[VII-1]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 353-4;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7;Duran,Hist. Ant. de la Nueva España, MS., quoted inSquier's Notes to Palacio,Carta, note 27, pp. 117-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 242;Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. ii. and xxvi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 144-5;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 185, 188.[VII-2]See this volumep. 62.[VII-3]Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 82.[VII-4]Temple; see this vol.,p. 192, note 26.[VII-5]Or perhapsxipacoya, as in Kingsborough's ed. ofSahagun,Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 108.[VII-6]'Y acordarseos há de los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra ida.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 109.'Y acordarseos ha los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra vida.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 245-6.[VII-7]Hoe of burnt wood.'Coa: palo tostado, empleado por los indios para labrar la tierra, á manera de hazada. (Lengua de Cuba.)'Voces Americanas Empleadas Por Oviedo, appended toOviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 596.[VII-8]Xochitla, garden; seeMolina,Vocabulario. Perhaps that garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl, which had been already so fatal to the Toltecs. See this volumep. 246.[VII-9]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 108-13;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-55. It will be seen that in almost all point of spelling the edition of Kingsborough is followed in preference to the, in such points very inaccurate, edition of Bustamante.[VII-10]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 354.[VII-11]As to the first wife and her family see this vol.p. 60.[VII-12]Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col., tom. i., pp. 10-11.[VII-13]See this vol.,p. 240.[VII-14]Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., pp. 82, 86, 92-3, 97-8.[VII-15]See this vol.p. 243.[VII-16]Tlachtli, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el lugar donde juegan assi.Molina,Vocabulario.[VII-17]This last clause is to be found only in Bustamante's ed.; seeSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 258.[VII-18]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-5;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 255-9.[VII-19]'Era Hombre blanco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la frente, los ojos grandes, los cabellos largos, y negros, la barba grande y redonda.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.[VII-20]Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter.[VII-21]This agrees ill with what is related at this point by Sahagun; see this vol.p. 242.[VII-22]At this part of the story Torquemada takes opportunity, parenthetically, to remark that this fable was very generally current among the Mexicans, and that when Father Bernardino de Sahagun was in the city of Xuchimilco, they asked him where Tlapalla was. Sahagun replied that he did not know, as indeed he did not (nor any one else—it being apparently wholly mythical), nor even understand their question, inasmuch as he had been at that time only a little while in the country—it being fifty years before he wrote his book [theHistoria General]. Sahagun adds that the Mexicans made at that time divers trials of this kind, questioning the Christians to see if they knew anything of their antiquities.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 50.[VII-23]The passage of Torquemada referred to I condense as follows:—Certain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These were men of good carriage, well-dressed in long robes of black linen, open in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not come to the elbow; the same, in fact, as the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco they passed on very peaceably by degrees to Tulla, where they were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, however, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers, so these passed on to Cholula where they had an excellent reception. They brought with them as their chief and head, a personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy complexioned man, with a long beard. In Cholula these people remained and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Mizteca and the Zapotecan country; and these it is said raised the grand edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of fine work; not so good at masonry and the use of the hammer, as in casting and in the engraving and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic sculpture, and in agriculture. Quetzalcoatl had, however, two enemies; Tezcatlipoca was one, and Huemac, king of Tulla the other; these two had been most instrumental in causing him to leave Tulla. And at Cholula, Huemac followed him up with a great army; and Quetzalcoatl, not wishing to engage in any war, departed for another part with most part of his people—going, it is said, to a land called Onohualco, which is near the sea, and embraced what are now called Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche. Then when Huemac came to the place where he had thought to find Quetzalcoatl, and found him not, he was wrath and laid waste and destroyed all the country, and made himself lord over it and caused also that the people worshipped him as a god. All this he did to obscure and blot out the memory of Quetzalcoatl and for the hate that he bore him.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 254-6.[VII-24]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 48-52.[VII-25]Clavigero,Hist. Ant. del Messico, pp. 11-13.[VII-26]Seep. 60of this volume.[VII-27]Seep. 112of this volume.[VII-28]This, in its astounding immensity, is the abbé's theory: his suppositional Crescent Land was the cradle of all human races and human creeds. On its submergence the aforesaid races and creeds spread and developed through all the world to their respective present localities and phases. The Mexican branch of this development he considers the likest to and the most closely connected with the original.[VII-29]In Yucatan.[VII-30]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Quatre Lettres, pp. 154-7. Much of this last paragraph seems utterly incomprehensible and absurd, even viewed from the stand-point of the Abbé Brasseur himself. By no means certain, at all points, of having caught the exact meaning by its author, I give the original:—'Deux ordres de dieux, dont les uns, tombés du ciel dans l'abîme où ils deviennent les juges des morts, se personnifient en un seul qui ressuscite, symbole de la vie et de la mort; dont les autres survivent à la destruction, symbole de la vie impérissable; tel est le double caractère du mythe de Quetzal-Coatl, à son origine. Mais en réalité, ce dieu, c'est la terre, c'est la région ensevelie sous les eaux, c'est le vaincu étouffé sous le poids de son adversaire, sous l'effort de la vague victorieuse et celle-ci s'unissant au feu sur le bûcher de Nanahuatl, c'est Tezcatlipoca, c'est Hercule, vainqueur de ses ennemis, c'est le dieu dont la lutte est éternelle, comme celle de l'Océan battant le rivage, c'est celui en qui se personnifie ensuite la lumière et qui devient ainsi le drapeau des adversaires de Quetzal-Coatl. Au dieu mort, il fallait une victime, comme lui, descendue dans l'abîme: ce fut une jeune fille, choisie parmi celles qui lui étaient consacrées au pied de la pyramide, et qu'on noyait en la plongeant sous l'eau, coutume qu'on retrouva longtemps en Egypte, comme à Chichen-Itza, ainsi que dans bien d'autres pays du monde. Mais au dieu ressuscité, au dieu en qui se personnifiait le feu, la vie immortelle, àQuetzal-Coatl, devenuHuitzil-Opochtli, on sacrifia des victimes sans nombre, à qui l'on arrachait le cœur, symbole du jet de flamme sortant du volcan, pour l'offrir au soleil vainqueur, symbole de Tezcatlipoca qui, le premier, avait demandé des holocaustes de sang humain.'Id., pp. 342-3.[VII-31]Tylor's Researches, pp. 155-6.[VII-32]Brinton's Myths, pp. 180-3.[VII-33]Helps' Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 286-7.[VII-34]Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39.[VII-35]Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. ii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 135-6.[VII-36]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xli.,Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184-5.[VII-37]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-590. Some further notes regarding this god from a different point, may be found inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, pp. 40 etc., 66 etc.[VIII-1]Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words:huitzilin, the humming-bird, andopochtli, left—so called from the left foot of his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers.Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 17-19.[VIII-2]Boturini,Idea de una Hist., pp. 60-1.[VIII-3]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of the wanderings of the Mexicans and how their god Vitziliputzli, directed and guided them therein, much as the God of Israel directed his people, across the wilderness to the Promised Land. Tradition also tells, how he himself revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to his will:—some of the priests having overnight offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men; their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares.Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3.[VIII-4]Solis,Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 396-8. This writer says: 'The Spanish soldiers called this idolHuchilobos, a corrupt pronunciation: so too Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gómara too closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors.'Id., p. 395.[VIII-5]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. i.[VIII-6]Gage's New Survey, pp. 116-7;Herrera,Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.[VIII-7]'Pero los mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de el Dios Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el uno Huitzilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir Ombligo de Maguey.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293.[VIII-8]'Aconteciò, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come acostumbraba, viò bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequeña, hecha de plumas, à manera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino à los manos, la qual tomò, y metiò entre los Nahuas, ò Faldellin, y la carne, debajo de la faja que le ceñia el cuerpo (porque siempre traen fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y buscò la pelota de pluma, para vèr de què podria aprovecharla en servicio de sus Dioses, y no la hallò. Quedò de esto admirada, y mucho mas de conocer en sì, que desde aquel punto se avia hecho preñada.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 41-2.[VIII-9]This Paynalton, or Paynal, was a kind of deputy-god, or substitute for Huitzilopochtli; used in cases of urgent haste and immediate emergency, where perhaps it might be thought there was not time for the lengthened ceremonies necessary to the invocation of the greater war deity. Sahagun's account of Paynal is concise, and will throw light on the remarks of Torquemada, as given above in the text. Sahagun says, in effect: This god Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chief-captain, dictated the deliberate undertaking of war against any province; the former, as vicar to the other, served when it became unexpectedly necessary to take up arms and make front hurriedly against an enemy. Then it was that Paynal—whose name means 'swift, or hurried,'—when living on earth set out in person to stir up the people to repulse the enemy. Upon his death he was deified and a festival appointed in his honor. In this festival, his image, richly decorated, was carried in a long procession, every one, bearer of the idol or not, running as fast as he could; all of which represented the promptness that is many times necessary to resist the assault of a foe attacking by surprise or ambuscade.Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 2.[VIII-10]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293, tom. ii., pp. 41-3, 71-3.[VIII-11]See this vol.,p. 69, note.[VIII-12]See this vol.p. 67.[VIII-13]See this vol.p. 134.[VIII-14]If some of the names and myths, mentioned or alluded to from time to time, by Müller and others, are yet unknown to the reader, he will remember the impossibility of any arrangement of these mixed and far-involved legends by which, without infinite verbiage, this trouble could be wholly obviated. In good time, and with what clearness is possible, the list of gods and legends will be made as nearly as may be complete.[VIII-15]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 591-612.[VIII-16]Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p 279.[VIII-17]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano(Vaticano), tav. lxxi.-ii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 195-6.[VIII-18]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14;Leon y Gama,Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 101, pt ii., pp. 76-9.[VIII-19]Sahagun, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 372-6;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., vol. ii., pp. 64-70.[VIII-20]Camargo,Hist. de Tlaxcallan, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. 99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlascaltec, most of his writings have particular reference to his own province, but in this as in other places he seems to be describing general Mexican customs.[VIII-21]The text, without saying directly that these unfortunate children were closed there alive, appears to infer it:'Cuando el maiz estaba á la rodilla, para un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que compraban cuatro niños esclavos de edad de cinco á seis años, y sacrificábanlos á Tlaloc, dios del agua, poniéndolos en una cueva, y cerrábanla hasta otro año que hacian lo mismo. Este cruel sacrificio.'Motolinia, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 45.[VIII-22]'Tambien tenian ídolos junto á los aguas, mayormente cerca de las fuentes, á do hacian sus altares con sus gradas cubiertas por encima, y en muchas principales fuentes cuatro altares de estos á manera de cruz unos enfrente de otros, y allí en el agua echaban mucho encienso ofrecido y papel.'Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., pp. 87, 102.[VIII-23]'In questo mese ritornavano ad ornare li tempj, e le immagini come nello passato, ed in fine delli venti dí sacrificavano un putto al Dio dell' acqua, e lo mettevano infra il maiz, a fine che non si guastasse la provisione di tutto l' anno.'Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. lx., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191.[VIII-24]'Whence is derived the namecocoles, by which the boys of the choir of the cathedral of Mexico are now known.'Bustamante, note toSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 85.[VIII-25]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 37-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7.[VIII-26]'En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha á la manera de estiercol de ratones, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era conficionada con tinta y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman yietll; és como veleños de Castilla.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.[VIII-27]Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument:'Una tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo ó poco mas. Yvan dentro de estas tablas unas sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando con ellas. Llamaban á esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, ó Nacatlquoavitl.'The second description is:'Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de largura de dos brazas; á trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados á la misma tabla, y dentro de ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llamaba aiauhchicaoaztli.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 51 and 53.[VIII-28]'Comenzaban á vocear y á gritar y a contrahacer las aves del agua, unos á los anades, otros á unas aves zancudas del agua que llama pipititi, otros á los cuervos marinos, otros á las garzotas blancas, otros á las garzas. Aquellas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en al agua.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.[VIII-29]'Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro.'Molina,Vocabulario.[VIII-30]'Comenzaban luego á matar á los captivos; aquellos que primero mataban decian que eran el fundamento de los que eran imagen de los Tlaloques, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos Tlaloques que (ivan aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los que morian á la postre ivanse á sentar sobre los que primero habian muerto.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 54.[VIII-31]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 49-55;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 111-124.[VIII-32]This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any constructive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity:'Al trece mes llamaban Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubrian de masa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos como culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fundadas sobre unos palos hechos á manera de niños que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de bledos á manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas imagenes á honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en memoria de los que habian muerto en agua ó heridos de rayo, y de los que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianlos sobre unos rodeos ó roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardabanlas de un año para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban á lavar estas roscas al rio ó á la fuente, y quando las llevaban ivanlas tañendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido ó con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas ú oratorias que estaban hechos á la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de cañas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas á su casa con la misma musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como está dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y hacian unas tortillas prequeñuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de una parte y de otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tetcuitli; ponianlos unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien á los imagenes de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en amaneciendo ponian estas imagenes en sus oratorios, sobre unos lechos de espadañas ó de juncias ó juncos.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-2.[VIII-33]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-162.[VIII-34]'Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se texe.'Molina,Vocabulario.[VIII-35]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice of Tlaloc and his worship will be found in theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxviii., lvii., lx., lxii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2;Boturini,Idea, pp. 12-3, 99, 101;Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305;Motolinia,Hist. Ind., inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 290, and tom. ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.;Gomara,Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216;Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 500-4 et passim.[IX-1]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 493.[IX-2]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 22, indeed says that Teteionan and Tocitzin are 'certainly different.'[IX-3]Squier's Serpent Symbol, p. 47. A passage which makes the principal element of the character of Toci or Tocitzin that of Goddess of Discord may be condensed from Acosta, as follows: When the Mexicans, in their wanderings, had settled for a time in the territory of Culhuacan, they were instructed by their god Huitzilopochtli to go forth and make wars, and first to apotheosize, after his directions, a Goddess of Discord. Following these directions, they sent to the king of Culhuacan for his daughter to be their queen. Moved by the honor, the father sent his hapless daughter, gorgeously attired, to be enthroned. But the wiley, superstitious, and ferocious Mexicans slew the girl and flayed her, and clothed a young man in her skin, calling him 'their goddess and mother of their god,' under the name of Toccy, that is 'grand mother.' See alsoPurchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1004.[IX-4]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-22;Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxx.,Ib., p. 180;Humboldt,Essai Politique, tom. i., p. 217;Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. vi., p. 631. The sacrifices to Centeotl, if she be identical with the earth-mother, are illustrated by the statement of Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 81, that the Mexicans painted the earth-goddess as a frog with a bloody mouth in every joint of her body, (which frog we shall meet again by and by in a Centeotl festival) for they said that the earth devoured all things—a proof also, by the by, among others of a like kind which we shall encounter, that not to the Hindoos alone (as Mr J. G. Müller somewhere affirms), but to the Mexicans also, belonged the idea of multiplying the organs of their deities to express great powers in any given direction. The following note from theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179-80, illustrates the last point noticed, gives another form or relation of the goddess of sustenance, and also the origin of the name applied to the Mexican priests: 'They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods, on account of her fruitfulness, changed her into the Maguey, which is the vine of that country, from which they make wine. She presided over these thirteen signs; but whoever chanced to be born on the first sign of the Herb, it proved unlucky to him; for they say that it was applied to the Tlamatzatzguex, who were a race of demons dwelling amongst them, who according to their account wandered through the air, from whom the ministers of their temples took their denomination. When this sign arrived, parents enjoined their children not to leave the house, lest any misfortune or unlucky accident should befall them. They believed that those who were born in Two Canes, which is the second sign, would be long lived, for they say that that sign was applied to heaven. They manufacture so many things from this plant called the Maguey, and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and to worship and offer sacrifices to it.'[IX-5]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 5-6; Gallatin, inAmer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 341, 349-50, condensing from and commenting upon the codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus says: 'Tonacacigua, alias Tuchiquetzal (plucking rose), and Chicomecouatl (seven serpents); wife of Tonacatlecotle; the cause of sterility, famine, and miseries of life.... Amongst Sahagun's superior deities is found Civacoatl, the 'serpent woman,' also called Tonantzin, 'our mother;' and he, sober as he is in Scriptural allusions, calls her Eve, and ascribes to her, as the interpreters [of the codices] to Tonatacinga, all the miseries and adverse things of the world. This analogy is, if I am not mistaken, the only foundation for all the allusions to Eve and her history, before, during, and after the sin, which the interpreters have tried to extract from paintings which indicate nothing of the kind. They were certainly mistaken in saying that their Tonacacinga was also called Chicomecouatl, seven serpents. They should have said Civacoatl, the serpent woman. Chicomecoatl, instead of being the cause of sterility, famine, etc., is, according to Sahagun, the goddess of abundance, that which supplies both eating and drinking: probably the same as Tzinteotl, or Cinteotl, the goddess of maize (fromcentli, maize), which he does not mention. There is no more foundation for ascribing to Tonacacigua the name of Suchiquetzal.' Gama,Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 39, says in effect: Cihuacounatl, or snake woman, was supposed to have given birth to two children, male and female, whence sprung the human race. It is on this account that twins are called in Mexicococohua, 'snakes,' or in the singular cohuatl or coatl, now vulgarly pronounced coate.[IX-6]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 3-4;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 4-7.[IX-7]Or, according to Bustamante's ed., Aba, Tlavitecqui, and Xoquauchtli.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 149.[IX-8]Lime was much used in the preparation of maize for making various articles of food.[IX-9]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 69-70;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 148-56.[IX-10]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 135-9;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 75;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71.[IX-11]Chiquiuitl, cesto ó canasta.Molina,Vocabulario.[IX-12]Chian, ó Chia, cierta semilla de que sacan azeite.Id.[IX-13]Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian.Id.[IX-14]Apparently the earth symbolized as a frog (see this vol.p. 351, note 4.) and bearing the fruits thereof on her back.[IX-15]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 67;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 52-3, 60-1, 134, 152-3, 181, 255-6.[IX-16]Yoalticitl, another name of the mother-goddess, of the mother of the gods, of the mother of us all, of our grandmother or ancestress; more particularly that form of the mother-goddess described, after Sahagun (this vol.p. 353), as being the patroness of medicine and of doctors and of the sweat-baths. Sahagun speaks in another passage of Yoalticitl (Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 453):'La madre de los Dioses, que és la Diosa de las medicinas y medicos, y és madre de todos nosotros, la cual se llama Yoalticitl, la qual tiene poder y autoridad sobre los Temazcales (sweat-baths) que llaman Xuchicalli, en el qual lugar esta Diosa vé las cosas secretas, y adereza las cosas desconcertadas en los cuerpos de los hombres, y fortifica las cosas tiernas y blandas.'[IX-17]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5, 35, vol. v., pp. 459-2;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, lib. ii., pp. 78-9; tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 185-191.[IX-18]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 16.[IX-19]Boturini,Idea, pp. 25-6.[IX-20]'The stones calledchalchiuitesby the Mexicans (and written variouslychalchibetes,chalchihuis, andcalchihuis, by the chroniclers) were esteemed of high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known asmadre de Esmeralda.... The goddess of water, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name ofChalchiuilcuye, the woman of theChalchiuites, and the name ofChalchiuihapanwas often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water found near it, "the color of which," according to Torquemada, "was between blue and green."'SquierinPalacio,Carta, p. 110, note 15. In the same work p. 53, we find mention made by Palacio of an idol apparently representing Chalchihuitlicue: 'Very near here, is a little village called Coatan, in the neighborhood of which is a lake ["This lake is distant two leagues to the southward of the present considerable town ofGuatepeque, from which it takes its name,Laguna de Guatepue"—Guatemala], situated on the flank of the volcano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of caymans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the lake as an oracle of much authority.... I learned that certain negroes and mulattoes of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had found a great idol of stone, in the form of a woman, and some objects which had been offered in sacrifice. Near by were found some stones calledchalchibites.'[IX-21]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.[IX-22]Atlacueçonan, ninfa del onenufar, flor de yerna de agua.Molina,Vocabulario.The Abbé Brasseur adds, on what authority I have not been able to find, that this leaf was ornamented with golden flags.Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 324. He adds in a note to this passage, what is very true, that,'suivant Ixtlilxochitl, et après lui Veytia, la déesse des eaux aurait été adorée sous la forme d'une grenouille, faite d'une seule émeraude, et qui, suivant Ixtlilxochitl, existait encore au temps de la conquête de Mexico. La seule déesse adorée sous la forme unique d'une grenouille était la terre.' (See this vol.p. 351, note 4.)Gomara,Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 326, says that the figure of a frog was held to be the goddess of fishes:'Entre los ídolos ... estaua el de la rama. A la cual tenian por diosa del pescado.'Motolinia extends this last statement as follows. The Mexicans had idols he says, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 34,'de los pescados grandes y de los lagartos de agua, hasta sapos y ranas, y de otros peces grandes, y estos decian que eran los dioses del pescado. De un pueblo de la laguna de México llevaron unos ídolos de estos peces, que eran unos peces hechos de piedra, grandes; y despues volviendo por allí pidiéronles para comer algunos peces, y respondieron que habian llevado el dios del pescado y que no podian tomar peces.'[IX-23]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5-6, 36;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 9-10, lib. ii., p. 81;Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 342, 350.[IX-24]See this vol.,p. 58, note 15.[IX-25]See note 24.'Entre los Dioses que estos ciegos Mexicanos fingieron tener, y ser maiores, que otros, fueron dos; vno llamado Ometecuhtli, que quiere decir, dos hidalgos, ò cavalleros; y el otro llamaron Omecihuatl, que quiere decir, dos mugeres: los quales, por otros nombres, fueron llamados, Citlalatonac, que quiere decir, Estrella que resplandece, ò resplandeciente; y el otro, Citlalicue, que quiere decir, Faldellin de la Estrella: ... Estos dos Dioses fingidos de esta Gentilidad, creìan ser el vno Hombre, y el otro Muger; y como à dos naturaleças distintas, y de distintos sexos las nombraban, como por los nombres dichos parece. De estos dos Dioses, (o por mejor decir, Demonios) tuvieron creìdo estos naturales, que residian en vna Ciudad gloriosa, asentada sobre los once Cielos, cuio suelo era mas alto, y supremo de ellos; y que en aquella Ciudad goçaban de todos los deleites imaginables y poseìan todas las riqueças de el Mundo; y decian que desde alli arriba regian, y governaban toda esta maquina inferior del Mundo, y todo aquello que es visible, è invisible, influiendo en todas las Animas, que criaban todas las inclinaciones naturales, que vemos aver en todas las criaturas racionales, è irracionales; y que cuidaban de todo, como por naturaleça los convenia, atalaindo desde aquel su asiento las cosas criadas.... De manera, que segun lo dicho, está mui claro de entender, que tenian opinion, que los que regian, y governaban el Mundo, eran dos (conviene á saber) vn Dios, y vna Diosa, de los quales el vno que era el Dios Hombre, obraba en todo el genero de los Varones; y el otro, que era la Diosa, criaba, y obraba en todo el genero de las Mugeres.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 37.[IX-26]Caquantototl, paxaro de pluma amarillo y rica.Molina,Vocabulario.According to Bustamante however, this bird is not one in anyway remarkable for plumage, but is identical with thetzacuadescribed by Clavigero, and is here used as an example of a vigilant and active soldier. Bustamante (in a note toSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 194-5) writes:Tzacua, of this bird repeated mention has been made in this history, for the Indians used it for a means of comparison or simile in their speeches. It is an early-rising bird (madrugador), and has nothing notable in its plumage or in its voice, but only in its habits. This bird is one of the last to go to rest at night and one of the first to announce the coming sun. An hour before daybreak a bird of this species, having passed the night with many of his fellows on any branch, begins to call them, with a shrill clear note that he keeps repeating in a glad tone till some of them reply. Thetzacuais about the size of a sparrow, and very similar in color to the bunting (calandria), but more marvellous in its habits. It is a social bird, each tree is a town of many nests. Onetzacuaplays the part of chief and guards the rest; his post is in the top of the tree, whence, from time to time, he flies from nest to nest uttering his notes; and while he is visiting a nest all within are silent. If he sees any bird of another species approaching the tree he sallies out upon the invader and with beak and wings compels a retreat. But if he sees a man or any large object advancing, he flies screaming to a neighboring tree, and, meeting other birds of his tribe flying homeward, he obliges them to retire by changing the tone of his note. When the danger is over he returns to his tree and begins his rounds as before, from nest to nest. Tzacuas abound in Michoacan, and to their observations regarding them the Indians are doubtless indebted for many hints and comparisons applied to soldiers diligent in duty. Thequechutl, ortlauhquechol, is a large aquatic bird with plumage of a beautiful scarlet color, or a reddish white, except that of the neck, which is black. Its home is on the sea-shore and by the river banks, where it feeds on live fish, never touching dead flesh. SeeClavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 87, 91-3.[IX-27]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 479-483, vol. vii., pp. 151-2;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-221. According to some authors, and I think Boturini for one, this baptism was supplemented by passing the child through fire. There was such a ceremony; however, it was not connected with that of baptism, but it took place on the last night of every fourth year, before the five unlucky days. On the last night of every fourth year, parents chose god-parents for their children born during the three preceding years, and these god-fathers and god-mothers passed the children over, or near to, or about the flame of a prepared fire (rodearlos por las llamas del fuego que tenian aparejado para esto, que en el latin se dicelustrare). They also bored the children's ears, which caused no small uproar (Habia gran voceria de muchachos y muchachas por el ahugeramiento de las orejas) as may well be imagined. They clasped the children by the temples and lifted them up 'to make them grow;' wherefore they called the feastizcalli, 'growing.' They finished by giving the little things pulque in tiny cups, and for this the feast was called the 'drunkenness of children.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-192. In theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano(Vaticano), tav. xxxi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, there is given a description of the water baptism differing somewhat from that given in the text. It runs as follows: 'They took some ficitle; and having a large vessel of water near them, they made the leaves of the ficitle into a bunch, and dipped it into the water, with which they sprinkled the child; and after fumigating it with incense, they gave it a name, taken from the sign on which it was born; and they put into its hand a shield and arrow, if it was a boy, which is what the figure of Xiuatlatl denotes, who here represents the god of war; they also uttered over the child certain prayers in the manner of deprecations, that he might become a brave, intrepid, and courageous man. The offering which his parents carried to the temple the elder priests took and divided with the other children who were in the temple, who ran with it through the whole city.' Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 107, again describes this rite, in substance as follows: 'They had a sort of baptism: thus when the child was a few days old, an old woman was called in, who took the child out into the court of the house where it was born, and washed it a certain number of times with the wine of the country, and as many times again with water; then she put a name on it, and performed certain ceremonies with the umbilical cord. These names were taken from the idols, or from the feasts that fell about that time, or from a beast or bird.' See furtherEsplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, pt iii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 90-1;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445, 449-458;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 85-9;Humboldt,Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 311, 318;Gama,Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 39-41;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., p. 385;Brinton's Myths, pp. 122, 130;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 652;Biart,La Terre Tempéreé, p. 274. Mr Tylor, speaking of Mexico, in hisAnahuac, p. 279, says: 'Children were sprinkled with water when their names were given to them. This is certainly true, though the statement that they believed that the process purified them from original sin is probably a monkish fiction.' Farther reading, however, has shown Mr Tylor the injustice of this judgment, and in his masterly latest and greatest work (seePrimitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36), he writes as follows: 'The last group of rites whose course through religious history is to be outlined here, takes in the varied dramatic acts of ceremonial purification or lustration. With all the obscurity and intricacy due to age-long modification, the primitive thought which underlies these ceremonies is still open to view. It is the transition from practical to symbolic cleansing, from removal of bodily impurity to deliverance from invisible, spiritual, and at last moral evil. (See this vol.p. 119).... In old Mexico, the first act of ceremonial lustration took place at birth. The nurse washed the infant in the name of the water-goddess, to remove the impurity of its birth, to cleanse its heart and give it a good and perfect life; then blowing on water in her right hand she washed it again, warning it of forthcoming trials and miseries and labors, and praying the invisible Deity to descend upon the water, to cleanse the child from sin and foulness, and to deliver it from misfortune. The second act took place some four days later, unless the astrologers postponed it. At a festive gathering, amid fires kept alight from the first ceremony, the nurse undressed the child sent by the gods into this sad and doleful world, bade it to receive the life-giving water, and washed it, driving out evil from each limb and offering to the deities appointed prayers for virtue and blessing. It was then that the toy instruments of war or craft or household labor were placed in the boy's or girl's hand (a custom singularly corresponding with one usual in China), and the other children, instructed by their parents, gave the new-comer its child-name, here again to be replaced by another at manhood or womanhood. There is nothing unlikely in the statement that the child was also passed four times through the fire, but the authority this is given on is not sufficient. The religious character of ablution is well shown in Mexico by its forming part of the daily service of the priests. Aztec life ended as it had begun, with the ceremonial lustration; it was one of the funeral ceremonies to sprinkle the head of the corpse with the lustral water of this life.'[IX-28]Camargo, inNouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 132-3.'On célébrait chaque année une fête solennelle en l'honneur de cette déesse Xochiquetzal, et une foule de peuple se réunissait dans son temple. On disait qu'elle était la femme de Tlaloc le dieu des eaux, et que Texcatlipuca la lui avait enlevée et l'avait transportée au neuvième ciel. Metlacueycati était la déesse des magiciennes. Tlaloc l'épousa quand Xochiquetzal lui eut été enlevée.'[IX-29]Boturini,Idea, pp. 15, 63-8:'Pero, no menos indignados los Dioses del pecado de Yàppan, que de la inobediencia, y atrevimiento deYàotl, le convirtieron en Langosta, que llaman los IndiosAhuacachapùllin, mandando se llamasse en adelanteTzontecomàma, que quiere dicir,Carga Cabeza, y en efecto este animal parece que lleva cargo consigo, propiedad de los Malsines, que siempre cargan las honras, que han quitado à sus Proximos.'[IX-30]See this vol.pp. 220-5.[IX-31]See this vol., pp.212,226.[IX-32]Other descriptions of this rite are given with additional details:'Usaban una ceremonia generalmente en toda esta tierra, hombres y mugeres, niños y niñas, que quando entraban en algun lugar donde habia imagenes de las idolos, una ó muchas, luego tocaban en la tierra con el dedo, y luego le llegaban á la boca ó á la lengua: á esto llamaban comer tierra, haciendolo en reverencia de sus Dioses, y todos los que salian de sus casas, aunque no saliesen del pueblo, volviendo á su casa hacian lo mismo, y por los caminos quando pasaban delante algun Cu ú oratorio hacian lo mismo, y en lugar de juramento usaban esto mismo, que para afirmar quien decia verdad hacian esta ceremonia, y los que se querian satisfacer del que hablaba si decia verdad, demandabanle hiciese esta ceremonia, luego le creian como juramento.... Tenian tambien costumbre de hacer juramento de cumplir alguna cosa á que se obligaban, y aquel á quien se obligaban les demandaba que hiciesen juramento para estar seguro de su palabra y el juramento que hacian era en esta forma: Por vida del Sol y de nuestra señora la tierra que no falte en lo que tengo dicho, y para mayor seguridad como esta tierra; y luego tocaba con los dedos en la tierra, llegabalos á la boca y lamialos; y asi comia tierra haciendo juramento.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 95-6, 101;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., ap., pp. 212, 226;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 25.[IX-33]Quite different versions of this sentence are given by Kingsborough's and Bustamante's editions respectively. That ofKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 7, reads:'Quando decienden á la tierra las Diosas Ixcuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo, para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.'That of Bustamante,Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 13, reads:'Cuando descienden á la tierra las diosas llamadasCivapipilti, ó cuando se hace la fiesta de las diosas de la carnalidad que se llamanYxtuiname, ayunarás cuatro dias afligiendo tu estómago y tu boca, y llegado el dia de la fiesta de estas diosasYxtuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.'[IX-34]'De esto bien se arguye que aunque habian hecho muchos pecados en tiempo de su juventud, no se confesaban de ellos hasta la vejez, por no se obligar á cesar de pecar antes de la vejez, por la opinion que tenian, que el que tornaba á reincidir en los pecados, al que se confesaba una vez no tenia remedio.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 6-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 10-16. Prescott writes,Mex., vol. i., p. 68: 'It is remarkable that they administered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were imposed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the Roman Catholic Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man's life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his conscience, and settled, at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another peculiarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal punishment of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case of arrest.' Mention of Tlazolteotl will be found inGomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 309;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 62, 79;Herrera,Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. They say that Yxcuina, who was the goddess of shame, protected adulterers. She was the goddess of salt, of dirt, and of immodesty, and the cause of all sins. They painted her with two faces, or with two different colors on the face. She was the wife of Mizuitlantecutli, the god of hell. She was also the goddess of prostitutes; and she presided over these thirteen signs, which were all unlucky, and thus they held that those who were born in these signs would be rogues or prostitutes.Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. xxxix., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 184;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Quatre Lettres, pp. 291-2, 301.[IX-35]See this vol.,pp. 212,226.[IX-36]'Il Jauhtli è una pianta, il cui fusto e lungo un cubito, le foglie somiglianti a quelle del Salcio, ma dentate, i fiori gialli, e la radice sottile. Così i fiori, come l'altre parti della pianta, hanno lo stesso odore e sapore dell' Anice. È assai utile per la Medicina, ed i Medica Messicani l'adoperavano contro parecchie malattie; ma servivansi ancora d'essa per alcuni usi superstiziosi.'This is the note given by Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77, in describing this festival, and the incense used for stupefying the victims; see a different note however, in this vol.,p. 339, in which Molina describesyiauhtlias 'black maize.' In some cases, according to Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 100, there was given to the condemned a certain drink that put them beside themselves, so that they went to the sacrifice with a ghastly drunken merriment.[IX-37]'Cuexpalli, cabello largo que dexan a los muchachos en el cogote, quando los tresquilan.'Molina,Vocabulario.[IX-38]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 8-9, 28, 63-6;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 16-19, lib. ii., pp. 62-4, 141-8;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 76;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lvi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 190.[IX-39]'Esta estatua asi adornada no lejos de un lugar que estaba delante de ella, á la media noche sacaban fuego nuevo para que ardiese en aquel lugar, y sacabanlo con unos palos, uno puesto abajo, y sobre él barrenaban con otro palo, como torciendole entre las manos con gran prisa, y con aquel movimiento y calor se encendia el fuego, y alli lo tomaban con yesca y encendian en el hogar.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 84;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 184.[IX-40]Ortapachtlias Bustamante spells it.'Tapachtli, cral, concha o venera.'Molina,Vocabulario.[IX-41]See this vol.,p. 376, note 27.[IX-42]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 33, 83-7;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 183-92;Boturini,Idea, p. 138;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lxxiv., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 196-7;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 82.[IX-43]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 96;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., p. 213.[IX-44]OrIzitzimitesas onp. 327of this vol.
[VII-1]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 353-4;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7;Duran,Hist. Ant. de la Nueva España, MS., quoted inSquier's Notes to Palacio,Carta, note 27, pp. 117-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 242;Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. ii. and xxvi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 144-5;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 185, 188.
[VII-2]See this volumep. 62.
[VII-3]Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 82.
[VII-4]Temple; see this vol.,p. 192, note 26.
[VII-5]Or perhapsxipacoya, as in Kingsborough's ed. ofSahagun,Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 108.
[VII-6]'Y acordarseos há de los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra ida.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 109.'Y acordarseos ha los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra vida.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 245-6.
[VII-7]Hoe of burnt wood.'Coa: palo tostado, empleado por los indios para labrar la tierra, á manera de hazada. (Lengua de Cuba.)'Voces Americanas Empleadas Por Oviedo, appended toOviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 596.
[VII-8]Xochitla, garden; seeMolina,Vocabulario. Perhaps that garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl, which had been already so fatal to the Toltecs. See this volumep. 246.
[VII-9]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 108-13;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-55. It will be seen that in almost all point of spelling the edition of Kingsborough is followed in preference to the, in such points very inaccurate, edition of Bustamante.
[VII-10]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 354.
[VII-11]As to the first wife and her family see this vol.p. 60.
[VII-12]Motolinia,Hist. Indios, inIcazbalceta,Col., tom. i., pp. 10-11.
[VII-13]See this vol.,p. 240.
[VII-14]Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., pp. 82, 86, 92-3, 97-8.
[VII-15]See this vol.p. 243.
[VII-16]Tlachtli, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el lugar donde juegan assi.Molina,Vocabulario.
[VII-17]This last clause is to be found only in Bustamante's ed.; seeSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 258.
[VII-18]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-5;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 255-9.
[VII-19]'Era Hombre blanco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la frente, los ojos grandes, los cabellos largos, y negros, la barba grande y redonda.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.
[VII-20]Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter.
[VII-21]This agrees ill with what is related at this point by Sahagun; see this vol.p. 242.
[VII-22]At this part of the story Torquemada takes opportunity, parenthetically, to remark that this fable was very generally current among the Mexicans, and that when Father Bernardino de Sahagun was in the city of Xuchimilco, they asked him where Tlapalla was. Sahagun replied that he did not know, as indeed he did not (nor any one else—it being apparently wholly mythical), nor even understand their question, inasmuch as he had been at that time only a little while in the country—it being fifty years before he wrote his book [theHistoria General]. Sahagun adds that the Mexicans made at that time divers trials of this kind, questioning the Christians to see if they knew anything of their antiquities.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 50.
[VII-23]The passage of Torquemada referred to I condense as follows:—Certain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These were men of good carriage, well-dressed in long robes of black linen, open in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not come to the elbow; the same, in fact, as the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco they passed on very peaceably by degrees to Tulla, where they were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, however, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers, so these passed on to Cholula where they had an excellent reception. They brought with them as their chief and head, a personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy complexioned man, with a long beard. In Cholula these people remained and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Mizteca and the Zapotecan country; and these it is said raised the grand edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of fine work; not so good at masonry and the use of the hammer, as in casting and in the engraving and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic sculpture, and in agriculture. Quetzalcoatl had, however, two enemies; Tezcatlipoca was one, and Huemac, king of Tulla the other; these two had been most instrumental in causing him to leave Tulla. And at Cholula, Huemac followed him up with a great army; and Quetzalcoatl, not wishing to engage in any war, departed for another part with most part of his people—going, it is said, to a land called Onohualco, which is near the sea, and embraced what are now called Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche. Then when Huemac came to the place where he had thought to find Quetzalcoatl, and found him not, he was wrath and laid waste and destroyed all the country, and made himself lord over it and caused also that the people worshipped him as a god. All this he did to obscure and blot out the memory of Quetzalcoatl and for the hate that he bore him.Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 254-6.
[VII-24]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 48-52.
[VII-25]Clavigero,Hist. Ant. del Messico, pp. 11-13.
[VII-26]Seep. 60of this volume.
[VII-27]Seep. 112of this volume.
[VII-28]This, in its astounding immensity, is the abbé's theory: his suppositional Crescent Land was the cradle of all human races and human creeds. On its submergence the aforesaid races and creeds spread and developed through all the world to their respective present localities and phases. The Mexican branch of this development he considers the likest to and the most closely connected with the original.
[VII-29]In Yucatan.
[VII-30]Brasseur de Bourbourg,Quatre Lettres, pp. 154-7. Much of this last paragraph seems utterly incomprehensible and absurd, even viewed from the stand-point of the Abbé Brasseur himself. By no means certain, at all points, of having caught the exact meaning by its author, I give the original:—'Deux ordres de dieux, dont les uns, tombés du ciel dans l'abîme où ils deviennent les juges des morts, se personnifient en un seul qui ressuscite, symbole de la vie et de la mort; dont les autres survivent à la destruction, symbole de la vie impérissable; tel est le double caractère du mythe de Quetzal-Coatl, à son origine. Mais en réalité, ce dieu, c'est la terre, c'est la région ensevelie sous les eaux, c'est le vaincu étouffé sous le poids de son adversaire, sous l'effort de la vague victorieuse et celle-ci s'unissant au feu sur le bûcher de Nanahuatl, c'est Tezcatlipoca, c'est Hercule, vainqueur de ses ennemis, c'est le dieu dont la lutte est éternelle, comme celle de l'Océan battant le rivage, c'est celui en qui se personnifie ensuite la lumière et qui devient ainsi le drapeau des adversaires de Quetzal-Coatl. Au dieu mort, il fallait une victime, comme lui, descendue dans l'abîme: ce fut une jeune fille, choisie parmi celles qui lui étaient consacrées au pied de la pyramide, et qu'on noyait en la plongeant sous l'eau, coutume qu'on retrouva longtemps en Egypte, comme à Chichen-Itza, ainsi que dans bien d'autres pays du monde. Mais au dieu ressuscité, au dieu en qui se personnifiait le feu, la vie immortelle, àQuetzal-Coatl, devenuHuitzil-Opochtli, on sacrifia des victimes sans nombre, à qui l'on arrachait le cœur, symbole du jet de flamme sortant du volcan, pour l'offrir au soleil vainqueur, symbole de Tezcatlipoca qui, le premier, avait demandé des holocaustes de sang humain.'Id., pp. 342-3.
[VII-31]Tylor's Researches, pp. 155-6.
[VII-32]Brinton's Myths, pp. 180-3.
[VII-33]Helps' Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 286-7.
[VII-34]Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39.
[VII-35]Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. ii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 135-6.
[VII-36]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xli.,Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184-5.
[VII-37]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-590. Some further notes regarding this god from a different point, may be found inBrasseur de Bourbourg,Palenqué, pp. 40 etc., 66 etc.
[VIII-1]Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words:huitzilin, the humming-bird, andopochtli, left—so called from the left foot of his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers.Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 17-19.
[VIII-2]Boturini,Idea de una Hist., pp. 60-1.
[VIII-3]Acosta,Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of the wanderings of the Mexicans and how their god Vitziliputzli, directed and guided them therein, much as the God of Israel directed his people, across the wilderness to the Promised Land. Tradition also tells, how he himself revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to his will:—some of the priests having overnight offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men; their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares.Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3.
[VIII-4]Solis,Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 396-8. This writer says: 'The Spanish soldiers called this idolHuchilobos, a corrupt pronunciation: so too Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gómara too closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors.'Id., p. 395.
[VIII-5]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. i.
[VIII-6]Gage's New Survey, pp. 116-7;Herrera,Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.
[VIII-7]'Pero los mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de el Dios Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el uno Huitzilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir Ombligo de Maguey.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293.
[VIII-8]'Aconteciò, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come acostumbraba, viò bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequeña, hecha de plumas, à manera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino à los manos, la qual tomò, y metiò entre los Nahuas, ò Faldellin, y la carne, debajo de la faja que le ceñia el cuerpo (porque siempre traen fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y buscò la pelota de pluma, para vèr de què podria aprovecharla en servicio de sus Dioses, y no la hallò. Quedò de esto admirada, y mucho mas de conocer en sì, que desde aquel punto se avia hecho preñada.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 41-2.
[VIII-9]This Paynalton, or Paynal, was a kind of deputy-god, or substitute for Huitzilopochtli; used in cases of urgent haste and immediate emergency, where perhaps it might be thought there was not time for the lengthened ceremonies necessary to the invocation of the greater war deity. Sahagun's account of Paynal is concise, and will throw light on the remarks of Torquemada, as given above in the text. Sahagun says, in effect: This god Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chief-captain, dictated the deliberate undertaking of war against any province; the former, as vicar to the other, served when it became unexpectedly necessary to take up arms and make front hurriedly against an enemy. Then it was that Paynal—whose name means 'swift, or hurried,'—when living on earth set out in person to stir up the people to repulse the enemy. Upon his death he was deified and a festival appointed in his honor. In this festival, his image, richly decorated, was carried in a long procession, every one, bearer of the idol or not, running as fast as he could; all of which represented the promptness that is many times necessary to resist the assault of a foe attacking by surprise or ambuscade.Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 2.
[VIII-10]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293, tom. ii., pp. 41-3, 71-3.
[VIII-11]See this vol.,p. 69, note.
[VIII-12]See this vol.p. 67.
[VIII-13]See this vol.p. 134.
[VIII-14]If some of the names and myths, mentioned or alluded to from time to time, by Müller and others, are yet unknown to the reader, he will remember the impossibility of any arrangement of these mixed and far-involved legends by which, without infinite verbiage, this trouble could be wholly obviated. In good time, and with what clearness is possible, the list of gods and legends will be made as nearly as may be complete.
[VIII-15]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 591-612.
[VIII-16]Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p 279.
[VIII-17]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano(Vaticano), tav. lxxi.-ii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 195-6.
[VIII-18]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14;Leon y Gama,Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 101, pt ii., pp. 76-9.
[VIII-19]Sahagun, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 372-6;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., vol. ii., pp. 64-70.
[VIII-20]Camargo,Hist. de Tlaxcallan, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. 99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlascaltec, most of his writings have particular reference to his own province, but in this as in other places he seems to be describing general Mexican customs.
[VIII-21]The text, without saying directly that these unfortunate children were closed there alive, appears to infer it:'Cuando el maiz estaba á la rodilla, para un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que compraban cuatro niños esclavos de edad de cinco á seis años, y sacrificábanlos á Tlaloc, dios del agua, poniéndolos en una cueva, y cerrábanla hasta otro año que hacian lo mismo. Este cruel sacrificio.'Motolinia, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 45.
[VIII-22]'Tambien tenian ídolos junto á los aguas, mayormente cerca de las fuentes, á do hacian sus altares con sus gradas cubiertas por encima, y en muchas principales fuentes cuatro altares de estos á manera de cruz unos enfrente de otros, y allí en el agua echaban mucho encienso ofrecido y papel.'Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., pp. 87, 102.
[VIII-23]'In questo mese ritornavano ad ornare li tempj, e le immagini come nello passato, ed in fine delli venti dí sacrificavano un putto al Dio dell' acqua, e lo mettevano infra il maiz, a fine che non si guastasse la provisione di tutto l' anno.'Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. lx., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191.
[VIII-24]'Whence is derived the namecocoles, by which the boys of the choir of the cathedral of Mexico are now known.'Bustamante, note toSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 85.
[VIII-25]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 37-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7.
[VIII-26]'En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha á la manera de estiercol de ratones, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era conficionada con tinta y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman yietll; és como veleños de Castilla.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.
[VIII-27]Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument:'Una tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo ó poco mas. Yvan dentro de estas tablas unas sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando con ellas. Llamaban á esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, ó Nacatlquoavitl.'The second description is:'Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de largura de dos brazas; á trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados á la misma tabla, y dentro de ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llamaba aiauhchicaoaztli.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 51 and 53.
[VIII-28]'Comenzaban á vocear y á gritar y a contrahacer las aves del agua, unos á los anades, otros á unas aves zancudas del agua que llama pipititi, otros á los cuervos marinos, otros á las garzotas blancas, otros á las garzas. Aquellas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en al agua.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.
[VIII-29]'Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro.'Molina,Vocabulario.
[VIII-30]'Comenzaban luego á matar á los captivos; aquellos que primero mataban decian que eran el fundamento de los que eran imagen de los Tlaloques, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos Tlaloques que (ivan aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los que morian á la postre ivanse á sentar sobre los que primero habian muerto.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 54.
[VIII-31]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 49-55;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 111-124.
[VIII-32]This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any constructive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity:'Al trece mes llamaban Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubrian de masa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos como culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fundadas sobre unos palos hechos á manera de niños que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de bledos á manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas imagenes á honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en memoria de los que habian muerto en agua ó heridos de rayo, y de los que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianlos sobre unos rodeos ó roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardabanlas de un año para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban á lavar estas roscas al rio ó á la fuente, y quando las llevaban ivanlas tañendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido ó con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas ú oratorias que estaban hechos á la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de cañas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas á su casa con la misma musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como está dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y hacian unas tortillas prequeñuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de una parte y de otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tetcuitli; ponianlos unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien á los imagenes de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en amaneciendo ponian estas imagenes en sus oratorios, sobre unos lechos de espadañas ó de juncias ó juncos.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-2.
[VIII-33]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-162.
[VIII-34]'Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se texe.'Molina,Vocabulario.
[VIII-35]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice of Tlaloc and his worship will be found in theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxviii., lvii., lx., lxii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2;Boturini,Idea, pp. 12-3, 99, 101;Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305;Motolinia,Hist. Ind., inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 290, and tom. ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.;Gomara,Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216;Tylor's Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 500-4 et passim.
[IX-1]Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 493.
[IX-2]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 22, indeed says that Teteionan and Tocitzin are 'certainly different.'
[IX-3]Squier's Serpent Symbol, p. 47. A passage which makes the principal element of the character of Toci or Tocitzin that of Goddess of Discord may be condensed from Acosta, as follows: When the Mexicans, in their wanderings, had settled for a time in the territory of Culhuacan, they were instructed by their god Huitzilopochtli to go forth and make wars, and first to apotheosize, after his directions, a Goddess of Discord. Following these directions, they sent to the king of Culhuacan for his daughter to be their queen. Moved by the honor, the father sent his hapless daughter, gorgeously attired, to be enthroned. But the wiley, superstitious, and ferocious Mexicans slew the girl and flayed her, and clothed a young man in her skin, calling him 'their goddess and mother of their god,' under the name of Toccy, that is 'grand mother.' See alsoPurchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1004.
[IX-4]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-22;Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxx.,Ib., p. 180;Humboldt,Essai Politique, tom. i., p. 217;Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. vi., p. 631. The sacrifices to Centeotl, if she be identical with the earth-mother, are illustrated by the statement of Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 81, that the Mexicans painted the earth-goddess as a frog with a bloody mouth in every joint of her body, (which frog we shall meet again by and by in a Centeotl festival) for they said that the earth devoured all things—a proof also, by the by, among others of a like kind which we shall encounter, that not to the Hindoos alone (as Mr J. G. Müller somewhere affirms), but to the Mexicans also, belonged the idea of multiplying the organs of their deities to express great powers in any given direction. The following note from theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179-80, illustrates the last point noticed, gives another form or relation of the goddess of sustenance, and also the origin of the name applied to the Mexican priests: 'They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods, on account of her fruitfulness, changed her into the Maguey, which is the vine of that country, from which they make wine. She presided over these thirteen signs; but whoever chanced to be born on the first sign of the Herb, it proved unlucky to him; for they say that it was applied to the Tlamatzatzguex, who were a race of demons dwelling amongst them, who according to their account wandered through the air, from whom the ministers of their temples took their denomination. When this sign arrived, parents enjoined their children not to leave the house, lest any misfortune or unlucky accident should befall them. They believed that those who were born in Two Canes, which is the second sign, would be long lived, for they say that that sign was applied to heaven. They manufacture so many things from this plant called the Maguey, and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and to worship and offer sacrifices to it.'
[IX-5]Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 5-6; Gallatin, inAmer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 341, 349-50, condensing from and commenting upon the codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus says: 'Tonacacigua, alias Tuchiquetzal (plucking rose), and Chicomecouatl (seven serpents); wife of Tonacatlecotle; the cause of sterility, famine, and miseries of life.... Amongst Sahagun's superior deities is found Civacoatl, the 'serpent woman,' also called Tonantzin, 'our mother;' and he, sober as he is in Scriptural allusions, calls her Eve, and ascribes to her, as the interpreters [of the codices] to Tonatacinga, all the miseries and adverse things of the world. This analogy is, if I am not mistaken, the only foundation for all the allusions to Eve and her history, before, during, and after the sin, which the interpreters have tried to extract from paintings which indicate nothing of the kind. They were certainly mistaken in saying that their Tonacacinga was also called Chicomecouatl, seven serpents. They should have said Civacoatl, the serpent woman. Chicomecoatl, instead of being the cause of sterility, famine, etc., is, according to Sahagun, the goddess of abundance, that which supplies both eating and drinking: probably the same as Tzinteotl, or Cinteotl, the goddess of maize (fromcentli, maize), which he does not mention. There is no more foundation for ascribing to Tonacacigua the name of Suchiquetzal.' Gama,Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 39, says in effect: Cihuacounatl, or snake woman, was supposed to have given birth to two children, male and female, whence sprung the human race. It is on this account that twins are called in Mexicococohua, 'snakes,' or in the singular cohuatl or coatl, now vulgarly pronounced coate.
[IX-6]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 3-4;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 4-7.
[IX-7]Or, according to Bustamante's ed., Aba, Tlavitecqui, and Xoquauchtli.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 149.
[IX-8]Lime was much used in the preparation of maize for making various articles of food.
[IX-9]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 69-70;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 148-56.
[IX-10]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 135-9;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 75;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71.
[IX-11]Chiquiuitl, cesto ó canasta.Molina,Vocabulario.
[IX-12]Chian, ó Chia, cierta semilla de que sacan azeite.Id.
[IX-13]Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian.Id.
[IX-14]Apparently the earth symbolized as a frog (see this vol.p. 351, note 4.) and bearing the fruits thereof on her back.
[IX-15]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 67;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 52-3, 60-1, 134, 152-3, 181, 255-6.
[IX-16]Yoalticitl, another name of the mother-goddess, of the mother of the gods, of the mother of us all, of our grandmother or ancestress; more particularly that form of the mother-goddess described, after Sahagun (this vol.p. 353), as being the patroness of medicine and of doctors and of the sweat-baths. Sahagun speaks in another passage of Yoalticitl (Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 453):'La madre de los Dioses, que és la Diosa de las medicinas y medicos, y és madre de todos nosotros, la cual se llama Yoalticitl, la qual tiene poder y autoridad sobre los Temazcales (sweat-baths) que llaman Xuchicalli, en el qual lugar esta Diosa vé las cosas secretas, y adereza las cosas desconcertadas en los cuerpos de los hombres, y fortifica las cosas tiernas y blandas.'
[IX-17]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5, 35, vol. v., pp. 459-2;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, lib. ii., pp. 78-9; tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 185-191.
[IX-18]Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 16.
[IX-19]Boturini,Idea, pp. 25-6.
[IX-20]'The stones calledchalchiuitesby the Mexicans (and written variouslychalchibetes,chalchihuis, andcalchihuis, by the chroniclers) were esteemed of high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known asmadre de Esmeralda.... The goddess of water, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name ofChalchiuilcuye, the woman of theChalchiuites, and the name ofChalchiuihapanwas often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water found near it, "the color of which," according to Torquemada, "was between blue and green."'SquierinPalacio,Carta, p. 110, note 15. In the same work p. 53, we find mention made by Palacio of an idol apparently representing Chalchihuitlicue: 'Very near here, is a little village called Coatan, in the neighborhood of which is a lake ["This lake is distant two leagues to the southward of the present considerable town ofGuatepeque, from which it takes its name,Laguna de Guatepue"—Guatemala], situated on the flank of the volcano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of caymans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the lake as an oracle of much authority.... I learned that certain negroes and mulattoes of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had found a great idol of stone, in the form of a woman, and some objects which had been offered in sacrifice. Near by were found some stones calledchalchibites.'
[IX-21]Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.
[IX-22]Atlacueçonan, ninfa del onenufar, flor de yerna de agua.Molina,Vocabulario.The Abbé Brasseur adds, on what authority I have not been able to find, that this leaf was ornamented with golden flags.Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 324. He adds in a note to this passage, what is very true, that,'suivant Ixtlilxochitl, et après lui Veytia, la déesse des eaux aurait été adorée sous la forme d'une grenouille, faite d'une seule émeraude, et qui, suivant Ixtlilxochitl, existait encore au temps de la conquête de Mexico. La seule déesse adorée sous la forme unique d'une grenouille était la terre.' (See this vol.p. 351, note 4.)Gomara,Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 326, says that the figure of a frog was held to be the goddess of fishes:'Entre los ídolos ... estaua el de la rama. A la cual tenian por diosa del pescado.'Motolinia extends this last statement as follows. The Mexicans had idols he says, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 34,'de los pescados grandes y de los lagartos de agua, hasta sapos y ranas, y de otros peces grandes, y estos decian que eran los dioses del pescado. De un pueblo de la laguna de México llevaron unos ídolos de estos peces, que eran unos peces hechos de piedra, grandes; y despues volviendo por allí pidiéronles para comer algunos peces, y respondieron que habian llevado el dios del pescado y que no podian tomar peces.'
[IX-23]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5-6, 36;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 9-10, lib. ii., p. 81;Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 342, 350.
[IX-24]See this vol.,p. 58, note 15.
[IX-25]See note 24.'Entre los Dioses que estos ciegos Mexicanos fingieron tener, y ser maiores, que otros, fueron dos; vno llamado Ometecuhtli, que quiere decir, dos hidalgos, ò cavalleros; y el otro llamaron Omecihuatl, que quiere decir, dos mugeres: los quales, por otros nombres, fueron llamados, Citlalatonac, que quiere decir, Estrella que resplandece, ò resplandeciente; y el otro, Citlalicue, que quiere decir, Faldellin de la Estrella: ... Estos dos Dioses fingidos de esta Gentilidad, creìan ser el vno Hombre, y el otro Muger; y como à dos naturaleças distintas, y de distintos sexos las nombraban, como por los nombres dichos parece. De estos dos Dioses, (o por mejor decir, Demonios) tuvieron creìdo estos naturales, que residian en vna Ciudad gloriosa, asentada sobre los once Cielos, cuio suelo era mas alto, y supremo de ellos; y que en aquella Ciudad goçaban de todos los deleites imaginables y poseìan todas las riqueças de el Mundo; y decian que desde alli arriba regian, y governaban toda esta maquina inferior del Mundo, y todo aquello que es visible, è invisible, influiendo en todas las Animas, que criaban todas las inclinaciones naturales, que vemos aver en todas las criaturas racionales, è irracionales; y que cuidaban de todo, como por naturaleça los convenia, atalaindo desde aquel su asiento las cosas criadas.... De manera, que segun lo dicho, está mui claro de entender, que tenian opinion, que los que regian, y governaban el Mundo, eran dos (conviene á saber) vn Dios, y vna Diosa, de los quales el vno que era el Dios Hombre, obraba en todo el genero de los Varones; y el otro, que era la Diosa, criaba, y obraba en todo el genero de las Mugeres.'Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 37.
[IX-26]Caquantototl, paxaro de pluma amarillo y rica.Molina,Vocabulario.According to Bustamante however, this bird is not one in anyway remarkable for plumage, but is identical with thetzacuadescribed by Clavigero, and is here used as an example of a vigilant and active soldier. Bustamante (in a note toSahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 194-5) writes:Tzacua, of this bird repeated mention has been made in this history, for the Indians used it for a means of comparison or simile in their speeches. It is an early-rising bird (madrugador), and has nothing notable in its plumage or in its voice, but only in its habits. This bird is one of the last to go to rest at night and one of the first to announce the coming sun. An hour before daybreak a bird of this species, having passed the night with many of his fellows on any branch, begins to call them, with a shrill clear note that he keeps repeating in a glad tone till some of them reply. Thetzacuais about the size of a sparrow, and very similar in color to the bunting (calandria), but more marvellous in its habits. It is a social bird, each tree is a town of many nests. Onetzacuaplays the part of chief and guards the rest; his post is in the top of the tree, whence, from time to time, he flies from nest to nest uttering his notes; and while he is visiting a nest all within are silent. If he sees any bird of another species approaching the tree he sallies out upon the invader and with beak and wings compels a retreat. But if he sees a man or any large object advancing, he flies screaming to a neighboring tree, and, meeting other birds of his tribe flying homeward, he obliges them to retire by changing the tone of his note. When the danger is over he returns to his tree and begins his rounds as before, from nest to nest. Tzacuas abound in Michoacan, and to their observations regarding them the Indians are doubtless indebted for many hints and comparisons applied to soldiers diligent in duty. Thequechutl, ortlauhquechol, is a large aquatic bird with plumage of a beautiful scarlet color, or a reddish white, except that of the neck, which is black. Its home is on the sea-shore and by the river banks, where it feeds on live fish, never touching dead flesh. SeeClavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 87, 91-3.
[IX-27]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 479-483, vol. vii., pp. 151-2;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-221. According to some authors, and I think Boturini for one, this baptism was supplemented by passing the child through fire. There was such a ceremony; however, it was not connected with that of baptism, but it took place on the last night of every fourth year, before the five unlucky days. On the last night of every fourth year, parents chose god-parents for their children born during the three preceding years, and these god-fathers and god-mothers passed the children over, or near to, or about the flame of a prepared fire (rodearlos por las llamas del fuego que tenian aparejado para esto, que en el latin se dicelustrare). They also bored the children's ears, which caused no small uproar (Habia gran voceria de muchachos y muchachas por el ahugeramiento de las orejas) as may well be imagined. They clasped the children by the temples and lifted them up 'to make them grow;' wherefore they called the feastizcalli, 'growing.' They finished by giving the little things pulque in tiny cups, and for this the feast was called the 'drunkenness of children.'Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-192. In theSpiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano(Vaticano), tav. xxxi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, there is given a description of the water baptism differing somewhat from that given in the text. It runs as follows: 'They took some ficitle; and having a large vessel of water near them, they made the leaves of the ficitle into a bunch, and dipped it into the water, with which they sprinkled the child; and after fumigating it with incense, they gave it a name, taken from the sign on which it was born; and they put into its hand a shield and arrow, if it was a boy, which is what the figure of Xiuatlatl denotes, who here represents the god of war; they also uttered over the child certain prayers in the manner of deprecations, that he might become a brave, intrepid, and courageous man. The offering which his parents carried to the temple the elder priests took and divided with the other children who were in the temple, who ran with it through the whole city.' Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 107, again describes this rite, in substance as follows: 'They had a sort of baptism: thus when the child was a few days old, an old woman was called in, who took the child out into the court of the house where it was born, and washed it a certain number of times with the wine of the country, and as many times again with water; then she put a name on it, and performed certain ceremonies with the umbilical cord. These names were taken from the idols, or from the feasts that fell about that time, or from a beast or bird.' See furtherEsplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, pt iii., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 90-1;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445, 449-458;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 85-9;Humboldt,Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 311, 318;Gama,Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 39-41;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., p. 385;Brinton's Myths, pp. 122, 130;Müller,Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 652;Biart,La Terre Tempéreé, p. 274. Mr Tylor, speaking of Mexico, in hisAnahuac, p. 279, says: 'Children were sprinkled with water when their names were given to them. This is certainly true, though the statement that they believed that the process purified them from original sin is probably a monkish fiction.' Farther reading, however, has shown Mr Tylor the injustice of this judgment, and in his masterly latest and greatest work (seePrimitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36), he writes as follows: 'The last group of rites whose course through religious history is to be outlined here, takes in the varied dramatic acts of ceremonial purification or lustration. With all the obscurity and intricacy due to age-long modification, the primitive thought which underlies these ceremonies is still open to view. It is the transition from practical to symbolic cleansing, from removal of bodily impurity to deliverance from invisible, spiritual, and at last moral evil. (See this vol.p. 119).... In old Mexico, the first act of ceremonial lustration took place at birth. The nurse washed the infant in the name of the water-goddess, to remove the impurity of its birth, to cleanse its heart and give it a good and perfect life; then blowing on water in her right hand she washed it again, warning it of forthcoming trials and miseries and labors, and praying the invisible Deity to descend upon the water, to cleanse the child from sin and foulness, and to deliver it from misfortune. The second act took place some four days later, unless the astrologers postponed it. At a festive gathering, amid fires kept alight from the first ceremony, the nurse undressed the child sent by the gods into this sad and doleful world, bade it to receive the life-giving water, and washed it, driving out evil from each limb and offering to the deities appointed prayers for virtue and blessing. It was then that the toy instruments of war or craft or household labor were placed in the boy's or girl's hand (a custom singularly corresponding with one usual in China), and the other children, instructed by their parents, gave the new-comer its child-name, here again to be replaced by another at manhood or womanhood. There is nothing unlikely in the statement that the child was also passed four times through the fire, but the authority this is given on is not sufficient. The religious character of ablution is well shown in Mexico by its forming part of the daily service of the priests. Aztec life ended as it had begun, with the ceremonial lustration; it was one of the funeral ceremonies to sprinkle the head of the corpse with the lustral water of this life.'
[IX-28]Camargo, inNouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 132-3.'On célébrait chaque année une fête solennelle en l'honneur de cette déesse Xochiquetzal, et une foule de peuple se réunissait dans son temple. On disait qu'elle était la femme de Tlaloc le dieu des eaux, et que Texcatlipuca la lui avait enlevée et l'avait transportée au neuvième ciel. Metlacueycati était la déesse des magiciennes. Tlaloc l'épousa quand Xochiquetzal lui eut été enlevée.'
[IX-29]Boturini,Idea, pp. 15, 63-8:'Pero, no menos indignados los Dioses del pecado de Yàppan, que de la inobediencia, y atrevimiento deYàotl, le convirtieron en Langosta, que llaman los IndiosAhuacachapùllin, mandando se llamasse en adelanteTzontecomàma, que quiere dicir,Carga Cabeza, y en efecto este animal parece que lleva cargo consigo, propiedad de los Malsines, que siempre cargan las honras, que han quitado à sus Proximos.'
[IX-30]See this vol.pp. 220-5.
[IX-31]See this vol., pp.212,226.
[IX-32]Other descriptions of this rite are given with additional details:'Usaban una ceremonia generalmente en toda esta tierra, hombres y mugeres, niños y niñas, que quando entraban en algun lugar donde habia imagenes de las idolos, una ó muchas, luego tocaban en la tierra con el dedo, y luego le llegaban á la boca ó á la lengua: á esto llamaban comer tierra, haciendolo en reverencia de sus Dioses, y todos los que salian de sus casas, aunque no saliesen del pueblo, volviendo á su casa hacian lo mismo, y por los caminos quando pasaban delante algun Cu ú oratorio hacian lo mismo, y en lugar de juramento usaban esto mismo, que para afirmar quien decia verdad hacian esta ceremonia, y los que se querian satisfacer del que hablaba si decia verdad, demandabanle hiciese esta ceremonia, luego le creian como juramento.... Tenian tambien costumbre de hacer juramento de cumplir alguna cosa á que se obligaban, y aquel á quien se obligaban les demandaba que hiciesen juramento para estar seguro de su palabra y el juramento que hacian era en esta forma: Por vida del Sol y de nuestra señora la tierra que no falte en lo que tengo dicho, y para mayor seguridad como esta tierra; y luego tocaba con los dedos en la tierra, llegabalos á la boca y lamialos; y asi comia tierra haciendo juramento.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 95-6, 101;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., ap., pp. 212, 226;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 25.
[IX-33]Quite different versions of this sentence are given by Kingsborough's and Bustamante's editions respectively. That ofKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 7, reads:'Quando decienden á la tierra las Diosas Ixcuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo, para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.'That of Bustamante,Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 13, reads:'Cuando descienden á la tierra las diosas llamadasCivapipilti, ó cuando se hace la fiesta de las diosas de la carnalidad que se llamanYxtuiname, ayunarás cuatro dias afligiendo tu estómago y tu boca, y llegado el dia de la fiesta de estas diosasYxtuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.'
[IX-34]'De esto bien se arguye que aunque habian hecho muchos pecados en tiempo de su juventud, no se confesaban de ellos hasta la vejez, por no se obligar á cesar de pecar antes de la vejez, por la opinion que tenian, que el que tornaba á reincidir en los pecados, al que se confesaba una vez no tenia remedio.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 6-8;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 10-16. Prescott writes,Mex., vol. i., p. 68: 'It is remarkable that they administered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were imposed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the Roman Catholic Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man's life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his conscience, and settled, at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another peculiarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal punishment of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case of arrest.' Mention of Tlazolteotl will be found inGomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 309;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 62, 79;Herrera,Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. They say that Yxcuina, who was the goddess of shame, protected adulterers. She was the goddess of salt, of dirt, and of immodesty, and the cause of all sins. They painted her with two faces, or with two different colors on the face. She was the wife of Mizuitlantecutli, the god of hell. She was also the goddess of prostitutes; and she presided over these thirteen signs, which were all unlucky, and thus they held that those who were born in these signs would be rogues or prostitutes.Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. xxxix., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 184;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Quatre Lettres, pp. 291-2, 301.
[IX-35]See this vol.,pp. 212,226.
[IX-36]'Il Jauhtli è una pianta, il cui fusto e lungo un cubito, le foglie somiglianti a quelle del Salcio, ma dentate, i fiori gialli, e la radice sottile. Così i fiori, come l'altre parti della pianta, hanno lo stesso odore e sapore dell' Anice. È assai utile per la Medicina, ed i Medica Messicani l'adoperavano contro parecchie malattie; ma servivansi ancora d'essa per alcuni usi superstiziosi.'This is the note given by Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77, in describing this festival, and the incense used for stupefying the victims; see a different note however, in this vol.,p. 339, in which Molina describesyiauhtlias 'black maize.' In some cases, according to Mendieta,Hist. Ecles., p. 100, there was given to the condemned a certain drink that put them beside themselves, so that they went to the sacrifice with a ghastly drunken merriment.
[IX-37]'Cuexpalli, cabello largo que dexan a los muchachos en el cogote, quando los tresquilan.'Molina,Vocabulario.
[IX-38]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 8-9, 28, 63-6;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 16-19, lib. ii., pp. 62-4, 141-8;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 76;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lvi., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 190.
[IX-39]'Esta estatua asi adornada no lejos de un lugar que estaba delante de ella, á la media noche sacaban fuego nuevo para que ardiese en aquel lugar, y sacabanlo con unos palos, uno puesto abajo, y sobre él barrenaban con otro palo, como torciendole entre las manos con gran prisa, y con aquel movimiento y calor se encendia el fuego, y alli lo tomaban con yesca y encendian en el hogar.'Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 84;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 184.
[IX-40]Ortapachtlias Bustamante spells it.'Tapachtli, cral, concha o venera.'Molina,Vocabulario.
[IX-41]See this vol.,p. 376, note 27.
[IX-42]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 33, 83-7;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 183-92;Boturini,Idea, p. 138;Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lxxiv., inKingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 196-7;Clavigero,Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 82.
[IX-43]Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 96;Sahagun,Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., p. 213.
[IX-44]OrIzitzimitesas onp. 327of this vol.