[93] This, too, accounts for his identification with the planet Venus, which also had a calendric connection, and therefore as the herald of the dawn, and the child of the virgin goddess Chimalman or Chalchihuitlicue in her guise as Moon-goddess. [↑]
[94] Votan was likewise a builder of subterranean houses and was worshipped in caves. The god of the rain-cult is, indeed, regarded as master of the streams which flow under the earth. See Brinton, Nagualism, p. 41. [↑]
CHAPTER IV
THE CREATIVE DEITIES
TONACATECUTLI—TONACACIUATL (TONACATECUTLI = “LORD OF OUR SUBSISTENCE”)
- Area of Worship: Mexico; originally Atlantic coastlands, the Olmeca lands and Tlaxcallan. Anciently Toltec.
- Minor Names:
- Ometecutli = “Twofold lord.”
- Tlachinale = “Lord of Creation.”
- Tlatecque = “Lord of the Earthly World.”
- Teotlale = “Lord of the Steppe.”
- Matlaua = “Lord of the Net.”
- Topeua = “Lord of the Mountains.”
- Tloque Nahuaque = “Lord of the Close Vicinity.”
- Relationship: Father of Quetzalcoatl.
- Calendar Places: Ruler of the first day, ce cipactli, of the first week and of the fourth day-hour.
- Compass Direction: West.
- Symbol: The human pair beneath the coverlet.
ASPECT AND INSIGNIA
Codex Vaticanus A.—In the Codex Vaticanus A Tonacatecutli’s body-paint is red and pink. His headdress is bound by a fillet richly encrusted with turquoises, having in front the conventional bird’s head which is so frequently encountered in representations of the Mexican gods in the codices. He wears the nasal ornament of serpentine shape peculiar to the octli- or drink-gods, as to some of the deities of fertility, and his fruitful or life-giving nature is symbolized by a foot-stool composed of maize ears.