During the month of Mol the apiarists had another festival similar to that of the month of Tzec, in order to induce their patron gods to cause the flowers to grow, from which the bees gathered honey.
FESTIVAL TO INSURE A CROP.
The Mayas depended so much upon the produce of the soil for their sustenance that a failure of the crops was one of the heaviest misfortunes that could fall upon them. To avoid this they made four idols, named Chichac Chob, Ek Balam Chac, Ahcan Uolcab, and Ahbuluc Balam.[1026] Having placed them in the temple, and, according to custom, burned incense before them, they presented them with two pellets of a kind of resin called kik, some iguanas, some bread, a mitre, a bouquet of flowers, and a stone upon which they set great value. Besides this, they erected a great wooden arch in the court, which they filled with wood, taking care to leave openings through which to pass backwards and forwards. The greater part of the men then took each a long stick of dry wood, and while a musician mounted on the top of the pile sang and beat a drum, all danced reverently and in good order, as they did so passing in and out the wood-pile. This they kept up until evening, when, leaving their sticks behind them, they went home to eat and rest. During the night they returned, and each taking his faggot, lit it and applied it to the pile, which burned fiercely and rapidly.[1027] As soon as the heap was reduced to red-hot ashes, those who had danced gathered about it, and passed barefooted over the coals, some without injury, and some with; this they believed would avert misfortune and appease the anger of the gods.[1028]
It was customary in all the towns of Yucatan to erect at the limits of each of the four quarters, east, west, north, and south, two heaps of stones, facing each other, and intended to be used during the celebration of two solemn festivals, which were as follows. In the year of which the dominical letter was kan, the sign was hobnil, and, according to the Yucatecs, these both ruled in the south. They made this year, of baked earth, an idol which they called Kanu Uayeyab, and having made it they carried it out to the heaps of stones which lay towards the south. They then selected a principal man of the place, and in his house they celebrated the feast. For this purpose they made another image, of the god Bolon Zacab,[1029] and placed it in the chosen house, in a prominent place, so that all who arrived might see it. This done, the nobles, priests, and people came together, and set out by a road swept clean, ornamented with arches, and strewed with foliage, to the southern heaps of stones, where they gathered about the idol Kanu Uayeyab. The priest then incensed the god with forty-nine grains of maize, ground up and mixed with copal; the nobles next placed incense in the brazier, and burned it before the idol. The incense burned by the priest was called zacah, that used by the nobles, chahalté. When these rites were completed the head of a fowl was cut off and offered to the idol, which was now placed on a litter called kanté,[1030] and upon its shoulders were placed other little images, as signs of abundance of water and a good year, and these images were frightful to behold. Amid dances and general rejoicing the idol was carried towards the house where the statue of Bolon Zacab had been placed, and while the procession was on the road, the nobles and priests partook of a beverage made from four hundred and fifteen grains of roasted maize, which they called picula kakla. Arrived at their destination, they placed the image that they carried opposite the idol which they found there, and made many offerings of food and drink, which were afterwards divided among the strangers who were present, the officiating priest receiving only the leg of a deer. Some of the devotees drew blood from their bodies, scarified their ears, and anointed with the blood a stone idol named Kanal Acantun. They modeled a heart of dough of maize and of calabash-seeds, and offered it to the idol Kanu Uayeyab. And in this manner they honored both the idols during the entire time of the feast, burning before them incense of copal and ground maize, for they held it certain that misfortune would overwhelm them if they neglected these rites. Finally, the statue of Bolon Zacab was carried to the temple, and the other image to the western entrance of the town, where it remained until the next celebration of the feast.
MAYA FESTIVALS.
The ceremonies of the new year, under the sign of muluc, were very similar to those just described, though held in honor of other deities. A dance performed upon a high scaffolding, attended with sacrifices of turkeys; another executed by the old people, holding little baked-clay images of dogs in their hands; and the sacrifice of a peculiarly marked dog, were, however, additional features. The same may be said of the new year under the sign of yx, and of the new year under the sign of cauac, when the rites which were performed were sufficiently like those which have gone before to need no further description.[1031]
The gods of the Yucatecs required far fewer human lives at the hands of their worshipers than those of the Nahuas. The pages of Yucatec history are not marred by the constant blood-blots that obscure the Nahua record. An event which in Mexico would be the death-signal to a hecatomb of human victims, would in Yucatan be celebrated by the death of a spotted dog. The office of sacrificer which in Mexico was one of the highest honors to which a priest could attain, was in Yucatan regarded as unclean and degrading.[1032] Nevertheless, the Yucatec religion was not free from human sacrifice, and although captives taken in war were used for this purpose, yet it is said that such was their devotion, that should a victim be wanting they would dedicate their children to the altar rather than let the gods be deprived of their due.[1033] But it seldom happened that more than one victim was sacrificed at a time, at least in earlier days, and even then he was not butchered as by the Nahuas, but was shot through the heart with arrows before being laid upon the sacrificial stone.[1034]
SACRIFICES AT CHICHEN ITZA.
At Chichen Itza human sacrifices were made in a peculiar manner. In the centre of the city was an immense pit, containing water, and surrounded on all sides by a dense grove, which served to render the spot silent and solitary, in spite of its position. A circular staircase, rudely cut in the rock, descended to the edge of the water from the foot of an altar which stood upon the very brink of the pit.[1035] At first, only animals and incense were offered here, as the teachings of Cukulcan forbade the sacrifice of human victims, but after the departure of the great Maya apostle the Yucatecs returned to the evil of their ways,[1036] and the pit of Chichen was once more polluted with human bodies. At first one victim sufficed, but the number gradually increased, until, during the later years of Maya independence, hundreds were immolated at a time. If some calamity threatened the country, if the crops failed or the requisite supply of rain was wanting, the people hastened to the pit of horror, to offer prayers and to appease the wrath of the gods with gifts of human life. On the day of sacrifice, the victims, who were generally young virgins, were taken to the temple, clothed in the garments appropriate to the occasion, and conducted thence to the sacred pit, accompanied by a multitude of priests and priestesses of all ranks. There, while the incense burned on the altar and in the braziers, the officiating priest explained to them the things for which they were to implore the gods into whose presence they were about to be introduced. A long cord was then fastened round the body of each victim, and the moment the smoke ceased to rise from the altar, all were hurled into the gulf. The crowd, which had gathered from every part of the country to see the sacrifice, immediately drew back from the brink of the pit and continued to pray without cessation for some time. The bodies were then drawn up and buried in the neighboring grove.[1037]