Nahua Religion
The religion of the ancient Mexicans was a polytheism or worship of a
pantheon of deities, the general aspect of which presented similarities
to the systems of Greece and Egypt. Original influences, however,
were strong, and they are especially discernible in the institutions
of ritualistic cannibalism and human sacrifice. Strange resemblances to
Christian practice were observed in the Aztec mythology by the Spanish
Conquistadores, who piously condemned the native customs of baptism,
consubstantiation, and confession as frauds founded and perpetuated
by diabolic agency.
A superficial examination of the Nahua religion might lead to the
inference that within its scope and system no definite theological
views were embraced and no ethical principles propounded, and that
the entire mythology presents only the fantastic attitude of the
barbarian mind toward the eternal verities. Such a conclusion would
be both erroneous and unjust to a human intelligence of a type by no
means debased. As a matter of fact, the Nahua displayed a theological
advancement greatly superior to that of the Greeks or Romans, and quite
on a level with that expressed by the Egyptians and Assyrians. Toward
the period of the Spanish occupation the Mexican priesthood was
undoubtedly advancing to the contemplation of the exaltation of
one god, whose worship was fast excluding that of similar deities,
and if our data are too imperfect to allow us to speak very fully
in regard to this phase of religious advancement, we know at least
that much of the Nahua ritual and many of the prayers preserved by
the labours of the Spanish fathers are unquestionably genuine, and
display the attainment of a high religious level.
Cosmology
Aztec theology postulated an eternity which, however, was not without
its epochs. It was thought to be broken up into a number of æons,
each of which depended upon the period of duration of a separate
"sun." No agreement is noticeable among authorities on Mexican
mythology as to the number of these "suns," but it would appear as
probable that the favourite tradition stipulated for four "suns"
or epochs, each of which concluded with a national disaster--flood,
famine, tempest, or fire. The present æon, they feared, might conclude
upon the completion of every "sheaf" of fifty-two years, the "sheaf"
being a merely arbitrary portion of an æon. The period of time from the
first creation to the current æon was variously computed as 15,228,
2386, or 1404 solar years, the discrepancy and doubt arising because
of the equivocal nature of the numeral signs expressing the period
in the pinturas or native paintings. As regards the sequence of
"suns" there is no more agreement than there is regarding their
number. The Codex Vaticanus states it to have been water, wind,
fire, and famine. Humboldt gives it as hunger, fire, wind, and water;
Boturini as water, famine, wind, and fire; and Gama as hunger, wind,
fire, and water.
In all likelihood the adoption of four ages arose from the sacred
nature of that number. The myth doubtless shaped itself upon the
tonalamatl (Mexican native calendar), the great repository of the
wisdom of the Nahua race, which the priestly class regarded as its
vade mecum, and which was closely consulted by it on every occasion,
civil or religious.
The Sources of Mexican Mythology
Our knowledge of the mythology of the Mexicans is chiefly gained
through the works of those Spaniards, lay and cleric, who entered
the country along with or immediately subsequent to the Spanish
Conquistadores. From several of these we have what might be called
first-hand accounts of the theogony and ritual of the Nahua people. The
most valuable compendium is that of Father Bernardino Sahagun,
entitled A General History of the Affairs of New Spain, which was
published from manuscript only in the middle of last century, though
written in the first half of the sixteenth century. Sahagun arrived in
Mexico eight years after the country had been reduced by the Spaniards
to a condition of servitude. He obtained a thorough mastery of the
Nahuatl tongue, and conceived a warm admiration for the native mind
and a deep interest in the antiquities of the conquered people. His
method of collecting facts concerning their mythology and history
was as effective as it was ingenious. He held daily conferences
with reliable Indians, and placed questions before them, to which
they replied by symbolical paintings detailing the answers which he
required. These he submitted to scholars who had been trained under
his own supervision, and who, after consultation among themselves,
rendered him a criticism in Nahuatl of the hieroglyphical paintings
he had placed at their disposal. Not content with this process, he
subjected these replies to the criticism of a third body, after which
the matter was included in his work. But ecclesiastical intolerance
was destined to keep the work from publication for a couple of
centuries. Afraid that such a volume would be successful in keeping
alight the fires of paganism in Mexico, Sahagun's brethren refused him
the assistance he required for its publication. But on his appealing
to the Council of the Indies in Spain he was met with encouragement,
and was ordered to translate his great work into Spanish, a task he
undertook when over eighty years of age. He transmitted the work to
Spain, and for three hundred years nothing more was heard of it.
The Romance of the Lost "Sahagun"
For generations antiquarians interested in the lore of ancient Mexico
bemoaned its loss, until at length one Muñoz, more indefatigable
than the rest, chanced to visit the crumbling library of the ancient
convent of Tolosi, in Navarre. There, among time-worn manuscripts
and tomes relating to the early fathers and the intricacies of canon
law, he discovered the lost Sahagun! It was printed separately by
Bustamante at Mexico and by Lord Kingsborough in his collection in
1830, and has been translated into French by M. Jourdanet. Thus the
manuscript commenced in or after 1530 was given to the public after
a lapse of no less than three hundred years!
Torquemada
Father Torquemada arrived in the New World about the middle of
the sixteenth century, at which period he was still enabled to
take from the lips of such of the Conquistadores as remained much
curious information regarding the circumstances of their advent. His
Monarchia Indiana was first published at Seville in 1615, and in it
he made much use of the manuscript of Sahagun, not then published. At
the same time his observations upon matters pertaining to the native
religion are often illuminating and exhaustive.
In his Storia Antica del Messico the Abbé Clavigero, who published
his work in 1780, did much to disperse the clouds of tradition which
hung over Mexican history and mythology. The clarity of his style and
the exactness of his information render his work exceedingly useful.
Antonio Gama, in his Descripcion Historica y Cronologica de las
dos Piedras, poured a flood of light on Mexican antiquities. His
work was published in 1832. With him may be said to have ceased the
line of Mexican archæologists of the older school. Others worthy
of being mentioned among the older writers on Mexican mythology (we
are not here concerned with history) are Boturini, who, in his Idea
de una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional, gives a
vivid picture of native life and tradition, culled from first-hand
communication with the people; Ixtlilxochitl, a half-breed, whose
mendacious works, the Relaciones and Historia Chichimeca, are yet
valuable repositories of tradition; José de Acosta, whose Historia
Natural y Moral de las Yndias was published at Seville in 1580;
and Gomara, who, in his Historia General de las Indias (Madrid,
1749), rested upon the authority of the Conquistadores. Tezozomoc's
Chronica Mexicana, reproduced in Lord Kingsborough's great work,
is valuable as giving unique facts regarding the Aztec mythology,
as is the Teatro Mexicana of Vetancurt, published at Mexico in 1697-98.
The Worship of One God
The ritual of this dead faith of another hemisphere abounds in
expressions concerning the unity of the deity approaching very nearly
to many of those we ourselves employ regarding God's attributes. The
various classes of the priesthood were in the habit of addressing
the several gods to whom they ministered as "omnipotent," "endless,"
"invisible," "the one god complete in perfection and unity," and
"the Maker and Moulder of All." These appellations they applied not
to one supreme being, but to the individual deities to whose service
they were attached. It may be thought that such a practice would be
fatal to the evolution of a single and universal god. But there is
every reason to believe that Tezcatlipoca, the great god of the air,
like the Hebrew Jahveh, also an air-god, was fast gaining precedence
of all other deities, when the coming of the white man put an end to
his chances of sovereignty.
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (Fiery Mirror) was undoubtedly the Jupiter of the Nahua
pantheon. He carried a mirror or shield, from which he took his name,
and in which he was supposed to see reflected the actions and deeds
of mankind. The evolution of this god from the status of a spirit of
wind or air to that of the supreme deity of the Aztec people presents
many points of deep interest to students of mythology. Originally the
personification of the air, the source both of the breath of life and
of the tempest, Tezcatlipoca possessed all the attributes of a god who
presided over these phenomena. As the tribal god of the Tezcucans who
had led them into the Land of Promise, and had been instrumental in the
defeat of both the gods and men of the elder race they dispossessed,
Tezcatlipoca naturally advanced so speedily in popularity and public
honour that it was little wonder that within a comparatively short
space of time he came to be regarded as a god of fate and fortune,
and as inseparably connected with the national destinies. Thus,
from being the peculiar deity of a small band of Nahua immigrants,
the prestige accruing from the rapid conquest made under his tutelary
direction and the speedily disseminated tales of the prowess of those
who worshipped him seemed to render him at once the most popular and
the best feared god in Anahuac, therefore the one whose cult quickly
overshadowed that of other and similar gods.
Tezcatlipoca, Overthrower of the Toltecs
We find Tezcatlipoca intimately associated with the legends which
recount the overthrow of Tollan, the capital of the Toltecs. His
chief adversary on the Toltec side is the god-king Quetzalcoatl,
whose nature and reign we will consider later, but whom we will now
merely regard as the enemy of Tezcatlipoca. The rivalry between these
gods symbolises that which existed between the civilised Toltecs and
the barbarian Nahua, and is well exemplified in the following myths.
Myths of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca
In the days of Quetzalcoatl there was abundance of everything necessary
for subsistence. The maize was plentiful, the calabashes were as
thick as one's arm, and cotton grew in all colours without having
to be dyed. A variety of birds of rich plumage filled the air with
their songs, and gold, silver, and precious stones were abundant. In
the reign of Quetzalcoatl there was peace and plenty for all men.
But this blissful state was too fortunate, too happy to endure. Envious
of the calm enjoyment of the god and his people the Toltecs,
three wicked "necromancers" plotted their downfall. The reference
is of course to the gods of the invading Nahua tribes, the deities
Huitzilopochtli, Titlacahuan or Tezcatlipoca, and Tlacahuepan. These
laid evil enchantments upon the city of Tollan, and Tezcatlipoca in
particular took the lead in these envious conspiracies. Disguised as
an aged man with white hair, he presented himself at the palace of
Quetzalcoatl, where he said to the pages-in-waiting: "Pray present
me to your master the king. I desire to speak with him."
The pages advised him to retire, as Quetzalcoatl was indisposed and
could see no one. He requested them, however, to tell the god that
he was waiting outside. They did so, and procured his admittance.
On entering the chamber of Quetzalcoatl the wily Tezcatlipoca simulated
much sympathy with the suffering god-king. "How are you, my son?" he
asked. "I have brought you a drug which you should drink, and which
will put an end to the course of your malady."
"You are welcome, old man," replied Quetzalcoatl. "I have known for
many days that you would come. I am exceedingly indisposed. The malady
affects my entire system, and I can use neither my hands nor feet."
Tezcatlipoca assured him that if he partook of the medicine which he
had brought him he would immediately experience a great improvement
in health. Quetzalcoatl drank the potion, and at once felt much
revived. The cunning Tezcatlipoca pressed another and still another
cup of the potion upon him, and as it was nothing but pulque, the
wine of the country, he speedily became intoxicated, and was as wax
in the hands of his adversary.
Tezcatlipoca and the Toltecs
Tezcatlipoca, in pursuance of his policy inimical to the Toltec state,
took the form of an Indian of the name of Toueyo (Toveyo), and bent
his steps to the palace of Uemac, chief of the Toltecs in temporal
matters. This worthy had a daughter so fair that she was desired
in marriage by many of the Toltecs, but all to no purpose, as her
father refused her hand to one and all. The princess, beholding the
false Toueyo passing her father's palace, fell deeply in love with
him, and so tumultuous was her passion that she became seriously ill
because of her longing for him. Uemac, hearing of her indisposition,
bent his steps to her apartments, and inquired of her women the
cause of her illness. They told him that it was occasioned by the
sudden passion which had seized her for the Indian who had recently
come that way. Uemac at once gave orders for the arrest of Toueyo,
and he was haled before the temporal chief of Tollan.
"Whence come you?" inquired Uemac of his prisoner, who was very
scantily attired.
"Lord, I am a stranger, and I have come to these parts to sell green
paint," replied Tezcatlipoca.
"Why are you dressed in this fashion? Why do you not wear a
cloak?" asked the chief.
"My lord, I follow the custom of my country," replied Tezcatlipoca.
"You have inspired a passion in the breast of my daughter," said
Uemac. "What should be done to you for thus disgracing me?"
"Slay me; I care not," said the cunning Tezcatlipoca.
"Nay," replied Uemac, "for if I slay you my daughter will perish. Go
to her and say that she may wed you and be happy."
Now the marriage of Toueyo to the daughter of Uemac aroused much
discontent among the Toltecs; and they murmured among themselves, and
said: "Wherefore did Uemac give his daughter to this Toueyo?" Uemac,
having got wind of these murmurings, resolved to distract the
attention of the Toltecs by making war upon the neighbouring state
of Coatepec. The Toltecs assembled armed for the fray, and having
arrived at the country of the men of Coatepec they placed Toueyo
in ambush with his body-servants, hoping that he would be slain
by their adversaries. But Toueyo and his men killed a large number
of the enemy and put them to flight. His triumph was celebrated by
Uemac with much pomp. The knightly plumes were placed upon his head,
and his body was painted with red and yellow--an honour reserved for
those who distinguished themselves in battle.
Tezcatlipoca's next step was to announce a great feast in Tollan,
to which all the people for miles around were invited. Great crowds
assembled, and danced and sang in the city to the sound of the
drum. Tezcatlipoca sang to them and forced them to accompany the rhythm
of his song with their feet. Faster and faster the people danced,
until the pace became so furious that they were driven to madness,
lost their footing, and tumbled pell-mell down a deep ravine, where
they were changed into rocks. Others in attempting to cross a stone
bridge precipitated themselves into the water below, and were changed
into stones.
On another occasion Tezcatlipoca presented himself as a valiant
warrior named Tequiua, and invited all the inhabitants of Tollan
and its environs to come to the flower-garden called Xochitla. When
assembled there he attacked them with a hoe, and slew a great number,
and others in panic crushed their comrades to death.
Tezcatlipoca and Tlacahuepan on another occasion repaired to the
market-place of Tollan, the former displaying upon the palm of
his hand a small infant whom he caused to dance and to cut the most
amusing capers. This infant was in reality Huitzilopochtli, the Nahua
god of war. At this sight the Toltecs crowded upon one another for
the purpose of getting a better view, and their eagerness resulted
in many being crushed to death. So enraged were the Toltecs at this
that upon the advice of Tlacahuepan they slew both Tezcatlipoca and
Huitzilopochtli. When this had been done the bodies of the slain gods
gave forth such a pernicious effluvia that thousands of the Toltecs
died of the pestilence. The god Tlacahuepan then advised them to cast
out the bodies lest worse befell them, but on their attempting to do so
they discovered their weight to be so great that they could not move
them. Hundreds wound cords round the corpses, but the strands broke,
and those who pulled upon them fell and died suddenly, tumbling one
upon the other, and suffocating those upon whom they collapsed.
The Departure of Quetzalcoatl
The Toltecs were so tormented by the enchantments of Tezcatlipoca
that it was soon apparent to them that their fortunes were on the wane
and that the end of their empire was at hand. Quetzalcoatl, chagrined
at the turn things had taken, resolved to quit Tollan and go to the
country of Tlapallan, whence he had come on his civilising mission to
Mexico. He burned all the houses which he had built, and buried his
treasure of gold and precious stones in the deep valleys between the
mountains. He changed the cacao-trees into mezquites, and he ordered
all the birds of rich plumage and song to quit the valley of Anahuac
and to follow him to a distance of more than a hundred leagues. On
the road from Tollan he discovered a great tree at a point called
Quauhtitlan. There he rested, and requested his pages to hand him a
mirror. Regarding himself in the polished surface, he exclaimed, "I am
old," and from that circumstance the spot was named Huehuequauhtitlan
(Old Quauhtitlan). Proceeding on his way accompanied by musicians
who played the flute, he walked until fatigue arrested his steps,
and he seated himself upon a stone, on which he left the imprint
of his hands. This place is called Temacpalco (The Impress of the
Hands). At Coaapan he was met by the Nahua gods, who were inimical
to him and to the Toltecs.
"Where do you go?" they asked him. "Why do you leave your capital?"
"I go to Tlapallan," replied Quetzalcoatl, "whence I came."
"For what reason?" persisted the enchanters.
"My father the Sun has called me thence," replied Quetzalcoatl.
"Go, then, happily," they said, "but leave us the secret of your art,
the secret of founding in silver, of working in precious stones and
woods, of painting, and of feather-working, and other matters."
But Quetzalcoatl refused, and cast all his treasures into the
fountain of Cozcaapa (Water of Precious Stones). At Cochtan he
was met by another enchanter, who asked him whither he was bound,
and on learning his destination proffered him a draught of wine. On
tasting the vintage Quetzalcoatl was overcome with sleep. Continuing
his journey in the morning, the god passed between a volcano and the
Sierra Nevada (Mountain of Snow), where all the pages who accompanied
him died of cold. He regretted this misfortune exceedingly, and wept,
lamenting their fate with most bitter tears and mournful songs. On
reaching the summit of Mount Poyauhtecatl he slid to the base. Arriving
at the sea-shore, he embarked upon a raft of serpents, and was wafted
away toward the land of Tlapallan.
It is obvious that these legends bear some resemblance to those of
Ixtlilxochitl which recount the fall of the Toltecs. They are taken
from Sahagun's work, Historia General de Nueva España, and are included
as well for the sake of comparison as for their own intrinsic value.
Tezcatlipoca as Doomster
Tezcatlipoca was much more than a mere personification of wind,
and if he was regarded as a life-giver he had also the power of
destroying existence. In fact on occasion he appears as an inexorable
death-dealer, and as such was styled Nezahualpilli (The Hungry Chief)
and Yaotzin (The Enemy). Perhaps one of the names by which he was
best known was Telpochtli (The Youthful Warrior), from the fact that
his reserve of strength, his vital force, never diminished, and that
his youthful and boisterous vigour was apparent in the tempest.
Tezcatlipoca was usually depicted as holding in his right hand a dart
placed in an atlatl (spear-thrower), and his mirror-shield with four
spare darts in his left. This shield is the symbol of his power as
judge of mankind and upholder of human justice.
The Aztecs pictured Tezcatlipoca as rioting along the highways in
search of persons on whom to wreak his vengeance, as the wind of
night rushes along the deserted roads with more seeming violence
than it does by day. Indeed one of his names, Yoalli Ehecatl,
signifies "Night Wind." Benches of stone, shaped like those made
for the dignitaries of the Mexican towns, were distributed along the
highways for his especial use, that on these he might rest after his
boisterous journeyings. These seats were concealed by green boughs,
beneath which the god was supposed to lurk in wait for his victims. But
if one of the persons he seized overcame him in the struggle he might
ask whatever boon he desired, secure in the promise of the deity that
it should be granted forthwith.
It was supposed that Tezcatlipoca had guided the Nahua, and especially
the people of Tezcuco, from a more northerly clime to the valley of
Mexico. But he was not a mere local deity of Tezcuco, his worship
being widely celebrated throughout the country. His exalted position
in the Mexican pantheon seems to have won for him especial reverence
as a god of fate and fortune. The place he took as the head of the
Nahua pantheon brought him many attributes which were quite foreign
to his original character. Fear and a desire to exalt their tutelar
deity will impel the devotees of a powerful god to credit him with
any or every quality, so that there is nothing remarkable in the
spectacle of the heaping of every possible attribute, human or divine,
upon Tezcatlipoca when we recall the supreme position he occupied in
Mexican mythology. His priestly caste far surpassed in power and in
the breadth and activity of its propaganda the priesthoods of the
other Mexican deities. To it is credited the invention of many of
the usages of civilisation, and that it all but succeeded in making
his worship universal is pretty clear, as has been shown. The other
gods were worshipped for some special purpose, but the worship of
Tezcatlipoca was regarded as compulsory, and to some extent as a
safeguard against the destruction of the universe, a calamity the
Nahua had been led to believe might occur through his agency. He
was known as Moneneque (The Claimer of Prayer), and in some of the
representations of him an ear of gold was shown suspended from his
hair, toward which small tongues of gold strained upward in appeal
of prayer. In times of national danger, plague, or famine universal
prayer was made to Tezcatlipoca. The heads of the community repaired
to his teocalli (temple) accompanied by the people en masse, and all
prayed earnestly together for his speedy intervention. The prayers
to Tezcatlipoca still extant prove that the ancient Mexicans fully
believed that he possessed the power of life and death, and many of
them are couched in the most piteous terms.
The Teotleco Festival
The supreme position occupied by Tezcatlipoca in the Mexican religion
is well exemplified in the festival of the Teotleco (Coming of the
Gods), which is fully described in Sahagun's account of the Mexican
festivals. Another peculiarity connected with his worship was that
he was one of the few Mexican deities who had any relation to the
expiation of sin. Sin was symbolised by the Nahua as excrement, and
in various manuscripts Tezcatlipoca is represented as a turkey-cock
to which ordure is being offered up.
Of the festival of the Teotleco Sahagun says: "In the twelfth month a
festival was celebrated in honour of all the gods, who were said to
have gone to some country I know not where. On the last day of the
month a greater one was held, because the gods had returned. On the
fifteenth day of this month the young boys and the servitors decked all
the altars or oratories of the gods with boughs, as well as those which
were in the houses, and the images which were set up by the wayside
and at the cross-roads. This work was paid for in maize. Some received
a basketful, and others only a few ears. On the eighteenth day the
ever-youthful god Tlamatzincatl or Titlacahuan arrived. It was said
that he marched better and arrived the first because he was strong
and young. Food was offered him in his temple on that night. Every
one drank, ate, and made merry. The old people especially celebrated
the arrival of the god by drinking wine, and it was alleged that his
feet were washed by these rejoicings. The last day of the month was
marked by a great festival, on account of the belief that the whole
of the gods arrived at that time. On the preceding night a quantity
of flour was kneaded on a carpet into the shape of a cheese, it being
supposed that the gods would leave a footprint thereon as a sign of
their return. The chief attendant watched all night, going to and fro
to see if the impression appeared. When he at last saw it he called
out, 'The master has arrived,' and at once the priests of the temple
began to sound the horns, trumpets, and other musical instruments
used by them. Upon hearing this noise every one set forth to offer
food in all the temples." The next day the aged gods were supposed
to arrive, and young men disguised as monsters hurled victims into
a huge sacrificial fire.
The Toxcatl Festival
The most remarkable festival in connection with Tezcatlipoca was
the Toxcatl, held in the fifth month. On the day of this festival a
youth was slain who for an entire year previously had been carefully
instructed in the rôle of victim. He was selected from among the best
war captives of the year, and must be without spot or blemish. He
assumed the name, garb, and attributes of Tezcatlipoca himself, and
was regarded with awe by the entire populace, who imagined him to be
the earthly representative of the deity. He rested during the day,
and ventured forth at night only, armed with the dart and shield of
the god, to scour the roads. This practice was, of course, symbolical
of the wind-god's progress over the night-bound highways. He carried
also the whistle symbolical of the deity, and made with it a noise
such as the weird wind of night makes when it hurries through the
streets. To his arms and legs small bells were attached. He was
followed by a retinue of pages, and at intervals rested upon the
stone seats which were placed upon the highways for the convenience
of Tezcatlipoca. Later in the year he was mated to four beautiful
maidens of high birth, with whom he passed the time in amusement of
every description. He was entertained at the tables of the nobility as
the earthly representative of Tezcatlipoca, and his latter days were
one constant round of feasting and excitement. At last the fatal day
upon which he must be sacrificed arrived. He took a tearful farewell
of the maidens whom he had espoused, and was carried to the teocalli
of sacrifice, upon the sides of which he broke the musical instruments
with which he had beguiled the time of his captivity. When he reached
the summit he was received by the high-priest, who speedily made him
one with the god whom he represented by tearing his heart out on the
stone of sacrifice.
Huitzilopochtli, the War-God
Huitzilopochtli occupied in the Aztec pantheon a place similar
to that of Mars in the Roman. His origin is obscure, but the myth
relating to it is distinctly original in character. It recounts how,
under the shadow of the mountain of Coatepec, near the Toltec city
of Tollan, there dwelt a pious widow called Coatlicue, the mother
of a tribe of Indians called Centzonuitznaua, who had a daughter
called Coyolxauhqui, and who daily repaired to a small hill with the
intention of offering up prayers to the gods in a penitent spirit of
piety. Whilst occupied in her devotions one day she was surprised by a
small ball of brilliantly coloured feathers falling upon her from on
high. She was pleased by the bright variety of its hues, and placed
it in her bosom, intending to offer it up to the sun-god. Some time
afterwards she learnt that she was to become the mother of another
child. Her sons, hearing of this, rained abuse upon her, being incited
to humiliate her in every possible way by their sister Coyolxauhqui.
Coatlicue went about in fear and anxiety; but the spirit of her unborn
infant came and spoke to her and gave her words of encouragement,
soothing her troubled heart. Her sons, however, were resolved to
wipe out what they considered an insult to their race by the death
of their mother, and took counsel with one another to slay her. They
attired themselves in their war-gear, and arranged their hair after
the manner of warriors going to battle. But one of their number,
Quauitlicac, relented, and confessed the perfidy of his brothers to the
still unborn Huitzilopochtli, who replied to him: "O brother, hearken
attentively to what I have to say to you. I am fully informed of what
is about to happen." With the intention of slaying their mother, the
Indians went in search of her. At their head marched their sister,
Coyolxauhqui. They were armed to the teeth, and carried bundles of
darts with which they intended to kill the luckless Coatlicue.
Quauitlicac climbed the mountain to acquaint Huitzilopochtli with
the news that his brothers were approaching to kill their mother.
"Mark well where they are at," replied the infant god. "To what place
have they advanced?"
"To Tzompantitlan," responded Quauitlicac.
Later on Huitzilopochtli asked: "Where may they be now?"
"At Coaxalco," was the reply.
Once more Huitzilopochtli asked to what point his enemies had advanced.
"They are now at Petlac," Quauitlicac replied.
After a little while Quauitlicac informed Huitzilopochtli that the
Centzonuitznaua were at hand under the leadership of Coyolxauhqui. At
the moment of the enemy's arrival Huitzilopochtli was born, flourishing
a shield and spear of a blue colour. He was painted, his head was
surmounted by a panache, and his left leg was covered with feathers. He
shattered Coyolxauhqui with a flash of serpentine lightning, and then
gave chase to the Centzonuitznaua, whom he pursued four times round
the mountain. They did not attempt to defend themselves, but fled
incontinently. Many perished in the waters of the adjoining lake,
to which they had rushed in their despair. All were slain save a few
who escaped to a place called Uitzlampa, where they surrendered to
Huitzilopochtli and gave up their arms.
The name Huitzilopochtli signifies "Humming-bird to the left," from
the circumstance that the god wore the feathers of the humming-bird,
or colibri, on his left leg. From this it has been inferred that he
was a humming-bird totem. The explanation of Huitzilopochtli's origin
is a little deeper than this, however. Among the American tribes,
especially those of the northern continent, the serpent is regarded
with the deepest veneration as the symbol of wisdom and magic. From
these sources come success in war. The serpent also typifies the
lightning, the symbol of the divine spear, the apotheosis of warlike
might. Fragments of serpents are regarded as powerful war-physic
among many tribes. Atatarho, a mythical wizard-king of the Iroquois,
was clothed with living serpents as with a robe, and his myth throws
light on one of the names of Huitzilopochtli's mother, Coatlantona
(Robe of Serpents). Huitzilopochtli's image was surrounded by serpents,
and rested on serpent-shaped supporters. His sceptre was a single
snake, and his great drum was of serpent-skin.
In American mythology the serpent is closely associated with the
bird. Thus the name of the god Quetzalcoatl is translatable as
"Feathered Serpent," and many similar cases where the conception of
bird and serpent have been unified could be adduced. Huitzilopochtli
is undoubtedly one of these. We may regard him as a god the primary
conception of whom arose from the idea of the serpent, the symbol of
warlike wisdom and might, the symbol of the warrior's dart or spear,
and the humming-bird, the harbinger of summer, type of the season
when the snake or lightning god has power over the crops.
Huitzilopochtli was usually represented as wearing on his head a
waving panache or plume of humming-birds' feathers. His face and limbs
were striped with bars of blue, and in his right hand he carried four
spears. His left hand bore his shield, on the surface of which were
displayed five tufts of down, arranged in the form of a quincunx. The
shield was made with reeds, covered with eagle's down. The spear he
brandished was also tipped with tufts of down instead of flint. These
weapons were placed in the hands of those who as captives engaged in
the sacrificial fight, for in the Aztec mind Huitzilopochtli symbolised
the warrior's death on the gladiatorial stone of combat. As has been
said, Huitzilopochtli was war-god of the Aztecs, and was supposed to
have led them to the site of Mexico from their original home in the
north. The city of Mexico took its name from one of its districts,
which was designated by a title of Huitzilopochtli's, Mexitli (Hare
of the Aloes).
The War-God as Fertiliser
But Huitzilopochtli was not a war-god alone. As the serpent-god of
lightning he had a connection with summer, the season of lightning,
and therefore had dominion to some extent over the crops and fruits
of the earth. The Algonquian Indians of North America believed
that the rattlesnake could raise ruinous storms or grant favourable
breezes. They alluded to it also as the symbol of life, for the serpent
has a phallic significance because of its similarity to the symbol of
generation and fructification. With some American tribes also, notably
the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, the serpent has a solar significance,
and with tail in mouth symbolises the annual round of the sun. The
Nahua believed that Huitzilopochtli could grant them fair weather for
the fructification of their crops, and they placed an image of Tlaloc,
the rain-god, near him, so that, if necessary, the war-god could compel
the rain-maker to exert his pluvial powers or to abstain from the
creation of floods. We must, in considering the nature of this deity,
bear well in mind the connection in the Nahua consciousness between the
pantheon, war, and the food-supply. If war was not waged annually the
gods must go without flesh food and perish, and if the gods succumbed
the crops would fail, and famine would destroy the race. So it was
small wonder that Huitzilopochtli was one of the chief gods of Mexico.
Huitzilopochtli's principal festival was the Toxcatl, celebrated
immediately after the Toxcatl festival of Tezcatlipoca, to which it
bore a strong resemblance. Festivals of the god were held in May and
December, at the latter of which an image of him, moulded in dough
kneaded with the blood of sacrificed children, was pierced by the
presiding priest with an arrow--an act significant of the death of
Huitzilopochtli until his resurrection in the next year.
Strangely enough, when the absolute supremacy of Tezcatlipoca
is remembered, the high-priest of Huitzilopochtli, the Mexicatl
Teohuatzin, was considered to be the religious head of the Mexican
priesthood. The priests of Huitzilopochtli held office by right
of descent, and their primate exacted absolute obedience from the
priesthoods of all the other deities, being regarded as next to the
monarch himself in power and dominion.
Tlaloc, the Rain-God
Tlaloc was the god of rain and moisture. In a country such as Mexico,
where the success or failure of the crops depends entirely upon the
plentiful nature or otherwise of the rainfall, he was, it will be
readily granted, a deity of high importance. It was believed that he
made his home in the mountains which surround the valley of Mexico,
as these were the source of the local rainfall, and his popularity
is vouched for by the fact that sculptured representations of him
occur more often than those of any other of the Mexican deities. He
is generally represented in a semi-recumbent attitude, with the upper
part of the body raised upon the elbows, and the knees half drawn up,
probably to represent the mountainous character of the country whence
comes the rain. He was espoused to Chalchihuitlicue (Emerald Lady),
who bore him a numerous progeny, the Tlalocs (Clouds). Many of the
figures which represented him were carved from the green stone called
chalchiuitl (jadeite), to typify the colour of water, and in some of
these he was shown holding a serpent of gold to typify the lightning,
for water-gods are often closely identified with the thunder, which
hangs over the hills and accompanies heavy rains. Tlaloc, like his
prototype, the Kiche god Hurakan, manifested himself in three forms,
as the lightning-flash, the thunderbolt, and the thunder. Although
his image faced the east, where he was supposed to have originated,
he was worshipped as inhabiting the four cardinal points and every
mountain-top. The colours of the four points of the compass, yellow,
green, red, and blue, whence came the rain-bearing winds, entered
into the composition of his costume, which was further crossed with
streaks of silver, typifying the mountain torrents. A vase containing
every description of grain was usually placed before his idol, an
offering of the growth which it was hoped he would fructify. He dwelt
in a many-watered paradise called Tlalocan (The Country of Tlaloc),
a place of plenty and fruitfulness, where those who had been drowned or
struck by lightning or had died from dropsical diseases enjoyed eternal
bliss. Those of the common people who did not die such deaths went to
the dark abode of Mictlan, the all-devouring and gloomy Lord of Death.
In the native manuscripts Tlaloc is usually portrayed as having a dark
complexion, a large round eye, a row of tusks, and over the lips an
angular blue stripe curved downward and rolled up at the ends. The
latter character is supposed to have been evolved originally from
the coils of two snakes, their mouths with long fangs in the upper
jaw meeting in the middle of the upper lip. The snake, besides
being symbolised by lightning in many American mythologies, is also
symbolical of water, which is well typified in its sinuous movements.
Many maidens and children were annually sacrificed to Tlaloc. If the
children wept it was regarded as a happy omen for a rainy season. The
Etzalqualiztli (When they eat Bean Food) was his chief festival,
and was held on a day approximating to May 13, about which date the
rainy season usually commenced. Another festival in his honour,
the Quauitleua, commenced the Mexican year on February 2. At the
former festival the priests of Tlaloc plunged into a lake, imitating
the sounds and movements of frogs, which, as denizens of water, were
under the special protection of the god. Chalchihuitlicue, his wife,
was often symbolised by the small image of a frog.
Sacrifices to Tlaloc
Human sacrifices also took place at certain points in the mountains
where artificial ponds were consecrated to Tlaloc. Cemeteries were
situated in their vicinity, and offerings to the god interred near the
burial-place of the bodies of the victims slain in his service. His
statue was placed on the highest mountain of Tezcuco, and an old
writer mentions that five or six young children were annually offered
to the god at various points, their hearts torn out, and their remains
interred. The mountains Popocatepetl and Teocuinani were regarded as
his special high places, and on the heights of the latter was built
his temple, in which stood his image carved in green stone.
The Nahua believed that the constant production of food and rain
induced a condition of senility in those deities whose duty it was
to provide them. This they attempted to stave off, fearing that if
they failed in so doing the gods would perish. They afforded them,
accordingly, a period of rest and recuperation, and once in eight
years a festival called the Atamalqualiztli (Fast of Porridge-balls
and Water) was held, during which every one in the Nahua community
returned for the time being to the conditions of savage life. Dressed
in costumes representing all forms of animal and bird life, and
mimicking the sounds made by the various creatures they typified, the
people danced round the teocalli of Tlaloc for the purpose of diverting
and entertaining him after his labours in producing the fertilising
rains of the past eight years. A lake was filled with water-snakes and
frogs, and into this the people plunged, catching the reptiles in their
mouths and devouring them alive. The only grain food which might be
partaken during this season of rest was thin water-porridge of maize.
Should one of the more prosperous peasants or yeomen deem a rainfall
necessary to the growth of his crops, or should he fear a drought,
he sought out one of the professional makers of dough or paste idols,
whom he desired to mould one of Tlaloc. To this image offerings
of maize-porridge and pulque were made. Throughout the night the
farmer and his neighbours danced, shrieking and howling round the
figure for the purpose of rousing Tlaloc from his drought-bringing
slumbers. Next day was spent in quaffing huge libations of pulque,
and in much-needed rest from the exertions of the previous night.
In Tlaloc it is easy to trace resemblances to a mythological conception
widely prevalent among the indigenous American peoples. He is similar
to such deities as the Hurakan of the Kiche of Guatemala, the Pillan
of the aborigines of Chile, and Con, the thunder-god of the Collao of
Peru. Only his thunderous powers are not so apparent as his rain-making
abilities, and in this he differs somewhat from the gods alluded to.
Quetzalcoatl
It is highly probable that Quetzalcoatl was a deity of the pre-Nahua
people of Mexico. He was regarded by the Aztec race as a god of
somewhat alien character, and had but a limited following in Mexico,
the city of Huitzilopochtli. In Cholula, however, and others of the
older towns his worship flourished exceedingly. He was regarded as
"The Father of the Toltecs," and, legend says, was the seventh and
youngest son of the Toltec Abraham, Iztacmixcohuatl. Quetzalcoatl
(whose name means "Feathered Serpent" or "Feathered Staff") became,
at a relatively early period, ruler of Tollan, and by his enlightened
sway and his encouragement of the liberal arts did much to further the
advancement of his people. His reign had lasted for a period sufficient
to permit of his placing the cultivated arts upon a satisfactory basis
when the country was visited by the cunning magicians Tezcatlipoca
and Coyotlinaual, god of the Amantecas. Disentangled from its terms of
myth, this statement may be taken to imply that bands of invading Nahua
first began to appear within the Toltec territories. Tezcatlipoca,
descending from the sky in the shape of a spider by way of a fine web,
proffered him a draught of pulque, which so intoxicated him that
the curse of lust descended upon him, and he forgot his chastity
with Quetzalpetlatl. The doom pronounced upon him was the hard one
of banishment, and he was compelled to forsake Anahuac. His exile
wrought peculiar changes upon the face of the country. He secreted
his treasures of gold and silver, burned his palaces, transformed
the cacao-trees into mezquites, and banished all the birds from
the neighbourhood of Tollan. The magicians, nonplussed at these
unexpected happenings, begged him to return, but he refused on the
ground that the sun required his presence. He proceeded to Tabasco,
the fabled land of Tlapallan, and, embarking upon a raft made of
serpents, floated away to the east. A slightly different version
of this myth has already been given. Other accounts state that the
king cast himself upon a funeral pyre and was consumed, and that the
ashes arising from the conflagration flew upward, and were changed
into birds of brilliant plumage. His heart also soared into the sky,
and became the morning star. The Mexicans averred that Quetzalcoatl
died when the star became visible, and thus they bestowed upon him
the title "Lord of the Dawn." They further said that when he died he
was invisible for four days, and that for eight days he wandered in
the underworld, after which time the morning star appeared, when he
achieved resurrection, and ascended his throne as a god.
It is the contention of some authorities that the myth of Quetzalcoatl
points to his status as god of the sun. That luminary, they say, begins
his diurnal journey in the east, whence Quetzalcoatl returned as to
his native home. It will be recalled that Montezuma and his subjects
imagined that Cortés was no other than Quetzalcoatl, returned to his
dominions, as an old prophecy declared he would do. But that he stood
for the sun itself is highly improbable, as will be shown. First of
all, however, it will be well to pay some attention to other theories
concerning his origin.
Perhaps the most important of these is that which regards Quetzalcoatl
as a god of the air. He is connected, say some, with the cardinal
points, and wears the insignia of the cross, which symbolises
them. Dr. Seler says of him: "He has a protruding, trumpet-like
mouth, for the wind-god blows.... His figure suggests whirls and
circles. Hence his temples were built in circular form.... The
head of the wind-god stands for the second of the twenty day signs,
which was called Ehecatl (Wind)." The same authority, however, in
his essay on Mexican chronology, gives to Quetzalcoatl a dual nature,
"the dual nature which seems to belong to the wind-god Quetzalcoatl,
who now appears simply a wind-god, and again seems to show the true
characters of the old god of fire and light." [8]
Dr. Brinton perceived in Quetzalcoatl a similar dual nature. "He is
both lord of the eastern light and of the winds," he writes (Myths
of the New World, p. 214). "Like all the dawn heroes, he too was
represented as of white complexion, clothed in long, white robes, and,
as many of the Aztec gods, with a full and flowing beard.... He had
been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, the wind or spirit of night, who had
descended from heaven by a spider's web, and presented his rival with
a draught supposed to confer immortality, but in fact producing an
intolerable longing for home. For the wind and the light both depart
when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark
and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain
upon the fields."
The theory which derives Quetzalcoatl from a "culture-hero" who once
actually existed is scarcely reconcilable with probability. It is
more than likely that, as in the case of other mythical paladins,
the legend of a mighty hero arose from the somewhat weakened idea
of a great deity. Some of the early Spanish missionaries professed
to see in Quetzalcoatl the Apostle St. Thomas, who had journeyed to
America to effect its conversion!
The Man of the Sun
A more probable explanation of the origin of Quetzalcoatl and a more
likely elucidation of his nature is that which would regard him as the
Man of the Sun, who has quitted his abode for a season for the purpose
of inculcating in mankind those arts which represent the first steps
in civilisation, who fulfils his mission, and who, at a late period,
is displaced by the deities of an invading race. Quetzalcoatl was
represented as a traveller with staff in hand, and this is proof of his
solar character, as is the statement that under his rule the fruits of
the earth flourished more abundantly than at any subsequent period. The
abundance of gold said to have been accumulated in his reign assists
the theory, the precious metal being invariably associated with
the sun by most barbarous peoples. In the native pinturas it is
noticeable that the solar disc and semi-disc are almost invariably
found in connection with the feathered serpent as the symbolical
attributes of Quetzalcoatl. The Hopi Indians of Mexico at the present
day symbolise the sun as a serpent, tail in mouth, and the ancient
Mexicans introduced the solar disc in connection with small images of
Quetzalcoatl, which they attached to the head-dress. In still other
examples Quetzalcoatl is pictured as if emerging or stepping from
the luminary, which is represented as his dwelling-place.
Several tribes tributary to the Aztecs were in the habit of imploring
Quetzalcoatl in prayer to return and free them from the intolerable
bondage of the conqueror. Notable among them were the Totonacs, who
passionately believed that the sun, their father, would send a god who
would free them from the Aztec yoke. On the coming of the Spaniards
the European conquerors were hailed as the servants of Quetzalcoatl,
thus in the eyes of the natives fulfilling the tradition that he
would return.
Various Forms of Quetzalcoatl
Various conceptions of Quetzalcoatl are noticeable in the mythology
of the territories which extended from the north of Mexico to the
marshes of Nicaragua. In Guatemala the Kiches recognised him as
Gucumatz, and in Yucatan proper he was worshipped as Kukulcan, both
of which names are but literal translations of his Mexican title of
"Feathered Serpent" into Kiche and Mayan. That the three deities are
one and the same there can be no shadow of doubt. Several authorities
have seen in Kukulcan a "serpent-and-rain god." He can only be such
in so far as he is a solar god also. The cult of the feathered snake
in Yucatan was unquestionably a branch of sun-worship. In tropical
latitudes the sun draws the clouds round him at noon. The rain falls
from the clouds accompanied by thunder and lightning--the symbols
of the divine serpent. Therefore the manifestations of the heavenly
serpent were directly associated with the sun, and no statement that
Kukulcan is a mere serpent-and-water god satisfactorily elucidates
his characteristics.
Quetzalcoatl's Northern Origin
It is by no means improbable that Quetzalcoatl was of northern
origin, and that on his adoption by southern peoples and tribes
dwelling in tropical countries his characteristics were gradually
and unconsciously altered in order to meet the exigencies of his
environment. The mythology of the Indians of British Columbia,
whence in all likelihood the Nahua originally came, is possessed of a
central figure bearing a strong resemblance to Quetzalcoatl. Thus the
Thlingit tribe worship Yetl; the Quaquiutl Indians, Kanikilak; the
Salish people of the coast, Kumsnöotl, Quäaqua, or Släalekam. It is
noticeable that these divine beings are worshipped as the Man of the
Sun, and totally apart from the luminary himself, as was Quetzalcoatl
in Mexico. The Quaquiutl believe that before his settlement among
them for the purpose of inculcating in the tribe the arts of life,
the sun descended as a bird, and assumed a human shape. Kanikilak
is his son, who, as his emissary, spreads the arts of civilisation
over the world. So the Mexicans believed that Quetzalcoatl descended
first of all in the form of a bird, and was ensnared in the fowler's
net of the Toltec hero Hueymatzin.
The titles bestowed upon Quetzalcoatl by the Nahua show that in his
solar significance he was god of the vault of the heavens, as well as
merely son of the sun. He was alluded to as Ehecatl (The Air), Yolcuat
(The Rattlesnake), Tohil (The Rumbler), Nanihehecatl (Lord of the Four
Winds), Tlauizcalpantecutli (Lord of the Light of the Dawn). The whole
heavenly vault was his, together with all its phenomena. This would
seem to be in direct opposition to the theory that Tezcatlipoca was
the supreme god of the Mexicans. But it must be borne in mind that
Tezcatlipoca was the god of a later age, and of a fresh body of Nahua
immigrants, and as such inimical to Quetzalcoatl, who was probably
in a similar state of opposition to Itzamna, a Maya deity of Yucatan.
The Worship of Quetzalcoatl
The worship of Quetzalcoatl was in some degree antipathetic to
that of the other Mexican deities, and his priests were a separate
caste. Although human sacrifice was by no means so prevalent among
his devotees, it is a mistake to aver, as some authorities have
done, that it did not exist in connection with his worship. A more
acceptable sacrifice to Quetzalcoatl appears to have been the blood
of the celebrant or worshipper, shed by himself. When we come to
consider the mythology of the Zapotecs, a people whose customs and
beliefs appear to have formed a species of link between the Mexican and
Mayan civilisations, we shall find that their high-priests occasionally
enacted the legend of Quetzalcoatl in their own persons, and that their
worship, which appears to have been based upon that of Quetzalcoatl,
had as one of its most pronounced characteristics the shedding of
blood. The celebrant or devotee drew blood from the vessels lying
under the tongue or behind the ear by drawing across those tender
parts a cord made from the thorn-covered fibres of the agave. The
blood was smeared over the mouths of the idols. In this practice we
can perceive an act analogous to the sacrificial substitution of the
part for the whole, as obtaining in early Palestine and many other
countries--a certain sign that tribal or racial opinion has contracted
a disgust for human sacrifice, and has sought to evade the anger of
the gods by yielding to them a portion of the blood of each worshipper,
instead of sacrificing the life of one for the general weal.
The Maize-Gods of Mexico
A special group of deities called Centeotl presided over the
agriculture of Mexico, each of whom personified one or other of the
various aspects of the maize-plant. The chief goddess of maize,
however, was Chicomecohuatl (Seven-serpent), her name being an
allusion to the fertilising power of water, which element the Mexicans
symbolised by the serpent. As Xilonen she typified the xilote, or
green ear of the maize. But it is probable that Chicomecohuatl was the
creation of an older race, and that the Nahua new-comers adopted or
brought with them another growth-spirit, the "Earth-mother," Teteoinnan
(Mother of the Gods), or Tocitzin (Our Grandmother). This goddess had
a son, Centeotl, a male maize-spirit. Sometimes the mother was also
known as Centeotl, the generic name for the entire group, and this fact
has led to some confusion in the minds of Americanists. But this does
not mean that Chicomecohuatl was by any means neglected. Her spring
festival, held on April 5, was known as Hueytozoztli (The Great Watch),
and was accompanied by a general fast, when the dwellings of the
Mexicans were decorated with bulrushes which had been sprinkled with
blood drawn from the extremities of the inmates. The statues of the
little tepitoton (household gods) were also decorated. The worshippers
then proceeded to the maize-fields, where they pulled the tender
stalks of the growing maize, and, having decorated them with flowers,
placed them in the calpulli (the common house of the village). A
mock combat then took place before the altar of Chicomecohuatl. The
girls of the village presented the goddess with bundles of maize
of the previous season's harvesting, later restoring them to the
granaries in order that they might be utilised for seed for the coming
year. Chicomecohuatl was always represented among the household deities
of the Mexicans, and on the occasion of her festival the family placed
before the image a basket of provisions surmounted by a cooked frog,
bearing on its back a piece of cornstalk stuffed with pounded maize
and vegetables. This frog was symbolic of Chalchihuitlicue, wife
of Tlaloc, the rain-god, who assisted Chicomecohuatl in providing
a bountiful harvest. In order that the soil might further benefit,
a frog, the symbol of water, was sacrificed, so that its vitality
should recuperate that of the weary and much-burdened earth.
The Sacrifice of the Dancer
A more important festival of Chicomecohuatl, however, was the
Xalaquia, which lasted from June 28 to July 14, commencing when
the maize plant had attained its full growth. The women of the
pueblo (village) wore their hair unbound, and shook and tossed it
so that by sympathetic magic the maize might take the hint and grow
correspondingly long. Chian pinolli was consumed in immense quantities,
and maize-porridge was eaten. Hilarious dances were nightly performed
in the teopan (temple), the central figure in which was the Xalaquia, a
female captive or slave, with face painted red and yellow to represent
the colours of the maize-plant. She had previously undergone a long
course of training in the dancing-school, and now, all unaware of
the horrible fate awaiting her, she danced and pirouetted gaily
among the rest. Throughout the duration of the festival she danced,
and on its expiring night she was accompanied in the dance by the
women of the community, who circled round her, chanting the deeds of
Chicomecohuatl. When daybreak appeared the company was joined by the
chiefs and headmen, who, along with the exhausted and half-fainting
victim, danced the solemn death-dance. The entire community then
approached the teocalli (pyramid of sacrifice), and, its summit
reached, the victim was stripped to a nude condition, the priest
plunged a knife of flint into her bosom, and, tearing out the still
palpitating heart, offered it up to Chicomecohuatl. In this manner
the venerable goddess, weary with the labours of inducing growth in
the maize-plant, was supposed to be revivified and refreshed. Hence
the name Xalaquia, which signifies "She who is clothed with the
Sand." Until the death of the victim it was not lawful to partake of
the new corn.
The general appearance of Chicomecohuatl was none too pleasing. Her
image rests in the National Museum in Mexico, and is girdled with
snakes. On the underside the symbolic frog is carved. The Americanists
of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were unequal to the
task of elucidating the origin of the figure, which they designated
Teoyaominqui. The first to point out the error was Payne, in his
History of the New World called America, vol. i. p. 424. The passage
in which he announces his discovery is of such real interest that it
is worth transcribing fully.
An Antiquarian Mare's-Nest
"All the great idols of Mexico were thought to have been destroyed
until this was disinterred among other relics in the course of making
new drains in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico in August 1790. The discovery
produced an immense sensation. The idol was dragged to the court of
the University, and there set up; the Indians began to worship it and
deck it with flowers; the antiquaries, with about the same degree of
intelligence, to speculate about it. What most puzzled them was that
the face and some other parts of the goddess are found in duplicate at
the back of the figure; hence they concluded it to represent two gods
in one, the principal of whom they further concluded to be a female,
the other, indicated by the back, a male. The standard author on
Mexican antiquities at that time was the Italian dilettante Boturini,
of whom it may be said that he is better, but not much better, than
nothing at all. From page 27 of his work the antiquaries learned
that Huitzilopochtli was accompanied by the goddess Teoyaominqui,
who was charged with collecting the souls of those slain in war and
sacrifice. This was enough. The figure was at once named Teoyaominqui
or Huitzilopochtli (The One plus the Other), and has been so called
ever since. The antiquaries next elevated this imaginary goddess to
the rank of the war-god's wife. 'A soldier,' says Bardolph, 'is better
accommodated than with a wife': a fortiori, so is a war-god. Besides,
as Torquemada (vol. ii. p. 47) says with perfect truth, the Mexicans
did not think so grossly of the divinity as to have married gods
or goddesses at all. The figure is undoubtedly a female. It has no
vestige of any weapon about it, nor has it any limbs. It differs
in every particular from the war-god Huitzilopochtli, every detail
of which is perfectly well known. There never was any goddess
called Teoyaominqui. This may be plausibly inferred from the fact
that such a goddess is unknown not merely to Sahagun, Torquemada,
Acosta, Tezozomoc, Duran, and Clavigero, but to all other writers
except Boturini. The blunder of the last-named writer is easily
explained. Antonio Leon y Gama, a Mexican astronomer, wrote an
account of the discoveries of 1790, in which, evidently puzzled
by the name of Teoyaominqui, he quotes a manuscript in Mexican,
said to have been written by an Indian of Tezcuco, who was born
in 1528, to the effect that Teoyaotlatohua and Teoyaominqui were
spirits who presided over the fifteenth of the twenty signs of the
fortune-tellers' calendar, and that those born in this sign would
be brave warriors, but would soon die. (As the fifteenth sign was
quauhtli, this is likely enough.) When their hour had come the former
spirit scented them out, the latter killed them. The rubbish printed
about Huitzilopochtli, Teoyaominqui, and Mictlantecutli in connection
with this statue would fill a respectable volume. The reason why
the features were duplicated is obvious. The figure was carried in
the midst of a large crowd. Probably it was considered to be an evil
omen if the idol turned away its face from its worshippers; this the
duplicate obviated. So when the dance was performed round the figure
(cf. Janus). This duplication of the features, a characteristic of
the very oldest gods, appears to be indicated when the numeral ome
(two) is prefixed to the title of the deity. Thus the two ancestors
and preservers of the race were called Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl
(two-chief, two-woman), ancient Toltec gods, who at the conquest
become less prominent in the theology of Mexico, and who are best
represented in that of the Mexican colony of Nicaragua."
The Offering to Centeotl
During her last hours the victim sacrificed at the Xalaquia
wore a ritual dress made from the fibres of the aloe, and with
this garment the maize-god Centeotl was clothed. Robed in this
he temporarily represented the earth-goddess, so that he might
receive her sacrifice. The blood of victims was offered up to him
in a vessel decorated with that brilliant and artistic feather-work
which excited such admiration in the breasts of the connoisseurs and
æsthetes of the Europe of the sixteenth century. Upon partaking of this
blood-offering the deity emitted a groan so intense and terrifying that
it has been left on record that such Spaniards as were present became
panic-stricken. This ceremony was followed by another, the nitiçapoloa
(tasting of the soil), which consisted in raising a little earth on
one finger to the mouth and eating it.
As has been said, Centeotl the son has been confounded with Centeotl
the mother, who is in reality the earth-mother Teteoinnan. Each of
these deities had a teopan (temple) of his or her own, but they were
closely allied as parent and child. But of the two, Centeotl the son
was the more important. On the death of the sacrificed victim her
skin was conveyed to the temple of Centeotl the son, and worn there
in the succeeding ritual by the officiating priests. This gruesome
dress is frequently depicted in the Aztec pinturas, where the skin
of the hands, and in some instances the feet, of the victims can be
seen dangling from the wrists and ankles of the priest.
Importance of the Food-Gods
To the Mexicans the deities of most importance to the community as
a whole were undoubtedly the food-gods. In their emergence from the
hunting to the agricultural state of life, when they began to exist
almost solely upon the fruits of the earth, the Mexicans were quick
to recognise that the old deities of the chase, such as Mixcoatl,
could not now avail them or succour them in the same manner as the
guardians of the crops and fertilisers of the soil. Gradually we see
these gods, then, advance in power and influence until at the time of
the Spanish invasion we find them paramount. Even the terrible war-god
himself had an agricultural significance, as we have pointed out. A
distinct bargain with the food-gods can be clearly traced, and is
none the less obvious because it was never written or codified. The
covenant was as binding to the native mind as any made betwixt god
and man in ancient Palestine, and included mutual assistance as
well as provision for mere alimentary supply. In no mythology is the
understanding between god and man so clearly defined as in the Nahuan,
and in none is its operation better exemplified.
Xipe
Xipe (The Flayed) was widely worshipped throughout Mexico, and
is usually depicted in the pinturas as being attired in a flayed
human skin. At his special festival, the "Man-flaying," the skins
were removed from the victims and worn by the devotees of the god
for the succeeding twenty days. He is usually represented as of a
red colour. In the later days of the Aztec monarchy the kings and
leaders of Mexico assumed the dress or classical garments of Xipe. This
dress consisted of a crown made of feathers of the roseate spoonbill,
the gilt timbrel, the jacket of spoonbill feathers, and an apron of
green feathers lapping over one another in a tile-like pattern. In the
Cozcatzin Codex we see a picture of King Axayacatl dressed as Xipe in
a feather skirt, and having a tiger-skin scabbard to his sword. The
hands of a flayed human skin also dangle over the monarch's wrists,
and the feet fall over his feet like gaiters.
Xipe's shield is a round target covered with the rose-coloured feathers
of the spoonbill, with concentric circles of a darker hue on the
surface. There are examples of it divided into an upper and lower
part, the former showing an emerald on a blue field, and the latter
a tiger-skin design. Xipe was imagined as possessing three forms,
the first that of the roseate spoonbill, the second that of the
blue cotinga, and the last that of a tiger, the three shapes perhaps
corresponding to the regions of heaven, earth, and hell, or to the
three elements, fire, earth, and water. The deities of many North
American Indian tribes show similar variations in form and colour,
which are supposed to follow as the divinity changes his dwelling
to north, south, east, or west. But Xipe is seldom depicted in the
pinturas in any other form but that of the red god, the form in which
the Mexicans adopted him from the Yopi tribe of the Pacific slope. He
is the god of human sacrifice par excellence, and may be regarded as
a Yopi equivalent of Tezcatlipoca.
Nanahuatl, or Nanauatzin
Nanahuatl (Poor Leper) presided over skin diseases, such as leprosy. It
was thought that persons afflicted with these complaints were set
apart by the moon for his service. In the Nahua tongue the words for
"leprous" and "eczematous" also mean "divine." The myth of Nanahuatl
tells how before the sun was created humanity dwelt in sable and
horrid gloom. Only a human sacrifice could hasten the appearance of
the luminary. Metztli (The Moon) led forth Nanahuatl as a sacrifice,
and he was cast upon a funeral pyre, in the flames of which he was
consumed. Metztli also cast herself upon the mass of flame, and with
her death the sun rose above the horizon. There can be no doubt that
the myth refers to the consuming of the starry or spotted night,
and incidentally to the nightly death of the moon at the flaming hour
of dawn.
Xolotl
Xolotl is of southern, possibly Zapotec, origin. He represents either
fire rushing down from the heavens or light flaming upward. It is
noticeable that in the pinturas the picture of the setting sun being
devoured by the earth is nearly always placed opposite his image. He is
probably identical with Nanahuatl, and appears as the representative
of human sacrifice. He has also affinities with Xipe. On the whole
Xolotl may be best described as a sun-god of the more southerly
tribes. His head (quaxolotl) was one of the most famous devices for
warriors' use, as sacrifice among the Nahua was, as we have seen,
closely associated with warfare.
Xolotl was a mythical figure quite foreign to the peoples of Anahuac
or Mexico, who regarded him as something strange and monstrous. He
is alluded to as the "God of Monstrosities," and, thinks Dr. Seler,
the word "monstrosity" may suitably translate his name. He is depicted
with empty eye-sockets, which circumstance is explained by the myth
that when the gods determined to sacrifice themselves in order to
give life and strength to the newly created sun, Xolotl withdrew,
and wept so much that his eyes fell out of their sockets. This was the
Mexican explanation of a Zapotec attribute. Xolotl was originally the
"Lightning Beast" of the Maya or some other southern folk, and was
represented by them as a dog, since that animal appeared to them to
be the creature which he most resembled. But he was by no means a
"natural" dog, hence their conception of him as unnatural. Dr. Seler
is inclined to identify him with the tapir, and indeed Sahagun speaks
of a strange animal-being, tlaca-xolotl, which has "a large snout,
large teeth, hoofs like an ox, a thick hide, and reddish hair"--not
a bad description of the tapir of Central America. Of course to the
Mexicans the god Xolotl was no longer an animal, although he had
evolved from one, and was imagined by them to have the form shown in
the accompanying illustration.
The Fire-God
This deity was known in Mexico under various names, notably Tata
(Our Father), Huehueteotl (Oldest of Gods), and Xiuhtecutli (Lord
of the Year). He was represented as of the colour of fire, with a
black face, a headdress of green feathers, and bearing on his back
a yellow serpent, to typify the serpentine nature of fire. He also
bore a mirror of gold to show his connection with the sun, from which
all heat emanates. On rising in the morning all Mexican families made
Xiuhtecutli an offering of a piece of bread and a drink. He was thus
not only, like Vulcan, the god of thunderbolts and conflagrations,
but also the milder deity of the domestic hearth. Once a year the fire
in every Mexican house was extinguished, and rekindled by friction
before the idol of Xiuhtecutli. When a Mexican baby was born it passed
through a baptism of fire on the fourth day, up to which time a fire,
lighted at the time of its birth, was kept burning in order to nourish
its existence.
Mictlan
Mictlantecutli (Lord of Hades) was God of the Dead and of the grim and
shadowy realm to which the souls of men repair after their mortal
sojourn. He is represented in the pinturas as a grisly monster
with capacious mouth, into which fall the spirits of the dead. His
terrible abode was sometimes alluded to as Tlalxicco (Navel of the
Earth), but the Mexicans in general seem to have thought that it was
situated in the far north, which they regarded as a place of famine,
desolation, and death. Here those who by the circumstances of their
demise were unfitted to enter the paradise of Tlaloc--namely, those
who had not been drowned or had not died a warrior's death, or,
in the case of women, had not died in childbed--passed a dreary and
meaningless existence. Mictlan was surrounded by a species of demons
called tzitzimimes, and had a spouse, Mictecaciuatl. When we come
to discuss the analogous deity of the Maya we shall see that in all
probability Mictlan was represented by the bat, the animal typical of
the underworld. In a preceding paragraph dealing with the funerary
customs we have described the journey of the soul to the abode of
Mictlan, and the ordeals through which the spirit of the defunct had
to pass ere entering his realm (see p. 37).
Worship of the Planet Venus
The Mexicans designated the planet Venus Citlalpol (The Great Star)
and Tlauizcalpantecutli (Lord of the Dawn). It seems to have been
the only star worshipped by them, and was regarded with considerable
veneration. Upon its rising they stopped up the chimneys of their
houses, so that no harm of any kind might enter with its light. A
column called Ilhuicatlan, meaning "In the Sky," stood in the court
of the great temple of Mexico, and upon this a symbol of the planet
was painted. On its reappearance during its usual circuit, captives
were taken before this representation and sacrificed to it. It will be
remembered that the myth of Quetzalcoatl states that the heart of that
deity flew upward from the funeral pyre on which he was consumed and
became the planet Venus. It is not easy to say whether or not this myth
is anterior to the adoption of the worship of the planet by the Nahua,
for it may be a tale of pre- or post-Nahuan growth. In the tonalamatl
Tlauizcalpantecutli is represented as lord of the ninth division of
thirteen days, beginning with Ce Coatl (the sign of "One Serpent"). In
several of the pinturas he is represented as having a white body with
long red stripes, while round his eyes is a deep black painting like a
domino mask, bordered with small white circles. His lips are a bright
vermilion. The red stripes are probably introduced to accentuate the
whiteness of his body, which is understood to symbolise the peculiar
half-light which emanates from the planet. The black paint on the face,
surrounding the eye, typifies the dark sky of night. In Mexican and
Central American symbolism the eye often represents light, and here,
surrounded by blackness as it is, it is perhaps almost hieroglyphic. As
the star of evening, Tlauizcalpantecutli is sometimes shown with the
face of a skull, to signify his descent into the underworld, whither
he follows the sun. That the Mexicans and Maya carefully and accurately
observed his periods of revolution is witnessed by the pinturas.
Sun-Worship
The sun was regarded by the Nahua, and indeed by all the Mexican and
Central American peoples, as the supreme deity, or rather the principal
source of subsistence and life. He was always alluded to as the teotl,
the god, and his worship formed as it were a background to that of
all the other gods. His Mexican name, Ipalnemohuani (He by whom Men
Live) shows that the Mexicans regarded him as the primal source of
being, and the heart, the symbol of life, was looked upon as his
special sacrifice. Those who rose at sunrise to prepare food for the
day held up to him on his appearance the hearts of animals they had
slain for cooking, and even the hearts of the victims to Tezcatlipoca
and Huitzilopochtli were first held up to the sun, as if he had a
primary right to the sacrifice, before being cast into the bowl of
copal which lay at the feet of the idol. It was supposed that the
luminary rejoiced in offerings of blood, and that it constituted the
only food which would render him sufficiently vigorous to undertake
his daily journey through the heavens. He is often depicted in the
pinturas as licking up the gore of the sacrificial victims with his
long tongue-like rays. The sun must fare well if he was to continue
to give life, light, and heat to mankind.
The Mexicans, as we have already seen, believed that the luminary they
knew had been preceded by others, each of which had been quenched by
some awful cataclysm of nature. Eternity had, in fact, been broken
up into epochs, marked by the destruction of successive suns. In the
period preceding that in which they lived, a mighty deluge had deprived
the sun of life, and some such catastrophe was apprehended at the end
of every "sheaf" of fifty-two years. The old suns were dead, and the
current sun was no more immortal than they. At the end of one of the
"sheaves" he too would succumb.
Sustaining the Sun
It was therefore necessary to sustain the sun by the daily food
of human sacrifice, for by a tithe of human life alone would he
be satisfied. Naturally a people holding such a belief would look
elsewhere than within their own borders for the material wherewith
to placate their deity. This could be most suitably found among the
inhabitants of a neighbouring state. It thus became the business of
the warrior class in the Aztec state to furnish forth the altars of
the gods with human victims. The most suitable district of supply was
the pueblo of Tlaxcallan, or Tlascala, the people of which were of
cognate origin to the Aztecs. The communities had, although related,
been separated for so many generations that they had begun to regard
each other as traditional enemies, and on a given day in the year
their forces met at an appointed spot for the purpose of engaging in a
strife which should furnish one side or the other with a sufficiency
of victims for the purpose of sacrifice. The warrior who captured
the largest number of opponents alive was regarded as the champion
of the day, and was awarded the chief honours of the combat. The sun
was therefore the god of warriors, as he would give them victory in
battle in order that they might supply him with food. The rites of this
military worship of the luminary were held in the Quauhquauhtinchan
(House of the Eagles), an armoury set apart for the regiment of that
name. On March 17 and December 1 and 2, at the ceremonies known as
Nauhollin (The Four Motions--alluding to the quivering appearance of
the sun's rays), the warriors gathered in this hall for the purpose of
despatching a messenger to their lord the sun. High up on the wall of
the principal court was a great symbolic representation of the orb,
painted upon a brightly coloured cotton hanging. Before this copal
and other fragrant gums and spices were burned four times a day. The
victim, a war-captive, was placed at the foot of a long staircase
leading up to the Quauhxicalli (Cup of the Eagles), the name of the
stone on which he was to be sacrificed. He was clothed in red striped
with white and wore white plumes in his hair--colours symbolical of
the sun--while he bore a staff decorated with feathers and a shield
covered with tufts of cotton. He also carried a bundle of eagle's
feathers and some paint on his shoulders, to enable the sun, to whom
he was the emissary, to paint his face. He was then addressed by the
officiating priest in the following terms: "Sir, we pray you go to our
god the sun, and greet him on our behalf; tell him that his sons and
warriors and chiefs and those who remain here beg of him to remember
them and to favour them from that place where he is, and to receive
this small offering which we send him. Give him this staff to help
him on his journey, and this shield for his defence, and all the rest
that you have in this bundle." The victim, having undertaken to carry
the message to the sun-god, was then despatched upon his long journey.
A Quauhxicalli is preserved in the National Museum of Mexico. It
consists of a basaltic mass, circular in form, on which are shown in
sculpture a series of groups representing Mexican warriors receiving
the submission of war-captives. The prisoner tenders a flower to his
captor, symbolical of the life he is about to offer up, for lives
were the "flowers" offered to the gods, and the campaign in which
these "blossoms" were captured was called Xochiyayotl (The War of
Flowers). The warriors who receive the submission of the captives are
represented in the act of tearing the plumes from their heads. These
bas-reliefs occupy the sides of the stone. The face of it is covered
by a great solar disc having eight rays, and the surface is hollowed
out in the middle to form a receptacle for blood--the "cup" alluded
to in the name of the stone. The Quauhxicalli must not be confounded
with the temalacatl (spindle stone), to which the alien warrior who
received a chance of life was secured. The gladiatorial combat gave
the war-captive an opportunity to escape through superior address in
arms. The temalacatl was somewhat higher than a man, and was provided
with a platform at the top, in the middle of which was placed a great
stone with a hole in it through which a rope was passed. To this the
war-captive was secured, and if he could vanquish seven of his captors
he was released. If he failed to do so he was at once sacrificed.
A Mexican Valhalla
The Mexican warriors believed that they continued in the service of the
sun after death, and, like the Scandinavian heroes in Valhalla, that
they were admitted to the dwelling of the god, where they shared all
the delights of his diurnal round. The Mexican warrior dreaded to die
in his bed, and craved an end on the field of battle. This explains the
desperate nature of their resistance to the Spaniards under Cortés,
whose officers stated that the Mexicans seemed to desire to die
fighting. After death they believed that they would partake of the
cannibal feasts offered up to the sun and imbibe the juice of flowers.
The Feast of Totec
The chief of the festivals to the sun was that held in spring at the
vernal equinox, before the representation of a deity known as Totec
(Our Great Chief). Although Totec was a solar deity he had been
adopted from the people of an alien state, the Zapotecs of Zalisco,
and is therefore scarcely to be regarded as the principal sun-god. His
festival was celebrated by the symbolical slaughter of all the other
gods for the purpose of providing sustenance to the sun, each of
the gods being figuratively slain in the person of a victim. Totec
was attired in the same manner as the warrior despatched twice a
year to assure the sun of the loyalty of the Mexicans. The festival
appears to have been primarily a seasonal one, as bunches of dried
maize were offered to Totec. But its larger meaning is obvious. It
was, indeed, a commemoration of the creation of the sun. This is
proved by the description of the image of Totec, which was robed and
equipped as the solar traveller, by the solar disc and tables of the
sun's progress carved on the altar employed in the ceremony, and by
the robes of the victims, who were dressed to represent dwellers in
the sun-god's halls. Perhaps Totec, although of alien origin, was
the only deity possessed by the Mexicans who directly represented
the sun. As a borrowed god he would have but a minor position in the
Mexican pantheon, but again as the only sun-god whom it was necessary
to bring into prominence during a strictly solar festival he would
be for the time, of course, a very important deity indeed.
Tepeyollotl
Tepeyollotl means Heart of the Mountain, and evidently alludes
to a deity whom the Nahua connected with seismic disturbances and
earthquakes. By the interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis he
is called Tepeolotlec, an obvious distortion of his real name. The
interpreter of the codex states that his name "refers to the
condition of the earth after the flood. The sacrifices of these
thirteen days were not good, and the literal translation of their
name is 'dirt sacrifices.' They caused palsy and bad humours.... This
Tepeolotlec was lord of these thirteen days. In them were celebrated
the feast to the jaguar, and the last four preceding days were days
of fasting.... Tepeolotlec means the 'Lord of Beasts.' The four feast
days were in honour of the Suchiquezal, who was the man that remained
behind on the earth upon which we now live. This Tepeolotlec was the
same as the echo of the voice when it re-echoes in a valley from one
mountain to another. This name 'jaguar' is given to the earth because
the jaguar is the boldest animal, and the echo which the voice awakens
in the mountains is a survival of the flood, it is said."
From this we can see that Tepeyollotl is a deity of the earth pure
and simple, a god of desert places. It is certain that he was not a
Mexican god, or at least was not of Nahua origin, as he is mentioned
by none of those writers who deal with Nahua traditions, and we must
look for him among the Mixtecs and Zapotecs.
Macuilxochitl, or Xochipilli
This deity, whose names mean Five-Flower and Source of Flowers, was
regarded as the patron of luck in gaming. He may have been adopted by
the Nahua from the Zapotecs, but the converse may be equally true. The
Zapotecs represented him with a design resembling a butterfly about
the mouth, and a many-coloured face which looks out of the open
jaws of a bird with a tall and erect crest. The worship of this god
appears to have been very widespread. Sahagun says of him that a fête
was held in his honour, which was preceded by a rigorous fast. The
people covered themselves with ornaments and jewels symbolic of the
deity, as if they desired to represent him, and dancing and singing
proceeded gaily to the sound of the drum. Offerings of the blood of
various animals followed, and specially prepared cakes were submitted
to the god. This simple fare, however, was later followed by human
sacrifices, rendered by the notables, who brought certain of their
slaves for immolation. This completed the festival.
Father and Mother Gods
The Nahua believed that Ometecutli and Omeciuatl were the father
and mother of the human species. The names signify Lords of Duality
or Lords of the Two Sexes. They were also called Tonacatecutli and
Tonacaciuatl (Lord and Lady of Our Flesh, or of Subsistence). They
were in fact regarded as the sexual essence of the creative deity,
or perhaps more correctly of deity in general. They occupied the first
place in the Nahua calendar, to signify that they had existed from the
beginning, and they are usually represented as being clothed in rich
attire. Ometecutli (a literal translation of his name is Two-Lord)
is sometimes identified with the sky and the fire-god, the female
deity representing the earth or water--conceptions similar to those
respecting Kronos and Gæa. We refer again to these supreme divinities
in the following chapter (see p. 118).
The Pulque-Gods
When a man was intoxicated with the native Mexican drink of pulque,
a liquor made from the juice of the Agave Americana, he was believed
to be under the influence of a god or spirit. The commonest form
under which the drink-god was worshipped was the rabbit, that animal
being considered to be utterly devoid of sense. This particular
divinity was known as Ometochtli. The scale of debauchery which
it was desired to reach was indicated by the number of rabbits
worshipped, the highest number, four hundred, representing the most
extreme degree of intoxication. The chief pulque-gods apart from
these were Patecatl and Tequechmecauiani. If the drunkard desired
to escape the perils of accidental hanging during intoxication, it
was necessary to sacrifice to the latter, but if death by drowning
was apprehended Teatlahuiani, the deity who harried drunkards to a
watery grave, was placated. If the debauchee wished his punishment
not to exceed a headache, Quatlapanqui (The Head-splitter) was
sacrificed to, or else Papaztac (The Nerveless). Each trade or
profession had its own Ometochtli, but for the aristocracy there
was only one of these gods, Cohuatzincatl, a name signifying "He
who has Grandparents." Several of these drink-gods had names which
connected them with various localities; for example, Tepoxtecatl was
the pulque-god of Tepoztlan. The calendar day Ometochtli, which means
"Two-Rabbit," because of the symbol which accompanied it, was under
the special protection of these gods, and the Mexicans believed that
any one born on that day was almost inevitably doomed to become a
drunkard. All the pulque-gods were closely associated with the soil,
and with the earth-goddess. They wore the golden Huaxtec nose-ornament,
the yaca-metztli, of crescent shape, which characterised the latter,
and indeed this ornament was inscribed upon all articles sacred to
the pulque-gods. Their faces were painted red and black, as were
objects consecrated to them, their blankets and shields. After
the Indians had harvested their maize they drank to intoxication,
and invoked one or other of these gods. On the whole it is safe
to infer that they were originally deities of local husbandry who
imparted virtue to the soil as pulque imparted strength and courage
to the warrior. The accompanying sketch of the god Tepoxtecatl (see
p. 117) well illustrates the distinguishing characteristics of the
pulque-god class. Here we can observe the face painted in two colours,
the crescent-shaped nose-ornament, the bicoloured shield, the long
necklace made from the malinalli herb, and the ear-pendants.
It is of course clear that the drink-gods were of the same class as
the food-gods--patrons of the fruitful soil--but it is strange that
they should be male whilst the food-gods are mostly female.
The Goddesses of Mexico: Metztli
Metztli, or Yohualticitl (The Lady of Night), was the Mexican goddess
of the moon. She had in reality two phases, one that of a beneficent
protectress of harvests and promoter of growth in general, and the
other that of a bringer of dampness, cold, and miasmic airs, ghosts,
mysterious shapes of the dim half-light of night and its oppressive
silence.
To a people in the agricultural stage of civilisation the moon appears
as the great recorder of harvests. But she has also supremacy over
water, which is always connected by primitive peoples with the
moon. Citatli (Moon) and Atl (Water) are constantly confounded in
Nahua myth, and in many ways their characteristics were blended. It
was Metztli who led forth Nanahuatl the Leprous to the pyre whereon
he perished--a reference to the dawn, in which the starry sky of
night is consumed in the fires of the rising sun.
Tlazolteotl
Tlazolteotl (God of Ordure), or Tlaelquani (Filth-eater), was called
by the Mexicans the earth-goddess because she was the eradicator of
sins, to whose priests the people went to make confession so that
they might be absolved from their misdeeds. Sin was symbolised
by the Mexicans as excrement. Confession covered only the sins
of immorality. But if Tlazolteotl was the goddess of confession,
she was also the patroness of desire and luxury. It was, however,
as a deity whose chief office was the eradication of human sin that
she was pre-eminent. The process by which this was supposed to be
effected is quaintly described by Sahagun in the twelfth chapter of
his first book. The penitent addressed the confessor as follows: "Sir,
I desire to approach that most powerful god, the protector of all, that
is to say, Tezcatlipoca. I desire to tell him my sins in secret." The
confessor replied: "Be happy, my son: that which thou wishest to do
will be to thy good and advantage." The confessor then opened the
divinatory book known as the Tonalamatl (that is, the Book of the
Calendar) and acquainted the applicant with the day which appeared
the most suitable for his confession. The day having arrived, the
penitent provided himself with a mat, copal gum to burn as incense,
and wood whereon to burn it. If he was a person high in office the
priest repaired to his house, but in the case of lesser people the
confession took place in the dwelling of the priest. Having lighted
the fire and burned the incense, the penitent addressed the fire in
the following terms: "Thou, lord, who art the father and mother of
the gods, and the most ancient of them all, thy servant, thy slave
bows before thee. Weeping, he approaches thee in great distress. He
comes plunged in grief, because he has been buried in sin, having
backslidden, and partaken of those vices and evil delights which merit
death. O master most compassionate, who art the upholder and defence
of all, receive the penitence and anguish of thy slave and vassal."
This prayer having concluded, the confessor then turned to the penitent
and thus addressed him: "My son, thou art come into the presence of
that god who is the protector and upholder of all; thou art come to
him to confess thy evil vices and thy hidden uncleannesses; thou art
come to him to unbosom the secrets of thy heart. Take care that thou
omit nothing from the catalogue of thy sins in the presence of our
lord who is called Tezcatlipoca. It is certain that thou art before
him who is invisible and impalpable, thou who art not worthy to be
seen before him, or to speak with him...."
The allusions to Tezcatlipoca are, of course, to him in the shape
of Tlazolteotl. Having listened to a sermon by the confessor, the
penitent then confessed his misdeeds, after which the confessor said:
"My son, thou hast before our lord god confessed in his presence thy
evil actions. I wish to say in his name that thou hast an obligation
to make. At the time when the goddesses called Ciuapipiltin descend to
earth during the celebration of the feast of the goddesses of carnal
things, whom they name Ixcuiname, thou shalt fast during four days,
punishing thy stomach and thy mouth. When the day of the feast of
the Ixcuiname arrives thou shalt scarify thy tongue with the small
thorns of the osier [called teocalcacatl or tlazotl], and if that is
not sufficient thou shalt do likewise to thine ears, the whole for
penitence, for the remission of thy sin, and as a meritorious act. Thou
wilt apply to thy tongue the middle of a spine of maguey, and thou
wilt scarify thy shoulders.... That done, thy sins will be pardoned."
If the sins of the penitent were not very grave the priest would
enjoin upon him a fast of a more or less prolonged nature. Only old
men confessed crimes in veneribus, as the punishment for such was
death, and younger men had no desire to risk the penalty involved,
although the priests were enjoined to strict secrecy.
Father Burgoa describes very fully a ceremony of this kind which came
under his notice in 1652 in the Zapotec village of San Francisco de
Cajonos. He encountered on a tour of inspection an old native cacique,
or chief, of great refinement of manners and of a stately presence,
who dressed in costly garments after the Spanish fashion, and who
was regarded by the Indians with much veneration. This man came to
the priest for the purpose of reporting upon the progress in things
spiritual and temporal in his village. Burgoa recognised his urbanity
and wonderful command of the Spanish language, but perceived by certain
signs that he had been taught to look for by long experience that
the man was a pagan. He communicated his suspicions to the vicar of
the village, but met with such assurances of the cacique's soundness
of faith that he believed himself to be in error for once. Shortly
afterwards, however, a wandering Spaniard perceived the chief in
a retired place in the mountains performing idolatrous ceremonies,
and aroused the monks, two of whom accompanied him to the spot where
the cacique had been seen indulging in his heathenish practices. They
found on the altar "feathers of many colours, sprinkled with blood
which the Indians had drawn from the veins under their tongues and
behind their ears, incense spoons and remains of copal, and in the
middle a horrible stone figure, which was the god to whom they had
offered this sacrifice in expiation of their sins, while they made
their confessions to the blasphemous priests, and cast off their
sins in the following manner: they had woven a kind of dish out of
a strong herb, specially gathered for this purpose, and casting this
before the priest, said to him that they came to beg mercy of their
god, and pardon for their sins that they had committed during that
year, and that they brought them all carefully enumerated. They then
drew out of a cloth pairs of thin threads made of dry maize husks,
that they had tied two by two in the middle with a knot, by which
they represented their sins. They laid these threads on the dishes of
grass, and over them pierced their veins, and let the blood trickle
upon them, and the priest took these offerings to the idol, and in a
long speech he begged the god to forgive these, his sons, their sins
which were brought to him, and to permit them to be joyful and hold
feasts to him as their god and lord. Then the priest came back to
those who had confessed, delivered a long discourse on the ceremonies
they had still to perform, and told them that the god had pardoned
them and that they might be glad again and sin anew."
Chalchihuitlicue
This goddess was the wife of Tlaloc, the god of rain and moisture. The
name means Lady of the Emerald Robe, in allusion to the colour of
the element over which the deity partly presided. She was specially
worshipped by the water-carriers of Mexico, and all those whose
avocation brought them into contact with water. Her costume was
peculiar and interesting. Round her neck she wore a wonderful collar
of precious stones, from which hung a gold pendant. She was crowned
with a coronet of blue paper, decorated with green feathers. Her
eyebrows were of turquoise, set in as mosaic, and her garment was a
nebulous blue-green in hue, recalling the tint of sea-water in the
tropics. The resemblance was heightened by a border of sea-flowers
or water-plants, one of which she also carried in her left hand,
whilst in her right she bore a vase surmounted by a cross, emblematic
of the four points of the compass whence comes the rain.
Mixcoatl
Mixcoatl was the Aztec god of the chase, and was probably a deity
of the Otomi aborigines of Mexico. The name means Cloud Serpent,
and this originated the idea that Mixcoatl was a representation of
the tropical whirlwind. This is scarcely correct, however, as the
hunter-god is identified with the tempest and thunder-cloud, and the
lightning is supposed to represent his arrows. Like many other gods
of the chase, he is figured as having the characteristics of a deer or
rabbit. He is usually depicted as carrying a sheaf of arrows, to typify
thunderbolts. It may be that Mixcoatl was an air and thunder deity of
the Otomi, older in origin than either Quetzalcoatl or Tezcatlipoca,
and that his inclusion in the Nahua pantheon becoming necessary in
order to quieten Nahua susceptibilities, he received the status of
god of the chase. But, on the other hand, the Mexicans, unlike the
Peruvians, who adopted many foreign gods for political purposes,
had little regard for the feelings of other races, and only accepted
an alien deity into the native circle for some good reason, most
probably because they noted the omission of the figure in their own
divine system. Or, again, dread of a certain foreign god might force
them to adopt him as their own in the hope of placating him. Their
worship of Quetzalcoatl is perhaps an instance of this.
Camaxtli
This deity was the war-god of the Tlascalans, who were constantly
in opposition to the Aztecs of Mexico. He was to the warriors of
Tlascala practically what Huitzilopochtli was to those of Mexico. He
was closely identified with Mixcoatl, and with the god of the morning
star, whose colours are depicted on his face and body. But in all
probability Camaxtli was a god of the chase, who in later times was
adopted as a god of war because of his possession of the lightning
dart, the symbol of divine warlike prowess. In the mythologies of
North America we find similar hunter-gods, who sometimes evolve into
gods of war for a like reason, and again gods of the chase who have
all the appearance and attributes of the creatures hunted.
Iztlilton
Ixtlilton (The Little Black One) was the Mexican god of medicine
and healing, and therefore was often alluded to as the brother of
Macuilxochitl, the god of well-being or good luck. From the account of
the general appearance of his temple--an edifice of painted boards--it
would seem to have evolved from the primitive tent or lodge of the
medicine-man, or shaman. It contained several water-jars called tlilatl
(black water), the contents of which were administered to children in
bad health. The parents of children who benefited from the treatment
bestowed a feast on the deity, whose idol was carried to the residence
of the grateful father, where ceremonial dances and oblations were
made before it. It was then thought that Ixtlilton descended to
the courtyard to open fresh jars of pulque liquor provided for the
feasters, and the entertainment concluded by an examination by the
Aztec Æsculapius of such of the pulque jars dedicated to his service
as stood in the courtyard for everyday use. Should these be found in
an unclean condition, it was understood that the master of the house
was a man of evil life, and he was presented by the priest with a
mask to hide his face from his scoffing friends.
Omacatl
Omacatl was the Mexican god of festivity and joy. The name signifies
Two Reeds. He was worshipped chiefly by bon-vivants and the rich,
who celebrated him in splendid feasts and orgies. The idol of the
deity was invariably placed in the chamber where these functions were
to take place, and the Aztecs were known to regard it as a heinous
offence if anything derogatory to the god were performed during the
convivial ceremony, or if any omission were made from the prescribed
form which these gatherings usually took. It was thought that if the
host had been in any way remiss Omacatl would appear to the startled
guests, and in tones of great severity upbraid him who had given the
feast, intimating that he would regard him no longer as a worshipper
and would henceforth abandon him. A terrible malady, the symptoms of
which were akin to those of falling-sickness, would shortly afterwards
seize the guests; but as such symptoms are not unlike those connected
with acute indigestion and other gastric troubles, it is probable
that the gourmets who paid homage to the god of good cheer may have
been suffering from a too strenuous instead of a lukewarm worship of
him. But the idea of communion which underlay so many of the Mexican
rites undoubtedly entered into the worship of Omacatl, for prior
to a banquet in his honour those who took part in it formed a great
bone out of maize paste, pretending that it was one of the bones of
the deity whose merry rites they were about to engage in. This they
devoured, washing it down with great draughts of pulque. The idol of
Omacatl was provided with a recess in the region of the stomach, and
into this provisions were stuffed. He was represented as a squatting
figure, painted black and white, crowned with a paper coronet, and
hung with coloured paper. A flower-fringed cloak and sceptre were
the other symbols of royalty worn by this Mexican Dionysus.
Opochtli
Opochtli (The Left-handed) was the god sacred to fishers and
bird-catchers. At one period of Aztec history he must have been a deity
of considerable consequence, since for generations the Aztecs were
marsh-dwellers and depended for their daily food on the fish netted
in the lakes and the birds snared in the reeds. They credited the god
with the invention of the harpoon or trident for spearing fish and the
fishing-rod and bird-net. The fishermen and bird-catchers of Mexico
held on occasion a special feast in honour of Opochtli, at which a
certain liquor called octli was consumed. A procession was afterwards
formed, in which marched old people who had dedicated themselves to
the worship of the god, probably because they could obtain no other
means of subsistence than that afforded by the vocation of which he
was tutelar and patron. He was represented as a man painted black,
his head decorated with the plumes of native wild birds, and crowned
by a paper coronet in the shape of a rose. He was clad in green paper
which fell to the knee, and was shod with white sandals. In his left
hand he held a shield painted red, having in the centre a white flower
with four petals placed crosswise, and in his right hand he held a
sceptre in the form of a cup.
Yacatecutli
Yacatecutli was the patron of travellers of the merchant class, who
worshipped him by piling their staves together and sprinkling on the
heap blood from their noses and ears. The staff of the traveller was
his symbol, to which prayer was made and offerings of flowers and
incense tendered.
The Aztec Priesthood
The Aztec priesthood was a hierarchy in whose hands resided a goodly
portion of the power of the upper classes, especially that connected
with education and endowment. The mere fact that its members possessed
the power of selecting victims for sacrifice must have been sufficient
to place them in an almost unassailable position, and their prophetic
utterances, founded upon the art of divination--so great a feature in
the life of the Aztec people, who depended upon it from the cradle
to the grave--probably assisted them in maintaining their hold upon
the popular imagination. But withal the evidence of unbiased Spanish
ecclesiastics, such as Sahagun, tends to show that they utilised their
influence for good, and soundly instructed the people under their
charge in the cardinal virtues; "in short," says the venerable friar,
"to perform the duties plainly pointed out by natural religion."
Priestly Revenues
The establishment of the national religion was, as in the case of the
mediæval Church in Europe, based upon a land tenure from which the
priestly class derived a substantial though, considering their numbers,
by no means inordinate revenue. The principal temples possessed
lands which sufficed for the maintenance of the priests attached to
them. There was, besides, a system of first-fruits fixed by law for the
priesthood, the surplusage therefrom being distributed among the poor.
Education
Education was entirely conducted by the priesthood, which undertook the
task in a manner highly creditable to it, when consideration is given
to surrounding conditions. Education was, indeed, highly organised. It
was divided into primary and secondary grades. Boys were instructed
by priests, girls by holy women or "nuns." The secondary schools
were called calmecac, and were devoted to the higher branches of
education, the curriculum including the deciphering of the pinturas,
or manuscripts, astrology and divination, with a wealth of religious
instruction.
Orders of the Priesthood
At the head of the Aztec priesthood stood the Mexicatl Teohuatzin
(Mexican Lord of Divine Matters). He had a seat on the emperor's
council, and possessed power which was second only to the royal
authority. Next in rank to him was the high-priest of Quetzalcoatl, who
dwelt in almost entire seclusion, and who had authority over his own
caste only. This office was in all probability a relic from "Toltec"
times. The priests of Quetzalcoatl were called by name after their
tutelar deity. The lesser grades included the Tlenamacac (Ordinary
Priests), who were habited in black, and wore their hair long, covering
it with a kind of mantilla. The lowest order was that of the Lamacazton
(Little Priests), youths who were graduating in the priestly office.
An Exacting Ritual
The priesthood enjoyed no easy existence, but led an austere life
of fasting, penance, and prayer, with constant observance of an
arduous and exacting ritual, which embraced sacrifice, the upkeep
of perpetual fires, the chanting of holy songs to the gods, dances,
and the superintendence of the ever-recurring festivals. They were
required to rise during the night to render praise, and to maintain
themselves in a condition of absolute cleanliness by means of constant
ablutions. We have seen that blood-offering--the substitution of
the part for the whole--was a common method of sacrifice, and in
this the priests engaged personally on frequent occasions. If the
caste did not spare the people it certainly did not spare itself,
and its outlook was perhaps only a shade more gloomy and fanatical
than that of the Spanish hierarchy which succeeded it in the land.