Some writers, amongst whom is Botturini, think the Toltecs were preceded by the Olmecs and Xicalancas on the territories of Tlaxcala, Huexcotzinco, and Puebla, when, after years of inter-tribal conflict, they settled in the Yucatan peninsula. But we have found in several Indian writers, that at the coronation of Chalchiuhtlanetzin, “bright stone,” King of the Toltecs, the Olmecs and Xicalancas came to swear allegiance and submit to his authority; and there is nothing to make one suppose that they were compelled to leave the country, for they seem to have amalgamated so well with the new-comers that their very name was merged in theirs, although they retain the memory of their origin even to this day. “There can be no doubt,” says Veytia, “that some of these people (Toltecs) established themselves in Yucatan”[30]—a remarkable passage, which we find confirmed at every step. According to the same authority, they built Tula in six years, when, to avoid the personal jealousy of the Caciques, they petitioned for the second son of King Huehue-Tlapallan, whom they proclaimed their ruler under the name of Chalchiuhtlanetzin.
TOLTEC POTTERY.
All the Toltecs did was excellent, graceful, and delicate; exquisite remains of their buildings covered with ornamentation, together with pottery, toys, jewels, and many other objects are found throughout New Spain, for, says Sahagun,[31] “they had spread everywhere.” Both Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl[32] ascribe a common origin to the Nahua, Toltec, Acolhuan, and Mexican tribes. “The Toltecs were good architects and skilled in mechanic arts; they built great cities like Tula, the ruins of which are still visible; whilst at Totonac they erected palaces of cut stone, ornamented with designs and human figures, recalling their chequered history.” “At Cuernavaca” (probably Xochicalco), he adds, “were palaces entirely built of cut stone, without mortar, beams, girders, or wood of any kind.” Torquemada speaks of the Toltecs in the same terms, observing that “they were supposed to have come from the west, and to have brought with them maize, cotton, seeds, and the vegetables to be found in this country; that they were cunning artists in working gold, precious stones, and other curiosities.”[33] On the other hand, Clavigero thinks “they were the first nation mentioned in American traditions, and justly celebrated among the Nahuas, for their culture and mechanic skill; and that the name Toltec came to be synonymous
TLALOC, FROM A PIECE OF POTTERY. for architect and artificer.”[34] Quotations might be multiplied ad infinitum, but the foregoing will suffice to prove the existence of this people and their peculiar genius.
Their law of succession was somewhat curious: each king was to rule one of their centuries of fifty-two years; if he lived beyond it he was required to give up the crown to his son, and, in case of death, a joint regency took the reins of government for the remaining years. Their sacred book, teomoxtli, contained both their annals and their moral code. It is conjectured, with what evidence is uncertain, that they worshipped an “unknown god,” perhaps the origin of the “unknown god” to whom the King of Texcuco raised an altar. Their principal deities, however, were Tonacatecuhtli, the “Sun” and the “Moon,” to whom temples were first erected; to these they added Tlaloc, god of rain, and Quetzalcoatl, god of air and wisdom.[35] Tlaloc, according to Torquemada, was the oldest deity known, for when the Acolhuans, who followed the Chichemecs, arrived in the country, he was found on the highest summit of the Texcucan mountain.[36] His paradise, called Tlalocan, was a place of delight, an Eden full of flowers and verdure; whilst the surrounding hills were called “Tlaloc mounts.”[37] He was emphatically the god of many places, of many names, and numerous personifications; as Popocatepetl he presided over the formation of clouds and rain, he was the “world-fertiliser,” the “source of favourable weather,” sometimes represented dark in colour, his face running with water to signify a rich yielding soil; he carried a thunderbolt in his right hand, a sign of thunder and lightning; whilst his left held a tuft of variegated feathers, emblem of the different hues of our globe; his tunic was blue hemmed with gold, like the heavens after rain. His wife, Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of waters, was represented wearing a blue petticoat, the colour of the mountain Iztaccihuatl when seen at a distance, which was sacred to her.
Most historians mention Quetzalcoatl, at first a generic name, whom posterity endowed with every virtue and deified.[38] His great temple was at Tula, but he was also worshipped in Yucatan under the name of Cukulcan,[39] having the same meaning with Quetzalcoatl. He had travelled thither with a branch of the Toltecs, which, advancing from west to east, had taken Tabasco on their way, and occupied the peninsula earlier than a second branch, which entered the country by a southern route, under the command of their chief Tutulxiu, and became the rival and enemy of the first, whose reigning family were the Cocomes, “auditors.” The worship of Quetzalcoatl extended on the plateaux and in the peninsula, where the chiefs claimed to be descended from him. The symbol by which he is best known is “feathered serpent;” but he was severally called Huemac,[40] the “Strong Hand,” the “white-bearded man,” his mantle studded with crosses, or dressed in a tiger’s skin; “god of air,” when he was the companion of Tlaloc, whose path he swept, causing a strong wind to prevail before the rainy season; and also a youthful, beardless man, etc. The various attributes of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc developed according to the people, the country, and epoch. Such transformations have been observed among all nations: in India the great Agni was at first but the spark produced by rubbing two pieces of wood together, which became cloud, dawn, the sun, the flash, Indra, etc. With the Greeks, Apollo was the god of light, poetry, music, medicine, etc. The Christian religion presents the same phenomenon; for we have the Ancient of Days, the Dove, the Lamb, the Vine. Thus Tlaloc, god of rain, is sometimes seen on ancient vases, his eyes circled with paper, his face running with water; or as an embryo cross, a perfect cross; and again in the form of a man lying on his back, supporting a vase to collect rain. The latter representation is found in Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Yucatan. Several writers[41] mention that crosses were found throughout Mexico, Yucatan, and Tabasco, being another and later personification of Tlaloc. They have all been lost; but we reproduce those found by us, presenting various distinct forms. The cultus of the cross is of great antiquity and almost universal, for we find it in Greece, in India, on pottery of the Bronze Period (the suastica); whilst among the Slaves it was, as in America, the god of storm and rain.
Toltec Crosses.