NAPATECUTLI = “FOUR TIMES LORD”
- Area of Worship: Shores of Lake Texcuco.
- Relationship: One of the Tlaloquê.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Sahagun MS. (Biblioteca del Palacio).—The body-paint is black, but a plaster of salvia chia is worn on the face underneath the eyes. The god wears a paper crown sprinkled with rubber gum, and a tuft of paper at the back of the head, from which quetzal-feathers depend. Two long strips of paper hang from under the crown down the back of the neck, and these are also sprinkled with rubber gum. Across the right shoulder is slung a band of paper, and an underdress of the same material surrounds the hips, and these are also sprinkled with gum. Sandals are worn, and the shield is decorated with the water-rose motif. A rush staff is carried in the hand, from which strips of paper hang, daubed with melted indiarubber.
NATURE AND STATUS
Sahagun says that Napatecutli “was the god of men who make mats out of aquatic reeds, and was one of the Tlaloquê. [[265]]He was the inventor of mat-making, and was adored by those who made the low chairs called icpalli, and the hurdles of reeds which are called tolcuextli. He made the reeds to grow and caused the showers that made them spring, and they prayed him for rain and reeds. When they sacrificed a slave to him they dressed him in the god’s garments, placing in his hands a green vase filled with water, with which he besprinkled all with the aid of a branch of willow, as if he were blessing them. Then, in the course of the year, whenever one of this trade wished to feast this divinity, he acquainted the priests with his intention, who chose a priest, dressed him in the attributes of the god, like his image, and conducted him, asperging him on the way, with a branch of willow dipped in water. Arrived at the house, they prayed him to extend his favours to the dwelling, and the feast was celebrated, the ‘god’ eating and drinking with the rest. This was done with the desire to recompense the god, and when they had spent all they had, they said: ‘I care not if I am without means, so long as my god is satisfied with this feast. He may grant me more, he may leave me in misery, so long as his will is accomplished.’ So saying, they covered the representative of the god with a white mantle, who returned with his companions. The householder then feasted privately with his parents. The mat-makers plenished and ornamented the temple of their god with reeds and plants, and anything they placed in the temple was of the best workmanship.”