Quetzalcoatle, the virgin-born Mexican Saviour, was also tempted by the devil, and the forty days' fast was found among them.[177:3]
Fasting and self-denial were observances practiced by all nations of antiquity. The Hindoos have days set apart for fasting on many different occasions throughout the year, one of which is when the birth-day of their Lord and Saviour Crishna is celebrated. On this occasion, the day is spent in fasting and worship. They abstain entirely from food and drink for more than thirty hours, at the end of which Crishna's image is worshiped, and the story of his miraculous birth is read to his hungry worshipers.[177:4]
Among the ancient Egyptians, there were times when the priests submitted to abstinence of the most severe description, being forbidden to eat even bread, and at other times they only ate it mingled with hyssop. "The priests in Heliopolis," says Plutarch, "have many fasts, during which they meditate on divine things."[177:5]
Among the Sabians, fasting was insisted on as an essential act of religion. During the month Tammuz, they were in the habit of fasting from sunrise to sunset, without allowing a morsel of food or drop of liquid to pass their lips.[177:6]
The Jews also had their fasts, and on special occasions they gave themselves up to prolonged fasts and mortifications.
Fasting and self-denial were observances required of the Greeks who desired initiation into the Mysteries. Abstinence from food, chastity and hard couches prepared the neophyte, who broke his fast on the third and fourth day only, on consecrated food.[177:7]
The same practice was found among the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians. Acosta, speaking of them, says:
"These priests and religious men used great fastings, of five and ten days together, before any of their great feasts, and they were unto them as our four ember weeks. . . .
"They drank no wine, and slept little, for the greatest part of their exercises (of penance) were at night, committing great cruelties and martyring themselves for the devil, and all to be reputed great fasters and penitents."[178:1]