Ordoñez proceeds to say that Votan, after the establishment of his government, made four or more visits to his former home. On his first voyage he came to a great city, wherein a magnificent temple was in course of erection; this city Ordoñez supposed to be Jerusalem; he next visited an edifice which had been originally intended to reach heaven, an object defeated by a confusion of tongues; finally he was allowed to penetrate by a subterranean passage to the root of heaven.[X-60] On returning to Palenque, Votan found that several more of his nations had arrived; these he recognized as snakes, and showed them many favors, in return for which his supremacy was made secure, and he was at last apotheosized.[X-61] Among the monuments left by the hero was a temple on the Huehuetan River, called 'house of darkness,' from its subterranean chambers, where the records of the nation were deposited under the charge of a fixed number of old men, termed tlapianes, or guardians, and an order of priestesses, whose superior was likewise the head of the male members. Here were also kept a number of tapirs, a sacred animal among the people.[X-62]
The claims of Votan to be considered as the 'heart of the people,' are supported, according to the above accounts, chiefly by his name, which means 'heart,' and by the fact that a chalchiuite, of which stone the relic was made, was placed by the Mexicans and other peoples between the lips of deceased. The other attributes accord more with the character of Quetzalcoatl, as we have seen, and the tradition is very similar; its confusion goes to show that it is a mutilated version of the Toltec myth. If we accept Votan as a grandson of Quetzalcoatl we may also suppose that he was one of the disciples sent out by the prophet to spread his doctrines, and that his own name has been substituted for that of his master. This view is favored by the fact that Quetzalcoatl is identified with the snake-heroes of Yucatan and Guatemala, countries that lie beside and beyond Chiapas. Then, again, we find that Votan's worship was known in Cholula, and that he landed in the very region where the former hero disappeared. However doubtful the preceding tradition may be, there is one among the Oajacans, which to me has all the appearance of a mutilated version of the myth of Quetzalcoatl, deformed still more by the orthodox Fathers. In very remote times, about the era of the apostles, according to the padres, an old white man, with long hair and beard, appeared suddenly at Huatulco, coming from the south-west by sea, and preached to the natives in their own tongue, but of things beyond their understanding. He lived a strict life, passing the greater part of the night in a kneeling posture, and eating but little. He disappeared shortly after as mysteriously as he had come, but left as a memento of his visit a cross, which he planted with his own hand, and admonished the people to preserve it sacredly, for one day they would be taught its significance.[X-63] Some authors describe a personage of the same appearance and character, coming from the same quarter, and appearing in the country shortly after, but it is doubtless the same old man, who, on leaving Huatulco, may have turned his steps to the interior. His voice is next heard in Mictlan,[X-64] inveighing in gentle but firm accents against the pleasures of this world, and enjoining repentance and expiation. His life was in strict accordance with his doctrines, and never, except at confession, did he approach a woman. But the lot of Wixepecocha, as the Zapotecs call him, was that of most reformers. Persecuted by those whose vice and superstitions he attacked, he was driven from one province to another, and at last took refuge on Mount Cempoaltepec. Even here his pursuers followed him, climbing its craggy sides to lay hands upon the prophet. Just as they reached the summit, he vanished like a shadow, leaving only the print of his feet upon the rock.[X-65]
THE APOSTLE WIXEPECOCHA.
Among the points in this myth that correspond to the character of Quetzalcoatl may be noticed the appearance of the prophet from the south-west, which agrees with the direction of the moisture-bearing winds, the chief attribute of the Toltec god; the cross, which indicates not only the four winds, but the rain of which they are the bearers, attributes recognized by the Mexicans who decorated the mantle of the god with crosses; the long beard, the white face, and the dress, which all accord with the Toltec Quetzalcoatl. Like him Wixepecocha taught gentle doctrines of reform, like him he was persecuted and forced to wander from place to place, and at last disappeared, leaving his followers the hope of a better future. The doctrine of Wixepecocha, took root and flourished in the land he had consecrated with his toils and prayers, and, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Wiyatao, the pontiff of Zapotecapan, was vicar and successor of the 'prophet of Monapostiac.'[X-66]
The early padres saw in this personage none other than St. Thomas, the apostle, who had walked across to plant the cross and prepare the way for christianity. There is, or was until recently, a statue of him in the village of Magdalena, four leagues from Tehuantepec, which represented him with long white beard, and muffled up in a long robe with a hood, secured by a cord round the waist; he was seated in a reflective attitude, listening to the confession of a woman kneeling by his side.[X-67] A similar statue is mentioned by Burgoa, as having existed in a cave not far from Xustlahuaca, in Mistecapan,[X-68] where it stood near the entrance, on a marble monolith eleven feet in height. The approach to the cavern appears to have formerly led through a beautiful garden; within were masses of stalactite of the most fantastic and varied forms, many of which the people had fashioned into images of different kinds, and of the most artistic execution, says the padre, whose fancy was doubtless aided by the twilight within. Here lay the embalmed bodies of kings and pontiffs, surrounded by treasures, for this was a supposed entrance to the flowered fields of heaven. The temple cave at Mictlan bore a similar reputation, and served as a sepulchre for the Zapotec grandees. It consisted of four chief divisions, the largest forming the sanctuary proper, the second and third the tombs of kings and pontiffs, and the fourth a vestibule to an immense labyrinthine grotto, in which brave warriors were occasionally buried. Into this, the very ante-room of paradise, frenzied devotees would at times enter, and seek in its dark mazes for the abode of the gods; none ever returned from this dread quest, for the entrance was closed with a great stone, and doubtless many a poor wretch as he touched in his last feeble gropings the bones of those who had preceded him, felt the light come in upon his soul in spite of the thick darkness, and knew he had been deluded; but the mighty stone at the mouth of the cave told no secrets.[X-69]
GODS OF OAJACA.
The prominence of the Plutonic element in the worship of Oajaca is shown by the fact that Pezelao, whose character corresponded to that of the Mexican Mictlantecutli, received high honors. The other conspicuous gods, as enumerated by Brasseur de Bourbourg, were Pitao-Cocobi, god of abundance, or of the harvest; Cociyo, the rain god; Cozaana, patron of hunters and fishermen; and Pitao-Xoo, god of earthquakes. Other deities controlled riches, misfortunes, auguries, poetic inspiration—even the hens had their patron divinity. As might be expected of a people who regarded even living kings and priests with adoration, apotheosis was common. Thus, Petela, an ancient Zapotec cacique whose name signified dog, was worshiped in the cavern of Coatlan. At one end of this subterranean temple a yawning abyss received the foaming waters of a mountain torrent, and into this slaves and captives, gaily dressed and adorned with flowers, were cast on certain occasions.[X-70]
At another place was a white stone shaped like a nine-pin, supposed to be the embodiment of Pinopiaa, a saintly princess of Zapotecapan, whose corpse had been miraculously conveyed to heaven and returned in this form for the benefit of the devout.[X-71]
In Chiapas they worshiped Costahuntox, who was represented with ram's horns on his head, and sat on a throne surrounded by thirteen grandees. In the district of Llanos, Yabalan, or Yahalan, and Canamlum were the chief gods. Even living beings held the position of deities, according to Diaz, who states that a fat old woman, dressed in richly decorated robes, whom the natives venerated as a goddess, led them against the Spanish invaders, but was killed.[X-72] Among the Mijes a green flat stone, with blood-red, lustrous rays, was held in much veneration. Although this is the only reference made by the chroniclers that may be connected with sun worship—which, by the way, could scarcely have claimed a very high position here, since the founder of the Miztec royal family is stated to have been victorious in a contest with the sun—it is worthy of note that the Zapotec word nuhu, fire, also denotes divinity, idol, everything sacred, the earth itself.[X-73] The household idols had their names, history, and worship depicted on bark, and smoked or painted hides, in order to keep them always before the people, and insure to the youth a knowledge of their god. How firmly rooted idolatry was, and how slow the work of eradicating it must have been, to the padres, notwithstanding they destroyed every idol they could lay hands on, is shown by the fact that among the Guechecoros a statue of Cortés served as an object of worship.[X-74] Nagualism is one of the ancient forms of worship which still flourish, and consists in choosing an animal as the tulelary divinity of child, whose existence will be so closely connected with it, that the life of one depends on that of the other. Burgoa states that the priest selected the animal by divination; when the boy grew up he was directed to proceed to a mountain to offer sacrifice, and there the animal would appear to him. Others say that at the hour of the mother's confinement, the father and friends drew on the floor of the hut the outline of various animals, effacing each figure as soon as they began the next, and the figure that remained at the moment of delivery represented the guardian of the infant; or, that the bird or beast first seen by the watchers after the confinement was accepted as the nagual. The bestowal of the sign of the day upon the infant as its name may perhaps be considered as a species of nagualism, since the name of animals often formed these signs.[X-75]