Tlalocan.—An even more material paradise was presided over by the water-god or deity of moisture, Tlaloc. Sahagun [[62]]calls this a “terrestrial paradise,” “where they feign that there is surfeit of pleasure and refreshment, void, for a space, of torment.” In that delectable region there is plenteousness of green maize, of calabashes, pepper, tomatoes, haricots, and it is fulfilled with variegated blossoms. There dwell the god Tlaloc and his followers. The persons who gain admittance to this paradise are those who have been slain by lightning or thunderbolt, the leprous and the dropsical—those whose deaths have in any way been caused through the agency of water—for Tlaloc is god of that element. Existence there is perpetual. The paradise of Tlaloc was situated in the east in a climate of eternal summer.
Homeyoca.—The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A states that the abode of the Creator of the Universe, Tonacatecutli, was Homeyoca or Homeiocan, “place of the Holy Trinity.” The etymology is vague, but would appear to apply to duality rather than trinity, a suggestion which is buttressed by the androgynous character of the creative deities. In an accompanying picture he points out the various departments of this heaven as “the Red Heaven,” “the Yellow Heaven,” “the White Heaven.” Young children, he says, went to a specific paradise, but it was thought that they would return to re-people the world after the third destruction. They were nourished by a milk-giving tree round which they were seated, getting suck from the branches.
But we have glimpses here and there in Aztec literature of a much more elaborate series of heavens, thirteen in number. The first contained certain planets, the second was the home of the Tzitzimimê, who included many of the great gods, the third that of the Centzon Mimixcoa, or star-warriors, who were many-coloured—yellow, black, white, red, blue—and provided the sun with food in the shape of blood. The fourth was inhabited by birds, the fifth by fire-snakes (perhaps comets), the sixth was the home of the winds, the seventh harboured dust, and in the eighth dwelt the gods. The remainder were placed at the disposal of the high primal and creative gods Tonacatecutli and his spouse Tonacaciuatl, [[63]]whose abode proper was in the thirteenth and highest heaven.[34]
MICTLAMPA AS HADES
The Hades of the Aztec race was Mictlampa, presided over by Mictlantecutli (Lord of Mictlampa) and his spouse (Mictecaciuatl). The souls of the defunct who fared thither were those who died of disease, chiefs, great personages, or humbler folk. On the day of death the priest harangued the deceased, telling him that he was about to go to a region “where there is neither light nor window,” and where all was shadow, a veritable land of gloom, the passage to which swarmed with grisly forms inimical to the soul. It was a vast, trackless, and gloomy desert, having nine divisions, of which the last, Chiconahuimictlan, was the abode of the lord of the place. Rank and privilege would appear to have been maintained even in this dark realm, although all offerings to the dead must first be inspected by Mictlantecutli himself ere being passed on to their proper owners. Sahagun states that four years were occupied in journeying to Mictlampa, evidently an error for four days, as elsewhere he says that the former period was spent within the regions of the dead. The journey thence was replete with terrors. Says the interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A: “In this region of hell they supposed that there existed four gods, or principal demons, one of whom was superior, whom they called Zitzimatl, who is the same as Miquitlamtecotl, the great god of hell. Yzpuzteque, the lame demon, was he who appeared in the streets with the feet of a cock. Nextepehua was the scatterer of ashes, Contemoque signifies he who descends headforemost; an allusion being made to the etymology which learned men assign to the name of the Devil, which signifies deorsum cadens, which mode of descent after souls they attribute to him from this name and Zon. Yzpuzteque is he whose abode is in the streets, the same as Satan, he who on a sudden appears sideways. It appears that they [[64]]have been acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, although clearer arguments in proof of this fact are adduced in the course of the following pages. They say that these four gods or demons have goddesses.”
These and other dread beings, according to the same MS., rendered the hellward journey terrible in the extreme, and an attempt was made to mitigate the terrors of the passage between the two worlds by means of passports of much the same character as the spells in the Egyptian “Book of the Dead,” which franked the soul past the numerous demons and dangers which awaited it. The first paper served to pass him by two mountains which threatened to clash together and crush him. The second saved him from the maw of a huge snake. Others helped him to face the lurking terrors of eight deserts and eight hills, and to avoid the grim crocodile Xochitonal. A wind of sharp flint knives then attacked him. Lastly he came to the river Chiconahuopan (Nine Waters), which he crossed on the back of a red-coloured dog which accompanied him and which was killed for that purpose by having an arrow thrust down its throat. It is not clear whether this dog acted as a guide to Mictlampa, or whether it preceded the soul, but it would seem that its master found it awaiting him when he came to the banks of the river, in the passage of which it assisted him. It kept its vigil on the opposite bank, however, and had to swim the river ere it could reach him.
The deceased then came before Mictlantecutli, to whom he made suitable gifts—cotton, perfumes, and a mantle. He was told to which sphere he must go. It is obvious that Mictlampa was not so much a place of punishment as a place of the dead, a Hades, where the souls of the good and evil were alike consigned. Its locality is partially fixed, for it is “the place where the sun slept,” and, like the Egyptian Amenti, it was therefore antipodean, or occupied the centre of the earth. After a four years’ sojourn in this dark monarchy the soul was supposed to come to a place where, according to the interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus, it enjoyed a measure of rest. [[65]]