Of the several religious orders the most renowned for its sanctity was the Tlamaxcacayotl, which was consecrated to the service of Quetzalcoatl. The superior of this order, who was named after the god, never deigned to issue from his seclusion except to confer with the king. Its members, called tlamacaxqui, led a very ascetic life, living on coarse fare, dressing in simple black robes,[X-16] and performing all manner of hard work. They bathed at midnight, and kept watch until an hour or two before dawn, singing hymns to Quetzalcoatl; on occasions some of them would retire into the desert to lead a life of prayer and penance in solitude. Children dedicated to this order were distinguished by a collar called yanuati, which they wore till their fourth year, the earliest age at which they were admitted as novices. The females who joined these orders were not necessarily virgins, for it seems that married women were admitted.[X-17]
The order of Telpochtiliztli, 'congregation of young men,' was composed of youths who lived with their parents, but met at sunset in a house set apart for them, to dance and chant hymns in honor of their patron god, Tezcatlipoca. Females also attended these meetings, and, according to report, strict decorum was maintained, at least while the services lasted.[X-18]
RELIGIOUS DEVOTEES.
Acosta makes mention of certain ascetics who dedicated themselves for a year to the most austere life; they assisted the priests at the hours of incensing, and drew much blood from their bodies in sacrifice. They dressed in white robes and lived by begging.[X-19] Camargo refers to a similar class of penitents in Tlascala, who called themselves tlamaceuhque, and sought to obtain divine favor by passing from temple to temple at night, carrying pans of fire upon their heads; this they kept up for a year or two, during which time they led a very strict life.[X-20] The Totonacs had a very strict sect, limited in number, devoted to Centeotl, to which none were admitted but widowers of irreproachable character, who had passed the age of sixty. It was they who made the historical and other paintings from which the high-priest drew his discourses. They were much respected by the people, and were applied to by all classes for advice, which they gave gravely, squatted upon their haunches and with lowered eyes. They dressed in skins, and ate no meat.[X-21]
The children, who were all required, says Las Casas, to attend school between the ages of six and nine, rendered valuable assistance to the priests by performing the minor duties about the temple. Those of the lower school performed much of the outside labor, such as carrying wood and drawing water, while the sons of the nobility were assigned higher tasks in the interior of the building.[X-22]
The daily routine of temple duties was performed by bodies of priests, who relieved each other at intervals of a few hours or days. The service, which chiefly consisted of hymn-chanting and incense-burning, was performed four times each day, at dawn, noon, sunset, and midnight. At the midnight service the priests drew blood from their bodies and bathed themselves. The sun received offerings of quails four times during the day, and five times during the night.[X-23] The priests of Quetzalcoatl sounded the hours of these watches with shell-trumpets and drums. Thrice every morning the Totonac pontiff wafted incense toward the sun; after which the elder priests, who followed him in a file, according to rank, waved their censers three times before the principal idols, and once before the others; finally, incense was burned in honor of the pontiff himself. The copal that remained was distributed in heaps upon the various altars. Later in the day, the high-priest delivered a lecture before the priests and nobles.[X-24] Their prayers were standard compositions, learned by rote at school;[X-25] while reciting them, they assumed a squatting posture,[X-26] usually with the face toward the east; on occasions of great solemnity they prostrated themselves. A test was sometimes applied to ascertain whether the deity was disposed to respond to the prayers of the nation, when offered for a particular purpose. This was done by sprinkling snuff upon the altar, and if, shortly afterwards, the foot-print of an animal, particularly that of an eagle, was found impressed in the snuff, it was regarded as a mark of divine favor, and great was the shouting when the priest announced the augury.[X-27]
Many rites and ceremonies were found to exist among the civilized nations of America that were very similar to certain others observed by Jews and Christians in the old world. The innumerable speculators on the origin of the aboriginal inhabitants of the new world, or at least on the origin of their civilization, have not neglected to bring forward these coincidences—there is no good reason to suppose them anything else—in support of their various theories.
BAPTISM AND CIRCUMCISION.
The cleansing virtue of water would naturally suggest its adaptability to the purification of spiritual stains; the priests and ascetics, plunging at midnight, with their self-inflicted wounds unclosed, into the icy pool within the temple inclosure, had this end in view; there is therefore no cause to wonder that baptism developed into an established rite. The fact that infants were baptized immediately after birth, proves that these people believed, with the Christians and Jews, that sin is inherited; but this, to my thinking at least, does not necessarily show that any communication or connection of any kind ever took place or existed between the inhabitants of the old world and those of the new. They saw that life was not all happiness; they saw that a man's suffering begins at his birth; they were peculiarly apt to regard every misfortune as a direct visitation of the offended gods, whose anger they continually deprecated by prayer and sacrifice; how, then, could they help but believe in the inherency of sin—in the visiting of the sins of the fathers upon the children—while the suffering entailed upon irresponsible infancy was continually before them?
The rite of circumcision has been the main-stay of the numerous theorists who have attempted to prove that the native Americans are descended from the Jews; but with the same evidence they may be proved to be descended from the Caffirs, the South Sea Islanders, the Ethiopians, the Egyptians, or from any Mohammedan people, who all either have practiced, or do now practice circumcision.[X-28] Brinton thinks that the rite was probably a symbolic renunciation of the lusts of the flesh;[X-29] but, as it would be difficult to find a more licentious race than the American, this supposition is unsatisfactory. After all, why need we grope among the recesses of an obscure cult for the meaning and origin of a custom which may have had no religious ideas connected with it? We know that several of the nations of the old world practiced circumcision merely for purposes of cleanliness and convenience, why not also the Americans?