The Guatemalan trinity reappears in the character of Omeyateite and Omeyatezigoat[XI-84]—easily recognizable in the Mexican Ometecutli and Omecihuatl—and their son Ruiatcot, the rain god,[XI-85] who sends forth thunder, lightning and rain. They are also supposed to live where the sun rises, doubtless because that seems the abode of bliss, and as fertilizing forces they are regarded as creators, but not connected with the two before mentioned. Quiateot was the most prominent, if not the supreme, member of the trinity, for the other two, as representing the thunder and lighting, the forerunners, or parents, of the showers, do not seem to have been invoked when rain was wanted, or to have participated in the sacrifices of young boys and girls offered on such occasions.[XI-86]
THE GODDESS OF THE VOLCANO.
The Nicaraguans had other deities presiding over the elements, seasons, and necessaries of life. Thus, Macat and Toste, also written Mazat and Teotost,[XI-87] the deer and rabbit, were gods of the chase. When a deer was killed, the hunter placed the head in a basket in his house, and regarded it as the representation of the god.[XI-88] Mixcoa was the god invoked by the traders, and those about to make purchases; Cacaguat was the patron of cacao-culture; Miquetanteot, god of hades, was evidently the same as Mictlantecutli of Mexico; there were, besides, others whose names have been given to the days of the month. In Martiari the chief deity was called Tipotani. In Nicaragua proper, they adored Tomaoteot, 'the great god,' whose son Teotbilche was sent down to mankind. This looks like another Christ-myth, especially when we read of attendant angels who had wings and flew about in heaven. The names of the two chief angels were Taraacazcati and Tamacaztobal.[XI-89] The Dirans revered in particular the goddess of the volcano Masaya; for her they placed food on the brink of the crater, into which they cast human beings, especially when she manifested her anger by earthquakes. On such occasions the chiefs and priests, who alone were permitted to look into the seething abyss, went to the summit and called upon the genius, who issued from the lake of fire in the form of an old woman and instructed them what to do. She is described as a naked, dark-skinned hag, with hanging breasts, scanty hair, long, sharp teeth, and sunken glaring eyeballs. The gods were invested with all the peculiarities of humanity, formed of flesh and blood, and lived on the food provided for man, besides blood and incense. They also appeared on earth dressed like the natives, but since the death of the cacique Xostoval these visits ceased.[XI-90] They were personified by idols of stone, clay, or wood, called teobat,[XI-91] whose forms their forefathers had transmitted; to them were brought offerings of food and other things, which were taken in at the door of the temple by boys serving there, for none except the consecrated were allowed to enter the sanctuary.[XI-92] To encourage the piety that prompted these offerings, the priests never failed to remind the people of the punishment inflicted on the inhabitants of the ancient capital of Nagrando, who having given themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure, and neglected the gods, were one night swallowed up, not a vestige of their city being left.[XI-93] The most acceptable offering was, of course, human blood. At certain times the favorite idol was set on a spear and planted in an open place amid gorgeously adorned attendants holding banners, and flowers. Here the priests gashed their tongues, and other parts, smearing the face of the image with the blood that flowed, while the devout approached to whisper their desires into the ear of the idol. Songs, dances, and games attended these ceremonies.
Before each temple was a conic or pyramidal mound of adobe, called tescuit, or tezarit, ascended by an interior staircase.[XI-94] From its summit, upon which there was room for about ten men to stand, the priest proclaimed the nature of the approaching festival, and the kind of sacrifice to be made, and here, upon a stone block, the victims, generally captives and slaves, had their hearts cut out, after which they were decapitated, the body to be cut up and prepared for the grand banquets, while the head, if that of a captive, was hung on a tree near the temple, a particular tree being reserved for each tribe from whom the victims were captured. The most prized victims were young boys and girls, who were brought up by the chiefs for the purpose and treated with great care and respect wherever they went, for they were supposed to become deified after death and to exercise great influence over the affairs of life. Women, who were held to be unworthy to perform any duty in connection with the temples, were immolated outside the temple ground of the large sanctuaries, and even their flesh was unclean food for the high-priest, who accordingly ate only of the flesh of males.[XI-95]
Fasts and baptismal rites, so prominent hitherto, do not appear to have been practiced in Nicaragua. A kind of sacrament was administered, however, by means of maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the generative organs, and confession was a recognized institution. The confessor was chosen from among the most aged and respected citizens; a calabash suspended from the neck was his badge of office. He was required to be a man of blameless life, unmarried, and not connected with the temple. Those who wished to confess went to his house, and there standing with humility before him unburdened their conscience. The confessor was forbidden to reveal any secret confided to him in his official capacity, under pain of punishment. The penance he imposed was generally some kind of labor to be performed for the benefit of the temple. Boys did not confess, but seem to have reserved the avowal of their peccadillos for maturer age.[XI-96]
PRIESTS OF NICARAGUA.
The office of high-priest was held by the caciques, who each in his turn left home and occupation and removed to the chief temple, there to remain for a year attending to religious matters and praying for the people. At the expiration of the term he received the honorable distinction of having his nose perforated. Subordinate duties were performed by boys. In the inferior temples other classes entered for a year's penance, living like the chief in strict seclusion, except at festivals perhaps, seeing none but the boys who brought food from their homes. The ordinary priests were called tamagast[XI-97] and lived on the offerings made to the idols, and perhaps by their own exertions, for the temples had no fixed revenues.[XI-98] They had sorcerers, texoxes, who sometimes caused the death of children by merely looking at them, and who could assume animal forms, for which reasons they were much feared by the people. To strengthen this belief they at times disguised themselves in skins of beasts.[XI-99] In Honduras the idea of a Supreme Being and Creator was connected with a worship of the sun, moon, and stars, to which the people made sacrifices.[XI-100] Near Truxillo were three chief temples[XI-101] in one of which was a chalchiuite in the form of a woman, to which the people prayed, and which answered them through the priests. Preparatory to any important undertaking, cocks, dogs, or even men, were sacrificed to secure the favor of the gods. In each of the sanctuaries presided a papa, or chief priest, to whom the education of the sons of the nobles was entrusted. These were unmarried men, distinguished by long hair reaching to the waist, though in some places they wound it round the head in plaits. Their sanctity and superior knowledge gave them great influence, and their advice was sought on all affairs of importance by the principal men, for none else dared to approach them. There were also sorcerers who could assume animal forms, in which guise they went about devouring men and spreading diseases.[XI-102]
THE MOSQUITO PANTHEON.
Among the barbarians of the Mosquito Coast, we find, of course, a much lower order of belief, and one which calls to mind the ghouls and ghosts of Californian mythology. The natives acknowledged a good spirit or principle, to which they gave no definite name[XI-103] and rendered no homage, for there was no necessity, they said, to pray to one who always did good; as for thanking him for mercies received, such an idea seems never to have occurred to them. In fact, they had neither temples nor idols, and the only ceremonies that partook of a religious character were the conjurations of their sukias, or sorceresses, who were constantly engaged in breaking the spells of evil spirits, with which the people's fancy, excited by grewsome stories told round the camp-fire, had filled every dark and dismal place, every stream and mountain top. These gnomes were known by the name of Wulasha,[XI-104] and were supposed to issue from their hiding-places, especially at night, to do all manner of evil; they were especially addicted to carrying off solitary wanderers; it was, therefore, say the chroniclers, almost impossible to induce a native to go out alone after dark.
Amid the underwood and fallen trees about the sources of rivers, big snakes were thought to dwell. These monsters were assisted by a resistless upward current and a strong wind which swept the unwary boatman within the reach of the red jaws and slimy folds. Patook, among other rivers, had this bad reputation, and a white man who despite the warnings of the natives started to explore its mysteries, returned in a few days with the story that his progress had been opposed by a big white cock. Leewa[XI-105] was the name of the water spirit, who sucked the bather into pools and eddies and sent forth devastating waterspouts and hurricanes. Wihwin, a spirit having the appearance of a horse,[XI-106] with tremendous teeth to devour human prey, haunted the hills during the summer, but retired with the winter to the sea, whence he originally issued. In mountain caves, guarded by fierce white boars, lived the patron deity of the warrees, the wild pigs of the country, of childish form but immense strength, who directed the movements of the droves. There were, besides, certain venomous lizards, who after biting a man ran immediately to the nearest water: if the wounded person did the same and succeeded in reaching the water first, he was saved, and the lizard died; otherwise the man was doomed.[XI-107] The Sukias who were called upon to exorcise these malignant beings on every occasion of sickness, or misfortune, were generally old hags, supposed to have a compact with the evil one, in whose name they exacted half their fee before commencing their enchantments. The Caribs held regular meetings or festivals to propitiate these spirits, and the Woolwas, who seem to have had many religious forms in common with the Nicaraguans, had "dances with the gods."[XI-108]