MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION. NEW YORK
The ruler of the eighteenth week of the astrological calendar, or tonalamatl, was a goddess named Chantico or Quaxolotl, also nicknamed Chiconaui-itzcuintli,[40] from the ninth day of the thirteen-day period or week. Seler writes:
She was the goddess of Xochimilco, and consequently also the chief deity of the guild of the tlatecque, of the stone cutters, the stone polishers, the jewelers, who were also supposed to come from Xochimilco. (Duran calls her wrongly Ciuacoatl and identifies her with the goddess of Colhuacan, which place stood opposite the city of Xochimilco).... Besides Chiconaui-itzcuintli the stone-cutters had still a few other titles for the goddess. Such were Papaloxaual and Tlappepalo, i.e., “she of the red butterfly painting,” and “she with the red butterfly,” and these have reference to fire.... The stone-cutters also gave their goddess a butterfly as her nasal ornament, which, red and white, are the colors of her robe.[41]
In some of the different versions or paintings of the tonalamatl contained in old Mexican codices, opposite the delineation of the goddess Chantico there is placed a fasting man in an enclosure. In both Codex Borbonicus[42] and Codex Telleriano Remensis,[43] this figure is found. Seler describes it as—
an enclosure inlaid with gold discs or rings. The interpreter designates it as “house of gold.” Beyond doubt this name has reference to one of the four little fasting houses (necaualcalli) which the hero of Tollan, Quetzalcoatl, built for himself, and naturally corresponded to the four quarters of the heavens, the first of which was said to be made of gold or embellished with gold (coztic teocuitlacalli), the second decorated with red musselshells (tapachcalli), the third with turquoises (xiuihcalli), the fourth with white musselshells (teccizcalli).[44]
Seler draws this inference from the legend given by Sahagun, which we have translated in full below.
As often is the case, there is some confusion in the description of Chantico in the early writings. This deity is also asserted to be a male. In the explanation of the Codex Telleriano Remensis the attributes of Chantico or Cuaxolotle are recited. It is said that—
Chantico presided over these thirteen signs (a division of the tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar), and was the lord of chile or of the yellow woman. He was the first who offered sacrifice after having eaten fried fish; the smoke of which (sacrifice) ascended to heaven; at which Tonacotli (Tonacatecutli, the father of all the gods) became incensed, and pronounced a curse against him that he should be changed into a dog, which accordingly happened, and he named him Chantico on this account, which is another name for Miquitlatecotle. From this transgression the destruction of the world ensued. He was called Nine Dogs, from the sign on which he was born. Chantico or Cuaxolotle is the symbol which the country people of Xolotle wear on their heads.[45] (The symbol of the city of Xolotlan in the Codex Mendoza is the head of a Dog.)
In the Sahagun manuscript of the Real Palacio in Madrid[46] the deity is painted with the shirt and skirt of a woman, and also in the Codex Borbonicus[47] and the Tonalamatl Aubin.[48] In his explanation of the last codex Seler has treated exhaustively of the various representations and attributes of this goddess.[49]