[15] A species of wild laurel. [↑]
[16] The custom of wearing a mask of the deity worshipped (in this case the slain woman represented the goddess) is widespread. [↑]
[19] Who, like several of the older Spanish authorities, regarded Cinteotl as a goddess, a belief now exploded. See vol. i, bk. vi (English translation). [↑]
[20] It might be quoted against this view that the lewd life of pleasure of which Xochipilli and Macuilxochitl are the representatives results in that death which is the child of sin, and that these gods are therefore “brothers” to Cinteotl in this especial connection. Seler, Comm. Codex Fej.-Mayer, p. 66; Comm. Codex Vat. B, pp. 207–208. [↑]
[21] Sahagun, bk. ix, c. xvii. [↑]
[23] At the festival of Demeter, with whose worship the serpent was connected, the earth was struck with rods by the priest who called upon the goddess. This is also done during the act of divination among the Zulus, when they call upon spirits. See Callaway, Izinyanga Zokubula, p. 362. [↑]