To the Mexicans, as to many primitive peoples, death was not an altogether abhorrent idea, being little more than an incident in the continuity between this life and the next. But the manner of death was more important, since it had a direct effect upon the fate of the soul. The most enviable lot was that of the warriors who died either in battle or in sacrifice; they were supposed to depart to the eastern paradise of the sun, where, assembled on a great plain, they greeted his rising by beating upon their shields, and escorted him on his journey to the zenith. Thence they descended to the earth in the form of humming-birds and other birds of bright plumage, and spent their time among the flowers. Women dying in war or childbirth were equally fortunate; as the counterpart of the warriors they went to the western paradise of the sun, and bore him in a litter of bright feathers from the zenith to the horizon, when they descended to earth in the form of moths.
Those who were drowned, struck by lightning, or who perished by certain diseases such as dropsy or leprosy, found a home in the terrestrial paradise Tlalocan, the home of the god Tlaloc, where food-plants and flowers flourished in miraculous fertility and summer was perpetual. Those who died of other diseases or old age were obliged to embark upon a difficult journey to Mictlan, the underworld, where the god Mictlantecutli held sway. During this they had to pass between two clashing mountains, to run the gauntlet of a great snake and a huge lizard, to traverse eight deserts and eight hills, and to encounter a wind full of stone knives. Finally, but not until the end of four years, the soul reached the great river of Hades, which must be crossed by swimming. For this the aid of a red dog was necessary, and dogs of this colour were reared in the house and killed at funerals. An interesting parallel to this belief is that current in parts of Peru, that the souls of the dead were escorted to the other world by black dogs, numbers of which were bred for this particular purpose. Though living in the underworld, the souls of the dead were not deprived of the light of the sun, since it was supposed to pass through the infernal regions during the night on its journey back to the east. The souls of infants dying still unstained by sin were believed to be received in a special paradise by Tonacatecutli, where they spent their time flitting from flower to flower in the form of humming-birds.
Fig. 14.—A. Mummy of a warrior prepared for burial.
(Magliabecchiano MS., Florence)
B. Mummy supported in the jaws of the earth-monster.
(Fejérváry-Mayer MS., Liverpool)
The question of the obsequies of the dead next arises, and we find two methods of disposal practised in Mexico, cremation and inhumation. The first of these appears to be the more characteristic of the hunting tribes, though the account of Sahagun would seem to show that the Chichimec originally practised the latter. This people were said to be extremely long-lived, and protracted ill-health was regarded as so uncanny that if a malady lasted over four or five days, the patient was killed. The Tarascans certainly employed cremation; in the case of the king, the body was laid out by the principal chiefs, who were summoned during his illness, and carried in state by night to a temple, where it was burned. A number of slaves accompanied the procession, playing on tortoise-carapaces and rattles formed of a serrated bone along which a stick was rubbed; these slaves were killed while the pyre was burning, and were buried separately behind the temple. The ashes of the king were made into a mummy-pack with a false head and mask, which was buried seated in a large urn at the foot of the temple steps facing eastward. The grave was roofed with wooden slabs, and earth was heaped upon the top. Those killed in war were also burnt with their bows before the temple, and their ashes buried in urns. Though the wilder Chichimec, as stated above, appear to have simply buried their dead, yet the early Chichimec kings in the valley of Mexico, Xolotl, Nopaltzin and Quinatzin, are said to have been burnt and their ashes deposited in urns in caves. At Teotihuacan, a site where the Toltec culture flourished for a considerable period, unburned burials are found, and it is probable, from other evidence, that cremation is not typical of this civilization. The Acolhua practised cremation and buried the ashes. The Aztec practised both forms of disposal of the dead, but cremation, which, according to the early commentator on the MS. known as Vaticanus A, they learnt from the Otomi, was the more common. The deceased was made up into a mummy-pack with quantities of paper, which was supposed to enable him to pass through the various dangers to be encountered on his journey to the underworld, and decked with appropriate ornaments (Fig. [14, a]). Water was sprinkled over his head, and a supply for his journey provided in a small vessel; his red dog (shown in the illustration) was killed, and dog and master were burnt together with various articles of personal property which might be wanted in the other world. In many cases this privilege was allowed to slaves destined for sacrifice, and they were permitted to burn their small effects before they mounted the sacrificial stone. The ashes were collected and placed in a vase or stone coffer, together with a small jewel (the lip-plug of the deceased) to serve as a “heart,” and buried. Offerings were made on the grave after twenty days’ interval, and again after eighty days. These were repeated on the annual feast of the dead for four years, after which the soul was supposed to have completed its journey. The grave, at any rate in the case of individuals of importance, was a vault lined with stone and lime. The obsequies of the king followed the same lines, but were more elaborate, and certain of his personal slaves and wives were killed to accompany him. Motolinia states that in the case of men of high rank, all the clothing which they had worn in life was buried with them. Both the “Anonymous Conqueror” and Francisco de Bologna speak of bodies being placed in the vault seated on a chair, and it is possible that the ashes were occasionally made up into a mummy-pack as among the Tarascans. However, simple inhumation was certainly practised by the Aztec, though it was usually reserved for those whose manner of death entitled them to a place in the terrestrial paradise Tlalocan. In the case of a merchant dying while away from home on a trading expedition, a figure was made by his relations at home and burnt with due ceremony. If he had been killed by a hostile people, the cremation took place in a temple-court, but if he had fallen a victim to disease, in front of his house. Merchants of the Pochteca guild of Tlaltelolco received special treatment; the body was swathed in paper, the face decorated with the red and black paint of the gladiatorial sacrifice, ornaments, including the lip-plug, were added, and the pack was attached to a carrying-frame and exposed on a mountain-top. As stated before, the souls of women dying in childbirth were deified under the name of Ciuapipiltin, and their bodies were accorded special treatment. The corpse, clad in its best garments, was borne by the husband to the courtyard of the temple dedicated to the Ciuapipiltin, where it was buried. On the way it was escorted by a retinue of midwives armed with swords, and the husband and his friends kept watch over the grave for four nights. These precautions were necessary to prevent young warriors or sorcerers from seizing the body in order to obtain the left arm, or middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the deceased. It was believed that the finger and hair, if carried in the warrior’s shield, would render the possessor invincible, while the hand was a powerful charm used by robbers to cast sleep upon the inmates of a house, as described on p. 98.
Fig. 15.—Carved stone slab from Tlacolula, Oaxaca. (After Seler)