloc and his worship will be found in the _Spiegazione delle
Tavole del Codice Mexicano_, tav. xxviii., lvii., lx., lxii., in
_Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2; _Boturini_,
_Idea_, pp. 12-3, 99, 101; _Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact._, vol. i.,
p. 305; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Ind._, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._,
tom. i., pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i.,
p. 290, and tom. ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4;
_Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; _Gomara_,
_Hist. Conq. Mex._, fol. 216; _Tylor's Prim. Cult._, vol. ii., pp.
235, 243; _Müller_, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 500-4 et passim.