We said that this relief, and the edifice to which it belongs, were dedicated to Cukulcan, representing a religious ceremony, or rather sacrifice; for the kneeling priest has a rope passed through his tongue, whilst the other holds over him a huge palm, encouraging him to go on with his penance, and this is corroborated by Sahagun, who says:[164] “They pierced a hole with a sharp itzli knife through the middle of the tongue, and passed a number of twigs, according to the degree of devotion of the performer. These twigs were sometimes fastened the one to the other and pulled through the tongue like a long cord. They were also passed through a hole in the ear, and other parts of the body; but wherever they were passed, four hundred and even more were used by the penitent, which done, his sins were forgiven.”
Torquemada also mentions these penances: “The priests of Camaxtli and Cholula, i.e. of Quetzalcoatl, under the superintendence of their elder, or achcautli, provided themselves with sticks two feet long and the size of the fist, and with them they repaired to the main temple, where they fasted five days. Then carpenters and tool-workers were brought, who were required to fast the same number of days, at the end of which they were given food within the precincts of the temple. The former worked the sticks to the required size, whilst the tool-makers made knives of obsidian, with which they cut the priest’ tongues from side to side.
“More prayers followed, when all the priests prepared for the sacrifice, the elders giving the example by passing through their tongue four or five hundred twigs, followed by such among the young who has sufficient courage to imitate them. But the pain was so sharp that few went through the whole number; for although the first twigs were thinned out, they became stouter each time, until they attained the size of a thumb, sometimes twice as much. Not unfrequently the achcautli sang a hymn during this horrible operation, to encourage his younger companions in the pursuance of their duty. The achcautli was wont also to go about admonishing the people to prepare for the great feast (sacrifices), and in his hand was carried a large green twig.”[165] This green twig was replaced by a palm in warm regions, as in our relief, the leaves of which rest on the double volute so often seen about Quetzalcoatl’s mouth.
We read in Clavigero that: “The blood which flowed from these self-inflicted wounds was carefully kept on the leaves of a plant called acxoyatl, having a number of straight stalks and large leaves growing symmetrically.”[166] Is there no connection between this plant and the palm of our figure?
Landa too relates that these macerations were common to the Mexican and Maya priests: “The Mayas offered their blood to the gods, cutting their ears all round and allowing the bits to hang down; sometimes they pierced their cheeks, their lower lip, or their tongue, and passed twigs through them.”[167]
And at page 9 of Letellier’s “Codex,” in the National Library, we find opposite the image of Cukulcan, a painting representing a priest, passing a number of twigs through his tongue, whilst the blood is flowing freely.
We have seen that one of the attributes of Cukulcan was the cross, a symbol of rain, the fertilising element. “The cross,” says Brinton, “is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and serpent, the rebus of the air god (Quetzalcoatl) their ruler.”[168] This god was therefore intimately connected with Tlaloc and his sister or mate Chalchiutlicue, and that is why the three deities are often found side by side, sometimes mixed or confused, owing probably to their festival falling on the same day.[169] The cult of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc was spread by the Toltecs in their long wanderings; consequently we find them at Lorillard just as we did on the plateaux.
We discovered in another temple two inscriptions on stone lintels, like all the other bas-reliefs at Lorillard, resembling those given by Stephens at Chichen and Copan, rather than those which accompany the figures. We place them side by side in the next chapter, to enable the reader to judge for himself. This is not the first time we have pointed out a difference between the characters of the various inscriptions we have published; but a difference does not imply dissimilarity, and can in no way invalidate their common origin. If we look at home we shall find that the writing of the nations of Europe has been greatly modified, and that the Gothic characters of the twelfth century bear no resemblance to the Roman type of the sixteenth. These inscriptions may belong to different epochs or different dialects, and we have reason to believe that the Toltecs of Central America had a hieratic writing which was used both by the priests and the military caste, of which proof exists in the bas-reliefs and the stone inscriptions, where the figures are represented sitting cross-legged, whereas in the inscriptions which we suppose to be in the vulgar tongue, and also in the paper manuscripts, the figures are squatting, their chin resting on their knees Indian fashion. There is a third writing, or symbolical character, which was used in the Aztec manuscripts, and also in Toltec and Aztec sculptures, to denote a man or a place; as seen on the tribal leaves published by Lorenzana, on Tizoc’s stone, and on the bas-reliefs at Chichen-Itza.
We do not know Toltec writing, for the manuscripts which were read by Ixtlilxochitl, those found by Boturini, and interpreted by Veytia (so he affirms), have disappeared; but it is probable that their current writing has been preserved on the stone tables of Central America, where it was used as a hieratic or learned language, of which the Dresden and Troano MSS. are specimens, but that they adopted the language of the regions where they established themselves.