Chapter IX: Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship (1)

THE MOTHER OR ALL-NOURISHING GODDESS UNDER VARIOUS NAMES AND IN
VARIOUS ASPECTS -- HER FEAST IN THE ELEVENTH AZTEC MONTH
OCHPANIZTLI -- FESTIVALS OF THE EIGHTH MONTH, HUEYTECUILHUITL,
AND OF THE FOURTH, HUEYTOZOZTLI -- THE DEIFICATION OF WOMEN
THAT DIED IN CHILD-BIRTH -- THE GODDESS OF WATER UNDER VARIOUS
NAMES AND IN VARIOUS ASPECTS -- CEREMONIES OF THE BAPTISM OR
LUSTRATION OF CHILDREN -- THE GODDESS OF LOVE, HER VARIOUS
NAMES AND ASPECTS -- RITES OF CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION -- THE
GOD OF FIRE AND HIS VARIOUS NAMES -- HIS FESTIVALS IN THE TENTH
MONTH XOCOTLVETI AND IN THE EIGHTEENTH MONTH YZCALI; ALSO HIS
QUADRIENNIAL FESTIVAL IN THE LATTER MONTH -- THE GREAT FESTIVAL
OF EVERY FIFTY-TWO YEARS; LIGHTING THE NEW FIRE -- THE GOD OF
HADES, AND TEOYAOMIQUE, COLLECTOR OF THE SOULS OF THE FALLEN
BRAVE -- DEIFICATION OF DEAD RULERS AND HEROES -- MIXCOATL, GOD
OF HUNTING AND HIS FEAST IN THE FOURTEENTH MONTH, QUECHOLLI --
VARIOUS OTHER MEXICAN DEITIES -- FESTIVAL IN THE SECOND MONTH,
TLACAXIPEHUALIZTLI, WITH NOTICE OF THE GLADIATORIAL SACRIFICES
-- COMPLETE SYNOPSIS OF THE FESTIVALS OF THE MEXICAN CALENDAR,
FIXED AND MOVABLE -- TEMPLES AND PRIESTS.

Centeotl is a goddess, or according to some good authorities a god, who held, under many names and in many characters, a most important place in the divine world of the Aztecs, and of other Mexican and Central American peoples. She was goddess of maize, and consequently, from the importance in America of this grain, of agriculture, and of the producing earth generally. Many of her various names seem dependent on the varying aspects of the maize at different stages of its growth; others seem to have originated in the mother-like nourishing qualities of the grain of which she was the deity. Müller lays much stress on this aspect of her character: "The force which sustains life must also have created it. Centeotl was therefore considered as bringing children to light, and is represented with an infant in her arms. Nebel gives us such a representation, and in our Mexican museum at Basel there are many images in this form, made of burnt clay. Where agriculture rules, there more children are brought to mature age than among the hunting nations, and the land revels in a large population. No part of the world is so well adapted to exhibit this difference as America. Centeotl is consequently the great producer, not of children merely, she is the great goddess, the most ancient goddess."[IX-1]

[Sidenote: THE MOTHER-NOURISHER.]

Centeotl was known, according to Clavigero, by the titles Tonacajohua, 'she who sustains us;' Tzinteotl, 'original goddess;' and by the further names Xilonen, Iztacacenteotl, and Tlatlauhquicenteotl. She was further, according to the same author, identical with Tonantzin, 'our mother,' and, according to Müller and many Spanish authorities, either identical or closely connected with the various deities known as Teteionan, 'the mother of the gods,'[IX-2] Cihuatcoatl, 'the snake-woman,' Tazi or Toci or Tocitzin, 'our grandmother,' and Earth, the universal material mother. Squier says of Tiazolteotl, that "she is Cinteotl the goddess of maize, under another aspect."[IX-3]

She was particularly honored by the Totonacs, with whom she was the chief divinity. They greatly loved her, believing that she did not demand human victims, but was content with flowers and fruits, the fat banana and the yellow maize, and small animals, such as doves, quails, and rabbits. More, they hoped that she would in the end utterly deliver them from the cruel necessity of such sacrifices, even to the other gods.

With very different feelings, as we shall soon see, did the Mexicans proper approach this deity, making her temples horrid with the tortured forms of human sacrifices. It shows how deep the stain of the blood was in the Mexican religious heart, how poisonous far the odor of it had crept through all the senses of the Aztec soul, when it could be believed that the great sustainer, the yellow waving maize, the very mother of all, must be fed upon the flesh of her own children.[IX-4]

To make comprehensible various allusions it seems well here to sum up rapidly the characters given of certain goddesses identical with or resembling in various points this Centeotl. Chicomecoatl[IX-5] was, according to Sahagun, the Ceres of Mexico, and the goddess of provisions, as well of what is drunk as of what is eaten. She was represented with a crown on her head, a vase in her right hand, and on her left arm a shield with a great flower painted thereon; her garments and her sandals were red.

The first of the Mexican goddesses was, following the same authority, Cioacoatl, or Civacoatl, the goddess of adverse things, such as poverty, downheartedness, and toil. She appeared often in the guise of a great lady, wearing such apparel as was used in the palace; she was also heard at night in the air shouting and even roaring. Besides her name Cioacoatl, which means 'snake-woman,' she was known as Tonantzin, that is to say, 'our mother.' She was arrayed in white robes, and her hair was arranged in front, over her forehead, in little curls that crossed each other. It was a custom with her to carry a cradle on her shoulders, as one that carries a child in it, and after setting it down in the market-place beside the other women, to disappear. When this cradle was examined, there was found a stone knife in it, and with this the priests slew their sacrificial victims.

[Sidenote: MEDICINE-GODDESS.]

The goddess of Sahagun's description most resembling the Toci of other writers, is the one that he calls 'the mother of the gods, the heart of the earth, and our ancestor or grandmother (abuela).' She is described as the goddess of medicine and of medicinal herbs, as worshiped by doctors, surgeons, blood-letters, of those that gave herbs to produce abortions, and also of the diviners that pronounced upon the fortune of children according to their birth. They worshiped her also that cast lots with grains of maize, those that augured by looking into water in a bowl, those that cast lots with bits of cord tied together, those that drew little worms or maggots from the mouth or eyes, those that extracted little stones from other parts of the body, and those that had sweat-baths, _temazcallis_, in their houses. These last always set the image of this goddess in the baths, calling her Temazcalteci, that is to say, 'the grandmother of the baths.' Her adorers made this goddess a feast every year, buying a woman for a sacrifice, decorating this victim with the ornaments proper to the goddess. Every evening they danced with this unfortunate, and regaled her delicately, praying her to eat as they would a great lady, and amusing her in every way that she might not weep nor be sad at the prospect of death. When the dreadful hour did come, having slain her, together with two others that accompanied her to death, they flayed her; then a man clothed himself in her skin, and went about all the city playing many pranks--by all of which her identity with Tozi seems sufficiently clear. This goddess was represented with the mouth and chin stained with ulli, and a round patch of the same on her face; on her head she had a kind of turban made of cloth rolled round and knotted behind. In this knot were stuck plumes which issued from it like flames, and the ends of the cloth fell behind over the shoulders. She wore sandals, a shirt with a kind of broad serrated lower border, and white petticoats. In her left hand she held a shield with a round plate of gold in the centre thereof; in her right hand she held a broom.[IX-6]

The festival in which divers of the various manifestations of the mother-goddess were honored, was held in the beginning of the eleventh Aztec month, beginning on the 14th of September; Centeotl, or Cinteotl, or Centeutl, or Tzinteutl, is however represented therein as a male and not a female.

[Sidenote: SACRIFICE TO THE MOTHER-GODDESS.]

Fifteen days before the commencement of the festival those that took part in it began to dance, if dancing it could be called, in which the feet and body were hardly moved, and in which the time was kept by raising and lowering the hands to the beat of the drum. This went on for eight days, beginning in the afternoon and finishing with the set of sun, the dancers being perfectly silent, arranged in four lines, and each having both hands full of flowers, cut branches and all. Some of the youths, indeed, too restless to bear the silence, imitated with their mouths the sound of the drum; but all were forced to keep, as well in motion as in voice, the exactest time and good order. On the expiration of these eight days the medical women, both old and young, divided themselves into two parties, and fought a kind of mock battle before the woman that had to die in this festival, to amuse her and keep tears away; for they held it of bad augury if this miserable creature gave way to her grief, and as a sign that many women had to die in childbirth. This woman who was called for the time being, 'the image of the mother of the gods,' led in person the first attack upon one of the two parties of fighters, being accompanied by three old women that were to her as mothers and never left her side, called respectively Aoa, Tlavitezqui, and Xocuauhtli.[IX-7] The fight consisted in pelting each other with handfuls of red leaves, or leaves of the nopal, or of yellow flowers called _cempoalsuchitl_, the same sort as had been carried by the actors in the preceding dance. These women all wore girdles, to which were suspended little gourds filled with powder of the herb called _yietl_. When the pelting-match was over, the woman that had to die was led back to the house where she was guarded; and all this was repeated during four successive days. Then the victim representing Toci, that is to say, 'our grandmother or ancestor,' for so was called the mother of the gods, was led for the last time through the market-place by the medical woman. This ceremony was called 'the farewell to the market-place;' for never more should she see it who this day passed through, decorated in such mournful frippery, surrounded by the pomp of such hollow mirth. She went sowing maize on every side as she walked, and having passed through the market she was received by the priests who took her to a house near the cu where she had to be killed. There the medical women and midwives consoled her: Daughter, be joyful and not sad, this night thou shalt sleep with the king. Then they adorned her with the ornaments of the goddess Toci, striving all the while to keep the fact of her death in the back-ground, that she might die suddenly and without knowing it. At midnight, in darkness, not so much as a cough breaking the silence, she was led to the holy temple-top, and caught up swiftly on the shoulders of a man. There was hardly a struggle; her bearer felt himself deluged with blood, while she was beheaded with all despatch, and flayed, still warm. The skin of the thighs was first taken off and carried, for a purpose to be presently revealed, to the cu of Centeotl, who was the son of Toci. With the remainder of the skin, next taken off, a priest clothed himself, drawing it on, it would appear from other records, like a glove; this priest who was a young man chosen for his bodily forces and size, thus clothed represented Toci, the goddess herself. The Toci priest, with this horrible jacket sticking to his sinewy bust, then came down from the temple amid the chanting of the singers of the cu. On each side of him went two persons, who had made a vow to help him in this service, and behind came several other priests. In front there ran a number of principal men and soldiers, armed with besoms of blood-stained grass, who looked back from time to time, and struck their shields as if provoking a fight; these he pretended to pursue with great fury, and all that saw this play (which was called _cacacalli_) feared and trembled exceedingly. On reaching the cu of Huitzilopochtli, the Toci priest spread out his arms and stood like a cross before the image of the war god; this he did four times and then went on to the cu of Centeotl, whither, as we remember, the skin of the thighs of the flayed woman had been sent. This skin of the thighs another young priest, representing the god Centeotl, son of Toci, had put on over his face like a mask. In addition to this loathsome veil, he wore a jacket of feathers and a hood of feathers attached to the jacket. This hood ran out into a peak of a spiral form falling behind; and the back-bone or spine of this spiral resembled the comb of a cock; this hood was called _ytztlacoliuhqui_, that is to say 'god of frost.'

The Toci priest and the Centeotl priest next went together to the cu of Toci, where the first waited for the morning (for all this already described took place at night) to have certain trappings put on over his horrid under-vest. When the morning broke, amid the chanting of the singers, all the principal men, who had been waiting below, ran with great swiftness up the steps of the temple carrying their offerings. Some of these principal men began to cover the feet and the head of the Toci priest with the white downy inner feathers of the eagle; others painted his face red; others put on him a rather short shirt with the figure of an eagle wrought or woven into the breast of it, and certain painted petticoats; others beheaded quails and offered copal. All this done quickly, these men took their departure.

[Sidenote: THE SKIN-BEARERS.]

Then were brought forth and put on the Toci priest all his rich vestures, and a kind of square crown very wide above and ornamented with five little banners, one in each corner, and in the centre one higher than the others. All the captives that had to die were brought out and set in line, and he took four of them one after the other, threw them down on the sacrificial stone and took out their hearts; the rest of the captives he handed over to the other priests to complete the work he had begun. After this he set out with the Centeotl priest for the cu of the latter. In advance of these a little way there walked a party of their devotees, called _ycuexoan_, decorated with papers, girt for breech-clout with twisted paper, carrying at their shoulders a crumpled paper, round like a shield, and tassels of untwisted cotton. On either side also there went those that sold lime[IX-8] in the market, and the medical women, moving to the singing of the priests and the beat of drum. Having come to the place where heads were spitted at the cu of Centeotl, the Toci priest set one foot on the drum and waited there for the Centeotl priest. The two being come together it would seem that he who represented Centeotl now set out alone, with much haste and accompanied by many soldiers, for a place on the enemy's frontier where there was a kind of small hut built. There at last was deposited and left the skin of the thighs of the sacrificed woman which had served such ghastly use. And often, it is said, it happened, this ceremony taking place on the border of a hostile territory, that the enemy sallied out against the procession, and there was fighting and many were slain.

After this the young man who represented the goddess Toci was taken to the house that is called Atempan. The king took his seat on a throne with a mat of eagle-skin and feathers under his feet, and a tiger-skin over the back of his seat, and there was a grand review of the army, and a distribution from the royal treasury of raiment, ornaments, and arms; and it was understood that those who received such arms had to die with them in war. This done, dancing was begun in the court-yard of the temple of Toci; and all who had received presents, as above, repaired thither. This dancing, as in the first part of the festival, consisted for the most part in keeping time to the beat of the drum with hands filled with flowers; so that the whole court looked like a living garden; and there was so much gold, for the king and all the princes were there, that the sun flashed through all as on water. This began at mid-day and went on for two days. On the evening of the second day, the priests of the goddess Chicomecoatl, clothed with the skins of the captives that had died in a former day, ascended a small cu called the table of Huitzilopochtli and sowed maize of all kinds, white and yellow and red, and calabash-seeds, upon the heads of the people that were below. The people tried to gather up these as they fell, and elbowed each other a good deal. The damsels, called _cioatlamacazque_, that served the goddess Chicomecoatl, carried each one on her shoulder, rolled in a rich mantle, seven ears of maize, striped with melted ulli and wrapped in white paper; their legs and arms were decorated with feathers sprinkled over with marcasite. These sang with the priest of their goddess. This done, one of the priests descended from the above-mentioned cu of Huitzilopochtli, carrying in his hand a large basket filled with powdered chalk and feather-down, which he set in a small chamber, or little cave, called _coaxalpan_, between the temple-stairs and the temple itself. This cavity was reached from below by four or five steps, and when the basket was put down there was a general rush of the soldiers to be first to secure some of the contents. Every one, as he got his hands filled, with much elbowing, returned running to the place whence he had set out. All this time the Toci priest had been looking on, and now he pretended to chase those that ran, while they pelted him back with the down and powdered chalk they had in their hands; the king himself running a little way and pelting him like the rest. After this fashion they all ran away from him and left him alone, except some priests, who followed him to a place called Tocititlan, when he took off the skin of the sacrificed woman and hung it up in a little hut that was there; taking care that its arms were stretched out, and that the head (or, surely, the neck--for have we not read that the head was cut off the woman on the fatal night which terminated her life?), was turned toward the road, or street. And this was the last of the ceremonies of the feast of Ochpaniztli.[IX-9]

[Sidenote: THE XILONEN FESTIVAL.]

The intimate connection of the goddess Xilonen (from _xilotl_, a young or tender ear of maize) with Centeotl is shown by the fact that in the cu of Centeotl was killed the unfortunate woman who was decorated to resemble the goddess Xilonen. The festival of Xilonen commenced on the eleventh day of the eighth Mexican month, which month begins on the 16th of July. The victim was made to resemble the image of the goddess by having her face painted yellow from the nose downward, and her brow red. On her head was put a crown of paper with four corners, from the centre and top of which issued many plumes. Round her neck and over her breasts hung strings of precious stones, and over these was put a round medal of gold. Her garments and sandals were curiously wrought, the latter painted with red stripes. On her left arm was a shield, and in the right hand she held a stick, or baton, painted yellow. The women led her to death dancing round her, and the priests and the principal men danced before them, sowing incense as they went. The priest who was to act as executioner had on his shoulders a bunch of feathers held there in the grip of an eagle's talons, artificial; another of the priests carried the hollow board filled with rattles, so often mentioned. At the foot of the cu of Centeotl, this latter stopped in front of the Xilonen woman, scattered incense before her, and rattled with his board, waving it from side to side. They ascended the cu, and one of the priests caught the victim up, twisting her backwards, her shoulders against his shoulders; on which living altar her heart was cut out through her breast, and put into a cup. After that there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took part in a body by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red macaw feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with marcasite. There was also a banquet of small pies called _xocotamalli_, during which to the old men and women license was given to drink pulque; the young, however, being restrained from the bacchanalian part of this enjoyment by severe and sometimes capital punishment.[IX-10]

Lastly, the intimate connection or identity of Centeotl with the earth-mother, the all-nourisher, seems clearly symbolized in the feast of the fourth month of the Mexicans, which began on the 27th of April. In it they made a festival to the god of cereals, under the name of Centeotl, and to the goddess of provisions, called Chicomecoatl. First they fasted four days, putting certain rushes or water-flags beside the images of the gods, staining the white part of the bottom of each rush with blood drawn from their ears or legs; branches too, of the kind called _acxoiatl_, and a kind of bed or mattress of hay were put before the altars. A sort of porridge of maize called _mazamorra_ was also made and given to the youths. Then all walked out into the country, and through the maize-fields, carrying stalks of maize, and other herbs called _mecoatl_. With these they strewed the image of the god of cereals that every one had in his house, and they put papers on it and food before it of various kinds; five _chiquivites_,[IX-11] or baskets, of tortillas, and on the top of each _chiquivitl_ a cooked frog, a basket of _chian_[IX-12] flour, which they call _pinolli_;[IX-13] and a basket of toasted maize mixed with beans. They cut also a joint from a green maize-stalk, stuffed the little tube with morsels of every kind of the above-mentioned food, and set it carefully on the back of the frog.[IX-14] This each one did in his own house, and in the afternoon all this offering of food was carried to the cu of the goddess of provisions, of the goddess Chicomecoatl, and eaten there in a general scramble, take who take could; symbolizing one knows not what, if not the laisser-faire and laisser-aller system of national commisariat much advocated by many political economists, savage and civilized.

[Sidenote: BLESSING THE SEED-MAIZE.]

In this festival the ears of maize that were preserved for seed were carried in procession by virgins to a cu, apparently the one just mentioned, but which is here called the cu of Chicomecoatl _and_ of Centeotl. The maidens carried on their shoulders not more than seven ears of corn apiece, sprinkled with drops of oil of ulli, and wrapped first in papers and then in a cloth. The legs and arms of these girls were ornamented with red feathers, and their faces were smeared with the pitch called _chapopotli_ and sprinkled with marcasite. As they went along in this bizarre attire, the people crowded to see them pass, but it was forbidden to speak to them. Sometimes indeed an irrepressible youth would break out into words of admiration or love toward some fair pitch-besmeared face, but his answer came sharp and swift from one of the old women that watched the younger, in some such fashion as this: And so thou speakest, raw coward! thou must be speaking, eh? Think first of performing some man's feat, and get rid of that tail of hair at the nape of thy neck that marks the coward and the good-for-nothing. It is not for thee to speak here; thou art as much a woman as I am; thou hast never come out from behind the fire! But the young lovers of Tenochtitlan were not without insolent springalls among them, much given to rude gibes, and retorts like the following: Well said, my lady, I receive this with thanks, I will do what you command me, will take care to show myself a man; but as for you, I value two cacao-beans more than you and all your lineage; put mud on your body, and scratch yourself; fold one leg over the other and roll in the dust; see! here is a rough stone, knock your face against it; and if you want anything more take a red-hot coal and burn a hole in your throat to spit through; for God's sake, hold your peace.

This the young fellows said, writes Sahagun, to show their courage; and so it went, give and take, till the maize was carried to the cu and blessed. Then the folk returned to their houses and sanctified maize was put in the bottom of every granary, and it was said that it was the heart thereof, and it remained there till taken out for seed. These ceremonies were specially in honor of the goddess Chicomecoatl. She supplied provisions, she it was that had made all kinds of maize and frijoles, and whatsover vegetables could be eaten, and all sorts of chia; and for this they made her that festival with offerings of food, and with songs and dances, and with the blood of quails. All the ornaments of her attire were bright red and curiously wrought, and in her hands they put stalks of maize.[IX-15]

The Mexicans deified, under the name Cioapipilti, all women that died in child-bed. There were oratories raised to their honor in every ward that had two streets. In such oratories, called _cioateucalli_ or _ciateupan_, there were kept images of these goddesses adorned with certain papers called _amatetevitl_. The eighth movable feast of the Mexican calendar was dedicated to them, falling in the sign Cequiahuitl, in the first house; in this feast were slain in their honor all lying in the jails under pain of death. These goddesses were said to move through the air at pleasure, and to appear to whom they would of those that lived upon the earth, and sometimes to enter into and possess them. They were accustomed to hurt children with various infirmities, especially paralysis and other sudden diseases. Their favorite haunt on earth was the cross-roads, and, on certain days of the year, people would not go out of their houses for fear of meeting them. They were propitiated in their temples and at the cross-roads by offerings of bread kneaded into various shapes--into figures of butterflies and thunderbolts for example--by offerings of small tamales, or pies, and of toasted maize. Their images, besides the papers above mentioned, were decorated by having the face, arms, and legs painted very white; their ears were made of gold; their hair was dressed like that of ladies, in little curls; the shirt was painted over with black waves; the petticoats were worked in divers colors; the sandals were white.

[Sidenote: THE MOTHER-GODDESS AND WOMAN IN CHILD-BED.]

The mother-goddess, under the form of the serpent-woman, Cioacoatl, or Ciuacoatl, or Cihuacoatl, or, lastly, Quilaztli, seems to have been held as the patroness of women in child-bed generally, and, especially, of those that died there. When the delivery of a woman was likely to be tedious and dangerous, the midwife addressed the patient saying: Be strong, my daughter; we can do nothing for thee. Here are present thy mother and thy relations, but thou alone must conduct this business to its termination. See to it, my daughter, my well-beloved, that thou be a strong and valiant and manly woman; be like her who first bore children, like Cioacoatl, like Quilaztli. And if still after a day and a night of labor the woman could not bring forth, the midwife took her away from all other persons and brought her into a closed room and made many prayers, calling upon the goddess Cioacoatl, and upon the goddess Yoalticitl,[IX-16] and upon other goddesses. If, notwithstanding all, however, the woman died, they gave her the title, _mociaquezqui_, that is 'valiant woman,' and they washed all her body, and washed with soap her head and her hair. Her husband lifted her on his shoulders, and, with her long hair flowing loose behind him, carried her to the place of burial. All the old midwives accompanied the body, marching with shields and swords, and shouting as when soldiers close in the attack. They had need of their weapons, for the body that they escorted was a holy relic which many were eager to win; and a party of youths fought with these Amazons to take their treasure from them: this fight was no play but a very bone-breaking earnest. The burial procession set out at the setting of the sun and the corpse was interred in the court-yard of the cu of the goddesses, or celestial women called Cioapipilti. Four nights the husband and his friends guarded the grave and four nights the youths, or rawest and most inexperienced soldiers, prowled like wolves about the little band. If, either from the fighting midwives or from the night-watchers, they succeeded in securing the body, they instantly cut off the middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the head; either of these things being put in one's shield, made one fierce, brave, invincible in war, and blinded the eyes of one's enemies. There prowled also round the sacred tomb certain wizards, called _temamacpalitotique_, seeking to hack off and steal the whole left arm of the dead wife; for they held it to be of mighty potency in their enchantments, and a thing that when they went to a house to work their malice thereon, would wholly take away the courage of the inmates, and dismay them so that they could neither move hand nor foot, though they saw all that passed.

[Sidenote: THE HOUSE OF THE SUN.]

The death of this woman in child-bed was mourned by the midwives, but her parents and relations were joyful thereat; for they said that she did not go to hades, or the under-ground world, but to the western part of the House of the Sun. To the eastern part of the House of the Sun, as the ancients said, were taken up all the soldiers that died in war. When the sun rose in the morning these brave men decorated themselves in their panoply of war, and accompanied him towards the mid-heaven, shouting and fighting, apparently in a sham or review battle, until they reached the point of noonday, which was called _nepantlatonatiuh_. At this point the heroines, whose home was in the west of heaven, the _mocioaquezque_, the valiant women, dead in child-bed, who ranked as equal with the heroes fallen in war, met these heroes and relieved them of their duty as guards of honor of the sun. From noon till night, down the western slope of light, while the forenoon escort of warriors were scattered through all the fields and gardens of heaven, sucking flowers till another day should call them anew to their duty, the women, in panoply of war, just as the men had been, and fighting like them with clashing shields and shouts of joy, bore the sun to his setting; carrying him on a litter of _quetzales_, or rich feathers, called the _quetzal-apanecaiutl_. At this setting-place of the sun the women were, in their turn, relieved by those of the under world, who here came out to receive him. For it was reported of old by the ancients that when night began in the upper world the sun began to shine through hades, and that thereupon the dead rose up from their sleep and bore his shining litter through their domain. At this hour too the celestial women, released from their duty in heaven, scattered and poured down through the air upon the earth, where, with a touch of the dear nature that makes the world kin, they are described as looking for spindles to spin with, and shuttles to weave with, and all the old furniture and implements of their house-wifely pride. This thing, says Sahagun, "the devil wrought to deceive withal, for very often, in the form of those women, he appeared to their bereaved husbands, giving them petticoats and shirts."

Very beautiful was the form of address before burial used by the midwife to the dead woman who had taken rank among the _mocioaquezque_ or _mocioaquetza_: O woman, strong and warlike, child well-beloved, valiant one, beautiful and tender dove, strong hast thou been and toil-enduring as a hero; thou hast conquered, thou hast done as did thy mother the lady Cioacoatl, or Quilaztli. Very valiantly hast thou fought, stoutly hast thou handled the shield and the spear that the great mother put in thine hand. Up with thee! break from sleep! behold it is already day; already the red of morning shoots through the clouds; already the swallows and all birds are abroad. Rise, my daughter, attire thyself, go to that good land where is the house of thy father and mother the Sun; thither let thy sisters, the celestial women, carry thee, they that are always joyful and merry and filled with delight, because of the Sun with whom they take pleasure. My tender daughter and lady, not without sore travail hast thou gotten the glory of this victory; a great pain and a hard penance hast thou undergone. Well and fortunately hast thou purchased this death. Is this, peradventure, a fruitless death, and without great merit and honor? Nay, verily, but one of much honor and profit. Who receives other such great mercy, other such happy victory as thou? for thou hast gained with thy death eternal life, a life full of joy and delight, with the goddesses called Cioapipilti, the celestial goddesses. Go now, my lady, my well-beloved; little by little advance toward them; be one of them, that they may receive thee and be always with thee, that thou mayest rejoice and be glad in our father and mother the Sun, and accompany him whithersoever he wish to take pleasure. O my lady, my well-beloved daughter, thou hast left us behind, us old people, unworthy of such glory; thou hast torn thyself away from thy father and mother, and departed. Not indeed of thine own will, but thou wast called; thou didst follow a voice that called. We must remain orphans and forlorn, old and luckless and poor; misery will glorify itself in us. O my lady, thou hast left us here that we may go from door to door and through the streets in poverty and sorrow; we pray thee to remember us where thou art, and to provide for the poverty that we here endure. The sun wearies us with his great heat, the air with its coldness, and the frost with its torment. All these things afflict and grieve our miserable earthen bodies; hunger is lord over us, and we can do nothing against it. My well-beloved, I pray thee to visit us since thou art a valorous woman and a lady, since thou art settled forever in the place of delight and blessedness, there to live and be forever with our Lord. Thou seest him with thine eyes, thou speakest to him with thy tongue, pray to him for us, entreat him that he favor us, and therewith we shall be at rest.[IX-17]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: CHALCHIHUITLICUE.]

Chalchihuitlicue or Chalchiuhcyeje is described by Clavigero as the goddess of water and the mate of Tlaloc. She had other names relating to water in its different states, as Apozonallotl and Acuecuejotl, which mean the swelling and fluctuation of water; Atlacamani, or the storms excited thereon; Ahuic and Aiauh, or its motion, now to one side, now to the other; and Xixiquipilihui, the alternate rising and falling of the waves. The Tlascaltecs called her Matlalcueje, that is 'clothed in a green robe;' and they gave the same name to the highest mountain of Tlascala, on whose summit are found those stormy clouds which generally burst over the city of Puebla. To that summit the Tlascaltecs ascended to perform their sacrifices, and offer up their prayers. This is the very same goddess of water to whom Torquemada gives the name of Hochiquetzal, and Boturini that of Macuilxochiquetzalli.[IX-18]

Of the accuracy of the assertions of this last sentence I am by no means certain; Boturini and Torquemada both describe their goddess of water without giving any support thereto. Boturini says that she was metaphorically called by the Mexicans the goddess of the Petticoat of Precious Stones--chalchihuites, as it would appear from other authorities, being meant--and that she was represented with large pools at her feet, and symbolized by certain reeds that grow in moist places. She was particularly honored by fishermen and others whose trade connected them with water, and great ladies were accustomed to dedicate to her their nuptials--probably, as will be seen immediately, because this goddess had much to do with certain lustral ceremonies performed on new-born children.[IX-19]

Many names, writes Torquemada, were given to this goddess, but that of Chalchihuitlicue was the most common and usual; it meant to say, 'petticoat of water, of a shade between green and blue,' that is, of the color of the stones called chalchihuites.[IX-20] She was the companion, not the wife of Tlaloc, for indeed as our author affirms, the Mexicans did not think so grossly of their gods and goddesses as to marry them.[IX-21]

[Sidenote: IDOL OF CHALCHIHUITLICUE.]

According to Sahagun, Chalchihuitlicue was the sister of the Tlalocs. She was honored because she had power over the waters of the sea and of the rivers to drown those that went down to them, to raise tempests and whirlwinds, and to cause boats to founder. They worshiped her all those that dealt in water, that went about selling it from canoes, or peddled jars of it in the market. They represented this goddess as a woman, painted her face yellow, save the forehead, which was often blue, and hung round her neck a collar of precious stones from which depended a medal of gold. On her head was a crown of light blue paper, with plumes of green feathers, and tassels that fell to the nape of her neck. Her ear-rings were of turquoise wrought in mosaic. Her clothing was a shirt, or upper body-garment, clear blue petticoats with fringes from which hung marine shells, and white sandals. In her left hand she held a shield, and a leaf of the broad round white water-lily, called _atlacuezona_.[IX-22] In her right hand she held as a sceptre a vessel in the shape of a cross, or of a monstrance of the Catholic Church. This goddess, together with Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions, and Vixtocioatl, goddess of salt, was held in high veneration by kings and lords, for they said that these three supported the common people so that they could live and multiply.[IX-23]

[Sidenote: TWO LUSTRATIONS OR BAPTISMS.]

Chalchihuitlicue was especially connected with certain ceremonies of lustration of children, resembling in many points baptism among Christians. It would seem that two of these lustrations were practiced upon every infant, and the first took place immediately upon its birth. When the midwife had cut the umbilical cord of the child, then she washed it, and while washing it said, varying her address according to its sex: My son, approach now thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the goddess of water; may she see good to receive thee, to wash thee, and to put away from thee the filthiness that thou takest from thy father and mother; may she see good to purify thine heart, to make it good and clean, and to instill into thee good habits and manners.

Then the midwife turned to the water itself and spoke: Most compassionate lady, Chalchihuitlicue, here has come into the world this thy servant, sent hither by our father and mother, whose names are Ometecutli and Omecioatl,[IX-24] who live on the ninth heaven, which is the place of the habitation of the gods. We know not what are the gifts that this infant brings with it; we know not what was given to it before the beginning of the world; we know not what it is, nor what mischief and vice it brings with it taken from its father and mother. It is now in thine hands, wash and cleanse it as thou knowest to be necessary; in thine hands we leave it. Purge it from the filthiness it inherits from its father and its mother, all spot and defilement let the water carry away and undo. See good, O our lady, to cleanse and purify its heart and life that it may lead a quiet and peaceable life in this world; for indeed we leave this creature in thine hands, who art mother and lady of the gods, and alone worthy of the gift of cleansing that thou has held from before the beginning of the world; see good to do as we have entreated thee to this child now in thy presence.

Then the midwife spake again; I pray thee to receive this child here brought before thee. This said, the midwife took water and blew her breath upon it, and gave to taste of it to the babe, and touched the babe with it on the breast and on the top of the head. Then she said: My well-beloved son, or daughter, approach here thy mother and father, Chalchihuitlicue and Chalchihuitlatonac; let now this goddess take thee, for she has to bear thee on her shoulders and in her arms through this world. Then the midwife dipped the child into water and said: Enter, my son, into the water that is called _mamatlac_ and _tuspalac_; let it wash thee; let him cleanse thee that is in every place, let him see good to put away from thee all the evil that thou hast carried with thee from before the beginning of the world, the evil that thy father and thy mother have joined to thee. Having so washed the creature, the midwife then wrapped it up, addressing it the while as follows: O precious stone, O rich feather, O emerald, O sapphire, thou wert shaped where abide the great god and the great goddess that are above the heavens; created and formed thou wert by thy mother and father, Ometecutli and Omecioatl, the celestial woman and the celestial man. Thou hast come into this world, a place of many toils and troubles, of intemperate heat and intemperate cold and wind, a place of hunger and thirst, of weariness and of tears; of a verity we cannot say that this world is other than a place of weeping, of sadness, of vexation. Behold thy lot, weariness and weeping and tears. Thou hast come, my well-beloved, repose then and take here thy rest; let our Lord that is in every place provide for and support thee. And in saying all these things the midwife spake softly, as one that prays.

The second lustration or baptism, usually took place on the fifth day after birth, but in every case the astrologers and diviners were consulted, and if the signs were not propitious, the baptism was postponed till a day of good sign came. The ceremony, when the child was a boy, began by bringing to it a little shield, bow, and arrows; of which arrows there were four, one pointing toward each of the four points of the world. There were also brought a little shield, bow, and arrows, made of paste or dough of wild amaranth seeds, and a pottage of beans and toasted maize, and a little breech-clout and blanket or mantle. The poor in such cases had no more than the little shield, bow, and arrows, together with some tamales and toasted maize. When the child was a girl, there were brought to it, instead of mimic weapons, certain woman's implements and tools for spinning and weaving, the spindle and distaff, a little shirt and petticoats. These things being prepared, suiting the sex of the infant, its parents and relatives assembled before sunrise. When the sun rose the midwife asked for a new vessel full of water; and she took the child in her hands. Then the by-standers carried all the implements and utensils already mentioned into the court-yard of the house, where the midwife set the face of the child toward the west, and spake to the child saying: O grandson of mine, O eagle, O tiger, O valiant man, thou hast come into the world, sent by thy father and mother, the great Lord and the great lady; thou wast created and begotten in thy house, which is the place of the supreme gods that are above the nine heavens. Thou art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, who is in every place; join thyself now to thy mother, the goddess of water, Chalchihuitlicue.

Then the midwife gave the child to taste of the water, putting her moistened fingers in its mouth, and said: Take this; by this thou hast to live on the earth, to grow and to flourish; through this we get all things that support existence on the earth; receive it. Then with her moistened fingers she touched the breast of the child, and said: Behold the pure water that washes and cleanses thine heart, that removes all filthiness; receive it; may the goddess see good to purify and cleanse thine heart. Then the midwife poured water upon the head of the child saying: O my grandson, my son, take this water of the Lord of the world, which is thy life, invigorating and refreshing, washing and cleansing. I pray that this celestial water, blue and light blue, may enter into thy body and there live; I pray that it may destroy in thee and put away from thee all the things evil and adverse that were given thee before the beginning of the world. Into thine hand, O goddess of water, are all mankind put, because thou art our mother Chalchihuitlicue. Having so washed the body of the child and so spoken, the midwife said: Wheresoever thou art in this child, O thou hurtful thing, begone, leave it, put thyself apart; for now does it live anew, and anew is it born; now again is it purified and cleansed; now again is it shaped and engendered by our mother the goddess of water.

[Sidenote: PRAYER TO THE EARTH-MOTHER.]

All these things being done and spoken, the midwife lifted the child in both her hands toward heaven and said: O Lord, behold here thy creature that thou hast sent to this place of pain, of affliction, of anguish, to this world. Give it, O Lord, thy gifts and thine inspiration, forasmuch as thou art the great god, and hast with thee the great goddess. Then the midwife stooped again and set the child upon the earth, and raised it the second time toward heaven, saying: O our lady, who art mother of the heavens, who art called Citlalatonac,[IX-25] to thee I direct my voice and my cry; I pray thee to inspire with thy virtue, what virtue soever it may be, to give and to instil it into this creature. Then the midwife stooped again and set the child on the ground, and raised it the third time toward heaven, and said: O our Lord, god and goddess celestial, that are in the heavens, behold this creature; see good to pour into it thy virtue and thy breath, so that it may live upon the earth. Then a fourth and last time the midwife set the babe upon the ground, a fourth time she lifted it toward heaven, and she spake to the sun and said: O our Lord, Sun, Totonametl, Tlaltecutli, that art our mother and our father, behold this creature, which is like a bird of precious plumage, like a _zaquan_ or a _quechutl_;[IX-26] thine, O our Lord the Sun, he is; thou who art valiant in war and painted like a tiger in black and gray, he is thy creature and of thine estate and patrimony. For this he was born, to serve thee and to give thee food and drink; he is of the family of warriors and soldiers that fight on the field of battle.

[Sidenote: DEDICATION OF THE CHILD TO WAR.]

Then the midwife took the shield, and the bow and the dart that were there prepared, and spake to the Sun after this sort: Behold here the instruments of war which thou art served with, which thou delightest in; impart to this babe the gift that thou art wont to give to thy soldiers, enabling them to go to thine house of delights, where, having fallen in battle, they rest and are joyful and are now with thee praising thee. Will this poor little nobody ever be one of them? Have pity upon him, O clement Lord of ours.

During all the time of these ceremonies a great torch of candlewood was burning; and when these ceremonies were accomplished, a name was given to the child, that of one of his ancestors, so that he might inherit the fortune or lot of him whose name was so taken. This name was applied to the child by the midwife, or priestess, who performed the baptism. Suppose the name given was Yautl. Then the midwife began to shout and to talk like a man to the child: O Yautl, O valiant man, take this shield and this dart; these are for thy amusement, they are the delight of the sun. Then she tied the little mantle on its shoulders and girt the breech-clout about it. Now all the boys of the ward were assembled, and at this stage of the ceremony they rushed into the house where the baptism had taken place, and representing soldiers and forrayers, they took food that was there prepared for them, which was called 'the navel-string,' or 'navel,' of the child, and set out with it into the streets, shouting and eating. They cried O Yautl, Yautl, get thee to the field of battle, put thyself into the thickest of the fight; O Yautl, Yautl, thine office is to make glad the sun and the earth, to give them to eat and to drink; upon thee has fallen the lot of the soldiers that are eagles and tigers, that die in war, that are now making merry and singing before the sun. And they cried again: O soldiers, O men of war, come hither, come to eat of the navel of Yautl. Then the midwife, or priestess, took the child into the house, and departed, the great torch of candlewood being carried burning before her, and this was the last of the ceremony.[IX-27]

[Sidenote: THE AZTEC VENUS.]

The goddess (or god, as some have it) connected by the Mexicans with carnal love was variously called Tlazolteotl, Ixcuina, Tlaclquani, with other names, and, especially it would appear in Tlascala, Xochiquetzal. She had no very prominent or honorable place in the minds of the people and was much more closely allied to the Roman Cloacina than to the Greek Aphrodite. Camargo, the Tlascaltec, gives much the most agreeable and pleasing account of her. Her home was in the ninth heaven, in a pleasant garden, watered by innumerable fountains, where she passed her time spinning and weaving rich stuffs, in the midst of delights, ministered to by the inferior deities. No man was able to approach her, but she had in her service a crowd of dwarfs, buffoons, and hunchbacks, who diverted her with their songs and dances, and acted as messengers to such gods as she took a fancy to. So beautiful was she painted that no woman in the world could equal her; and the place of her habitation was called Iamotamohuanichan, Xochitlycacan, Chitamihuany, Cicuhnauhuepaniuhcan, and Tuhecayan, that is to say 'the place of Tamohuan, the place of the tree of flowers Xochitlihcacan, where the air is purest, beyond the nine heavens.' It was further said, that whoever had been touched by one of the flowers that grow in the beautiful garden of Xochiquetzal should love to the end, should love faithfully.[IX-28]

[Sidenote: TLAZOLTEOTL SEDUCES YÁPPAN.]