The question of the religion of the Ancient Mexicans is by no means
easy to approach. At the time of the Spanish conquest the Mexican
pantheon was still in a state of great confusion, and the number of
tribal cults of which it was composed had not yet been reduced to a
homogeneous whole. Gods whose functions were similar or associated had
been invested with the attributes one of the other, and there is reason
to suspect that the names of deities whose importance was relatively
recent had been incorporated in the earlier myths by a priesthood
jealous of the dignity of its own particular god. The history of the
valley of Mexico, as far as it can be traced, consists, as we have
seen, of the conquest from time to time of the sedentary agricultural
population by ruder and more warlike tribes from the hills. The
victors, conscious of their cultural inferiority, in adopting to the
best of their ability the mode of life of the conquered, were careful
also to propitiate the local gods, whom they regarded as responsible
for the superior culture of the latter; though they attempted, as far
as they dared, to subordinate them to their own chief deity. These
hill-tribes of primitive hunters seem to have worshipped each a god
of its own, who was regarded as its personal leader, who presided
over war and the chase and who appears to have been connected with
the stars and occasionally with the sun. This connection with the
sun was, I am inclined to think, an afterthought, and not universal,
arising from the belief that war was instituted in order to provide
the sun with blood-offerings. To this class of deities belong
Curicaveri, Tiripemé and Taras, worshipped by the Tarascans, Mixcoatl
of the Otomi, Chichimec and Matlatzinca, Camaxtli of Tlaxcala and
Uexotzinco, Amimitl and Atlaua of the Chiampanec, and the Mexican
Uitzilopochtli (Fig. 3, _f_). The connection is especially close
between Mixcoatl, Camaxtli and Uitzilopochtli, in fact they are
occasionally identified. Their attributes consist of a spear-thrower
and net bag, or bow and arrows, and the arrows are sometimes shown
as tipped with down, in allusion to the fact that they are gods of
sacrifice, such being the _insignia_ of prisoners destined for the
sacrificial stone; Uitzilopochtli is usually shown in the dress of a
humming-bird (Uitzitzilin) in punning allusion to his name, and with
him is associated a minor deity, Paynal, believed to be his messenger.
According to a widespread legend Uitzilopochtli is said to have been
conceived by his mother, Coatlicue, from a ball of down which fell from
heaven and which she placed in her bosom; her other sons, the Centzon
Uitznaua (Four hundred Southerners, the number meaning “innumerable”),
at the instigation of their sister Coyolxauhqui (Pl. II, 1), accused
Coatlicue of improper conduct, and attempted to kill her; but
Uitzilopochtli, springing from his mother’s body, defeated them,
decapitating Coyolxauhqui with the _xiuhcoatl_ or “fire-snake”
with which he was armed. Coatlicue was an earth-goddess, patron of
flower-sellers, and, as her name implies, is distinguished by a skirt
woven of snakes (Pl. III); the brothers are identified with the stars
of the southern heaven. Very similar is the legend of Mixcoatl (Fig. 4,
_a_), according to which this god was attacked and killed by the
Centzon Mimizcoa (also stellar deities), but was avenged by his son Ce
Acatl, who slew the latter with the _tezcacoatl_ (“mirror-snake”).
In the person of Mixcoatl we find a direct connection with the Tarascan
Curicaveri, whose symbol was a stone knife kept in a box by the
priest, since the same legend relates that Mixcoatl always carried with
him a stone knife as a fetish. It may also be mentioned in passing
that the date of Uitzilopochtli’s (and Camaxtli’s) movable feast was
1. tecpatl (tecpatl being the stone-knife day-sign), and, as will be
explained later, gods were often known by calendrical names. Mixcoatl’s
knife was said to be a symbol of the peculiar female deity Itzpapalotl
(“obsidian butterfly”), a star-goddess associated with fire and
lightning, and occasionally identified with a mythological two-headed
deer called Itzcueye which figures in the legends of Mixcoatl and
Camaxtli as the captive and wife of the god. This two-headed deer was
again identified at Cuitlauac and Xochimilco with the Colhuacan earth
and warrior goddess Ciuacoatl (Tonantzin or Quilaztli), invoked in
childbirth, whose symbol was an obsidian knife; but, and here is a
good instance of the confused nature of the myths with which we have
to deal, Ciuacoatl was regarded as the mother of Mixcoatl (as also the
other earth-goddess Coatlicue the mother of Uitzilopochtli), and as
sister of the Mimizcoa. The planet Venus was a war-god in Michoacan,
and, under the name Urendequa Vecara, was the especial deity of
Curinguaro, a town hostile to the votaries of Curicaveri. In Mexico
this planet was known as Tlauizcalpantecutli, and was connected in
some respects with prisoners destined for sacrifice. Representations
of Uitzilopochtli are very rare in Mexican art of pre-Spanish date,
but we are told that his face-paint consisted of blue and yellow
horizontal stripes. Mixcoatl and Camaxtli are usually shown with black
paint around the eye, rather in the form of a highway-man’s mask, and
Uitzilopochtli also appears with this occasionally. The distinguishing
feature of Tlauizcalpantecutli is a series of five dots, arranged
quincunx fashion on a dark ground, with the central spot on the nose
(Fig. 4, _c_).
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Mexican deities from various MSS.
A. Tlazolteotl.
B. Tlaloc.
C. Xiuhtecutli.
D. Ciuapipiltin.
E. Tezcatlipoca.
F. Uitzilopochtli.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Mexican deities from various MSS.
A. Mixcoatl.
B. Mictlantecutli.
C. Tlauizcalpantecutli.
D. Quetzalcoatl as Eecatl.
E. Tonatiuh.
F. Ome Tochtli.]
For the sedentary tribes of the valleys, dependent chiefly upon
agriculture and fishing for a livelihood, the deities presiding over
vegetation, rain and earth were the most important; and after the Aztec
had become settled and devoted themselves to intensive cultivation,
they readily adopted these gods and gave them a high place in their
pantheon. Most important of all was Tlaloc, the god of rain and
thunder (Fig. 3, _b_); his worship appears to have been extremely
widespread, and his images are found in numbers among the remains of
pre-Aztec date at Teotihuacan (where he is the only god who can be
identified with certainty), in the Huaxtec country, at Teotitlan, at
Quiengola in the Zapotec district, and at Quen Santo in Guatemala. It
is even related that when the Acolhua first arrived in the valley in
the reign of the first Chichimec ruler Xolotl, they discovered on a
mountain a figure of this god, which remained an honoured object of
worship until it was broken up by order of the first bishop of Mexico.
Tlaloc is one of the most easily recognizable of Mexican deities, since
he is represented with snakes twined about his eyes (the snake being
throughout practically the whole of America the symbol of lightning and
rain), with long teeth, and often with a trunk-like nose. According to
legend he was one of the first gods created, and lived in a kind of
paradise, situated in the east, called Tlalocan, where he presided over
the souls of the drowned and those who in life suffered from dropsical
affections. He was supposed to be assisted in his duties by a number of
subsidiary rain-gods, called Tlaloque, who distributed the rain from
magical pitchers and caused the thunder by striking them with rods.
In the courtyard of Tlaloc’s palace four great jars were supposed to
stand, which contained rain of varying quality. In the first was the
good rain which produced fertile crops; in the second, rain which gave
being to cobwebs and mildew; in the third were stored ice and sleet;
and in the fourth, rain after which nothing matured or dried. Thus
Tlaloc combined two aspects, a beneficent and a terrible; and this is
not unnatural, for rain in Mexico is more often than not accompanied by
thunder, and the fertilizer is therefore also the smiter. As the god of
fertility maize belonged to him, though not altogether by right, for
according to one legend he stole it after it had been discovered by
other gods concealed in the heart of a mountain. The great importance
of Tlaloc and the Tlaloque in the worship of the Ancient Mexicans
may be gathered from the fact that no less than five of the twenty
month-festivals were dedicated to them, and that Tlaloc shared with
Uitzilopochtli the great pyramid at Tenochtitlan. The most important
of the Tlaloque was Opochtli, a fishing and hunting god, the inventor
of nets and the bird-spear. Closely connected with Tlaloc was his wife
Chalchiuhtlicue (Pl. II, 2), goddess of running water, said also to
be sister of the Tlaloque and mother of the Mimizcoa. This goddess,
under the name Matlalcue, was especially worshipped at Tlaxcala, and
is easily recognized by her tasselled headband and cape, and often by
a stepped nose-ornament. The most important festivals to these deities
took place on mountain-tops, for it is there that the rain-clouds
gather before they sweep over the plain, and closely associated with
them was the worship of mountains represented by small figures called
Tepictoton, with hair dressed in two horns, whose sacrificial victims
were similarly adorned. The valley-dwellers of Michoacan around
Pazcuaro revered a goddess of fertility and rain, named Cueravahperi,
casting the hearts of her victims into certain hot springs which were
supposed to give birth to the rain-clouds. In connection with her
worship we are first brought into contact with a strange and gruesome
rite, peculiar to this part of America, and performed exclusively
in honour of agricultural deities. The victim was flayed, and the
priest performed a ceremonial dance wrapped in the fresh skin. The
practice seems to be symbolical of vegetation in the early spring,
apparently dead, but containing within the germ of life and fertility,
and no doubt was originally intended to assist by imitative magic the
process of nature in renewing the food-supply. Corresponding to this
goddess, and, like her, regarded as the mother of the gods, was the
Mexican Teteoinnan or Tozi, a deity held in especial reverence by the
Tlaxcalans and Olmec, and perhaps borrowed from the latter people.
She was in particular the goddess of ripe maize and healing herbs,
patroness of doctors, midwives and bath attendants (for the steam-bath
played an important part in childbirth) and diviners. She too was
connected with the flaying-sacrifice, and was sometimes pictured as
clad in the victim’s skin; otherwise her attributes are the same as
those of Tlazolteotl (see below) and she carries a broom. The maize-god
_par excellence_ was Cinteotl, her son (though occasionally
mentioned as a female deity), who appears originally to have been a
Totonac god. He is usually shown with a vertical line leading down his
cheek, probably representing tears and symbolizing the fertilizing
rain. On certain occasions his priest wore a mask made from the skin of
the thigh of the victim sacrificed in honour of Teteoinnan. At first
sight it is a little surprising to find this god appearing as one of
the tutelary deities of the lapidaries of Xochimilco, but no doubt the
reason of this is that the ripe maize-cob, nature’s mosaic, recalled
the incrusted work which formed one of their principal manufactures.
Closely associated with all these deities was a maize-goddess,
Chicome Coatl, sister of Tlaloc, who presided over agriculture and
was honoured with a flaying-sacrifice; while the young maize-ear had
an especial protector in the goddess Xilonen, perhaps the same as the
Chichimec Xilo worshipped by the inhabitants of the Amantlan district
of Mexico. Another goddess who seems to be connected with maize
was Ilamatecutli, also called Cozcamiauh (maize-necklace), though
she appears to have been a star-goddess as well. She, Teteoinnan and
Xilonen were associated in a peculiar form of sacrifice in which the
victim was decapitated, and which perhaps represented the reaping of
the maize-ear. The sacrifice by decapitation seems to be particularly
connected with the earth-goddesses, who are sometimes shown in the
MSS. with head almost severed from the body, and with two snakes,
perhaps representing streams of blood, issuing from the trunk. Of such
a representation the colossal figure in the Mexican Museum (see Pl.
III) is an example. This deity is either Chicome Coatl or Coatlicue,
probably the latter, to judge from the skirt of serpents which she
wears. In this case the two snakes which spring from her decapitated
body are placed snout to snout, and from the two profiles is compounded
a grotesque face, or rather two such faces, one in front and one
behind. It is worthy of note that the mask of the goddess Ilamatecutli,
apparently another fertility goddess, is said to have been double-faced.
[Illustration:
_British Museum_
MEXICO
1, 2. STONE MASK REPRESENTING XIPE; THE REVERSE SHOWS THE
ENTIRE FIGURE OF THE GOD [SYMBOL] TEZCOCO
(Scale: ⅓rd)]
The god who above all others was connected with the flaying-sacrifice
is Xipe, who is invariably depicted as clad in the victim’s skin (Pl.
IV). He was believed to have been borrowed from the Oaxaca tribes,
was worshipped in Jalisco, and finds a parallel in the sea-god of
the Tarascans. Both Xipe and the latter are characterized by red and
white paint (though Xipe’s skin dress is yellow), and the victims of
both were forced to fight for their lives in a gladiatorial combat. At
the great feast of Xipe those warriors who had taken captives in war
offered them to the god, and wore their skins during the ensuing month.
He was a god of sowing, but being connected with the warrior’s death
by sacrifice was also a war-god, and his livery, including a drum as
back-device, was worn in battle by the Mexican kings. In invocations
his ceremonial name was “Night-drinker,” and he was prayed to give
moisture to the crops. “Put on your golden garment; why does it not
rain? It might be that I perished, I, the young maize-plant.” In this
connection another form of sacrifice was practised in his honour; a
captive was tied to a scaffold and shot with darts so that his blood
streamed down upon the ground (Fig. 5, _a_). This proceeding may
be regarded in the light of imitative magic, to secure fertilizing rain
for the earth. It was first performed, so the legend says, in honour of
the earth-deities, and occurred also in South America among the tribes
of Colombia. In the illustration, the victim is shown wearing the
peculiar form of head-dress associated with Xipe. A particular emblem
carried by the water and fertility deities is the _chicauaztli_,
or rattle-staff (see Pl. IV, 1), often seen in the hands of Xipe,
Chicome Coatl and Cinteotl, and associated in invocations with Tlaloc.
This instrument, like the rattle-staves of West Africa, may almost
certainly be regarded as a charm to bring rain by imitating its sound.
Besides the functions already mentioned, Xipe also exercised that of
protector of goldsmiths, since the yellow skin in which he was clad was
supposed to typify an overlay of gold foil.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Mexican methods of Sacrifice.
A. Arrow sacrifice.
B. Gladiatorial sacrifice.
C. Ordinary sacrifice.
(_Zouche MS., British Museum_)]
Among the fertility gods must be mentioned the goddess of flowers,
love and pregnancy, Xochiquetzal (Pl. IX, 6; p. 82), especially
worshipped by the Tlalhuica (also at Tlaxcala), and mentioned as
the wife of Cinteotl, though one legend makes her the first wife of
Tlaloc, stolen by Tezcatlipoca, the Mexican Jupiter. Her distinguishing
_insignia_ are two large feather plumes upon her head, and she
seems to be akin to the Tarascan goddess of Tzintzuntzan, Xaratanga,
who was associated with Curicaveri as his wife. The functions of this
deity however were rather more extended, since she was also regarded
as an earth- and maize-goddess, and was connected with the game
_tlaxtli_. Xochiquetzal was the especial patroness of weaving
and embroidery, of which arts she was the supposed inventor. The male
equivalent to this goddess was Xochipilli, god of flowers, dance,
song and games (Pl. V, 1). He is figured with the high crest of the
coxcoxtli bird on his head, a white butterfly painted on his mouth,
and occasionally with the tear face-paint. He appears to have been
introduced from the Xelhua district on the Oaxaca border, and in one
of his manifestations was known by the calendrical name of Macuil
Xochitl (Five Flower), in which case he bears a hand painted across
his mouth (a constant feature of gods into whose name the number five
enters). He was further regarded as identical with, or as the son
of, Pilzintecutli, a sun-god, who again was thought to be the son of
Mictlantecutli, the lord of the underworld. During recent excavations
in Mexico city, a stone figure of Xochipilli was found with a large
number of miniature musical instruments in stone and pottery.
[Illustration: MEXICO
_British Museum_
1. STONE FIGURE OF XOCHIPILLI (THE CHARACTERISTIC HIGH
CREST OF THE HEAD-DRESS IS MISSING) 2. STONE WITH FIGURE OF A
XIUHCOATL (FIRE-SNAKE IN RELIEF)
(Scale: 1, ⅛th; 2, ⅑th)]
Among the gods of fertility must be reckoned those who presided over
_octli_ (Fig. 4, _f_), the intoxicating drink obtained from the maguey
(the American aloe, _Agave americana_). These deities were connected
with the harvest, and also bore a relation to the moon; they were
regarded as innumerable, a fact explained by an early chronicler
as typifying the countless forms of drunkenness, and were spoken
of collectively as Centzon Totochtin or the “Four hundred (i.e.
innumerable) Rabbits.” Many names of these gods have come down to us;
they were all regarded as brothers, and it is possible that each one
represents a section of the Mexican population, especially as their
names seem taken from the names of places. If so their number would
point to an early date for the discovery of octli. Tezcatzoncatl
is said by some to be the chief, by others Izquitecatl, or again
Ome Tochtli, (Two Rabbit, a calendrical name taken from the date
of the principal feast). The two former are Chichimec gods, and
Coatlicue was assigned to both as wife. Tepoztecatl was the octli god
of the Chichimec inhabitants of the Amantlan quarter, while Patecatl
was connected with the Huaxtec, a people popularly supposed to be
especially given to drunkenness. Indeed one legend makes the tribal
father of this people the first drunkard. In invocations the Totochtin
were related to Colhuacan. Their principal _insignia_ consisted of red
and black face-paint, and a semi-lunar nose-ornament which appears also
on their shields, while Tepoztecatl, the god to whom most probably
the temple at Tepoztlan was erected, carries an axe. As sister of the
Totochtin we have Mayauel, the agave goddess, wife of Patecatl, who,
like the Ephesian Diana, was supposed to have four hundred breasts.
An interesting myth attaches to Tezcatzoncatl, who was fabled to have
been killed and revived by Tezcatlipoca, by which action the sleep
of the drunken, so similar to death, became harmless for men. No
doubt it was this awakening after heavy sleep, as much as anything
else, which connected the octli gods with the waxing and waning of
vegetation and the moon. The Tarascans of Cumachan also worshipped an
octli god, who was believed to be lame, since he disgraced himself by
becoming intoxicated in heaven, and was thrown thence to the earth.
The supremacy which Tlaloc was supposed to exercise over the deities
of fertility is well seen in the fact that at the great feast to the
mountains four women and a man were sacrificed to him, named after five
of these divinities, Matlalcue, Mayauel, Tepexoch, Xochitecatl (the two
latter connected with flowers), and the male god of snakes, Milnauatl.
One other goddess connected with the food-supply deserves mention here,
namely Uixtociuatl, the deity of salt, who bore a certain relation to
Chalchiuhtlicue.
The earth-goddesses Teteoinnan and (to a less degree) Chicome Coatl
have already been mentioned, but another most important female
divinity, an earth-goddess, but not associated with vegetation, was
Tlazolteotl (Fig. 3, _a_). This deity seems originally to have
come from the Olmec, and was identified with the Huaxtec Ixcuina. She
is at times identified also with Teteoinnan, and was occasionally
honoured with a flaying-sacrifice, but her chief province was the
superintendence of carnal sin, confession and penitence. She is shown
with a black mouth and chin, a semi-lunar nose-ornament, and a cotton
headband in which are stuck two spindles. The cult of this goddess was
practised by the Huaxtec, Olmec and Mixtec, but not by the Chichimec or
Tarascans.
We must now consider one of the most interesting and important gods of
the Mexican pantheon, Tezcatlipoca (Fig. 3, _e_). It is difficult
to give a short, and at the same time clear, account of his manifold
functions and manifestations, since there were few departments of
native life with which he was not intimately connected. In the first
place he was the all-powerful god of the Nahua-speaking tribes,
worshipped by them in common; as such he was superior to the tribal
war- and hunting-gods such as Mixcoatl and Uitzilopochtli, and in
actual practice he seems to have been regarded with even greater awe.
In typical form he appears with face banded with yellow and black, a
shell ring breast-ornament, and a mirror from which a spire of smoke
issues. This smoking mirror is his especial sign, and constitutes the
rebus of his name; in it he was supposed to see all that was occurring
on earth, for one of his main functions was the distribution of rewards
and punishments. He bears this mirror on his head, or very often in
place of one of his feet, a peculiarity explained by the idea that
in his capacity of god of the setting sun he lost his foot owing to
the premature closing of the doors of the underworld. Sometimes the
missing foot is replaced by a stone knife, and in this manifestation
he was known as Itztli, the knife-god. He is thus brought into intimate
relation with the hunting deities, of whom this weapon was a symbol.
Besides this, attempts seem to have been made by the various tribes
to dignify their respective gods by actual identification with the
supreme deity. One legend states that he became Mixcoatl, and in this
personality invented the production of fire from flint. Or again, he
appears under two forms, a red and a black Tezcatlipoca, and the latter
is identified with Camaxtli and Uitzilopochtli. This distinction of
colour recalls the yellow and black Tiripemés of the Tarascans, of
whom the former was identified with Curicaveri. One of the many names
of Tezcatlipoca was Yoalli Eecatl, the night-wind, and he was supposed
to wander through the streets after dark in search of evildoers. Seats
were placed for him at cross-roads, and a cross-road is often shown as
one of his attributes in the manuscripts. When portrayed with bandaged
eyes he bore the name of Itztlacoliuhqui, and presided over sin and
cold.
As the god of divine punishment he was also a god of confession, and
as such was associated with Tlazolteotl, while his connection with war
is seen in the fact that he was regarded as the especial patron of the
warrior-school, or Telpochcalli. In his dual capacity as a night- and
warrior-god he was supposed to appear in all sorts of grisly shapes
in order to test the courage of those he might meet. To flee from
one of these phantoms was fatal, but the brave man who seized the
apparition and wrestled with it until it gave him one or more spines
of the maguey, was rewarded with a similar number of prisoners in his
next battle. One of the forms which the god assumed on such occasions
was a headless body with two doors in its chest which opened and shut,
making a noise like the sound of an axe upon a tree. At the same time
this deity possessed a lighter side; as Omacatl (a calendrical name,
“Two Reed”) he was the god of banquets and festive entertainments, and
as Tlamatzincatl he was regarded as endowed with perpetual youth. His
relation to the produce-goddesses is seen in the fact that the four
women given as wives to the victim, identified with the god himself,
who was destined to be sacrificed at his principal feast, bore the
ceremonial names of Xilonen, Xochiquetzal, Uixtociuatl and Atlatonan,
the last-named being a goddess associated with Teteoinnan and honoured
with a flaying-sacrifice.
Another important deity, whose relations are peculiarly difficult to
unravel, was Quetzalcoatl (=Pl. VI=, 2). He was the especial
god of the Toltec, inventor and patron of the arts and crafts,
and originator of the calendar and priestly ritual. In studying
the extremely confused legends concerned with this divinity it is
important to remember two facts which have probably given rise to
much misunderstanding. First that the high-priest of the god bore his
name, secondly that the last Toltec king, in whose reign occurred the
fall of Tulan and the scattering of the Toltec, was called Topiltzin
Quetzalcoatl. The relation of this god to the Maya deity Kukulkan,
whose name is an exact equivalent (quetzal = kukul, the quetzal bird;
coatl = kan, snake), is discussed below (p. 226). It is said that after
giving laws to the people he departed eastward, and on reaching the
sea put off his feather dress and turquoise snake-mask and immolated
himself upon a funeral pyre, his soul becoming the morning star; or,
according to another account, he sailed away eastward, promising to
return in a year of similar date. As a god of the morning star he
bore the calendrical name of Ce Acatl (“One Reed”), one of the dates
marking the periodical appearances of Venus. It will be remembered
that we have seen a deity named Ce Acatl as a warrior-god, slaying
the Mimizcoa who had killed his father Mixcoatl. But this deity is
certainly not to be identified with Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who
was essentially a god of peace, averse to human sacrifice. Among
the hunting peoples, as can be seen especially from a study of the
Tarascan tribes, the morning star was a war-god, while the association
of Quetzalcoatl with this planet was due to the fact that it was the
regulator of the solar calendar as explained subsequently. In the
second legend the promise of the god to return in a year ce acatl had
very far-reaching effects. Quetzalcoatl was regarded as white and
bearded, and the arrival of the Spaniards in a year bearing this date
seemed to the Mexicans to possess a religious sanction which proved of
inestimable service to the invaders. Indeed, but for this legend it
is more than doubtful whether the almost incredible exploit of Cortés
would have been successful. Quetzalcoatl is usually shown with black
paint, the priestly colour, and wearing a pointed head-dress of the
form associated with the Huaxtec, and hook-shaped ear pendants. As
Eecatl the wind-god he bears a mask with a long snout, and a spirally
marked shell breast-ornament, typifying the eddies of the wind (Fig.
4, _d_). In this capacity he was associated with the rain-gods,
for whom he was said to sweep the road, and in one place he is given
the same title as Tezcatlipoca, Yoalli Eecatl, the night-wind. As a
god of ceremonial purification he is generally shown with the bone
implement for piercing the ears, sometimes stuck in his head-dress,
and, as a patron of education, children were presented to him at the
public school or Calmecac. His legendary connection with Tezcatlipoca
is interesting. In one myth the two are mentioned as creating-gods, who
raised the heavens after they had fallen upon the earth at the end of
the last mythical period. In another they are shown as foes, and it is
Tezcatlipoca who by his machinations drives Quetzalcoatl from Tulan.
The latter story probably represents the retirement of the Toltec
before the advancing waves of Nahua migration. As might be expected,
Quetzalcoatl is closely associated with the peoples of the eastern
coast, he wears Huaxtec dress, and the Olmec are mentioned as his
children; further, he was worshipped at Tlaxcala and Uexotzinco, and
especially at Cholula, cities in which the Toltec at their dispersal
had settled in numbers. Cholula was in fact the centre of his worship
in later times, and his great pyramid there, greater even than that of
Uitzilopochtli in Mexico, was regarded with particular veneration by
the surrounding peoples, even by the Aztec conquerors. One legend makes
Quetzalcoatl the chief agent in the final creation of man. According to
this story he goes to the underworld to fetch bones; as he returns he
falls, the bones drop to earth and quails gnaw them. Finally Ciuacoatl
pounds them up and makes a paste from which men are formed. The same
myth shows him as the discoverer of maize, which was concealed in the
mountain Tonacatepetl. All the gods were searching for it, but the way
was known to the ants alone. Quetzalcoatl turns himself into a black
ant, and a red ant guides him thither, but the mountain is too heavy
to lift, so the god Xolotl (in his manifestation as Nanauatzin) splits
it open. This god Xolotl, who will be mentioned later, is closely
associated in dress and attributes with Quetzalcoatl, as also are the
octli-gods, and he is sometimes given as the hero of the creation-myth
quoted above. But the maize was not destined to remain the possession
of Quetzalcoatl, for it was stolen by Tlaloc, to whom since that time
it belongs. In many of the invocations given by Sahagun, Quetzalcoatl
is mentioned as a creator-god. A peculiar point in connection with
this deity is seen in the practice of professional thieves, who were
accustomed to make an image of Quetzalcoatl which they carried with
them when they set out to rob a house. The explanation may be sought
in the fact that the wind-god was naturally typical of mutability,
and so was patron of sorcery and might be supposed to aid the magical
precautions taken by robbers to cast sleep upon the inmates of the
house which they wished to attack, as related below. A peculiar legend
accounts for the feather-work garments and mask worn by Quetzalcoatl;
from two sources we learn that this god was extremely ugly, and one
of them adds that when Tezcatlipoca showed him his reflection in his
mirror, Quetzalcoatl was so ashamed that he adopted these aids to
concealment. The other states that his image was always kept covered.
Besides Tezcatlipoca, there were also other high gods, whose functions
related to creation and generation, but, like many high gods among
primitive peoples, the amount of active worship paid them was
relatively small. Such were Tonacatecutli and his wife Tonacaciuatl,
dwellers in the highest heaven, who were said to be Toltec deities,
and were identified with Ometecutli and Omeciuatl, also associated
with Tulan. The creation once over, they received little direct
worship, save that appeals were made to them in invocations relative
to pregnancy and birth. Tonacatecutli was also identified with Chicome
Xochitl (“Seven Flower,” a calendrical name), in which manifestation
he appeared as a fertility-god, and Tonacaciuatl was at times likewise
identified with Xochiquetzal and Chicome Coatl. Attention has already
been called to the manner in which the Aztec tried to add to the
dignity of their tribal god by transferring to him the functions of
other deities, and it is not therefore surprising to find in one
passage that Uitzilopochtli is identified with Tonacatecutli. Connected
with the creator-deities are two interesting personalities, Oxomoco
(male) and Cipactonal (female). These were the prototypes of all
magicians, patrons of the magical arts, assistants in the creation
of men and in the discovery of maize, and general advisers in the
migration of the Nahua tribes. The material attributes of these
personages are not clear, and it is difficult to find a pictorial
representation which can be said with certainty to portray either of
them. As regards Mictlantecutli, the god of the underworld, the case is
quite otherwise; he is very frequently shown, and nearly always takes
the form of a skeleton, often with a stone knife in place of his nose
(Fig. 4, _b_). Skulls and bones are his inevitable accompaniments,
the owl is his bird, and his feminine partner was named Mictlanciuatl.
Other elemental divinities, of rather nebulous attributes, were the
sky-gods Citlalicue and Citlaltonac, who were associated with the
creator-gods, the sun and the morning star; and also Yoaltecutli and
Yoalticitl, night-deities, of whom the former seems to be identified
with the sun and the constellation Gemini, and the latter with
Teteoinnan.
[Illustration:
_Photo. Prof. Seler_ _Vienna Museum_
1]
[Illustration:
_British Museum_
2
MEXICO
1. SCULPTURED STONE VASE
2. STONE FIGURE OF QUETZALCOATL
(Scale: ¼th)]
We now come to a deity of great importance, the sun, called by the name
of Tonatiuh, and the calendrical name of Naui Olin (“Four Movement,”
Fig. 4, _e_). This god is easily recognizable by the sun-disc, set
about with divergent rays, which he carries, and by his nose-ornament
and long quetzal-feathers. Mexican legend recognizes no less than
four previous suns, each marking a world period, and each terminating
in a convulsion of nature which resulted in a universal destruction.
Accounts differ as regards the order of these suns, but the authentic
version is probably that which is supported by the so-called
“calendar-stone” figured on Pl. VIII, 1, and Fig. 8. According to this
version, when all was dark, Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into the
sun to give light to men. This sun, known by the calendrical name of
Naui Ocelotl (Four Ocelot), terminated in the destruction of mankind,
including a race of giants, by jaguars. Quetzalcoatl became the
second sun, called Naui Eecatl (“Four Wind”), and the age terminated
in a terrible hurricane, during which mankind was transformed into
monkeys. The third sun, Naui Quiauitl (“Four Rain”), was Tlaloc,
and the destruction came by means of a rain of fire. The fourth was
Chalchiuhtlicue, Naui Atl (“Four Water”), and mankind was finally
destroyed by a deluge, during which they became fishes. The present
sun, Naui Olin (“Four Movement”) is destined to conclude with an
earthquake.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--The moon.
(_Borgia MS., Rome_)]
A fuller account of the birth of the historical sun runs as follows.
All the gods were assembled at Teotihuacan, waiting for the appearance
of the planet and performing penance. A great fire was prepared,
into which, after some hesitation, the syphilitic god Nanauatzin (a
manifestation of the dog-headed sun- and lightning-deity, the patron
of twins, Xolotl) leaped, reappearing later as the sun. Fired by his
example, Tecociztecatl leaped after him, but he failed to spring
into the glowing heart of the fire and he reappeared as the moon,
the surface of which is clouded with the black ashes of the pyre. A
variant myth makes Quetzalcoatl cast his son into the fire to become
the sun, while Tlaloc throws his son in later and he becomes the moon.
The sun once created, some nourishment had to be found for him, and
various gods sacrificed themselves so that he might obtain sustenance
from their blood and hearts. A variant legend narrates the special
creation of the Centzon Mimizcoa who by fighting might provide the sun
with the necessary blood-offerings. The connection of the sun with the
war-gods is therefore very close, for war in Mexico was in the main of
a ceremonial nature, undertaken with the express purpose of obtaining
prisoners for sacrifice, and not necessarily with the intention of
inflicting mortal hurt upon the foe. It is in this sense that in a
ceremonial invocation to Uitzilopochtli, the warrior-god, the deity is
made to exclaim “Through me has the sun risen.” From this point of view
the sun is closely connected with the souls of warriors perishing in
war or on the sacrificial stone, who escorted the orb from the eastern
horizon to the zenith; and also with the souls of women dying in
childbirth, the female counterparts of the warriors, who accompanied it
from the zenith to its setting. These female souls were deified under
the name of Ciuapipiltin or Ciuateteo, and were supposed to descend
to the earth on certain dates and inflict maladies on children (Fig.
3, _d_). They are included under the general term of Tzitzimimé,
lightning-demons, of whom Itzpapalotl was one, and whose advent to
destroy the world was greatly feared during eclipses and at the end
of each fifty-two-year period. Associated with the sun as escort
was Xolotl, the dog-headed god of twins and monstrosities, and, in
invocations, the earth-god Tlaltecutli, who, like him, was supposed to
be nourished with the blood of warriors killed in fight and sacrifice.
The creation of the moon, Meztli, in the person of Tecociztecatl has
already been mentioned, but other deities were connected with it,
especially those associated with vegetation. The waxing and waning of
the moon was supposed to typify the process of nature, and the moon
was supposed to exercise an influence over vegetable growth; it is
even possible that the phases of this satellite may have possessed
a calendrical significance before the invention of the solar year.
Consequently we find the earth-goddess Tlazolteotl associated with
Meztli, and also the harvest-gods, the Totochtin. Probably the
connection with the Totochtin was emphasized by the fact that the
Mexicans, instead of the “man in the moon,” saw the figure of a rabbit
(tochtli) in the disc (Fig. 6). Both Tlazolteotl and the Totochtin
wear semi-lunar nose-ornaments, exactly similar to the outline of the
moon as shown in manuscripts, which often portray it as a curved bone
filled with water. A more or less constant emblem of the moon-god is
a spiral sea-shell, which he bears partly in his capacity as a god of
birth.
Another elemental god of great importance in domestic as well as
public worship was the fire-god, known to the Aztec under the name of
Xiuhtecutli (Fig. 3, _c_). His worship probably dated from a very
early period, and he also bore the name of Ueueteotl, “the old-old
god.” Among the Tarascans, this deity was the centre of the domestic
cult, and the Tepanec and Otomi worshipped him under the name of
Otontecutli. Under this name he was invoked in historic times by the
inhabitants of the Tepanec cities of Azcapotzalco and Tlacopan and of
Colhuacan. At Xochimilco the fire-deity appears as a goddess, under
the name of Chantico or Quaxolotl. Xiuhtecutli is generally shown
with a horizontally-banded face (in this respect the illustration
in Fig. 3, _c_, is not typical), and his prevailing colour is
yellow. On his back he bears the fire-snake, xiuhcoatl (see Pl. V,
2), and a butterfly, papalotl, frequently appears in his hair. It
may be mentioned that in general horizontal face-paint seems to be
characteristic of the gods of the immigrant hunter tribes, the vertical
of the agricultural gods of the sedentary tribes of the valley. The
butterfly is closely connected with fire, since the fluttering flight
of this insect was supposed to resemble the flicker of a flame. Mexican
mythology is full of poetical imagery of this sort, which constitutes a
welcome relief to the gruesomeness of many of their rites. The fire-god
was connected with perhaps the most horrible of their sacrifices; at
his most important feast the victims were cast living into a huge
brazier, and dragged thence with hooks before death brought a welcome
relief, to have their hearts torn from their bodies in the customary
manner. An unexpected feature of this god is exemplified in the belief
that he was supposed to dwell in the water. As mentioned above,
Tezcatlipoca is connected with fire, in so far as he is supposed first
to have produced it from flint, after assuming the form of Mixcoatl.
Besides the gods mentioned above there were a number with special
functions, a few of whom may now be mentioned. Gods connected with,
or invoked during, pregnancy and at birth, besides Chalchiuhtlicue,
Ciuacoatl, Teteoinnan, Xochiquetzal and the creating deities, were
Chalchiuhtlatonac, associated with Chalchiuhtlicue, and Ayopechtli,
the goddess of birth proper, who, like Mayauel, is usually represented
as seated on a tortoise. To Ixtlilton, the black god, brother of
Macuil xochitl, a sacrifice was made when the child first spoke,
and he was regarded as the medical god for children. Other gods,
already mentioned, with medical functions were Amimitl (dysentery),
Macuilxochitl, Xochiquetzal and Nanauatzin (genital affections), Tlaloc
(dropsy), Xipe (skin-diseases), Cinteotl (leprosy), Tezcatlipoca
and Tlauizcalpantecutli (senders of sickness), Teteoinnan (goddess
of healing herbs), and Tzapotlatenan (who discovered the healing
properties of turpentine). The various guilds in Mexico, constituted
by members of particular trades, held special rites in honour of those
gods who were supposed to preside over their daily activities. Space
forbids the inclusion of a complete list, since most can be identified
from the details given above. One god however deserves especial
mention, Yacatecutli, the god of the Pochteca or travelling merchants,
who formed a guild of enormous political importance as will be shown
later. Every night while on a journey the merchants, who travelled
in companies, burnt incense before their staves which, fastened in a
bundle, represented his image, and elaborate rites were held in his
honour before their departure and on their return. He was associated
in worship with Coyotlinauatl, the god of the guild of feather-workers
who inhabited the quarter of Amantlan, which was conterminous with the
quarter of the Pochteca. Finally a peculiar god, whose function, other
than calendrical, is indeterminate, may be mentioned; the bear-headed
Tepeyollotl, the “heart of the mountain,” a cave-god. He is often
shown with Tezcatlipoca’s mirror, and may be a manifestation of that
omnipresent deity.
Such were the principal gods worshipped in the Mexican valley at
the time of the conquest; there were many minor deities also, but
sufficient has been said to give some idea of the Mexican pantheon, and
to indicate its composite nature. Most of the gods were supposed to
dwell in supernatural regions such as Tlalocan, the eastern paradise
and home of Tlaloc which has already been mentioned, and Mictlan, the
underworld and home of Mictlantecutli, which consisted of nine spheres
in the lowest of which was a ninefold stream. Above were thirteen
heavens, in the first of which were certain planets, in the second the
Tzitzimimé, in the third the Centzon Mimizcoa, in the fourth birds, in
the fifth fire-snakes (comets) created by the fire-god, in the sixth
winds, in the seventh dust, in the eighth the gods. The rest were
reserved for Tonacatecutli and his consort, whose especial home was the
thirteenth and highest heaven.
The elements of Mexican religion then are twofold, and consist of
three classes of supernatural being, each bearing a direct relation to
the mode of life of their especial worshippers. These consist of the
rain- and fertility-deities of the agricultural peoples; the stellar
war- and hunting-gods of the nomadic tribes who were regarded in the
light of personal leaders; and the omnipotent creating-gods, such as
Tonacatecutli and Tezcatlipoca, common to both. The tribal gods of the
nomadic peoples seem to partake of the nature of fetishes in their
original forms, and to have been evolved from the “medicine bundles”
familiar to the student of North American ethnography. The more
cultured section of the first immigrants, who separated from the main
body and departed eastwards, are represented as taking with them their
god and leader, whose image was kept veiled in cloth; and allusion
has already been made to the statement that Quetzalcoatl’s image was
in early days kept similarly covered. Moreover a legend dealing with
the Aztec migration states that at an early stage of their wanderings
two bundles appeared miraculously in their camp, each of which was
appropriated by a section of the migrants. In one was found a jewel,
and its possessors finally became the inhabitants of Tlaltelolco,
while the other contained fire-sticks (continually associated with
hunting and stellar deities), and fell to the eventual inhabitants of
Tenochtitlan. Further evidence of the fetish nature of such gods is
seen in the stories which tell of struggles between different tribes
for the possession of a certain god. Thus we have the story of the
capture of the god of the immigrant hill-hunters by the sedentary
population around lake Pazcuaro in Michoacan; and the seizure by the
Chichimec of the two-headed deer of Camaxtli which was his war-fetish.
The same idea survived in the provision by the Mexicans within the
temple precincts of a prison-house where the idols of conquered tribes
were kept in durance; and it was no doubt based upon the belief that
once a people was deprived of the god who was its personal leader, its
prestige and power must necessarily vanish.
The worship of so many deities involved a cult of no little
elaboration, and it must be remembered that apart from the festivals
which were observed universally, each tribe, each province, each
quarter in Mexico, each guild (often the remains of a former tribe),
and each family were punctual in the observance of various domestic and
private rites; and though most of the literature which has come down to
us is concerned with the national worship, yet no doubt the domestic
cults, for the most part unchronicled, were regarded by the individual
as of greater importance, from the point of view that they had a more
direct bearing upon his personal prosperity.
Naturally the worship paid to the divine powers varied very greatly in
nature according to the mental and cultural status of the worshippers.
Many of the myths are extremely crude, and evidently the product of
a very low stage of civilization; but on the other hand, many of the
prayers given by Sahagun show a high degree of spirituality. The
existence of a professional priesthood carefully trained in astronomy
and letters, together with the natural bent of the American mind
towards poetic imagery, fostered the evolution of beliefs among the
more educated which no doubt differed as much in quality from the
superstitions of the populace as those of the higher classes in Peru or
in India. Rites which in appearance were crude and savage possessed for
the adept a symbolic and esoteric meaning which transformed, even if
it did not entirely excuse, their barbarity. Symbolism is the keynote
of American ritual, and it is this symbolism which makes the religious
manuscripts so difficult of interpretation.
Though practically all the supernatural powers were personified in
human form, yet traces are found of more direct worship of nature in
Tlaxcala, where, according to Motolinia, altars were erected to trees,
and four altars might be found arranged round a spring. Indications
of tree-worship were also found among the Mixtec who were said to
make offerings to the shadows of lofty trees. In Oaxaca, among the
Mixtec and Zapotec, traces of a different kind of religion make their
appearance. It is true that here too (in parts of the Mixtec territory)
we have immigration legends, pointing to the supposition that a portion
of the population came from the north; but other, and probably older,
myths exist which narrate the birth of the human race from trees,
rocks and wild beasts. Myths of this nature are far more typical of
Peru as a whole than of Mexico and Central America. Another peculiarity
of Mixtec and Zapotec worship is the great number of cave-temples,
many of them so holy that they became centres of pilgrimage. Some of
these shrines were oracular, and one of them, at Achiutla, held such
a high reputation that Montecuzoma sent an embassy to consult it at
the coming of the Spaniards. Human sacrifice was practised by both
these tribes, though to a far less extent than by the Mexicans, the
heart of the victim being held to the lips of the idol of stone or
wood. Traces of lake-worship also occur, another point in common with
Peru and Colombia, in so far as at Tecomastlahuaca (immediately S.E.
of Cuicatlan) was a sacred lake into which the bodies of victims were
thrown; and at Teotitlan was a celebrated idol which was said to have
descended from heaven in the form of a bird in the midst of a luminous
constellation, a myth which would seem to have certain Maya affinities,
as will be seen later. At Cuilapa in the Zapotec country was current
a creation legend not unlike some of the Mexican ætiological myths.
According to this the creator and his progeny bore calendrical names,
and these semi-deities built their palaces on a huge rock on the summit
of which was a copper axe, with the edge upwards, supporting the
heavens. This preliminary age was terminated by a great deluge, after
which the creator repeopled the world with the human race.