FEMALE DANCERS AND TECUHTLIS, FROM RAMIREZ MS. AND FATHER DURAN.
No. 1, Knight of the Kite. No. 2, Knight of the Tiger. No. 3, Teponaztli. No. 4, Huehuetl. No. 5, Knight of the Eagle.
Marriage among the Toltecs was celebrated with ceremonies it may interest the reader to know something about. On this occasion friends and relations were invited, the walls of the best apartment were adorned with pretty devices, made with flowers and evergreens, whilst every table and bracket was covered with them. The bridegroom occupied a seat to the right, the bride sat on the floor to the left of the hearth, which stood in the middle of the room, where a bright fire was burning. Then the “marriage-maker,” as he was called, stood up and addressed the young people, reminding them of their mutual duties in the life they were about to enter, and, at the termination of his speech, they were given new cloaks, and received the good wishes and congratulations of their friends, who as they came up threw each in turn some perfume on the hearth. Now the bride and bridegroom were crowned with chaplets of flowers, and the day was wound up with dance, music, and refreshments. There was also a religious ceremony similar to this in all respects, in which a priest officiated; when instead of cloaks they put on costly dresses with a skeleton head embroidered on them, and thus attired, the new married couple were accompanied to their home and left to themselves.[60]
In order to have a complete idea of this extraordinary people, a few words upon their philosophy and ethics may find an appropriate place here. A Toltec maiden, about to enter into life, was admonished with great tenderness by her father to preserve simplicity in her manners and conversation, to have great neatness in attire and attention to personal cleanliness. He inculcated modesty, faithfulness, and obedience to her husband, reminding her that this world is a place of sorrow and disappointment, but that God had given as a compensation domestic joys and material enjoyments; softening his advice by such endearing words as: “daughter mine, my beloved daughter, my precious,” etc. Nor was the advice of a mother less touching—breathing throughout a parent’s love: “My beloved daughter, my little dove, you have heard the words which your father has told you. They are precious words, such as are rarely spoken, and which have proceeded from his heart. Speak calmly and deliberately; do not raise your voice very high, nor speak very low, but in a moderate tone. Neither mince, when you speak, nor when you salute, nor speak through your nose; but let your words be proper, and your voice gentle. In walking, see that you behave becomingly, neither going with haste, nor too slowly; yet, when it is necessary to go with haste, do so. When you are obliged to jump over a pool of water, do it with decency. Walk through the streets quietly; do not look hither and thither, nor turn your head to look at this and that; walk neither looking at the skies nor at the ground. See likewise that you neither paint your face nor your lips, in order to look well, since this is a mark of vile and immodest women. But that your husband may take pleasure in you, adorn yourself, wash yourself, and wear nothing but clean clothes, but let this be done with moderation, since if you are over nice—too delicate—they will call you tapetzeton, tinemaxoch. This was the course and the manner of your ancestors. In this world it is necessary to live with prudence and circumspection. See that you guard yourself carefully and free from stain, for should you give your favour to another who is not your husband, you would be ruined past all recall; since for such a crime they will kill you, throw you into the street for an example to all the people, where your head will be crushed and dragged upon the ground,” etc.[61]
We will end these quotations by the advice to a son: “My beloved son, lay to heart the words I am going to utter, for they are from our forefathers, who admonished us to keep them locked up like precious gold-leaf, and taught us that boys and girls are beloved of the Lord. For this reason the men of old, who were devoted to His service, held children in great reverence. They roused them out of their sleep, undressed them, bathed them in cold water, made them sweep the temples and offer copal to the gods. They washed their mouths, saying that God heard their prayers and accepted their exercises, their tears, and their sorrow, because they were of a pure heart, perfect, and without blemish, like chalchihuitl (precious stones). They added that this world was preserved for their sake, and that they were our intercessors before Him. Satraps, wise men, and those killed by lightning were supposed to be particularly agreeable to the Sun, who called them to himself that they might live for ever in his presence in a perpetual round of delight,” etc.[62]
YOUNG TOLTEC GIRL, FROM MODERN INDIAN TYPES AND FATHER DURAN’S “HIST. DE LAS INDIAS.”
And what can be more beautiful than the prayer addressed to Tlaloc: “O Lord, liberal giver of all things, Lord of freshness and verdure, Lord of sweet-smelling paradise, Lord of incense and copal. Alas! your vassals, the gods of water, have disappeared, and lie concealed in their deep caverns, having stowed away all things indispensable to life, although they continue to receive the ulli yauhtli and copal offering. They have also carried away their sister, the goddess of substance. O Lord, have pity on us that live. Our food goes to destruction, is lost and dried up for lack of water; it is as if turned to dust and mixed with spiders’ webs. Wilt thou have no pity on the macehuetes and the common people, who are wasted with hunger, and go about unrecognisable and disfigured? They are blue under the eyes as with death; their mouths are dry as sedge; all the bones of their bodies show as in a skeleton. The children are disfigured and yellow as earth; not only those that begin to walk, but even those in the cradle. This torment of hunger comes to every one; the very animals and birds suffer from dire want. It is pitiful to see the birds, some dragging themselves along with drooping wings, others falling down unable to walk, and others with their mouth still open through hunger and thirst. O Lord, Thou wert wont to give us abundantly of those things which are the life and joy of all the world, and precious as emeralds and sapphires; all these things have departed from us. O Lord God of nourishment, most kind and compassionate, what hast Thou determined to do with us? Hast Thou utterly forsaken us? Shall not Thy wrath and indignation be appeased? Wilt Thou destroy these Thy servants, and leave this city and kingdom desolate and uninhabited? Is it so decreed in heaven and hades? O Lord, grant, at least, that these innocent children, who cannot so much as walk, and those still in the cradle, may have something to eat, so that they may live and die not in this terrible famine. What have they done that they should be so tried, and should die of hunger? They have committed no iniquity, neither do they know what thing it is to sin; they neither offended the gods of heaven nor the gods of hell. We, if we have offended in many things, if our sins have reached heaven and hades and the uttermost parts of the world, it is but just that we should be destroyed. O Lord, invigorate the corn and other substances, much wished for and much needed, now sown and planted; for the ridges of the earth suffer sore need and anguish from lack of water. Grant, O Lord, that the people receive this favour and mercy at Thine hand; let them see and enjoy the verdure and coolness which are as precious stones. See good that the fruit and the substance of the Tlalocs be given, which are the clouds that these gods carry with them and that give us rain. May it please Thee, O Lord, that the animals and herbs be made glad, and that the fowls and birds of precious feather, such as the quechotl and the çaquan, fly and sing and feast upon the herbs and flowers. And let not this come about with thunder and lightning, symbols of Thy wrath; for if our lords the Tlalocs come in this way, the people, being lean and very weak with hunger, would be terrified.”[63]
The degree of culture of a nation can be gauged from its religion, and notably its ideas of a future life. The beauty and eloquence-loving Greek discoursed upon philosophy walking under noble porticoes; the thoughts of the barbarous worshipper of Woden were of bloody fights, and of wassail in which he drank hydromel out of his enemies’ skulls; the Arab goes to sleep cradled on the lap of houris; the Red Indian dreams of endless hunting-fields, whilst the starving Bushman hopes for a heaven of plenty. The Toltec is the only one whose aspirations beyond the grave are free from grossness and cruelty; his heaven is a resting-place for the weary, a perpetual spring, amidst flowers, fields of yellow maize, verdure and flowers.
From these graver matters we will pass to the legend, told by Veytia, which makes Papantzin the inventor of pulque; and although, in our opinion, he places this event too late, it is none the less instructive as showing another side of Toltec history. In the year 1049, or, according to Clavigero, 1024-1030, Tecpancaltzin was one day taking his siesta in the palace, when Papantzin, one of his great nobles, presented himself together with his daughter, the beautiful Xochitl (“flower”), bearing, with other gifts to the king, a kind of liqueur, made from the maguey juice by a process of which Papantzin was the inventor. The new drink pleased the royal palate, and the lovely form and face of the young maiden were still more pleasing to the royal taste. The king expressed his desire to have more of the new beverage at the hands of the fair Xochitl, adding that she might bring it unattended save by her nurse. Proud of the honour shown him, Papantzin a few days later sent Xochitl, accompanied by a dueña, with some pulque. Xochitl was introduced alone to the presence of Tecpancaltzin. Bravely the maiden resisted the monarch’s protestations of ardent love, but alone and unprotected she was unable to resist the threats and violence used against her. She was then sent to the strongly-guarded palace of Palpan near the capital;” and there, cut off from all communication with parents or friends, she lived as the king’s mistress. Her father meanwhile was told that his daughter had been entrusted by the king to the care of some matrons, who would perfect her education and fit her for a high position among the court ladies. Meanwhile the king visited Xochitl, and in 1051 a child was born, who received the name of Meconetzin (“child of the maguey”), and later that of Topiltzin (the “Justicer”[64]), by which he is known in history. But at last Papantzin, suspecting that all was not right with his daughter, visited the palace of Palpan in the disguise of a labourer; he found her and listened to the tale of her shame. His wrath knew no bounds, but he was quieted with the king’s promise that the child should be proclaimed heir to the throne, and that, should the queen die, Xochitl would succeed her as his legitimate consort. It should be mentioned that polygamy and concubinage were strictly forbidden among the Toltecs of that period; that the laws were binding on king and peasant alike; and this explains why Tecpancaltzin was obliged to keep his love for Xochitl secret, until he was free to proclaim her publicly his queen; a step which was fraught with endless evils for his country, since after his death the Toltec princes, who were thus deprived of their hope of succession, broke out into open hostilities. The most powerful of these and nearest to the throne was Huehuetzin;[65] with him were banded the caciques of the northern provinces beyond Jalisco and those bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, when after years of warfare, followed by calamitous inundations, tempests, droughts, famine, and pestilence (1097), the Toltecs, greatly reduced in numbers, dispersed; some directing their march south (the Toluca and Cuernavaca branch), others going north (the Tula and Teotihuacan branch) founded establishments at Tehuantepec, Guatemala, Goatzacoalco, Tabasco, and Campeche; whilst a few remained at Cholula and Chapultepec.[66] Ixtlilxochitl[67] places this event in 1008. Sixteen hundred are said to have settled at Colhuacan, intermarried with Chichemec caciques, and founded the family from which the kings of Texcuco were descended. Clavigero writes that the miserable remains of the nation found a remedy in flight (1031-1050), some settling in Yucatan and Guatemala, whilst others, with the two sons of Topiltzin, remained in the Tula valley, and that their grandsons were subsequently closely connected with the royal families of Mexico, Texcuco, and Colhuacan.[68] Finally Torquemada[69] writes “that they were counselled by the devil to abandon their country to escape utter annihilation, and that the account of their migrations is to be found in Acolhuan histories, written in peculiar characters as is the custom of these aborigines.”
