MAYA

7–11. Pottery figurines from graves in British Honduras

(Scale: 1, ⅐th; 2–6, ⅜ths; 7–11, ¼th)

Fig. 11.—Totonac stone relief, from Huilocintla, near Tuxpan.

Human sacrifice was of course reserved for the more important feasts, the offerings on lesser occasions consisting chiefly of incense, quails and the worshipper’s own blood. Incense, mixed with tobacco, was offered on every occasion, and the incense-pouch is shown in the MSS. as the invariable accompaniment of priests. It was consumed in pottery braziers (Pl. [IX, 1], and Figs. [4, e], and [36, 1], pp. 36 and 185), and visitors of great distinction were greeted by censing, a compliment which was continually paid to the Spaniards on their first arrival. Blood drawn by the worshipper from ears, tongue, arms or legs, was offered on most occasions, and this rite was invariably performed as an act of penance every time that he wished to attain ceremonial purity. The usual implement was a spine of the aloe, which, covered with blood, was offered to the god, but implements of bone were also employed, especially for piercing the ears. An elaboration of this ceremony consisted in passing rods through the tongue, and at the principal festival, in March, to Camaxtli at Tlaxcala, the chief priest was supposed to pass no less than 405 specially prepared rods through that organ, the other worshippers being satisfied with a smaller number. This performance is well illustrated in a relief from Huilocintla in the Totonac region (Fig. [11]), which bears a distinctly Mayan appearance, and, as will be seen later, the Maya themselves were much addicted to the practice. Upon the proper periodical observance of this penitential act, accompanied by ceremonial fasting, the Mexican believed his material prosperity, to a great extent, to depend. By this means a person born on an unlucky day might avert much of his destined ill-fortune, while a man born under a lucky sign would forfeit by neglect the prosperity which it promised. Fasting played a very important part in all ceremonies preliminary to religious festivals, and was a condition of ritual purity; it consisted in partaking of but one meal a day, of abstinence from flesh and octli, and of rigid continence. Penitential acts and fasting, together with the making of offerings to certain gods, were prescribed by the priests of Tlazolteotl for those who made confession before them. The fact that confession was practised by the Mexicans was especially striking to the Spaniards, and most of the early writers make some comment upon the ceremony. The penitent approached the priest and signified his desire to confess, and the priest consulted the tonalamatl to find a propitious day for the occasion. When this arrived, sacrifice was made to Xiuhtecutli by casting offerings into a fire specially kindled for the purpose, and after an invocation to Tezcatlipoca, uttered by the priest, the penitent made confession of his faults seated before the latter, whom he regarded as the representative of the god. Sahagun states that small offences alone were confessed by the young, and that it was only the elders who made acknowledgment of serious sins, for it was believed that pardon could only be granted once for a particular fault. Absolution, however, was complete, and seems to have freed the penitent from temporal punishment. Sahagun states that in the early days of Christianity, natives would come to the monasteries to confess, and then ask for a certificate from the priests which they might show to the alcade or governor in order that their offence might be wiped out in the eyes of the temporal law also. Before confession the penitent took an oath to tell the truth, by touching the ground with a finger which he licked. This was the customary manner of swearing, and the action was usually accompanied by the words, “In the name of the Sun, in the name of our lady the Earth, I swear so-and-so, and in ratification thereof I eat this earth.” This action was termed “eating the earth in respect for the gods,” and was performed each time a temple or shrine was entered.

CHAPTER IV—MEXICO: WRITINGS, PRIESTHOOD, MEDICINE AND BURIAL

So many of the manuscripts have a religious or calendrical significance, that it may be as well to say here a few words about the Mexican system of writing. The Indians of the North American plains had evolved a sign-language, by means of which, under limitations, a silent conversation could be carried on; further, they were in the habit of recording events by painting figures and scenes on hide, or weaving them in their wampum belts. The Mexican system was a little more advanced; though events were expressed by the actual depiction of the scenes, yet many of the details were purely symbolical, and names were expressed by a figure or combination of figures which constitute a rebus. Thus the name of the king, Itzcoatl, was written as a snake (coatl) bristling with obsidian knives (itztli); the town of Tochtepec, by a rabbit (tochtli) on a mountain (tepetl); that of Tenochtitlan, by a stone (tetl), on which grows a cactus plant (nochtli), the syllable tlan being a place-termination.