TEMPLE AND PRIESTHOOD
The idol of Chantico was kept in close confinement in the dark Tlillan, and was not visible to the vulgar gaze. Sahagun states that she had a temple in Mexico called Tetlanman, and priests who lived in the Tetlanman Calmecac,[17] and that the office of these priests, the tecamma teoua, was the furnishing of paint, feathers, and other necessaries for the feast of the goddess.
NATURE AND STATUS
Like Xiuhtecutli, the character of Chantico is expressed by a watery sign, that of quiauitl (rain). This, however, is really connected with the old mythic fire-rain at the end of the water-sun age, when fire fell from heaven and “the foam-stones foamed up and the rocks became red.”
The goddess must be regarded as the consuming fire, as [[283]]is proved by an account of her image by Duran, representing her with open jaws and hungry fangs. It is because of this, too, that she came to be connected with the dog,[18] the biting animal, and that her festival is held on the date chicunai itzcuintli, “nine dog.”
She is further the volcanic fire which is hidden in the centre of the earth, and which was symbolically represented by the fire shut up in the tlillan temple or sacred edifice, and this plutonic significance is perhaps the reason why the interpreters speak of her as having the characteristics of Mictlantecutli, the god of Hades; but they speak of her as well as the “Yellow Woman.” Her butterfly names also have reference to the flitting shapes seen in flame.
She is the patroness of chilli pepper, which was naturally associated with the fiery element and was therefore connected with the end of a period of fasting, the Mexicans regarding abstinence from this condiment as equivalent to a fast. The myth which speaks of her as having been punished for eating fish before a sacrifice is also eloquent of this relationship, and also by its reference to her transformation into canine form connects her further with the dog and makes her a patroness of the nanualtin, or wizards, who on the day itzcuintli (“dog”) had especial power to transform themselves into animals.
Her name “In the House” alludes, of course, to her character as a goddess of the domestic hearth. She was also the patroness of the goldsmiths and jewellers of Xochimilco, who of all crafts required the assistance of her element.