Chapter X: Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship (2)

[X-10] Some authors seem to associate this office with that of the pontiff, but it appears that the high-priest merely inaugurated the sacrifices on special occasions. 'Era esta vna dignidad suprema, y entre ellos tenida en mucho, la qual se heredaua como cosa de mayorazgo. El ministro que tenia oficio de matar ... era tenido y reuerenciado como supreme Sacerdote, o Pontifice.' _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 352. 'Era como decir, el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual, y no à otro, era dado este oficio de abrir los Hombres por los pechos, ... siendo comunmente los herederos, de este Patrimonio, y suerte Eclesiastica, los primogenitos.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 117. It is difficult to decide upon the interpretation of these sentences. The expression of his being 'held or reverenced as pontiff' certainly indicates that another priest held the office, so does the sentence, 'it was inherited by the first-born' of certain families. But the phrase, 'el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual y no à otro, era dado este oficio,' points very directly to the high-priest as the holder of the post.

[X-11] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 178-9; _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 37-9; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-26; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 551.

[X-12] _Gomara_, _Conq. Mex._, fol. 323-4. He describes the dress as 'vna ropa de algodon blanca estrecha, y larga, y encima vna manta por capa añudada al hombro.... Tiznaunse los dios festiuales, y quando su regla mandaua de negro las piernas,' etc.

[X-13] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., pp. 39-40; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 369-71. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that the teopatli was the ointment used at the consecration of the high-priest, but it is not likely that a preparation which served monks and invalids as body paint, would be applied to the heads of high-priests and kings. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 558. Every priestly adornment had, doubtless, its mystic meaning. The custom of painting the body black was first done in honor of the god of Hades. _Boturini_, _Idea_, p. 117.

[X-14] See vol. ii., pp. 242, et seq.

[X-15] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 189-91; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 223-31; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 53-4. 'Sustentábanse del trabajo de sus manos ó por sus padres y parientes.' _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, p. 107.

[X-16] 'Trahian en las cabeças coronas como frayles, poco cabello, aunque crezido hasta media oreja, y mas largo por el colodrillo hasta las espaldas, y a manera de trençado le atauan.' _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvi.

[X-17] Clavigero asserts that at the age of two the boy was consecrated to the order of _tlamacazcayotl_ by a cut in the breast, and at seven he was admitted. _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 44; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., p. 53.

[X-18] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 220-4. Whether this decorum was preserved after the adjournment of the meeting, is a point which some writers are inclined to doubt.

[X-19] _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 341-2.

[X-20] _Hist. Tlax._, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 134-5.

[X-21] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxxii.; _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, p. 90.

[X-22] _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. cxxxix.; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 185-6.

[X-23] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 39. According to Torquemada, the night service was partly devoted to the god of night. _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 227.

[X-24] _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. clxxv.; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 224-5, 275; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, pp. 336, 343; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.

[X-25] This was the answer given by Juan de Tovar, in his _Hist. Ind._, MS., to the doubts expressed by Acosta as to the authenticity of the long-winded prayers of the Mexicans, whose imperfect writing was not well adapted to reproduce orations. _Helps' Span. Conq._, vol. i., p. 282.

[X-26] _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, p. 93. Clavigero, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 24, certainly says: 'Taceano le loro preghiere comunemente inginocchione,' but we are told by Sahagun and others, that when they approached the deity with most humility, namely, at the confession, a squatting position was assumed; the same was done when they delivered orations. The greatest sign of adoration, according to Camargo, was to take a handful of earth and grass and eat it; very similar to the manner of taking an oath or greeting a superior, which consisted in touching the hand to the ground and then putting it to the lips. _Hist. Tlax._, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcix., p. 168.

[X-27] _Ib._

[X-28] At the present day the rite of circumcision may be traced almost in an unbroken line from China to the Cape of Good Hope.

[X-29] _Myths_, p. 147.

[X-30] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 83; _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, pp. 108-9; _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. clxxv.; _Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. v., p. 133.

[X-31] See this volume, pp. 380-4.

[X-32] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 212-13; _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 343; _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 275-6.

[X-33] _Conq. Mex._, fol. 336. Some of these sticks were thicker than a finger, 'y largos, como el tamaño de vn braço.' 'Eran en numero de quatrocientas.' _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 102-3; _Motolinia_, _Hist. Indios_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. i., pp. 51-2.

[X-34] _Rapport_, in _Ternaux-Compans_, _Voy._, série ii., tom. v., p. 305. The Mexican priests performed this sacrifice every five days. _Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., p. 225, 'De la sangre que sacaban de las partes del Cuerpo en cada provincia tenian diferente costumbre.' _Las Casas_, _Hist. Apologética_, MS., cap. clxx.

[X-35] See this volume, p. 61.

[X-36] _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 165-7. Torquemada, however, mentions one earlier sacrifice of some refractory Mexicans, who desired to leave their wandering countrymen and settle at Tula, contrary to the command of the god. _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., pp. 115-16, 50. 'On prétend que cet usage vint de la province de Chalco dans celle de Tlaxcallan.' _Camargo_, _Hist. Tlax._, in _Nouvelles Annales des Voy._, 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 199; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Quatre Lettres_, p. 343. 'Quetzalcoatle was the first inventor of sacrifices of human blood.' _Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus_, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. vi., p. 201. It is conceded, however, by other writers, that Quetzalcoatl was opposed to all bloodshed. See this volume, p. 278. Müller, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 628, thinks that the Aztecs introduced certain rites of human sacrifice, which they connected with others already existing in Mexico.

[X-37] _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 186. 'Eran cada año estos Niños sacrificados mas de veinte mil por cuenta.' _Id._, tom. ii., p. 120. A misconstruction of Zumárraga, who does not specify them as children. _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. ii., p. 49, tom. i., p. 257; _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, in _Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq._, vol. ix., p. 268; _Boturini_, _Idea_, p. 28. 'Afirman que auia vez que passauan de cinco mil, y dia vuo que en diuersas partes fueron assi sacrificados mas de veynta mil.' _Acosta_, _Hist. de las Ynd._, p. 356. Gomara states that the conquerors counted 136,000 skulls in one skull-yard alone. _Conq. Mex._, fol. 122.

[X-38] 'Non furono mai veduti i Messicani sacriücare i propj lor Nazionali, se non coloro, che per li loro delitti erano rei di morte.' _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., p. 299. A rather hasty assertion.

[X-39] See vol. ii., p. 307.

[X-40] _Salazar y Olarte_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, p. 71; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[X-41] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 79-82. This author gives the name as Curicaweri.

[X-42] 'El Sumo Sacerdote Curinacanery.' _Beaumont_, _Crón. Mechoacan_, MS., p. 52.

[X-43] 'Guirnaldas de fluecos colorados,' says Herrera, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[X-44] _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; _Beaumont_, _Crón. Mechoacan_, MS., pp. 52-3, 75; _Alegre_, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. i., pp. 91-2; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 59, 64-5, 79-82; _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. ii., p. 525; Carbajal Espinosa, _Hist. Mex._, tom. i., pp. 291-2, thinks that the sacrifices were introduced by surrounding tribes, and that cannibalism was unknown to the Tarascos. 'Sacrificaban culebras, aves y conejos, y no los hombres, aunque fuesen cautivos, porque se servian de ellos, como de esclavos.' _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138. See also vol. ii., pp. 620-1, of this work.

[X-45] Beaumont, _Crón. Mechoacan_, MS., p. 232, tells of a Supreme Being in heaven, and with him an ever young virgin from whom all men descend; a belief which the child-god is said to have promulgated; but the account seems somewhat confused both as to place and authority. Alegre, _Hist. Comp. de Jesus_, tom. iii., p. 197, and Padilla, _Conq. N. Galicia_, MS., p. 8, mention additional gods, but give no description. _Villa-Señor y Sanchez_, _Theatro_, tom. ii., pp. 269-70; _Alcedo_, _Diccionario_, tom. iii., p. 299; _Tello_, in _Icazbalceta_, _Col. de Doc._, tom. ii., p. 363; _Oviedo_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. iii., p. 566; _Gil_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. viii., pp. 496-8.

[X-46] 'Les dieux, de quelque nature qu'ils fussent, avaient dans la langue zapotèque le nom de "Pitao," qui correspond à l'idée du grand-esprit, d'un esprit étendu.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 26-7.

[X-47] Torquemada, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., pp. 255-6, also refers to emigration of Toltec chiefs to found new states.

[X-48] 'Vna esmeralda tan grande como vn gruesso pimiento de esta tierra, tenia labrado encima vna auesita, ò pajarillo con grandissimo primor, y de arriba à baxo enroscada vna culebrilla con el mesmo arte, la piedra era tan transparente, que brillaba desde el fondo.' _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 156.

[X-49] Burgoa gives the relic in this instance a title which varies somewhat in the wording, although the former sense remains: 'El Alma, y coraçon del Reyno.' _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396. Dávila Padilla, _Hist. Fvnd. Mex._, p. 639, mentions an idol among the Zapotecs in shape of a hand, which may have represented Huemac.

[X-50] The Zapotecs had other temples also, fashioned like those of Mexico in superimposed terraces of stone-cased earth. Burgoa describes one which measured 2000 paces in circumference, and rose to a height of 88-90 feet; on each terrace stood an adobe chapel with a well attached for the storage of water. On the occasion of a great victory another terrace was added to the pile. _Geog. Descrip._, tom. i., pt ii., fol. 198.

[X-51] _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, p. 37.

[X-52] He also calls him the Miztec Cultur god. _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, pp. 486-90.

[X-53] _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 44-5.

[X-54] Chan, 'snake,' was the name of a tribe of Lacandones, near Palenque, known also as Colhuas, Chanes, or Quinames. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. 109. The book referred to or a copy of it, written in the Tzendal or Quiché language, was in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who published short extracts of it in his _Constitut. Diœces_, but seems to have had it burned, together with other native relics, in 1691, at Huehuetan. Previous to this, however, Ordoñez y Aguiar had obtained a copy of it, written in Latin characters, and gave a résumé of the contents in his _Hist. del Cielo_, MS. This author contradicts himself by stating, in one part of his MS., that the original was written by a descendant of Votan. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, pp. lxxxvii., cviii.; _Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq._, p. 12; _Cabrera_, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Descrip._, pp. 33-4. Cabrera, who bases his account of the myth on Ordoñez' rendering, which he at times seems to have misunderstood and mutilated, thinks that Chivim refers to Tripoli, and it is the same as Hivim or Givim, the Phœnician word for snake, which, again, refers to Hivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Canaan. Votan's expression, as given in his book, 'I am a snake, a Chivim,' signifies 'I am a Hivite from Tripoli.' _Teatro_, in _Rio's Descrip._, p. 34, et seq.

[X-55] _Boturini_, _Idea_, p. 115. It may be of interest to compare his name with Odon in the Michoacan calendar, and Oton, the Otomí god and chief. Humboldt was particularly struck with its resemblance to Odin, the Scandinavian god-hero. _Vues_, tom. i., p. 208; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxvi.

[X-56] Equivalent to laying the foundation for civilization. According to Ordoñez he was sent to people the continent; a view also taken by Clavigero, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. i., pp. 150-1. Torquemada's account of the spreading of the Toltecs southward, may throw some light on this subject. _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i., p. 256, et seq.

[X-57] Valum Chivim, Valum Votan, land of Chivim and Votan. See note 15. Cabrera considers two marble columns found at Tangier, with Phœnician inscriptions, a trace of his route; the dwellings of the thirteen snakes are thirteen islands of the Canary group, and Valum Votan, the Island of Santo Domingo. _Teatro_, in _Rio's Descrip._, p. 34, et seq. Müller, _Amerikanische Urreligionen_, p. 489, hints significantly at the worship of the snake-god Votan, on Santo Domingo Island, under the name of Vaudoux. Brasseur de Bourbourg's ideas on this point have already been made pretty evident in the account of Quetzalcoatl's myth. The thirteen snakes may mean thirteen chiefs of Xibalba. There is a ruin bearing the name of Valum Votan about nine leagues from Ciudad Real, Chiapas. _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxviii. Ordoñez holds Valum Votan to be Cuba, whence he takes seven families with him. _Cabrera_, ubi sup.

[X-58] Ordoñez says the original Na-chan means 'place of snakes.' _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 69.

[X-59] A date which is confirmed by the Chimalpopoca MS. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Popol Vuh_, p. lxxxviii. One tradition makes the Tzequiles speak a Nahua dialect, but it is possible that Ordoñez confounds two epochs. _Id._, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., p. 70.

[X-60] In the traditions presented on pp. 67-8, 50, of this volume, will be found reference to Cholula as the place where the tower of Babel was built, and to the confusion of tongues, which tends to connect this myth with those of the neighboring country. Ordoñez' orthodox ideas have probably added much to the native MS. from which he took his account, yet Nuñez de la Vega agrees with him in most respects. Cabrera, _Teatro_, in _Rio's Descrip._, p. 84, considers the great city to be Rome, but agrees with his authorities that the latter edifice is the tower of Babel. A Tzendal legend relates that a subterranean passage, leading from Palenque to Tulhá, near Ococingo, was constructed in commemoration of the celestial passage, or 'serpent hole,' into which Votan in his quality of snake, was admitted. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 72-3.

[X-61] Cabrera has it that the new-comers are seven Tzequiles, or shipwrecked countrymen of Votan. The voyages and other incidents he considers confirmed by the sculptures on the Palenque ruins, which shows Votan surrounded by symbols of travel, indications of the places visited in the old and new world; he recognizes the attributes of Osiris in the idol brought over by Votan, with the intention of establishing its worship in the new world. Lastly, Votan and his families are Carthaginians. _Teatro_, in _Rio's Description_, pp. 95, 34.

[X-62] The ruins of Huehuetan, 'city of old men,' are still to be seen. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. i., pp. 73-4; _Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq._, pp. 11-15; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., pp. 10-21. Vega mentions that at Teopixca in Chiapas he found several families who bore the hero's name and claimed to be descendants of his. This has little value, however, for we know that priests assumed the name of their god, and nearly all mythical heroes have had descendants, as Zeus, Herakles, and others. _Boturini_, _Idea_, p. 115.

[X-63] A portion of this relic was sent to Pope Paul V., in 1613; the remainder was deposited in the cathedral for safe keeping. _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 350-2.

[X-64] The place of the dead, or hades, also called Yopaa, land of tombs. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 9.

[X-65] Fray Juan de Ojedo saw and felt the indentation of two feet upon the rook, the muscles and toes as distinctly marked as if they had been pressed upon soft wax. The Mijes had this tradition written in characters on skin. _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 299.

[X-66] A name given to Wixepecocha by the tradition, which adds that he was seen on the island of Monapostiac, near Tehuantepec, previous to his final disappearance. _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 411. Quetzalcoatl also disappeared seaward.

[X-67] He debarked near Tehuantepec, bearing a cross in his hand; _Gondra_, _Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo_, MS.; _Carriedo_, _Estudios, Hist. del Estado Oaxaqueño_, tom. i., cap. i.; _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., pp. 9-10.

[X-68] Brasseur de Bourbourg seems to place it at Chalcatongo. _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 19; _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 170.

[X-69] _Escalera and Llana_, _Mej. Hist. Descrip._, p. 330.

[X-70] 'Le tenian enterrado, seco, y embalsamado en su proporcion.' The cave was supposed to connect with the city of Chiapas, 200 leagues distant. _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

[X-71] 'Piedra blanca, labrada al modo de vn acho de bolos ... vn gruesso taladro.' _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 362.

[X-72] _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Conq._, fol. 179; _Salazar y Olarte_, _Hist. Conq. Mex._, p. 137. There were many among the padres who held Yabalan to have been an immediate descendant of Noah's son Ham, because the name signified 'chief black man, or negro.' _Piñeda_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. iii., p. 419.

[X-73] _Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, tom. iii., p. 17; _Dávila Padilla_, _Hist. Fvnd. Mex._, pp. 638-9. In Chiapas are found a number of representations of heavenly bodies, sculptured, or drawn, and at Palenque a sun temple is supposed to have existed. _Piñeda_, in _Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin_, tom. iii., p. 419.

[X-74] They 'worship his image in their own peculiar way, sometimes by cutting off a turkey's head.' 'The natives are about as far advanced in christianity as they were at the time of the conquest.' _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. ii., p. 542.

[X-75] _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 395; _Ferry_, _Costal L'Indien_, pp. 6-7.

[X-76] Some consider it to be composed of three trunks which have grown together, and the deep indentations certainly give it that appearance; but trees of this species generally present irregular forms. _Escalera and Llana_, _Méj. Hist. Descrip._, pp. 224-5; _Charnay_, _Ruines Amér._, phot. xviii.

[X-77] _Hist. Gen._, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; _Burgoa_, _Geog. Descrip._, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 282; _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., p. 194. Pontelli, who claims to have paid a visit to the forbidden retreats of the mountain Lacandones, a few years ago, mentions, among other peculiarities, a stone of sacrifice, interlaced by serpents, and covered with hieroglyphics, on which the heart of human beings were torn out. _Correo de Ultramar_, Paris 1860; _Cal. Farmer_, Nov. 7, 1862.