The gods of Mexico

THE GODS of MEXICO
NEPHRITE FIGURE OF A DEATH-GOD.
(Now in the Stuttgart Museum.)
By LEWIS SPENCE FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS 1923
TO MY WIFE, WITH DEEPEST GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION
( All rights reserved )
This book deals exclusively with the religion of the peoples of ancient Mexico. With the history and archæology of that country I am not concerned in these pages, unless where they have a bearing upon the main subject. By “Mexico” I mean that region of North America lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Thus only passing reference to the religion of the Maya of Yucatan or the Quiche of Guatemala is made in the way of occasional comparison.
I have chosen The Gods of Mexico as the title of this book, as its contents refer more particularly to the development and general description of the deities of ancient Anahuac than to the questions of ritual, priesthood, or religious architecture. It has seemed to me that, once the fundamental nature of the gods has been made clear, when the multitudinous and conflicting details regarding them have been sifted, collated, and reduced to order, more will have been done to discover the whole purport of Mexican religion than if investigation had been directed in particular to ritual practice. But that I have not neglected the question of ritual is proved by the extended notices of the festivals I have appended to the description of each of the gods. I have, however, confined my descriptions and criticisms of ceremonial to these, and have refrained from the illustration of the sacraments of life and death, baptism, burial, and the like, as it is my hope to be able to deal with the whole subject of ritualistic practice among the Mexicans at a future date.
Although political and financial conditions in Mexico frequently arouse a passing agitation in the minds of British people, the antiquities of that extraordinary land, various as Greece and mysterious as Egypt, have failed to appeal to them with the same degree of interest. We have not yet, perhaps, quite recovered from the amazement with which in our own day we have seen the secret gates of the East unlocked and the prodigies of Mesopotamia and the endless dynasties of the Nile emerge therefrom. Yet an archæology less venerable, but no less notable, pleads with us for recognition from a continent so closely associated with the spirit of modernity that we can scarcely believe in its ability to present us with the credentials of respectable antiquity. American scientists, however, have in recent years successfully addressed themselves to the problems of Isthmian research, and the antiquaries of Germany and France have, in certain respects, even improved upon their endeavours. Great Britain alone remains insensible to the lure of old Mexico, and small indeed is the band of workers that she has given to this department of archæology.