IXTLILTON = “THE LITTLE BLACK FACE”

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ASPECT AND INSIGNIA

Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.—Sheet 24: Here the god is represented opposite Macuilxochitl. He wears on his head a white-fringed cloth, such as is worn by Tezcatlipocâ, having on the top a bunch of downy feathers with a crest of four plumes ending in white tips. He has a collar made of vertebræ or animals’ claws, and on the upper arm a ring, furnished on one of its sides with a projection tapering to a point. The body is white and the face is painted black and white round the mouth. Seler in his Commentary on this MS. (p. 127) thinks that the white ball or disk covered with a radial design, and held by the god in his right hand, is perhaps a symbol for ilhuitl (“day,” “feast”), and should be compared with the parti-coloured, whorl-like disk which the dancer in Codex Telleriano-Remensis (sheet L, verso 1) holds in his hand, and which represents the sign of the eighth annual feast, the ueitecuilhuitl. The crest worn by him, which is composed of black feathers, is the crest embellished with quetzal-feathers and stone knives, as in the Sahagun MS. and the Codex Magliabecchiano.

Codex Borgia.—Sheet 62: In this representation he faces the goddess Xochiquetzal. He wears the face- and body-paint of a priest, with a white angular patch about the mouth, sprinkled with ulli gum. His crest is similar to that described above. The breast-ring seems to be imbedded in a motif bearing a resemblance to the tlachinalli fire-and-water symbol, and its significance in this place is hard to define. From the wrists droop elaborate feather ornaments, depending from a bracelet of stone knives. We seem to see the Dance-god in this place in his ceremonial condition, as the ruler of the dance which preceded human sacrifice. Sheet 64 shows him similarly attired, but without the priest’s body-paint. He seems about to enter the dance-house of the warriors, and a courtesan bears him company.

Codex Borbonicus.—Sheet 4: Here he is shown opposite Ueuecoytl, the coyote god, engaged in the motions of the dance. Perhaps this position is more eloquent of motion than any other in the Mexican MSS. In this place he appears [[351]]to be almost identified with Macuilxochitl (q.v.), to whose statuettes in the Museo Nacional de Mexico, the figure bears a strong resemblance.

Sahagun MS.—The face-paint is black and the god wears a feather comb set with flint knives. He has a collar of animal claws, most of which are those of the jaguar, and on his back he wears a wing-fan with the sun-banner fixed on it. Round his shoulders is a paper with the sun-signs painted on it. His feet are ornamented with bells and shells, and he wears “sun-sandals.” On his arm he carries a solar shield and in his hand he bears a staff with a heart.

NATURE AND STATUS

Practically all that is known regarding this god is recounted by Sahagun, who says of him: “They made to this god an oratory of painted planks, a sort of tabernacle, in which his image was placed. He had in this oratory many jars full of water, and covered with plates, and this water was called tilatl, or black water. When an infant fell ill they took it to the temple of Ixtlilton and opened one of these jars, made him drink it, and the malady left him. If one wished to give a feast to the god he took his image home. This was neither painted nor sculptured, but was a priest who wore the ornaments of the god. During the passage he was censed with copal. Arrived at the house, he was met with singers and dancers, which dancing is different in a manner from ours.

“I speak of that which we call areyto, and which they call maceualiztli. They assembled in great numbers, two and two or three and three, and formed a circle. They carried flowers in the hand, and were decorated with plumage. They made at the same time a uniform movement with their bodies, also with their feet and hands, in perfect combination and very worthy to be seen. All their movements accorded with the music of the drums. They accompanied the instruments with their sonorous voices, singing in accord the praises of the god to whom they made the festival. They adapted [[352]]their movements to the nature of their songs, for their dances and their intonation varied considerably.

“The dance continued, and the ‘god’ himself, having danced for a long time, descended to the cave where the octli was stored in jars. He opened one of these, an operation which was known as tlayacaxapotla (‘the new opening,’ or ‘the opening of the new’). Then he and those who accompanied him drank of the octli. They then went to the court of the house, where they found three jars filled with the black water, which had been covered for four days. He who played the rôle of god opened these, and if he found them full of hairs, dust, charcoal, or any other uncleanness, it was said that the man of the house was a person of vicious life and bad character. Then the god went to the house, where he was given the stuff called ixquen, for covering the face, in allusion to the shame which covered the master of the house.”[3]

From the foregoing it is clear that Ixtlilton was a god of medicinal virtue, the deity who kept men in good health or who assisted their recovery from sickness, therefore the brother of Xochipilli-Macuilxochitl, god of good luck and merriment. His temple, composed of painted boards, would seem to have borne a resemblance to the hut of the tribal medicine-man or shaman. A sacrifice was made to him when the Mexican child first spoke.

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