RELIGIOUS FEASTS.
The Aztec feast that is mentioned first by the old writers, namely that of the month Atlcahualco, 'the diminishing of the waters,' or, as it was called in some parts, Quahuitlehua, 'burning of the trees or mountains,' was celebrated in honor of the Tlalocs, gods of rains and waters. At this feast a great number of sucking infants were sacrificed, some upon certain high mountains, others in a whirlpool in the lake of Mexico. The little ones were mostly bought from their mothers, though sometimes they were voluntarily presented by parents who wished to gain the particular favor of the god. Those only who had two curls on the head, and who had been born under a lucky sign were thought acceptable to the gods. The sacrifices were not all made in one place, but upon six several mountains and in the lake. These were visited one after another by a great procession of priests attended by the music of flutes and trumpets, and followed by a vast multitude of people thirsting for the sight of blood; nay, more, literally hungering for the flesh of the babes, if we may credit the assertion of some authors, that the bodies were actually brought back and the flesh eaten as a choice delicacy by the priests and chief men. But of cannibalism more anon.
The little ones were carried to their death upon gorgeous litters adorned with plumes and jewels, and were themselves dressed in a splendid manner in embroidered and jeweled mantles and sandals, and colored paper wings. Their faces were stained with oil of India-rubber, and upon each cheek was painted a round white spot. No wonder that, as the old chroniclers say, the people wept as the doomed babes passed by; surely there was good cause for weeping in such a sight. Gladiatorial combats and sacrifice of prisoners of war at the temple completed this feast.[277]
The next feast, that in the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli, 'the flaying of men,' was held in honor of Xipe, who was especially the patron deity of the goldsmiths.[278] This god was thought to inflict sore eyes, itch, and other diseases upon those who offended him, and they were therefore careful to observe his feast with all due regularity and honor. On this occasion thieves convicted for the second time of stealing gold or jewels[279] were sacrificed, besides the usual number of prisoners of war. The vigil of the feast, on the last day of the preceding month, began with solemn dances. At midnight the victims were taken from the chapel, where they had been compelled to watch, and brought before the sacred fire. Here the hair was shaven from the top of their heads, the captors at the same time drawing blood from their own ears in honor of the idol; the severed topknot of each war prisoner was afterwards hung up at the house of his captor as a token and memorial of the father's bravery. Towards daybreak some of the prisoners were taken up to the great temple to be sacrificed. But before we proceed farther it will be necessary to see how these human offerings were made.
SACRIFICIAL RITES.
Sacrifices varied in number, place, and manner, according to the circumstances of the festival. In general the victims suffered death by having the breast opened, and the heart torn out; but others were drowned, others were shut up in caves and starved to death, others fell in the gladiatorial sacrifice, which will be described elsewhere. The customary place was the temple, on the topmost platform of which stood the altar used for ordinary sacrifices. The altar of the great temple at Mexico, says Clavigero, was a green stone, probably jasper, convex above, and about three feet high and as many broad, and more than five feet long. The usual ministers of the sacrifice were six priests, the chief of whom was the Topiltzin, whose dignity was preëminent and hereditary; but at every sacrifice he assumed the name of that god to whom it was made. When sacrificing he was clothed in a red habit, similar in shape to a modern scapulary, fringed with cotton; on his head he wore a crown of green and yellow feathers, from his ears hung golden ear-ornaments and green jewels, and from his under lip a pendant of turquoise. His five assistants were dressed in white habits of the same make, but embroidered with black; their hair was plaited and bound with leather thongs, upon their foreheads were little patches of various-colored paper; their entire bodies were dyed black. The victim was carried naked up to the temple, where the assisting priests seized him and threw him prostrate on his back upon the altar, two holding his legs, two his feet, and the fifth his head; the high-priest then approached, and with a heavy knife of obsidian cut open the miserable man's breast; then with a dexterity acquired by long practice the sacrificer tore forth the yet palpitating heart, which he first offered to the sun and then threw at the foot of the idol; taking it up he again offered it to the god and afterwards burned it, preserving the ashes with great care and veneration. Sometimes the heart was placed in the mouth of the idol with a golden spoon. It was customary also to anoint the lips of the image and the cornices of the door with the victim's blood. If he was a prisoner of war, as soon as he was sacrificed they cut off his head to preserve the skull, and threw the body down the temple steps, whence it was carried to the house of the warrior by whom the victim had been taken captive, and cooked and eaten at a feast given by him to his friends; the body of a slave purchased for sacrifice was carried off by the former proprietor for the same purpose. This is Clavigero's account. The same writer asserts that the Otomís having killed the victim, tore the body in pieces, which they sold at market. The Zapotecs sacrificed men to their gods, women to their goddesses, and children to some other diminutive deities. At the festival of Teteionan the woman who represented this goddess was beheaded on the shoulders of another woman. At the feast celebrating the arrival of the gods, the victims were burned to death. We have seen that they drowned children at one feast in honor of Tlaloc; at another feast of the same god several little boys were shut up in a cavern, and left to die of fear and hunger.[280]
SACRIFICES IN HONOR OF XIPE.
Let us now proceed with the feast of Xipe. We left a part of the doomed captives on their way to death. Arrived at the summit of the temple each one is led in turn to the altar of sacrifice seized by the grim, merciless priests, and thrown upon the stone; the high priest draws near, the knife is lifted, there is one great cry of agony, a shuffle of feet as the assistants are swayed to and fro by the death struggles of their victim, then all is silent save the muttering of the high-priest as high in air he holds the smoking heart, while from far down beneath comes a low hum of admiration from the thousands of upturned faces.