GENERAL

ASPECT AND INSIGNIA

The constituent elements of the insignia of the octli-gods may be generally described as follows:

(1) A two-coloured face-painting, the front half of the facial profile (i.e. the middle part of the face) being painted red in its entire length, both sides at the temples black (or dark green), or else black with longish yellow spots.

(2) A nasal plate, handle-shaped, the ends involuted outwardly, or crescent-shaped, the golden Huaxtec nose-ornament, yaca-metztli. It is usually marked on all articles dedicated to the octli-gods.

(3) A four-cornered ear-pendant, which agrees substantially with that of the Rain-god.

(4) A neck-ornament falling far down, loose in texture, made of malinalli grass fibre.

(5) A crown of heron-feathers, such as is worn by the Rain-god, but here combined with the cuecaluitoncatl, Quetzal’s neck-ornament made of dark feathers, with some projecting arara plumes.

(6) A stone axe as a weapon.

The most striking of these objects are the first two. So characteristic are they of the octli-gods, that a juxtaposition of red and black lines on a tilmatli is explained in the Codex [[286]]Magliabecchiano as “manta de dos conejos,” or shoulder-covering of the Two-rabbit octli-god.[1]

ALLUSIONS TO THE OCTLI-GODS IN GENERAL

Sahagun, speaking of the octli-gods,[2] says that Tezcatzoncatl[3] was the parent or brother of the rest, who were called Yiauhtecatl, Izquitecatl, Acolua, Tlilhua, Patecatli, Toltecatl, Papaztac, Tlaltecayoua, Ome tochtli, Tepuztecatl, Chimapaleuecatl, and Cohuatzincatl.

One of the hymns in Sahagun’s collection alludes as follows to the octli-gods:

In Colhuacan in fear

Fear has his home.

The God in the Palace, Tezcatzonco,

He was dealt with, therefore he wept (the fire wept?).

Not so, not so (shall it be) (saith he)

The God was dealt with, therefore he wept.

The God in the Palace Axalaco,

He was dealt with, therefore he wept.

Not so, not so (shall it be) (saith he)

The God was dealt with, therefore he wept.

I have followed Seler’s translation of this hymn, but, like him, can glean little from it. It seems to me to allude vaguely to the cutting of the agave-plant, and the consequent withdrawal of the sap from which octli is made.

A report on the Huaxtec territory dated 1579 evidently relates to the octli-gods. It states that:

“They related another fable, that they had two other effigies as gods, one called Ometochtli, who is the god of wine; the other Tezcatlipocâ, which is the name of the most exalted idol worshipped by them, and with these they had painted the figure of a woman named Hueytonantzin, that is, ‘our great mother,’ because they said she was the mother [[287]]of all those gods or demons. And those four above-mentioned male demons, they related, had killed this great mother, founding with her the institution of human sacrifice, and taking her heart out of her breast and presenting it to the sun. Similarly, they related that the idol Tezcatlipocâ had killed the god of wine with his consent and concurrence, giving out that in this way he gave him eternal life, and that if he did not die, all persons drinking wine must die; but that the death of this Ometochtli was only like the sleep of one drunk, that he afterwards recovered and again became fresh and well.”

FESTIVAL

The principal festival of the octli-gods was ome tochtli (“two rabbit”), and this calendrical name became in a measure deified as a separate god, who was the same as Tepoxtecatl.[4] Sahagun says of this festival:

“In the sign ce maçatl, on the second day called ome tochtli, they made a great feast to the god Izquitecatl, who is the second god of wine, and not only to him, but to all the gods of wine, who were very numerous. They ornamented his image in the temple, offered him food, and made songs and played on instruments in his presence. They placed a great jar of octli in the court of the temple, and whoever wished drank from it. The duty of replenishing the jar was given to the men who cut the maguey. They carried to the house of the god the first-fruits of the first sap, which they drew from it.”

NATURE AND STATUS IN GENERAL

When a man was intoxicated with the native Mexican drink of octli, a liquor made from the juice of the Agave Americana, he was believed to be under the influence of a god or spirit. The commonest form under which the Drink-god was worshipped was the rabbit, that animal being considered [[288]]as utterly devoid of sense. This particular divinity was known as Ometochtli. The scale of debauchery which it was desired to reach was indicated by the number of rabbits worshipped, the highest number, four hundred, representing the most extreme degree of intoxication. The chief octli-gods apart from these were Patecatl and Tequech­mecauiani. If the drunkard desired to escape the perils of accidental hanging during intoxication, it was necessary to sacrifice to the latter, but if death by drowning was apprehended, Teatlahuiani, the deity who hurried drunkards to a watery grave, was placated. If the debauchee wished his punishment not to exceed a headache, Quatlapanqui (The Head-splitter) was sacrificed to, or else Papaztac (The Nerveless). Each trade or profession had its own Ometochtli, but for the aristocracy there was one only of these gods, Cohuatzincatl, a name signifying “He who has Grandparents.” Several of these drink-gods had names which connected them with various localities; for example, Tepoxtecatl was the octli-god of Tepoztlan. The calendar day Ometochtli, which means “two rabbit,” because of the symbol which accompanied it, was under the special protection of these gods, and the Mexicans believed that anyone born on that day was almost inevitably doomed to become a drunkard. All the octli-gods were closely associated with the soil and with the Earth-goddess. After the Indians had harvested their maize they drank to intoxication, and invoked one or other of these gods. On the whole it is safe to infer that they were originally deities of local husbandry who imparted virtue to the soil as octli imparted strength and courage to the warrior.

Many of the titles of these deities are derived from place-names, as Acolua, Calhuatzincatl, Chimalpanecatl, etc., and this widespread denomination would seem to show that their worship must have been established at an early period, and that each seems to represent a section of the population of Mexico. Their relation with the moon is plain—a rabbit dwelt therein, and they were rabbit-gods.

They seem to have been connected in a measure with the [[289]]cult of fire. Vetancurt states that the natives in his day, when they had brewed the new octli, and it was ready to be drunk, first built a fire, walked round it in procession, and threw some of the new liquor into the flames, chanting the while an invocation to Tezcatzoncatl to descend and be present with them.[5] Duran says that “the octli was a favourite offering to the gods, and especially to the god of fire.” Sometimes it was placed before a fire in vases, sometimes it was scattered upon the flames with a brush, at other times it was poured out around the fireplace.[6] Sahagun also states that the liquor was poured on the hearth at four separate points.[7] Jacinto de la Serna describes the same ceremony as current in his day.[8] The invocation ran: “Shining Rose, light-giving Rose, receive and rejoice my heart.”

May not this connection with fire have arisen out of some such train of thought as connected the lightning with the sacred oak of Zeus? In his Ascent of Olympus, Dr. Rendel Harris has shown that the oak was regarded as the “animistic repository of the thunder,” and therefore of the heavenly fire. May not the ubiquitous and overshadowing maguey-plant, from which the octli sap was taken, have had a like significance for the Mexicans?

The principal octli-gods may now be examined more particularly.

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