Var. 6. Vitzanaoac teuhoaqui machiotla. MS. Med.

[The War Song of the Huitznahuac.]

  1. What ho! my work is in the hall of arms, I listen to no mortal, nor can any put me to shame, I know none such, I am the Terror, I know none other, I am where war is, my work is said to be in the hall of arms, let no one curse my children.
  2. Our adornment comes from out the [south], it is varied in color as the clothing of the eagle.
  3. Ho! ho! abundance of youths doubly clothed, [arrayed in feathers], are my captives, [I deliver them up, I deliver them up, my captives arrayed in feathers].
  4. Ho! youths for the Huitznahuac, arrayed in feathers, these are my captives, I deliver them up, I deliver them up, arrayed in feathers, my captives.
  5. Youths from the south, arrayed in feathers, my captives, I deliver them up, I deliver them up, arrayed in feathers, my captives.
  6. The god enters, the Huitznahuac, he descends as an example, he shines forth, he shines forth, descending as an example.
  7. Adorned like us he enters as a god, he descends as an example, he shines forth, he shines forth, descending as an example.

[Notes.]

There is no Gloss to this hymn, but its signification seems clear. Huitznahuac was a name applied to several edifices in the great [temple at Tenochtitlan], as we are informed at length by Sahagun. The word is a locative from huitznahua. This term means [“magicians from the south”] or [“diviners with thorns,”] and was applied in the Quetzalcoatl mythical cyclus to the legendary enemies of Huitzilopochtli, whom he is said to have destroyed as soon as he was born. (See my discussion of this myth in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society for 1887.) Apparently to perpetuate the memory of this exploit, the custom was, at the [festival of Huitzilopochtli], for the slaves who were to be sacrificed to form two bands, one representing the Huitznahua and the other the partisans of the god, and to slaughter each other until the arrival of the god [Paynal] put an end to the combat (Sahagun, Historia, Lib. II., cap. 34). The song here given belongs to this portion of the ancient rite.

1. The tlacochcalli, [“house of arrows”] (tlacochtli, arrow, calli, house), was a large hall in the [temple of Huitzilopochtli] where arrows, spears and other arms were kept (Sahagun, Lib. VIII., cap. 32).

2. The “adornment from the south” refers to the meaning of the name Huitznahua. (See Glossary.)

3. [Sahagun (ubi sup.) informs us that the slaves condemned to die fought against free warriors, and when any of the latter were captured they were promptly put to death by their captors.]

[III. Tlalloc icuic.]