GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP.
THE MOTHER OR ALL-NOURISHING GODDESS UNDER VARIOUS NAMES AND IN
VARIOUS ASPECTS -- HER FEAST IN THE ELEVENTH AZTEC MONTH
OCHPANIZTLI -- FESTIVALS OF THE EIGHTH MONTH, HUEYTECUILHUITL,
AND OF THE FOURTH, HUEYTOZOZTLI -- THE DEIFICATION OF WOMEN
THAT DIED IN CHILD-BIRTH -- THE GODDESS OF WATER UNDER VARIOUS
NAMES AND IN VARIOUS ASPECTS -- CEREMONIES OF THE BAPTISM OR
LUSTRATION OF CHILDREN -- THE GODDESS OF LOVE, HER VARIOUS
NAMES AND ASPECTS -- RITES OF CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION -- THE
GOD OF FIRE AND HIS VARIOUS NAMES -- HIS FESTIVALS IN THE TENTH
MONTH XOCOTLVETI AND IN THE EIGHTEENTH MONTH YZCALI; ALSO HIS
QUADRIENNIAL FESTIVAL IN THE LATTER MONTH -- THE GREAT FESTIVAL
OF EVERY FIFTY-TWO YEARS; LIGHTING THE NEW FIRE -- THE GOD OF
HADES, AND TEOYAOMIQUE, COLLECTOR OF THE SOULS OF THE FALLEN
BRAVE -- DEIFICATION OF DEAD RULERS AND HEROES -- MIXCOATL, GOD
OF HUNTING AND HIS FEAST IN THE FOURTEENTH MONTH, QUECHOLLI --
VARIOUS OTHER MEXICAN DEITIES -- FESTIVAL IN THE SECOND MONTH,
TLACAXIPEHUALIZTLI, WITH NOTICE OF THE GLADIATORIAL SACRIFICES
-- COMPLETE SYNOPSIS OF THE FESTIVALS OF THE MEXICAN CALENDAR,
FIXED AND MOVABLE -- TEMPLES AND PRIESTS.
Centeotl is a goddess, or according to some good authorities a god,
who held, under many names and in many characters, a most important
place in the divine world of the Aztecs, and of other Mexican and
Central American peoples. She was goddess of maize, and consequently,
from the importance in America of this grain, of agriculture, and of
the producing earth generally. Many of her various names seem
dependent on the varying aspects of the maize at different stages of
its growth; others seem to have originated in the mother-like
nourishing qualities of the grain of which she was the deity. Müller
lays much stress on this aspect of her character: "The force which
sustains life must also have created it. Centeotl was therefore
considered as bringing children to light, and is represented with an
infant in her arms. Nebel gives us such a representation, and in our
Mexican museum at Basel there are many images in this form, made of
burnt clay. Where agriculture rules, there more children are brought
to mature age than among the hunting nations, and the land revels in a
large population. No part of the world is so well adapted to exhibit
this difference as America. Centeotl is consequently the great
producer, not of children merely, she is the great goddess, the most
ancient goddess."[IX-1]
[Sidenote: THE MOTHER-NOURISHER.]
Centeotl was known, according to Clavigero, by the titles Tonacajohua,
'she who sustains us;' Tzinteotl, 'original goddess;' and by the
further names Xilonen, Iztacacenteotl, and Tlatlauhquicenteotl. She
was further, according to the same author, identical with Tonantzin,
'our mother,' and, according to Müller and many Spanish authorities,
either identical or closely connected with the various deities known
as Teteionan, 'the mother of the gods,'[IX-2] Cihuatcoatl, 'the
snake-woman,' Tazi or Toci or Tocitzin, 'our grandmother,' and Earth,
the universal material mother. Squier says of Tiazolteotl, that "she
is Cinteotl the goddess of maize, under another aspect."[IX-3]
She was particularly honored by the Totonacs, with whom she was the
chief divinity. They greatly loved her, believing that she did not
demand human victims, but was content with flowers and fruits, the fat
banana and the yellow maize, and small animals, such as doves, quails,
and rabbits. More, they hoped that she would in the end utterly
deliver them from the cruel necessity of such sacrifices, even to the
other gods.
With very different feelings, as we shall soon see, did the Mexicans
proper approach this deity, making her temples horrid with the
tortured forms of human sacrifices. It shows how deep the stain of the
blood was in the Mexican religious heart, how poisonous far the odor
of it had crept through all the senses of the Aztec soul, when it
could be believed that the great sustainer, the yellow waving maize,
the very mother of all, must be fed upon the flesh of her own
children.[IX-4]
To make comprehensible various allusions it seems well here to sum up
rapidly the characters given of certain goddesses identical with or
resembling in various points this Centeotl. Chicomecoatl[IX-5] was,
according to Sahagun, the Ceres of Mexico, and the goddess of
provisions, as well of what is drunk as of what is eaten. She was
represented with a crown on her head, a vase in her right hand, and on
her left arm a shield with a great flower painted thereon; her
garments and her sandals were red.
The first of the Mexican goddesses was, following the same authority,
Cioacoatl, or Civacoatl, the goddess of adverse things, such as
poverty, downheartedness, and toil. She appeared often in the guise of
a great lady, wearing such apparel as was used in the palace; she was
also heard at night in the air shouting and even roaring. Besides her
name Cioacoatl, which means 'snake-woman,' she was known as Tonantzin,
that is to say, 'our mother.' She was arrayed in white robes, and her
hair was arranged in front, over her forehead, in little curls that
crossed each other. It was a custom with her to carry a cradle on her
shoulders, as one that carries a child in it, and after setting it
down in the market-place beside the other women, to disappear. When
this cradle was examined, there was found a stone knife in it, and
with this the priests slew their sacrificial victims.
[Sidenote: MEDICINE-GODDESS.]
The goddess of Sahagun's description most resembling the Toci of other
writers, is the one that he calls 'the mother of the gods, the heart
of the earth, and our ancestor or grandmother (abuela).' She is
described as the goddess of medicine and of medicinal herbs, as
worshiped by doctors, surgeons, blood-letters, of those that gave
herbs to produce abortions, and also of the diviners that pronounced
upon the fortune of children according to their birth. They worshiped
her also that cast lots with grains of maize, those that augured by
looking into water in a bowl, those that cast lots with bits of cord
tied together, those that drew little worms or maggots from the mouth
or eyes, those that extracted little stones from other parts of the
body, and those that had sweat-baths, _temazcallis_, in their houses.
These last always set the image of this goddess in the baths, calling
her Temazcalteci, that is to say, 'the grandmother of the baths.' Her
adorers made this goddess a feast every year, buying a woman for a
sacrifice, decorating this victim with the ornaments proper to the
goddess. Every evening they danced with this unfortunate, and regaled
her delicately, praying her to eat as they would a great lady, and
amusing her in every way that she might not weep nor be sad at the
prospect of death. When the dreadful hour did come, having slain her,
together with two others that accompanied her to death, they flayed
her; then a man clothed himself in her skin, and went about all the
city playing many pranks--by all of which her identity with Tozi
seems sufficiently clear. This goddess was represented with the mouth
and chin stained with ulli, and a round patch of the same on her face;
on her head she had a kind of turban made of cloth rolled round and
knotted behind. In this knot were stuck plumes which issued from it
like flames, and the ends of the cloth fell behind over the shoulders.
She wore sandals, a shirt with a kind of broad serrated lower border,
and white petticoats. In her left hand she held a shield with a round
plate of gold in the centre thereof; in her right hand she held a
broom.[IX-6]
The festival in which divers of the various manifestations of the
mother-goddess were honored, was held in the beginning of the eleventh
Aztec month, beginning on the 14th of September; Centeotl, or
Cinteotl, or Centeutl, or Tzinteutl, is however represented therein as
a male and not a female.
[Sidenote: SACRIFICE TO THE MOTHER-GODDESS.]
Fifteen days before the commencement of the festival those that took
part in it began to dance, if dancing it could be called, in which the
feet and body were hardly moved, and in which the time was kept by
raising and lowering the hands to the beat of the drum. This went on
for eight days, beginning in the afternoon and finishing with the set
of sun, the dancers being perfectly silent, arranged in four lines,
and each having both hands full of flowers, cut branches and all. Some
of the youths, indeed, too restless to bear the silence, imitated with
their mouths the sound of the drum; but all were forced to keep, as
well in motion as in voice, the exactest time and good order. On the
expiration of these eight days the medical women, both old and young,
divided themselves into two parties, and fought a kind of mock battle
before the woman that had to die in this festival, to amuse her and
keep tears away; for they held it of bad augury if this miserable
creature gave way to her grief, and as a sign that many women had to
die in childbirth. This woman who was called for the time being, 'the
image of the mother of the gods,' led in person the first attack upon
one of the two parties of fighters, being accompanied by three old
women that were to her as mothers and never left her side, called
respectively Aoa, Tlavitezqui, and Xocuauhtli.[IX-7] The fight
consisted in pelting each other with handfuls of red leaves, or leaves
of the nopal, or of yellow flowers called _cempoalsuchitl_, the same
sort as had been carried by the actors in the preceding dance. These
women all wore girdles, to which were suspended little gourds filled
with powder of the herb called _yietl_. When the pelting-match was
over, the woman that had to die was led back to the house where she
was guarded; and all this was repeated during four successive days.
Then the victim representing Toci, that is to say, 'our grandmother or
ancestor,' for so was called the mother of the gods, was led for the
last time through the market-place by the medical woman. This ceremony
was called 'the farewell to the market-place;' for never more should
she see it who this day passed through, decorated in such mournful
frippery, surrounded by the pomp of such hollow mirth. She went sowing
maize on every side as she walked, and having passed through the
market she was received by the priests who took her to a house near
the cu where she had to be killed. There the medical women and
midwives consoled her: Daughter, be joyful and not sad, this night
thou shalt sleep with the king. Then they adorned her with the
ornaments of the goddess Toci, striving all the while to keep the fact
of her death in the back-ground, that she might die suddenly and
without knowing it. At midnight, in darkness, not so much as a cough
breaking the silence, she was led to the holy temple-top, and caught
up swiftly on the shoulders of a man. There was hardly a struggle; her
bearer felt himself deluged with blood, while she was beheaded with
all despatch, and flayed, still warm. The skin of the thighs was first
taken off and carried, for a purpose to be presently revealed, to the
cu of Centeotl, who was the son of Toci. With the remainder of the
skin, next taken off, a priest clothed himself, drawing it on, it
would appear from other records, like a glove; this priest who was a
young man chosen for his bodily forces and size, thus clothed
represented Toci, the goddess herself. The Toci priest, with this
horrible jacket sticking to his sinewy bust, then came down from the
temple amid the chanting of the singers of the cu. On each side of him
went two persons, who had made a vow to help him in this service, and
behind came several other priests. In front there ran a number of
principal men and soldiers, armed with besoms of blood-stained grass,
who looked back from time to time, and struck their shields as if
provoking a fight; these he pretended to pursue with great fury, and
all that saw this play (which was called _cacacalli_) feared and
trembled exceedingly. On reaching the cu of Huitzilopochtli, the Toci
priest spread out his arms and stood like a cross before the image of
the war god; this he did four times and then went on to the cu of
Centeotl, whither, as we remember, the skin of the thighs of the
flayed woman had been sent. This skin of the thighs another young
priest, representing the god Centeotl, son of Toci, had put on over
his face like a mask. In addition to this loathsome veil, he wore a
jacket of feathers and a hood of feathers attached to the jacket. This
hood ran out into a peak of a spiral form falling behind; and the
back-bone or spine of this spiral resembled the comb of a cock; this
hood was called _ytztlacoliuhqui_, that is to say 'god of frost.'
The Toci priest and the Centeotl priest next went together to the cu
of Toci, where the first waited for the morning (for all this already
described took place at night) to have certain trappings put on over
his horrid under-vest. When the morning broke, amid the chanting of
the singers, all the principal men, who had been waiting below, ran
with great swiftness up the steps of the temple carrying their
offerings. Some of these principal men began to cover the feet and the
head of the Toci priest with the white downy inner feathers of the
eagle; others painted his face red; others put on him a rather short
shirt with the figure of an eagle wrought or woven into the breast of
it, and certain painted petticoats; others beheaded quails and offered
copal. All this done quickly, these men took their departure.
[Sidenote: THE SKIN-BEARERS.]
Then were brought forth and put on the Toci priest all his rich
vestures, and a kind of square crown very wide above and ornamented
with five little banners, one in each corner, and in the centre one
higher than the others. All the captives that had to die were brought
out and set in line, and he took four of them one after the other,
threw them down on the sacrificial stone and took out their hearts;
the rest of the captives he handed over to the other priests to
complete the work he had begun. After this he set out with the
Centeotl priest for the cu of the latter. In advance of these a little
way there walked a party of their devotees, called _ycuexoan_,
decorated with papers, girt for breech-clout with twisted paper,
carrying at their shoulders a crumpled paper, round like a shield, and
tassels of untwisted cotton. On either side also there went those that
sold lime[IX-8] in the market, and the medical women, moving to the
singing of the priests and the beat of drum. Having come to the place
where heads were spitted at the cu of Centeotl, the Toci priest set
one foot on the drum and waited there for the Centeotl priest. The two
being come together it would seem that he who represented Centeotl now
set out alone, with much haste and accompanied by many soldiers, for a
place on the enemy's frontier where there was a kind of small hut
built. There at last was deposited and left the skin of the thighs of
the sacrificed woman which had served such ghastly use. And often, it
is said, it happened, this ceremony taking place on the border of a
hostile territory, that the enemy sallied out against the procession,
and there was fighting and many were slain.
After this the young man who represented the goddess Toci was taken to
the house that is called Atempan. The king took his seat on a throne
with a mat of eagle-skin and feathers under his feet, and a tiger-skin
over the back of his seat, and there was a grand review of the army,
and a distribution from the royal treasury of raiment, ornaments, and
arms; and it was understood that those who received such arms had to
die with them in war. This done, dancing was begun in the court-yard
of the temple of Toci; and all who had received presents, as above,
repaired thither. This dancing, as in the first part of the festival,
consisted for the most part in keeping time to the beat of the drum
with hands filled with flowers; so that the whole court looked like a
living garden; and there was so much gold, for the king and all the
princes were there, that the sun flashed through all as on water. This
began at mid-day and went on for two days. On the evening of the
second day, the priests of the goddess Chicomecoatl, clothed with the
skins of the captives that had died in a former day, ascended a small
cu called the table of Huitzilopochtli and sowed maize of all kinds,
white and yellow and red, and calabash-seeds, upon the heads of the
people that were below. The people tried to gather up these as they
fell, and elbowed each other a good deal. The damsels, called
_cioatlamacazque_, that served the goddess Chicomecoatl, carried each
one on her shoulder, rolled in a rich mantle, seven ears of maize,
striped with melted ulli and wrapped in white paper; their legs and
arms were decorated with feathers sprinkled over with marcasite. These
sang with the priest of their goddess. This done, one of the priests
descended from the above-mentioned cu of Huitzilopochtli, carrying in
his hand a large basket filled with powdered chalk and feather-down,
which he set in a small chamber, or little cave, called _coaxalpan_,
between the temple-stairs and the temple itself. This cavity was
reached from below by four or five steps, and when the basket was put
down there was a general rush of the soldiers to be first to secure
some of the contents. Every one, as he got his hands filled, with much
elbowing, returned running to the place whence he had set out. All
this time the Toci priest had been looking on, and now he pretended to
chase those that ran, while they pelted him back with the down and
powdered chalk they had in their hands; the king himself running a
little way and pelting him like the rest. After this fashion they all
ran away from him and left him alone, except some priests, who
followed him to a place called Tocititlan, when he took off the skin
of the sacrificed woman and hung it up in a little hut that was there;
taking care that its arms were stretched out, and that the head (or,
surely, the neck--for have we not read that the head was cut off the
woman on the fatal night which terminated her life?), was turned
toward the road, or street. And this was the last of the ceremonies of
the feast of Ochpaniztli.[IX-9]
[Sidenote: THE XILONEN FESTIVAL.]
The intimate connection of the goddess Xilonen (from _xilotl_, a young
or tender ear of maize) with Centeotl is shown by the fact that in the
cu of Centeotl was killed the unfortunate woman who was decorated to
resemble the goddess Xilonen. The festival of Xilonen commenced on the
eleventh day of the eighth Mexican month, which month begins on the
16th of July. The victim was made to resemble the image of the goddess
by having her face painted yellow from the nose downward, and her brow
red. On her head was put a crown of paper with four corners, from the
centre and top of which issued many plumes. Round her neck and over
her breasts hung strings of precious stones, and over these was put a
round medal of gold. Her garments and sandals were curiously wrought,
the latter painted with red stripes. On her left arm was a shield, and
in the right hand she held a stick, or baton, painted yellow. The
women led her to death dancing round her, and the priests and the
principal men danced before them, sowing incense as they went. The
priest who was to act as executioner had on his shoulders a bunch of
feathers held there in the grip of an eagle's talons, artificial;
another of the priests carried the hollow board filled with rattles,
so often mentioned. At the foot of the cu of Centeotl, this latter
stopped in front of the Xilonen woman, scattered incense before her,
and rattled with his board, waving it from side to side. They ascended
the cu, and one of the priests caught the victim up, twisting her
backwards, her shoulders against his shoulders; on which living altar
her heart was cut out through her breast, and put into a cup. After
that there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took
part in a body by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red
macaw feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with
marcasite. There was also a banquet of small pies called
_xocotamalli_, during which to the old men and women license was given
to drink pulque; the young, however, being restrained from the
bacchanalian part of this enjoyment by severe and sometimes capital
punishment.[IX-10]
Lastly, the intimate connection or identity of Centeotl with the
earth-mother, the all-nourisher, seems clearly symbolized in the feast
of the fourth month of the Mexicans, which began on the 27th of April.
In it they made a festival to the god of cereals, under the name of
Centeotl, and to the goddess of provisions, called Chicomecoatl. First
they fasted four days, putting certain rushes or water-flags beside
the images of the gods, staining the white part of the bottom of each
rush with blood drawn from their ears or legs; branches too, of the
kind called _acxoiatl_, and a kind of bed or mattress of hay were put
before the altars. A sort of porridge of maize called _mazamorra_ was
also made and given to the youths. Then all walked out into the
country, and through the maize-fields, carrying stalks of maize, and
other herbs called _mecoatl_. With these they strewed the image of the
god of cereals that every one had in his house, and they put papers on
it and food before it of various kinds; five _chiquivites_,[IX-11] or
baskets, of tortillas, and on the top of each _chiquivitl_ a cooked
frog, a basket of _chian_[IX-12] flour, which they call _pinolli_;[IX-13]
and a basket of toasted maize mixed with beans. They cut also a joint
from a green maize-stalk, stuffed the little tube with morsels of
every kind of the above-mentioned food, and set it carefully on the
back of the frog.[IX-14] This each one did in his own house, and in the
afternoon all this offering of food was carried to the cu of the
goddess of provisions, of the goddess Chicomecoatl, and eaten there in
a general scramble, take who take could; symbolizing one knows not
what, if not the laisser-faire and laisser-aller system of national
commisariat much advocated by many political economists, savage and
civilized.
[Sidenote: BLESSING THE SEED-MAIZE.]
In this festival the ears of maize that were preserved for seed were
carried in procession by virgins to a cu, apparently the one just
mentioned, but which is here called the cu of Chicomecoatl _and_ of
Centeotl. The maidens carried on their shoulders not more than seven
ears of corn apiece, sprinkled with drops of oil of ulli, and wrapped
first in papers and then in a cloth. The legs and arms of these girls
were ornamented with red feathers, and their faces were smeared with
the pitch called _chapopotli_ and sprinkled with marcasite. As they
went along in this bizarre attire, the people crowded to see them
pass, but it was forbidden to speak to them. Sometimes indeed an
irrepressible youth would break out into words of admiration or love
toward some fair pitch-besmeared face, but his answer came sharp and
swift from one of the old women that watched the younger, in some such
fashion as this: And so thou speakest, raw coward! thou must be
speaking, eh? Think first of performing some man's feat, and get rid
of that tail of hair at the nape of thy neck that marks the coward and
the good-for-nothing. It is not for thee to speak here; thou art as
much a woman as I am; thou hast never come out from behind the fire!
But the young lovers of Tenochtitlan were not without insolent
springalls among them, much given to rude gibes, and retorts like the
following: Well said, my lady, I receive this with thanks, I will do
what you command me, will take care to show myself a man; but as for
you, I value two cacao-beans more than you and all your lineage; put
mud on your body, and scratch yourself; fold one leg over the other
and roll in the dust; see! here is a rough stone, knock your face
against it; and if you want anything more take a red-hot coal and burn
a hole in your throat to spit through; for God's sake, hold your
peace.
This the young fellows said, writes Sahagun, to show their courage;
and so it went, give and take, till the maize was carried to the cu
and blessed. Then the folk returned to their houses and sanctified
maize was put in the bottom of every granary, and it was said that it
was the heart thereof, and it remained there till taken out for seed.
These ceremonies were specially in honor of the goddess Chicomecoatl.
She supplied provisions, she it was that had made all kinds of maize
and frijoles, and whatsover vegetables could be eaten, and all sorts
of chia; and for this they made her that festival with offerings of
food, and with songs and dances, and with the blood of quails. All the
ornaments of her attire were bright red and curiously wrought, and in
her hands they put stalks of maize.[IX-15]
The Mexicans deified, under the name Cioapipilti, all women that died
in child-bed. There were oratories raised to their honor in every ward
that had two streets. In such oratories, called _cioateucalli_ or
_ciateupan_, there were kept images of these goddesses adorned with
certain papers called _amatetevitl_. The eighth movable feast of the
Mexican calendar was dedicated to them, falling in the sign
Cequiahuitl, in the first house; in this feast were slain in their
honor all lying in the jails under pain of death. These goddesses were
said to move through the air at pleasure, and to appear to whom they
would of those that lived upon the earth, and sometimes to enter into
and possess them. They were accustomed to hurt children with various
infirmities, especially paralysis and other sudden diseases. Their
favorite haunt on earth was the cross-roads, and, on certain days of
the year, people would not go out of their houses for fear of meeting
them. They were propitiated in their temples and at the cross-roads by
offerings of bread kneaded into various shapes--into figures of
butterflies and thunderbolts for example--by offerings of small
tamales, or pies, and of toasted maize. Their images, besides the
papers above mentioned, were decorated by having the face, arms, and
legs painted very white; their ears were made of gold; their hair was
dressed like that of ladies, in little curls; the shirt was painted
over with black waves; the petticoats were worked in divers colors;
the sandals were white.
[Sidenote: THE MOTHER-GODDESS AND WOMAN IN CHILD-BED.]
The mother-goddess, under the form of the serpent-woman, Cioacoatl, or
Ciuacoatl, or Cihuacoatl, or, lastly, Quilaztli, seems to have been
held as the patroness of women in child-bed generally, and,
especially, of those that died there. When the delivery of a woman was
likely to be tedious and dangerous, the midwife addressed the patient
saying: Be strong, my daughter; we can do nothing for thee. Here are
present thy mother and thy relations, but thou alone must conduct this
business to its termination. See to it, my daughter, my well-beloved,
that thou be a strong and valiant and manly woman; be like her who
first bore children, like Cioacoatl, like Quilaztli. And if still
after a day and a night of labor the woman could not bring forth, the
midwife took her away from all other persons and brought her into a
closed room and made many prayers, calling upon the goddess Cioacoatl,
and upon the goddess Yoalticitl,[IX-16] and upon other goddesses. If,
notwithstanding all, however, the woman died, they gave her the
title, _mociaquezqui_, that is 'valiant woman,' and they washed all
her body, and washed with soap her head and her hair. Her husband
lifted her on his shoulders, and, with her long hair flowing loose
behind him, carried her to the place of burial. All the old midwives
accompanied the body, marching with shields and swords, and shouting
as when soldiers close in the attack. They had need of their weapons,
for the body that they escorted was a holy relic which many were eager
to win; and a party of youths fought with these Amazons to take their
treasure from them: this fight was no play but a very bone-breaking
earnest. The burial procession set out at the setting of the sun and
the corpse was interred in the court-yard of the cu of the goddesses,
or celestial women called Cioapipilti. Four nights the husband and his
friends guarded the grave and four nights the youths, or rawest and
most inexperienced soldiers, prowled like wolves about the little
band. If, either from the fighting midwives or from the
night-watchers, they succeeded in securing the body, they instantly
cut off the middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the head;
either of these things being put in one's shield, made one fierce,
brave, invincible in war, and blinded the eyes of one's enemies. There
prowled also round the sacred tomb certain wizards, called
_temamacpalitotique_, seeking to hack off and steal the whole left arm
of the dead wife; for they held it to be of mighty potency in their
enchantments, and a thing that when they went to a house to work their
malice thereon, would wholly take away the courage of the inmates, and
dismay them so that they could neither move hand nor foot, though they
saw all that passed.
[Sidenote: THE HOUSE OF THE SUN.]
The death of this woman in child-bed was mourned by the midwives, but
her parents and relations were joyful thereat; for they said that she
did not go to hades, or the under-ground world, but to the western
part of the House of the Sun. To the eastern part of the House of the
Sun, as the ancients said, were taken up all the soldiers that died in
war. When the sun rose in the morning these brave men decorated
themselves in their panoply of war, and accompanied him towards the
mid-heaven, shouting and fighting, apparently in a sham or review
battle, until they reached the point of noonday, which was called
_nepantlatonatiuh_. At this point the heroines, whose home was in the
west of heaven, the _mocioaquezque_, the valiant women, dead in
child-bed, who ranked as equal with the heroes fallen in war, met
these heroes and relieved them of their duty as guards of honor of the
sun. From noon till night, down the western slope of light, while the
forenoon escort of warriors were scattered through all the fields and
gardens of heaven, sucking flowers till another day should call them
anew to their duty, the women, in panoply of war, just as the men had
been, and fighting like them with clashing shields and shouts of joy,
bore the sun to his setting; carrying him on a litter of _quetzales_,
or rich feathers, called the _quetzal-apanecaiutl_. At this
setting-place of the sun the women were, in their turn, relieved by
those of the under world, who here came out to receive him. For it was
reported of old by the ancients that when night began in the upper
world the sun began to shine through hades, and that thereupon the
dead rose up from their sleep and bore his shining litter through
their domain. At this hour too the celestial women, released from
their duty in heaven, scattered and poured down through the air upon
the earth, where, with a touch of the dear nature that makes the world
kin, they are described as looking for spindles to spin with, and
shuttles to weave with, and all the old furniture and implements of
their house-wifely pride. This thing, says Sahagun, "the devil wrought
to deceive withal, for very often, in the form of those women, he
appeared to their bereaved husbands, giving them petticoats and
shirts."
Very beautiful was the form of address before burial used by the
midwife to the dead woman who had taken rank among the _mocioaquezque_
or _mocioaquetza_: O woman, strong and warlike, child well-beloved,
valiant one, beautiful and tender dove, strong hast thou been and
toil-enduring as a hero; thou hast conquered, thou hast done as did
thy mother the lady Cioacoatl, or Quilaztli. Very valiantly hast thou
fought, stoutly hast thou handled the shield and the spear that the
great mother put in thine hand. Up with thee! break from sleep! behold
it is already day; already the red of morning shoots through the
clouds; already the swallows and all birds are abroad. Rise, my
daughter, attire thyself, go to that good land where is the house of
thy father and mother the Sun; thither let thy sisters, the celestial
women, carry thee, they that are always joyful and merry and filled
with delight, because of the Sun with whom they take pleasure. My
tender daughter and lady, not without sore travail hast thou gotten
the glory of this victory; a great pain and a hard penance hast thou
undergone. Well and fortunately hast thou purchased this death. Is
this, peradventure, a fruitless death, and without great merit and
honor? Nay, verily, but one of much honor and profit. Who receives
other such great mercy, other such happy victory as thou? for thou
hast gained with thy death eternal life, a life full of joy and
delight, with the goddesses called Cioapipilti, the celestial
goddesses. Go now, my lady, my well-beloved; little by little advance
toward them; be one of them, that they may receive thee and be always
with thee, that thou mayest rejoice and be glad in our father and
mother the Sun, and accompany him whithersoever he wish to take
pleasure. O my lady, my well-beloved daughter, thou hast left us
behind, us old people, unworthy of such glory; thou hast torn thyself
away from thy father and mother, and departed. Not indeed of thine own
will, but thou wast called; thou didst follow a voice that called. We
must remain orphans and forlorn, old and luckless and poor; misery
will glorify itself in us. O my lady, thou hast left us here that we
may go from door to door and through the streets in poverty and
sorrow; we pray thee to remember us where thou art, and to provide for
the poverty that we here endure. The sun wearies us with his great
heat, the air with its coldness, and the frost with its torment. All
these things afflict and grieve our miserable earthen bodies; hunger
is lord over us, and we can do nothing against it. My well-beloved, I
pray thee to visit us since thou art a valorous woman and a lady,
since thou art settled forever in the place of delight and
blessedness, there to live and be forever with our Lord. Thou seest
him with thine eyes, thou speakest to him with thy tongue, pray to him
for us, entreat him that he favor us, and therewith we shall be at
rest.[IX-17]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: CHALCHIHUITLICUE.]
Chalchihuitlicue or Chalchiuhcyeje is described by Clavigero as the
goddess of water and the mate of Tlaloc. She had other names relating
to water in its different states, as Apozonallotl and Acuecuejotl,
which mean the swelling and fluctuation of water; Atlacamani, or the
storms excited thereon; Ahuic and Aiauh, or its motion, now to one side,
now to the other; and Xixiquipilihui, the alternate rising and falling
of the waves. The Tlascaltecs called her Matlalcueje, that is 'clothed
in a green robe;' and they gave the same name to the highest mountain
of Tlascala, on whose summit are found those stormy clouds which
generally burst over the city of Puebla. To that summit the Tlascaltecs
ascended to perform their sacrifices, and offer up their prayers. This
is the very same goddess of water to whom Torquemada gives the name of
Hochiquetzal, and Boturini that of Macuilxochiquetzalli.[IX-18]
Of the accuracy of the assertions of this last sentence I am by no
means certain; Boturini and Torquemada both describe their goddess of
water without giving any support thereto. Boturini says that she was
metaphorically called by the Mexicans the goddess of the Petticoat of
Precious Stones--chalchihuites, as it would appear from other
authorities, being meant--and that she was represented with large
pools at her feet, and symbolized by certain reeds that grow in moist
places. She was particularly honored by fishermen and others whose
trade connected them with water, and great ladies were accustomed to
dedicate to her their nuptials--probably, as will be seen immediately,
because this goddess had much to do with certain lustral ceremonies
performed on new-born children.[IX-19]
Many names, writes Torquemada, were given to this goddess, but that of
Chalchihuitlicue was the most common and usual; it meant to say,
'petticoat of water, of a shade between green and blue,' that is, of
the color of the stones called chalchihuites.[IX-20] She was the
companion, not the wife of Tlaloc, for indeed as our author affirms,
the Mexicans did not think so grossly of their gods and goddesses as
to marry them.[IX-21]
[Sidenote: IDOL OF CHALCHIHUITLICUE.]
According to Sahagun, Chalchihuitlicue was the sister of the Tlalocs.
She was honored because she had power over the waters of the sea and
of the rivers to drown those that went down to them, to raise
tempests and whirlwinds, and to cause boats to founder. They worshiped
her all those that dealt in water, that went about selling it from
canoes, or peddled jars of it in the market. They represented this
goddess as a woman, painted her face yellow, save the forehead, which
was often blue, and hung round her neck a collar of precious stones
from which depended a medal of gold. On her head was a crown of light
blue paper, with plumes of green feathers, and tassels that fell to
the nape of her neck. Her ear-rings were of turquoise wrought in
mosaic. Her clothing was a shirt, or upper body-garment, clear blue
petticoats with fringes from which hung marine shells, and white
sandals. In her left hand she held a shield, and a leaf of the broad
round white water-lily, called _atlacuezona_.[IX-22] In her right hand
she held as a sceptre a vessel in the shape of a cross, or of a
monstrance of the Catholic Church. This goddess, together with
Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions, and Vixtocioatl, goddess of salt,
was held in high veneration by kings and lords, for they said that
these three supported the common people so that they could live and
multiply.[IX-23]
[Sidenote: TWO LUSTRATIONS OR BAPTISMS.]
Chalchihuitlicue was especially connected with certain ceremonies of
lustration of children, resembling in many points baptism among
Christians. It would seem that two of these lustrations were practiced
upon every infant, and the first took place immediately upon its birth.
When the midwife had cut the umbilical cord of the child, then she
washed it, and while washing it said, varying her address according to
its sex: My son, approach now thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the
goddess of water; may she see good to receive thee, to wash thee, and
to put away from thee the filthiness that thou takest from thy father
and mother; may she see good to purify thine heart, to make it good
and clean, and to instill into thee good habits and manners.
Then the midwife turned to the water itself and spoke: Most
compassionate lady, Chalchihuitlicue, here has come into the world
this thy servant, sent hither by our father and mother, whose names
are Ometecutli and Omecioatl,[IX-24] who live on the ninth heaven, which
is the place of the habitation of the gods. We know not what are the
gifts that this infant brings with it; we know not what was given to
it before the beginning of the world; we know not what it is, nor what
mischief and vice it brings with it taken from its father and mother.
It is now in thine hands, wash and cleanse it as thou knowest to be
necessary; in thine hands we leave it. Purge it from the filthiness it
inherits from its father and its mother, all spot and defilement let
the water carry away and undo. See good, O our lady, to cleanse and
purify its heart and life that it may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in this world; for indeed we leave this creature in thine hands, who
art mother and lady of the gods, and alone worthy of the gift of
cleansing that thou has held from before the beginning of the world;
see good to do as we have entreated thee to this child now in thy
presence.
Then the midwife spake again; I pray thee to receive this child here
brought before thee. This said, the midwife took water and blew her
breath upon it, and gave to taste of it to the babe, and touched the
babe with it on the breast and on the top of the head. Then she said:
My well-beloved son, or daughter, approach here thy mother and father,
Chalchihuitlicue and Chalchihuitlatonac; let now this goddess take
thee, for she has to bear thee on her shoulders and in her arms
through this world. Then the midwife dipped the child into water and
said: Enter, my son, into the water that is called _mamatlac_ and
_tuspalac_; let it wash thee; let him cleanse thee that is in every
place, let him see good to put away from thee all the evil that thou
hast carried with thee from before the beginning of the world, the
evil that thy father and thy mother have joined to thee. Having so
washed the creature, the midwife then wrapped it up, addressing it the
while as follows: O precious stone, O rich feather, O emerald, O
sapphire, thou wert shaped where abide the great god and the great
goddess that are above the heavens; created and formed thou wert by
thy mother and father, Ometecutli and Omecioatl, the celestial woman
and the celestial man. Thou hast come into this world, a place of many
toils and troubles, of intemperate heat and intemperate cold and wind,
a place of hunger and thirst, of weariness and of tears; of a verity
we cannot say that this world is other than a place of weeping, of
sadness, of vexation. Behold thy lot, weariness and weeping and tears.
Thou hast come, my well-beloved, repose then and take here thy rest;
let our Lord that is in every place provide for and support thee. And
in saying all these things the midwife spake softly, as one that
prays.
The second lustration or baptism, usually took place on the fifth day
after birth, but in every case the astrologers and diviners were
consulted, and if the signs were not propitious, the baptism was
postponed till a day of good sign came. The ceremony, when the child
was a boy, began by bringing to it a little shield, bow, and arrows;
of which arrows there were four, one pointing toward each of the four
points of the world. There were also brought a little shield, bow, and
arrows, made of paste or dough of wild amaranth seeds, and a pottage
of beans and toasted maize, and a little breech-clout and blanket or
mantle. The poor in such cases had no more than the little shield,
bow, and arrows, together with some tamales and toasted maize. When
the child was a girl, there were brought to it, instead of mimic
weapons, certain woman's implements and tools for spinning and
weaving, the spindle and distaff, a little shirt and petticoats. These
things being prepared, suiting the sex of the infant, its parents and
relatives assembled before sunrise. When the sun rose the midwife
asked for a new vessel full of water; and she took the child in her
hands. Then the by-standers carried all the implements and utensils
already mentioned into the court-yard of the house, where the midwife
set the face of the child toward the west, and spake to the child
saying: O grandson of mine, O eagle, O tiger, O valiant man, thou hast
come into the world, sent by thy father and mother, the great Lord and
the great lady; thou wast created and begotten in thy house, which is
the place of the supreme gods that are above the nine heavens. Thou
art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, who is in every place; join
thyself now to thy mother, the goddess of water, Chalchihuitlicue.
Then the midwife gave the child to taste of the water, putting her
moistened fingers in its mouth, and said: Take this; by this thou hast
to live on the earth, to grow and to flourish; through this we get all
things that support existence on the earth; receive it. Then with her
moistened fingers she touched the breast of the child, and said:
Behold the pure water that washes and cleanses thine heart, that
removes all filthiness; receive it; may the goddess see good to purify
and cleanse thine heart. Then the midwife poured water upon the head
of the child saying: O my grandson, my son, take this water of the
Lord of the world, which is thy life, invigorating and refreshing,
washing and cleansing. I pray that this celestial water, blue and
light blue, may enter into thy body and there live; I pray that it may
destroy in thee and put away from thee all the things evil and
adverse that were given thee before the beginning of the world. Into
thine hand, O goddess of water, are all mankind put, because thou art
our mother Chalchihuitlicue. Having so washed the body of the child
and so spoken, the midwife said: Wheresoever thou art in this child, O
thou hurtful thing, begone, leave it, put thyself apart; for now does
it live anew, and anew is it born; now again is it purified and
cleansed; now again is it shaped and engendered by our mother the
goddess of water.
[Sidenote: PRAYER TO THE EARTH-MOTHER.]
All these things being done and spoken, the midwife lifted the child
in both her hands toward heaven and said: O Lord, behold here thy
creature that thou hast sent to this place of pain, of affliction, of
anguish, to this world. Give it, O Lord, thy gifts and thine
inspiration, forasmuch as thou art the great god, and hast with thee
the great goddess. Then the midwife stooped again and set the child
upon the earth, and raised it the second time toward heaven, saying: O
our lady, who art mother of the heavens, who art called
Citlalatonac,[IX-25] to thee I direct my voice and my cry; I pray thee
to inspire with thy virtue, what virtue soever it may be, to give and
to instil it into this creature. Then the midwife stooped again and
set the child on the ground, and raised it the third time toward
heaven, and said: O our Lord, god and goddess celestial, that are in
the heavens, behold this creature; see good to pour into it thy virtue
and thy breath, so that it may live upon the earth. Then a fourth and
last time the midwife set the babe upon the ground, a fourth time she
lifted it toward heaven, and she spake to the sun and said: O our
Lord, Sun, Totonametl, Tlaltecutli, that art our mother and our
father, behold this creature, which is like a bird of precious
plumage, like a _zaquan_ or a _quechutl_;[IX-26] thine, O our Lord the
Sun, he is; thou who art valiant in war and painted like a tiger in
black and gray, he is thy creature and of thine estate and patrimony.
For this he was born, to serve thee and to give thee food and drink;
he is of the family of warriors and soldiers that fight on the field
of battle.
[Sidenote: DEDICATION OF THE CHILD TO WAR.]
Then the midwife took the shield, and the bow and the dart that were
there prepared, and spake to the Sun after this sort: Behold here the
instruments of war which thou art served with, which thou delightest
in; impart to this babe the gift that thou art wont to give to thy
soldiers, enabling them to go to thine house of delights, where,
having fallen in battle, they rest and are joyful and are now with
thee praising thee. Will this poor little nobody ever be one of them?
Have pity upon him, O clement Lord of ours.
During all the time of these ceremonies a great torch of candlewood
was burning; and when these ceremonies were accomplished, a name was
given to the child, that of one of his ancestors, so that he might
inherit the fortune or lot of him whose name was so taken. This name
was applied to the child by the midwife, or priestess, who performed
the baptism. Suppose the name given was Yautl. Then the midwife began
to shout and to talk like a man to the child: O Yautl, O valiant man,
take this shield and this dart; these are for thy amusement, they are
the delight of the sun. Then she tied the little mantle on its
shoulders and girt the breech-clout about it. Now all the boys of the
ward were assembled, and at this stage of the ceremony they rushed
into the house where the baptism had taken place, and representing
soldiers and forrayers, they took food that was there prepared for
them, which was called 'the navel-string,' or 'navel,' of the child,
and set out with it into the streets, shouting and eating. They cried
O Yautl, Yautl, get thee to the field of battle, put thyself into the
thickest of the fight; O Yautl, Yautl, thine office is to make glad
the sun and the earth, to give them to eat and to drink; upon thee has
fallen the lot of the soldiers that are eagles and tigers, that die in
war, that are now making merry and singing before the sun. And they
cried again: O soldiers, O men of war, come hither, come to eat of the
navel of Yautl. Then the midwife, or priestess, took the child into
the house, and departed, the great torch of candlewood being carried
burning before her, and this was the last of the ceremony.[IX-27]
[Sidenote: THE AZTEC VENUS.]
The goddess (or god, as some have it) connected by the Mexicans with
carnal love was variously called Tlazolteotl, Ixcuina, Tlaclquani,
with other names, and, especially it would appear in Tlascala,
Xochiquetzal. She had no very prominent or honorable place in the
minds of the people and was much more closely allied to the Roman
Cloacina than to the Greek Aphrodite. Camargo, the Tlascaltec, gives
much the most agreeable and pleasing account of her. Her home was in
the ninth heaven, in a pleasant garden, watered by innumerable fountains,
where she passed her time spinning and weaving rich stuffs, in the
midst of delights, ministered to by the inferior deities. No man was
able to approach her, but she had in her service a crowd of dwarfs,
buffoons, and hunchbacks, who diverted her with their songs and
dances, and acted as messengers to such gods as she took a fancy to.
So beautiful was she painted that no woman in the world could equal
her; and the place of her habitation was called Iamotamohuanichan,
Xochitlycacan, Chitamihuany, Cicuhnauhuepaniuhcan, and Tuhecayan, that
is to say 'the place of Tamohuan, the place of the tree of flowers
Xochitlihcacan, where the air is purest, beyond the nine heavens.' It
was further said, that whoever had been touched by one of the flowers
that grow in the beautiful garden of Xochiquetzal should love to the
end, should love faithfully.[IX-28]
[Sidenote: TLAZOLTEOTL SEDUCES YÁPPAN.]
Boturini gives a legend in which this goddess figures in a very
characteristic way. There was a man called Yáppan, who, to win the
regard of the gods made himself a hermit, leaving his wife and his
relations, and retiring to a desert place, there to lead a chaste and
solitary life. In that desert was a great stone or rock, called
Tehuehuetl, dedicated to penitential acts, which rock Yáppan ascended
and took up his abode upon like a western Simeon Stylites. The gods
observed all this with attention, but doubtful of the firmness of
purpose of the new recluse, they set a spy upon him in the person of
an enemy of his, named Yáotl, the word _yáotl_ indeed signifying
'enemy.' Yet not even the sharpened eye of hate and envy could find
any spot in the austere continent life of the anchorite, and the many
women sent by the gods to tempt him to pleasure were repulsed and
baffled. In heaven itself the chaste victories of the lonely saint
were applauded, and it began to be thought that he was worthy to be
transformed into some higher form of life. Then Tlazolteotl, feeling
herself slighted and held for naught, rose up in her evil beauty,
wrathful, contemptuous, and said: Think not, ye high and immortal
gods, that this hero of yours has the force to preserve his resolution
before me, or that he is worthy of any very sublime transformation; I
descend to earth, behold now how strong is the vow of your devotee,
how unfeigned his continence!
That day the flowers of the gardens of Xochiquetzal were untended by
their mistress, her singing dwarfs were silent, her messengers
undisturbed by her behests, and away in the desert, by the lonely
rock, the crouching spy Yáotl saw a wondrous sight: one shaped like a
woman, but fairer than eye can conceive, advancing toward the lean
penance-withered man on the sacred height. Ha! thrills not the
hermit's mortified flesh with something more than surprise, while the
sweet voice speaks: My brother Yáppan, I the goddess Tlazolteotl,
amazed at thy constancy, and commiserating thy hardships, come to
comfort thee; what way shall I take, or what path, that I may get up
to speak with thee? The simple one did not see the ruse, he came down
from his place and helped the goddess up. Alas, in such a crisis, what
need is there to speak further?--no other victory of Yáppan was
destined to be famous in heaven, but in a cloud of shame his chaste
light went down for ever. And thou, O shameless one, have thy fierce
red lips had their fill of kisses, is thy Paphian soul satisfied
withal, as now, flushed with victory, thou passest back to the
tinkling fountains, and to the great tree of flowers, and to the
far-reaching gardens where thy slaves await thee in the ninth heaven?
Do thine eyes lower themselves at all in any heed of the miserable
disenchanted victim left crouching, humbled on his desecrated rock,
his nights and days of fasting and weariness gone for naught, his
dreams, his hopes dissipated, scattered like dust at the trailing of
thy robes? And for thee, poor Yáppan, the troubles of this life are
soon to end; Yáotl, the enemy, has not seen all these things for
nothing; he, at least, has not borne hunger and thirst and weariness,
has not watched and waited in vain. O it avails nothing to lift the
pleading hands, they are warm but not with clasping in prayer, and
weary but not with waving the censer; the flint-edged mace beats down
thy feeble guard, the neck that Tlazolteotl clasped is smitten
through, the lips she kissed roll in the dust beside a headless trunk.
The gods transformed the dead man into a scorpion, with the forearms
fixed lifted up as when he deprecated the blow of his murderer; and he
crawled under the stone upon which he had abode. His wife, whose name
was Tlahuitzin, that is to say 'the inflamed,' still lived. The
implacable Yáotl sought her out, led her to the spot stained with her
husband's blood, detailed pitilessly the circumstances of the sin and
death of the hermit, and then smote off her head. The gods transformed
the poor woman into that species of scorpion called the _alacran
encendido_, and she crawled under the stone and found her husband. And
so it comes that tradition says that all reddish colored scorpions are
descended from Tlahuitzin, and all dusky or ash-colored scorpions from
Yáppan, while both keep hidden under the stones and flee the light for
shame of their disgrace and punishment. Last of all the wrath of the
gods fell on Yáotl for his cruelty and presumption in exceeding their
commands; he was transformed into a sort of locust that the Mexicans
call _ahuacachapullin_.[IX-29]
[Sidenote: CONFESSION.]
Sahagun gives a very full description of this goddess and her
connection with certain rites of confession, much resembling those
already described in speaking of Tezcatlipoca.[IX-30] The goddess had
according to our author, three names. The first was Tlazolteotl, that
is to say 'the goddess of carnality.' The second name was Yxcuina,
which signifies four sisters, called respectively, and in order of
age, Tiacapan, Teicu, Tlaco, Xucotsi. The third and last name of this
deity was Tlaclquani, which means 'eater of filthy things,' referring
it is said to her function of hearing and pardoning the confessions of
men and women guilty of unclean and carnal crimes. For this goddess,
or these goddesses, had power not only to inspire and provoke to the
commission of such sins, and to aid in their accomplishment, but also
to pardon them, if they were confessed to certain priests who were
also diviners and tellers of fortunes and wizards generally. In this
confession, however, Tlazolteotl seems not to have been directly
addressed, but only the supreme deity under several of his names.
Thus the person whom, by a stretch of courtesy, we may call the
penitent, having sought out a confessor from the class above
mentioned, addressed that functionary in these words: Sir, I wish to
approach the all-powerful god, protector of all, Yoalliehecatl, or
Tezcatlipoca; I wish to confess my sins in secret. To this the wizard,
or priest, replied: Welcome, my son; the thing thou wouldst do is for
thy good and profit. This said, he searched the divining book,
_tonalamatl_, to see what day would be most opportune for hearing the
confession. That day come, the penitent brought a new mat, and white
incense called _copalli_, and wood for the fire in which the incense
was to be burned. Sometimes when he was a very noble personage, the
priest went to his house to confess him, but as a general rule the
ceremony took place at the residence of the priest. On entering this
house the penitent swept very clean a portion of the floor and spread
the new mat there for the confessor to seat himself upon, and kindled
the wood. The priest then threw the copal upon the fire and said: O
Lord, thou that art the father and the mother of the gods and the most
ancient god,[IX-31] know that here is come thy vassal and servant,
weeping and with great sadness; he is aware that he has wandered from
the way, that he has stumbled, that he has slidden, that he is spotted
with certain filthy sins and grave crimes worthy of death. Our Lord,
very pitiful, since thou art the protector and defender of all, accept
the penitence, give ear to the anguish of this thy servant and vassal.
At this point the confessor turned to the sinner and said: My son,
thou art come into the presence of God, favorer and protector of all;
thou art come to lay bare thy inner rottenness and unsavoriness; thou
art come to publish the secrets of thine heart; see that thou fall
into no pit by lying unto our Lord; strip thyself, put away all shame
before him who is called Yoalliehecatl and Tezcatlipoca. It is certain
that thou art now in his presence, although thou art not worthy to
see him, neither will he speak with thee, for he is invisible and
impalpable. See then to it how thou comest, and with what heart; fear
nothing to publish thy secrets in his presence, give account of thy
life, relate thine evil deeds as thou didst perform them; tell all
with sadness to our Lord God, who is the favorer of all, and whose
arms are open and ready to embrace and set thee on his shoulders.
Beware of hiding anything through shame or through weakness.
Having heard these words the penitent took oath, after the Mexican
fashion, to tell the truth. He touched the ground with his hand and
licked off the earth that adhered to it;[IX-32] then he threw copal in
the fire, which was another way of swearing to tell the truth. Then he
set himself down before the priest and, inasmuch as he held him to be
the image and vicar of god, he, the penitent, began to speak after
this fashion: O our Lord who receivest and shelterest all, give ear to
my foul deeds; in thy presence I strip, I put away from myself what
shameful things soever I have done. Not from thee, of a verity, are
hidden my crimes, for to thee all things are manifest and clear.
Having thus said, the penitent proceeded to relate his sins in the
order in which they had been committed, clearly and quietly, as in a
slow and distinctly pronounced chant, as one that walked along a very
straight way turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. When
he had done the priest answered him as follows: My son, thou hast
spoken before our Lord God, revealing to him thine evil works; and I
shall now tell thee what thou hast to do. When the goddesses
Civapipilti descend to the earth, or when it is the time of the
festival of the four sister goddesses of carnality that are called
Yxcuina, thou shalt fast four days afflicting thy stomach and thy
mouth; this feast of the Yxcuina being come, at daybreak thou shalt do
penance suitable to thy sins.[IX-33] Through a hole pierced by a
maguey-thorn through the middle of thy tongue thou shall pass certain
osier-twigs called _teucalzacatl_ or _tlacotl_, passing them in front
of the face and throwing them over the shoulder one by one; or thou
mayest fasten them the one to the other and so pull them through thy
tongue like a long cord. These twigs were sometimes passed through a
hole in the ear; and, wherever they were passed, it would appear by
our author that there were sometimes used of them by one penitent to
the number of four hundred, or even of eight hundred.
[Sidenote: PENANCES.]
If the sin seemed too light for such a punishment as the preceding,
the priest would say to the penitent: My son, thou shalt fast, thou
shall fatigue thy stomach with hunger and thy mouth with thirst, and
that for four days, eating only once on each day and that at noon. Or,
the priest would say to him: Thou shalt go to offer paper in the usual
places, thou shalt make images covered therewith in number
proportionate to thy devotion, thou shalt sing and dance before them
as custom directs. Or, again, he would say to him: Thou hast offended
God, thou hast got drunk; thou must expiate the matter before
Totochti, the god of wine; and when thou goest to do penance thou
shalt go at night, naked, save only a piece of paper hanging from thy
girdle in front and another behind; thou shalt repeat thy prayer and
then throw down there before the gods those two pieces of paper, and
so take thy departure.
This confession was held not to have been made to a priest, or to a
man, but to God; and, inasmuch as it could only be heard once in a
man's life, and, as for a relapse into sin after it there was no
forgiveness, it was generally put off till old age. The absolution
given by the priest was valuable in a double regard; the absolved was
held shriven of every crime he had confessed, and clear of all pains
and penalties, temporal or spiritual, civil or ecclesiastical, due
therefor. Thus was the fiery lash of Nemesis bound up, thus were
struck down alike the staff of Minos and the sword of Themis before
the awful ægis of religion. It may be imagined with what reluctance
this last hope, this unique life-confession was resorted to; it was
the one city of refuge, the one Mexican benefit of sanctuary, the sole
horn of the altar, of which a man might once take hold and live, but
no more again for ever.[IX-34]
[Sidenote: GOD OF FIRE.]
The Mexican god of fire as we have already noticed was usually called
Xiuhtecutli. He had, however, other names such as Ixcozauhqui, that is
to say, 'yellow-faced;' and Cuecaltzin, which means 'flame of fire;'
and Huehueteotl, or 'the ancient god.'[IX-35] His idol represented a
naked man, the chin blackened with ulli, and wearing a lip-jewel of
red stone. On his head was a parti-colored paper crown, with green
plumes issuing from the top of it like flames of fire; from the sides
hung tassels of feathers down to the ears. The ear-rings of the image
were of turquoise wrought in mosaic. On the idol's back was a dragon's
head made of yellow feathers and some little marine shells. To the
ankles were attached little bells or rattles. On the left arm was a
shield, almost entirely covered with a plate of gold, into which were
set in the shape of a cross five chalchiuites. In the right hand the
god held a round pierced plate of gold, called the 'looking-plate,'
(mirador ó miradero); with this he covered his face, looking only
through the hole in the golden plate. Xiuhtecutli was held by the
people to be their father, and regarded with feelings of mingled love
and fear; and they celebrated to him two fixed festivals every year,
one in the tenth and another in the eighteenth month, together with a
movable feast in which, according to Clavigero, they appointed
magistrates and renewed the ceremony of the investiture of the fiefs
of the kingdom. The sacrifices of the first of these festivals, the
festival of the tenth month, Xocotlveti, were particularly cruel even
for the Mexican religion.
[Sidenote: FESTIVAL OF THE FIRE GOD.]
The assistants began by cutting down a great tree of five and twenty
fathoms long and dressing off the branches, removing all it would seem
but a few round the top. This tree was then dragged by ropes into the
city, on rollers apparently, with great precaution against bruising
or spoiling it; and the women met the entering procession giving those
that dragged cacao to drink. The tree, which was called _xocotl_, was
received into the court of a cu with shouts; and there set up in a
hole in the ground and allowed to remain for twenty days. On the eve
of the festival Xocotlvetzi, they let this large tree or pole down
gently to the ground, by means of ropes and trestles, or rests, made
of beams tied two and two, probably in an X shape; and carpenters
dressed it perfectly smooth and straight, and, where the branches had
been left, near the top, they fastened with ropes a kind of yard or
cross-beam of five fathoms long. Then was prepared, to be set on the
very top of the pole or tree, a statue of the god Xiuhtecutli, made
like a man out of the dough of wild amaranth seeds, and covered and
decorated with innumerable white papers. Into the head of the image
were stuck strips of paper instead of hair; sashes of paper crossed
the body from each shoulder; on the arms were pieces of paper like
wings, painted over with figures of sparrow-hawks; a maxtli of paper
covered the loins; and a kind of paper shirt or tabard covered all.
Great strips of paper, half a fathom broad and ten fathoms long,
floated from the feet of the dough god half way down the tree; and
into his head were struck three rods with a tamale or small pie on the
top of each. The tree being now prepared with all these things, ten
ropes were attached to the middle of it, and by the help of the
above-mentioned trestles and a large crowd pulling all together, the
whole structure was reared into an upright position and there fixed,
with great shouting and stamping of feet.
Then came all those that had captives to sacrifice; they came
decorated for dancing, all the body painted yellow (which is the
livery color of the god), and the face vermilion. They wore a mass of
the red plumage of the parrot, arranged to resemble a butterfly, and
carried shields covered with white feathers and as it were the feet of
tigers or eagles walking. Each one went dancing side by side with his
captive. These captives had the body painted white, and the face
vermilion, save the cheeks which were black; they were adorned with
papers, much, apparently, as the dough image was, and they had white
feathers on the head and lip-ornaments of feathers. At set of sun the
dancing ceased; the captives were shut up in the _calpulli_, and
watched by their owners, not being even allowed to sleep. About
midnight every owner shaved away the hair of the top of the head of
his slave, which hair, being fastened with red thread to a little tuft
of feathers, he put in a small case of cane, and attached to the
rafters of his house, that every one might see that he was a valiant
man and had taken a captive. The knife with which this shaving was
accomplished was called the claw of the sparrow-hawk. At daybreak the
doomed and shorn slaves were arranged in order in front of the place
called Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were spitted in
rows. Here one of the priests went along the row of captives taking
from them certain little banners that they carried and all their
raiment or adornment, and burning the same in a fire; for raiment or
ornament these unfortunates should need no more on earth. While they
were standing thus all naked and waiting for death, there came another
priest, carrying in his arms the image of the god Paynal and his
ornaments; he ran up with this idol to the top of the cu Tlacacouhcan
where the victims were to die. Down he came, then up again, and as he
went up the second time the owners took their slaves by the hair and
led them to the place called Apetlac and there left them. Immediately
there descended from the cu those that were to execute the sacrifice,
bearing bags of a kind of stupefying incense called _yiauhtli_,[IX-36]
which they threw by handfuls into the faces of the victims to deaden
somewhat their agonies in the fearful death before them. Each captive
was then bound hand and foot and so carried up to the top of the cu
where smouldered a huge heap of live coal. The carriers heaved their
living burdens in; and the old narrative gives minute details about
the great hole made in the sparkling embers by each slave, and how the
ashy dust rose in a cloud as he fell. As the dust settled the bound
bodies could be seen writhing and jerking themselves about in torment
on their soft dull-red bed, and their flesh could be heard crackling
and roasting. Now came a part of the ceremony requiring much
experience and judgment; the wild-eyed priests stood grappling-hook in
hand biding their time. The victims were not to die in the fire, the
instant the great blisters began to rise handsomely over their
scorched skins it was enough, they were raked out. The poor blackened
bodies were then flung on the 'tajon' and the agonized soul dismissed
by the sacrificial breast-cut (from nipple to nipple, or a little
lower); the heart was then torn out and cast at the feet of
Xiuhtecutli, god of fire.
[Sidenote: CLIMBING FOR THE GOD.]
This slaughter being over, the statue of Paynal was carried away to
its own cu and every man went home to eat. And the young men and boys,
all those called _quexpaleque_,[IX-37] because they had a lock of hair
at the nape of the neck, came, together with all the people, the women
in order among the men, and began at mid-day to dance and to sing in
the court-yard of Xiuhtecutli; the place was so crowded that there was
hardly room to move. Suddenly there arose a great cry, and a rush was
made out of the court toward the place where was raised the tall tree
already described at some length. Let us shoulder our way forward, not
without risk to our ribs, and see what we can see: there stands the
tall pole with streamers of paper and the ten ropes by which it was
raised dangling from it. On the top stands the dough image of the fire
god, with all his ornaments and weapons, and with the three tamales
sticking out so oddly above his head. Ware clubs! we press too close;
shoulder to shoulder in a thick serried ring round the foot of the
pole stand the 'captains of the youths' keeping the youngsters back
with cudgels, till the word be given at which all may begin to climb
the said pole for the great prize at the top. But the youths are wild
for fame; old renowned heroes look on; the eyes of all the women of
the city are fixed on the great tree where it shoots above the head of
the struggling crowd; glory to him who first gains the cross-beam and
the image. Stand back, then, ye captains, let us pass! There is a
rush, and a trampling, and despite a rain of blows, all the pole with
its hanging ropes is aswarm with climbers, thrusting each other down.
The first youth at the top seizes the idol of dough; he takes the
shield and the arrows and the darts and the stick _atalt_ for throwing
the darts; he takes the tamales from the head of the statue, crumbles
them up, and throws the crumbs with the plumes of the image down into
the crowd; the securing of which crumbs and plumes is a new occasion
for shouting and scrambling and fisticuffs among the multitude. When
the young hero comes down with the weapons of the god which he has
secured, he is received with far-roaring applause and carried up to
the cu Tlacacouhcan, there to receive the reward of his activity and
endurance, praises and jewels and a rich mantle not lawful for another
to wear, and the honor of being carried by the priests to his house,
amid the music of horns and shells. The festivity is over now; all the
people lay hold on the ropes fastened to the tree, and pull it down
with a crash that breaks it to pieces, together, apparently, with all
that is left of the wild-amaranth-dough image of Xiuhtecutli.[IX-38]
Another feast of the god of fire was held in the month Yzcalli, the
eighteenth month; it was called _motlaxquiantota_, that is to say 'our
father the fire toasts his food.' An image of the god of fire was
made, with a frame of hoops and sticks tied together as the basis or
model to be covered with his ornaments. On the head of this image was
put a shining mask of turquoise mosaic, banded across with rows of
green chalchiuites. Upon the mask was put a crown fitting to the head
below, wide above, and gorgeous with rich plumage as a flower; a wig
of reddish hair was attached to this crown so that the evenly cut
locks flowed from below it, behind and around the mask, as if they
were natural. A robe of costly feathers covered all the front of the
image and fell over the ground before the feet, so light that it
shivered and floated with the least breath of air till the variegated
feathers glittered and changed color like water. The back of the image
seems to have been left unadorned, concealed by a throne on which it
was seated, a throne covered with a dried tiger-skin, paws and head
complete. Before this statue new fire was produced at midnight by
boring rapidly by hand one stick upon another; the spunk or tinder so
inflamed was put on the hearth and a fire lit.[IX-39] At break of day
came all the boys and youths with game and fish that they had captured
on the previous day; walking round the fire, they gave it to certain
old men that stood there, who taking it threw it into the flames
before the god, giving the youths in return certain tamales that had
been made and offered for this purpose by the women. To eat these
tamales it was necessary to strip off the maize-leaves in which they
had been wrapped and cooked; these leaves were not thrown into the
fire, but were all put together and thrown into water. After this all
the old men of the ward in which the fire was, drank pulque and sang
before the image of Xiuhtecutli till night. This was the tenth day of
the month and thus finished that feast, or that part of the feast,
which was called _vauquitamalqualiztli_.
On the twentieth and last day of the month was made another statue of
the fire god, with a frame of sticks and hoops as already described.
They put on the head of it a mask with a ground of mosaic of little
bits of the shell called _tapaztli_,[IX-40] composed below the mouth of
black stones, banded across the nostrils with black stones of another
sort, and the cheeks made of a still different stone called
_tezcapuchtli_. As in the previous case there was a crown on this
mask, and over all and over the body of the image costly and beautiful
decorations of feather-work. Before the throne on which this statue
sat there was a fire, and the youths offered game to and received
cakes from the old men with various ceremonies; the day being closed
with a great drinking of pulque by the old people, though not to the
point of intoxication. Thus ended the eighteenth month; and with
regard to the two ceremonies just described, Sahagun says, that though
not observed in all parts of Mexico, they were observed at least in
Tezcuco.
[Sidenote: FOURTH YEAR FESTIVAL.]
It will be noticed that the festivals of this month have been without
human sacrifices; but every fourth year was an exception to this. In
such a year on the twentieth and last day of this eighteenth month,
being also, according to some, the last day of the year, the five
Nemonteni, or unlucky days, being excepted, men and women were slain
as images of the god of fire. The women that had to die carried all
their apparel and ornaments on their shoulders, and the men did the
same. Arrived thus naked where they had to die, men and women alike
were decorated to resemble the god of fire; they ascended the cu,
walked round the sacrificial stone, and then descended and returned
to the place where they were to be kept for the night. Each male
victim had a rope tied round the middle of his body which was held by
his guards. At midnight the hair of the crown of the head of each was
shaven off before the fire and kept for a relic, and the head itself
was covered with a mixture of resin and hens' feathers. After this the
doomed ones burned or gave away to their keepers their now useless
apparel, and as the morning broke they were decorated with papers and
led in procession to die, with singing and shouting and dancing. These
festivities went on till mid-day, when a priest of the cu, arrayed in
the ornaments of the god Paynal, came down, passed before the victims,
and then went up again. They were led up after him, captives first and
slaves after, in the order they had to die in; they suffered in the
usual manner. There was then a grand dance of the lords, led by the
king himself; each dancer wearing a high-fronted paper coronet, a kind
of false nose of blue paper, ear-rings of turquoise mosaic, or of wood
wrought with flowers, a blue curiously flowered jacket, and a mantle.
Hanging to the neck of each was the figure of a dog made of paper and
painted with flowers; in the right hand was carried a stick shaped
like a chopping-knife, the lower half of which was painted red and the
upper half white; in the left hand was carried a little paper bag of
copal. This dance was begun on the top of the cu and finished by
descending and going four times round the court-yard of the cu; after
which all entered the palace with the king. This dance took place only
once in four years, and none but the king and his lords could take
part in it. On this day the ears of all children born during the three
preceding years were bored with a bone awl, and the children
themselves passed near or through the flames of a fire as already
related.[IX-41] There was a further ceremony of taking the children by
the head and lifting them up "to make them grow;" and from this the
month took its name, Yzcalli meaning 'growth.'[IX-42]
There was generally observed in honor of fire a custom called 'the
throwing,' which was that no one ate without first flinging into the
fire a scrap of the food. Another common ceremony was in drinking
pulque to first spill a little on the edge of the hearth. Also when a
person began upon a jar of pulque he emptied out a little into a broad
pan and put it beside the fire, whence with another vessel he spilt of
it four times upon the edge of the hearth; this was 'the libation or
the tasting.'[IX-43]
[Sidenote: THE GREAT NEW FIRE FESTIVAL.]
The most solemn and important of all the Mexican festivals was that
called Toxilmolpilia or Xiuhmolpilli, the 'the binding up of the
years.' Every fifty-two years was called a sheaf of years; and it was
held for certain that at the end of some sheaf of fifty-two years the
motion of the heavenly bodies should cease and the world itself come
to an end. As the possible day of destruction drew near all the people
cast their household gods of wood and stone into the water, as also
the stones used on the hearth for cooking and bruising pepper. They
washed thoroughly their houses, and last of all put out all fires. For
the lighting of the new fire there was a place set apart, the summit
of a mountain called Vixachtlan, or Huixachtla, on the boundary line
between the cities of Itztapalapa and Colhuacan, about six miles from
the city of Mexico. In the production of this new fire none but
priests had any part, and the task fell specially upon those of the
ward Copolco. On the last day of the fifty-two years, after the sun
had set, all the priests clothed themselves with the dress and
insignia of their gods, so as to themselves appear like very gods, and
set out in procession for the mountain, walking very slowly, with
much gravity and silence, as befitted the occasion and the garb they
wore, "walking," as they phrased it, "like gods." The priest of the
ward of Copolco, whose office it was to produce the fire, carried the
instruments thereof in his hand, trying them from time to time to see
that all was right. Then, a little before midnight, the mountain being
gained, and a cu which was there builded for that ceremony, they began
to watch the heavens and especially the motion of the Pleiades. Now
this night always fell so that at midnight these seven stars were in
the middle of the sky with respect to the Mexican horizon; and the
priests watched them to see them pass the zenith and so give sign of
the endurance of the world, for another fifty and two years. That sign
was the signal for the production of the new fire, lit as follows. The
bravest and finest of the prisoners taken in war was thrown down
alive, and a board of very dry wood was put upon his breast; upon this
the acting priest at the critical moment bored with another stick,
twirling it rapidly between his palms till fire caught. Then instantly
the bowels of the captive were laid open, his heart torn out, and it
with all the body thrown upon and consumed by a pile of fire. All this
time an awful anxiety and suspense held possession of the people at
large; for it was said, that if anything happened to prevent the
production at the proper time of the new fire, there would be an end
of the human race, the night and the darkness would be perpetual, and
those terrible and ugly beings the Tzitzimitles[IX-44] would descend to
devour all mankind. As the fateful hour approached, the people
gathered on the flat house-tops, no one willingly remaining below. All
pregnant women, however, were closed into the granaries, their faces
being covered with maize-leaves; for it was said that if the new fire
could not be produced, these women would turn into fierce animals and
devour men and women. Children also had masks of maize-leaf put on
their faces, and they were kept awake by cries and pushes, it being
believed that if they were allowed to sleep they would become mice.
[Sidenote: FEAST OF THE NEW FIRE.]
From the crowded house-tops every eye was bent on Vixachtlan. Suddenly
a moving speck of light was seen by those nearest, and then a great
column of flame shot up against the sky. The new fire! and a great
shout of joy went up from all the country round about. The stars moved
on in their courses; fifty and two years more at least had the
universe to exist. Every one did penance; cutting his ear with a
splinter of flint and scattering the blood toward the part where the
fire was; even the ears of children in the cradle were so cut. And now
from the blazing pile on the mountain, burning brands of pine
candle-wood were carried by the swiftest runners toward every quarter
of the kingdom. In the city of Mexico, on the temple of
Huitzilopochtli, before the altar, there was a fire-place of stone and
lime containing much copal; into this a blazing brand was flung by the
first runner, and from this place fire was carried to all the houses
of the priests, and thence again to all the city. There soon blazed
great central fires in every ward, and it was a thing to be seen the
multitude of people that came together to get light, and the general
rejoicings.
The hearth-fires being thus lit, the inhabitants of every house began
to renew their household gods and furniture, and to lay down new mats,
and to put on new raiment; they made everything new in sign of the new
sheaf of years; they beheaded quails, and burned incense in their
court-yard toward the four quarters of the world, and on their
hearths. After eating a meal of wild amaranth seed and honey, a fast
was ordered, even the drinking of water till noon being forbidden.
Then the eating and drinking were renewed, sacrifices of slaves and
captives were made, and the great fires renewed. The last solemn
festival of the new fire was celebrated in the year 1507, the
Spaniards being not then in the land; and through their presence,
there was no public ceremony when the next sheaf of years was
finished in 1559.[IX-45]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: TEOYAOMIQUE.]
Mictlan, the Mexican hades, or place of the dead, signifies either
primarily, or by an acquired meaning, 'northward, or toward the
north,' though many authorities have located it underground or below
the earth. This region was the seat of the power of a god best known
under his title of Mictlantecutli; his female companion was called
Mictlancihuatl, made identical by some legends with Tlazolteotl, and
by others apparently with the serpent-woman and mother goddess.[IX-46]
There has been discovered and there is now to be seen in the city of
Mexico a huge compound statue, representing various deities, the most
prominent being a certain goddess Teoyaomique, who, it seems to me, is
almost identical with or at least a connecting link between the
mother goddess and the companion of Mictlantecutli. Mr Gallatin
says[IX-47] that the Mexican gods "were painted in different ways
according to their various attributes and names: and the priests were
also in the habit of connecting with the statue of a god or goddess,
symbols of other deities which partook of a similar character. Gama
has adduced several instances of both practices, in the part of his
dissertation which relates to the statue of the goddess of death found
buried in the great Square of Mexico of which he, and lately Mr Nebel,
have given copies.[IX-48] Her name is Teoyaomiqui, which means, to die
in sacred war, or 'in defense of the gods,' and she is the proper
companion of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. The symbols of her own
attributes are found in the upper part of the statue: but those from
the waist downwards relate to other deities connected with her or with
Huitzilopochtli. The serpents are the symbols of his mother
Cohuatlycue, and also of Cihuacohuatl, the serpent woman who begat
twins, male and female, from which mankind proceeded: the same
serpents and feathers are the symbol of Quezatlcohuatl, the precious
stones designate Chalchihuitlycue, the goddess of water; the teeth and
claws refer to Tlaloc and to Tlatocaocelocelotl (the tiger king): and
together with her own attributes, the whole is a most horrible
figure."
[Sidenote: GAMA ON THE COMPOUND IMAGE.]
Of this great compound statue of Huitzilopochtli (for the most part
under his name of Teoyaotlatohua), Teoyaomique, and Mictlantecutli,
and of the three deities separately Leon y Gama treats, in substance
as follows, beginning with Mictlantecutli:[IX-49]--
The Chevalier Boturini mentions another of his names, Teoyaotlatohua,
and says that as director and chief of sacred war he was always
accompanied by Teoyaomique, a goddess whose business it was to collect
the souls of those that died in war and of those that were sacrificed
afterward as captives. Let these statements be put alongside of what
Torquemada says, to wit, that in the great feast of the month
Hueimiccailhuitl,[IX-50] divine names were given to dead kings and to
all famous persons who had died heroically in war, and in the power of
the enemy; idols were made furthermore of these persons, and they were
put with the deities; for it was said that they had gone to the place
of delights and pleasures there to be with the gods. From all this it
would appear that before this image, in which were closely united
Teoyaotlatohua and Teoyaomique, there were each year celebrated
certain rites in memory and honor of dead kings and lords and captains
and soldiers fallen in battle. And not only did the Mexicans venerate
in the temple this image of many gods, but the judicial astrologers
feigned a constellation answering thereto and influencing persons born
under it. In depicting this constellation Teoyaotlatohua
Huitzilopochtli was represented with only half his body, as it were
seated on a bench, and with his mouth open as if speaking. His head
was decorated after a peculiar fashion with feathers, his arms were
made like trunks of trees with branches, while from his girdle there
issued certain herbs that fell downwards over the bench. Opposite this
figure was Teoyaomique, naked save a thin robe,[IX-51] and standing on
a pedestal, apparently holding her head in her hands, at any rate with
her head cut off, her eyes bandaged, and two snakes issuing from the
neck where the head should have been. Between the god and the goddess
was a flowering tree divided through the middle, to which was attached
a beam with various crosspieces, and over all was a bird with the head
separated from its body. There was to be seen also the head of a bird
in a cup, and the head of a serpent, together with a pot turned upside
down while the contents--water as it would appear by the hieroglyphics
attached--ran out.
In this form were painted these two gods, as one of the twenty
celestial signs, sufficiently noticed by Boturini, although as he
confesses, he had not arranged them in the proper order. Returning to
notice the office attributed to Teoyaomique, that of collecting the
souls of the dead, we find that Cristóbal del Castillo says that all
born under the sign which, with the god of war, this goddess ruled,
were to become at an early age valorous soldiers; but that their
career was to be short as it was brilliant, for they were to fall in
battle young. These souls were to rise to heaven, to dwell in the
house of the sun, where were woods and groves. There they were to
exist four years, at the end of which time they were to be converted
into birds of rich and beautiful plumage, and to go about sucking
flowers both in heaven and on earth.
[Sidenote: MICTECACIHUATL.]
To the statue mentioned above there was joined with great propriety
the image of another god, feigned to be the god of hell, or of the
place of the dead, which latter is the literal signification of his
name, Mictlantecutli. This image was engraved in demi-relief on the
lower plane of the stone of the great compound statue; but it was also
venerated separately in its own proper temple, called Tlalxicco, that
is to say, 'in the bowels or navel of the earth.' Among the various
offices attributed to this deity was that of burying the corpses of
the dead, principally of those that died of natural infirmities; for
the souls of these went to hell to present themselves before this
Mictlantecutli and before his wife Mictecacihuatl, which name
Torquemada interprets as 'she that throws into hell.' Thither indeed
it was said that these dead went to offer themselves as vassals
carrying offerings, and to have pointed out to them the places that
they were to occupy according to the manner of their death. This god
of hades was further called Tzontemoc, a term interpreted by
Torquemada to mean 'he that lowers his head;' but it would rather
appear that it should take its signification from the action indicated
by the great statue, where this deity is seen as it were carrying down
tied to himself the heads of corpses to bury them in the ground, as
Boturini says. The places or habitations supposed to exist in hell,
and to which the souls of the dead had to go, were nine; in the last
of which, called Chicuhnauhmictlan, the said souls were supposed to be
annihilated and totally destroyed. There was lastly given to this god
a place in heaven, he being joined with one of the planets and
accompanied by Teotlamacazqui; at his feet, there was painted a body
that was half buried, or covered with earth from the head to the
waist, while the rest stuck out uncovered. It only remains to be said
that such was the veneration and religious feeling with which were
regarded all things relating to the dead, that not only there were
invented for them tutelary gods, much honored by frequent feasts and
sacrifice; but the Mexicans elevated Death itself, dedicating to it a
day of the calendar (the first day of the sixth 'trecena'), joining it
to the number of the celestial signs; and erecting to it a sumptuous
temple called Tolnahuac, within the circuit of the great temple of
Mexico, wherein it was particularly adored with holocausts and victims
under the title Ce Miquiztli.[IX-52]
[Sidenote: MIXCOATL, GOD OF HUNTING.]
Mixcoatl is the god--or goddess according to some good
authorities--of hunting. The name means 'cloud-serpent' and indeed
seems common to a whole class of deities or heroes somewhat resembling
the Nibelungs of northern European mythology.[IX-53] He is further
supposed to be connected with the thunderstorm: "Mixcoatl, the
Cloud-Serpent, or Iztac-Mixcoatl, the White or Gleaming
Cloud-Serpent," writes Brinton,[IX-54] "said to have been the only
divinity of the ancient Chichimecs, held in high honor by the Nahuas,
Nicaraguans, and Otomís, and identical with Taras, supreme god of the
Tarascos, and Camaxtli, god of the Teo-Chichimecs, is another
personification of the thunderstorm. To this day this is the familiar
name of the tropical tornado in the Mexican language. He was
represented, like Jove, with a bundle of arrows in his hand, the
thunderbolts. Both the Nahuas and Tarascos related legends in which he
figured as father of the race of man. Like other lords of the
lightning he was worshiped as the dispenser of riches and the patron
of traffic; and in Nicaragua his image is described as being 'engraved
stones' probably the supposed products of the thunder."
In the fourteenth month, called Quecholli, and beginning, according
to Clavigero, on the fourteenth of November, there was made with many
obscure ceremonies, a feast to this god. On the sixth day of the month
all assembled at the cu of Huitzilopochtli, where during four days
they made arrows and darts for use in war and for general practice at
a mark, mortifying at the same time their flesh by drawing blood, and
by abstaining from women and pulque. This done they made, in honor of
the dead, certain little mimic darts of a hand long, of which four
seem to have been tied together with four splinters of candle-wood
pine; these were put on the graves, and at set of sun, lit and burned,
after which the ashes were interred on the spot. There were taken a
maize-stalk of nine knots with a paper flag on the top that hung down
to the bottom, together with a shield and dart belonging to the dead
man, and his maxtli and blanket; the last two being attached to the
maize-stalk. The hanging flag was ornamented on either side with red
cotton thread, in the figure of an X; a piece of twisted white thread
also hung down to which was suspended a dead humming-bird. Handfuls of
the white feathers of the heron were tied two and two and fastened to
the burdened maize-stalk, while all the cotton threads used were
covered with white hen's feathers, stuck on with resin. Lastly all
these were burned on a stone block called the _quaulixicalcalico_.
In the court of the cu of Mixcoatl was scattered much dried grass
brought from the mountains, upon which the old women-priests, or
_cioatlamacazque_, seated themselves, each with a mat before her. All
the women that had children came, each bringing her child and five
sweet tamales; and the tamales were put on the mats before the old
women, who in return took the children, tossed them in their arms and
then returned them to their mothers.
[Sidenote: DRIVE-HUNT OF MIXCOATL.]
About the middle of the month was made a special feast to this god of
the Otomís, to Mixcoatl. In the morning all prepared for a great
drive-hunt, girding their blankets to their loins, and taking bows
and arrows. They wended their way to a mountain-slope, anciently
Zapatepec, or Yxillantonan, above the sierra of Atlacuizoayan, or as
it is now called, according to Bustamante, Tacubaya. There they drove
deer, rabbits, hares, coyotes, and other game together, little by
little, every one in the meantime killing what he could; few or no
animals escaping. To the most successful hunters blankets were given,
and every one brought to his house the heads of the animals he had
taken, and hanged them up for tokens of his prowess or activity.
There were human sacrifices in honor of this hunting god with other
deities. The manufacturers of pulque bought, apparently two slaves who
were decorated with paper and killed in honor of the gods
Tlamatzincatl and Yzquitecatl; there were also sacrificed women
supposed to represent the wives of these two deities. The _calpixquis_
on their part led other two slaves to the death in honor of Mixcoatl
and of Cohuatlicue his wife. On the morning of the last day but one of
the month, all the doomed were brought out and led round the cu where
they had to die; after mid-day they were led up the cu, round the
sacrificial block, down again, then back to the _calpulco_, to be at
once guarded and forced to keep awake for the night. At midnight their
heads were shaven before the fire, and every one of them burned there
what goods he had, little paper flags, cane tobacco-pipes[IX-55] and
drinking-vessels; the women threw into the flame their raiment, their
ornaments, their spindles, little baskets, vessels in which the
spindles were twirled, warping-frames, fuller's earth, pieces of cane
for pressing a fabric together, cords for fastening it up,
maguey-thorns, measuring-rods, and other implements for weaving; and
they said that all these things had to be given to them in the other
world after their death. At daybreak these captives were carried or
assisted up, each having a paper flag borne before him, to the
several cues of the gods they were to die in honor of. Four that had
to die, probably before Mixcoatl, were, each by four bearers, carried
up to a temple, bound hand and foot to represent dead deer; while
others were merely assisted up the steps by a youth at each arm, so
that they should not faint nor fail; two other youths trailing or
letting them down the same steps after they were dead. The preceding
relates only to the male captives, the women being slain before the
men, in a separate cu called the _coatlan_; it is said that as they
were forced up the steps of it some screamed and others wept. In
letting the dead bodies of these women down the steps again, it is
also specially written, that they were not hurled down roughly, but
rolled down little by little. At the place where the skulls of the
dead were exposed, waited two old women called _teixamique_, having by
them salt water and bread and a mess or gruel of some kind. The
carcasses of the victims being brought to them, they dipped
cane-leaves into the salt water and sprinkled the faces of them
therewith, and into each mouth they put four morsels of bread
moistened with the gruel or mess above-mentioned. Then the heads were
cut off and spitted on poles; and so the feast ended.[IX-56]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: MACUILXOCHITL.]
In connection with the religious honors paid to the dead, it may be
here said that the Mexicans had a deity of whom almost all we know is
that he was the god of those that died in the houses of the lords or
in the palaces of the principal men; he was called Macuilxochitl,
'the chief that gives flowers, or that takes care of the giving of
flowers.'[IX-57] The festival of this god fell among the movable feasts
and was called Xochilhuitl, or 'the festival of flowers.' There were
in it the usual preliminary fasting (that is to say, eating but once a
day, at noon, and then only of a restricted diet), blood-letting, and
offering of food in the temple; though there did not occur therein
anything suggestive either of a god of flowers or of a god of the more
noble dead. The image of this deity was in the likeness of an almost
naked man, either flayed or painted of a vermilion color; the mouth
and chin were of three tints, white, black, and light blue; the face
was of a light reddish tinge. It had a crown of light green color,
with plumes of the same hue, and tassels that hung down to the
shoulders. On the back of the idol was a device wrought in feathers,
representing a banner planted on a hill; about the loins of it was a
bright reddish blanket, fringed with sea-shells; curiously wrought
sandals adorned its feet; on the left arm of it was a white shield, in
the midst of which were set four stones, joined two and two; it held a
sceptre, shaped like a heart and tipped with green and yellow
feathers.[IX-58]
Ome Acatl was the god of banquets and of guests; his name signified
'two canes.' When a man made a feast to his friends, he had the image
of this deity carried to his house by certain of its priests; and if
the host did not do this, the deity appeared to him in a dream,
rebuking him in such words as these: Thou bad man, because thou hast
withheld from me my due honor, know that I will forsake thee and that
thou shalt pay dearly for this insult. When this god was excessively
angered, he was accustomed to mix hairs with the food and drink of the
guests of the object of his wrath, so that the giver of the feast
should be disgraced. As in the case of Huitzilopochtli, there was a
kind of communion sacrament in connection with the adoration of this
god of feasts: in each ward dough was taken and kneaded by the
principal men into the figure of a bone of about a cubit long, called
the bone of Ome Acatl. A night seems to have been spent in eating and
in drinking pulque; then at break of day an unfortunate person, set up
as the living image of the god, had his belly pricked with pins, or
some such articles; being hurt thereby, as we are told. This done the
bone was divided and each one ate what of it fell to his lot; and when
those that had insulted this god ate, they often grew sick, and almost
choked, and went stumbling and falling. Ome Acatl was represented as a
man seated on a bunch of cyperus-sedges. His face was painted white
and black; upon his head was a paper crown surrounded by a long and
broad fillet of divers colors, knotted up at the back of the head; and
again round and over the fillet, was wound a string of chalchiuite
beads. His blanket was made like a net, and had a broad border of
flowers woven into it. He bore a shield, from the lower part of which
hung a kind of fringe of broad tassels. In the right hand he held a
sceptre called the _tlachielonique_, or 'looker,'[IX-59] because it was
furnished with a round plate through which a hole was pierced, and
the god kept his face covered with the plate and looked through the
hole.[IX-60]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: IXTLILTON, HEALER OF CHILDREN.]