Part 4 (2/2)

[Footnote 1: Sir George W. c.o.x, _The Science of Comparative Mythology and Folk Lore_, pp. 14, 83, 130, etc.]

The Aztecs were a coa.r.s.e and b.l.o.o.d.y race, and carried out their superst.i.tions without remorse. Based, no doubt, on this mythical expression of a natural occurrence, they had the belief that if twins were allowed to live, one or the other of them would kill and eat his father or mother; therefore, it was their custom when such were brought into the world to destroy one of them.[1]

[Footnote 1: Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_. Lib.

II, cap. XIX.]

We shall see that, as in Algonkin story Michabo strove to slay his father, the West Wind, so Quetzalcoatl was in constant warfare with his father, Tezcatlipoca-Camaxtli, the Spirit of Darkness. The effect of this oft-repeated myth on the minds of the superst.i.tious natives was to lead them to the brutal child murder I have mentioned.

It was, however, natural that the more ordinary meaning, ”the feathered or bird-serpent,” should become popular, and in the picture writing some combination of the serpent with feathers or other part of a bird was often employed as the rebus of the name Quetzalcoatl.

He was also known by other names, as, like all the prominent G.o.ds in early mythologies, he had various t.i.tles according to the special attribute or function which was uppermost in the mind of the wors.h.i.+pper. One of these was _Papachtic_, He of the Flowing Locks, a word which the Spaniards shortened to Papa, and thought was akin to their t.i.tle of the Pope. It is, however, a pure Nahuatl word,[1] and refers to the abundant hair with which he was always credited, and which, like his ample beard, was, in fact, the symbol of the sun's rays, the aureole or glory of light which surrounded his face.

[Footnote 1: ”_Papachtic_, guedejudo; _Papachtli_, guedeja o vedija de capellos, o de otra cosa a.s.si.” Molina, _Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana_. sub voce. Juan de Tobar, in Kingsborough, Vol. viii, p. 259, note.]

His fair complexion was, as usual, significant of light. This a.s.sociation of ideas was so familiar among the Mexicans that at the time of an eclipse of the sun they sought out the whitest men and women they could find, and sacrificed them, in order to pacify the sun.[1]

[Footnote 1: Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. ii, cap.

xvi.]

His opponent, Tezcatlipoca, was the most sublime figure in the Aztec Pantheon. He towered above all other G.o.ds, as did Jove in Olympus. He was appealed to as the creator of heaven and earth, as present in every place, as the sole ruler of the world, as invisible and omniscient.

The numerous t.i.tles by which he was addressed ill.u.s.trate the veneration in which he was held. His most common name in prayers was _t.i.tlacauan_, We are his Slaves. As believed to be eternally young, he was Telpochtli, the Youth; as potent and unpersuadable, he was _Moyocoyatzin_, the Determined Doer;[1] as exacting in wors.h.i.+p, _Monenegui_, He who Demands Prayers; as the master of the race, _Teyocoyani_, Creator of Men, and _Teimatini_, Disposer of Men. As he was jealous and terrible, the G.o.d who visited on men plagues, and famines, and loathsome diseases, the dreadful deity who incited wars and fomented discord, he was named _Yaotzin_, the Arch Enemy, _Yaotl necoc_, the Enemy of both Sides, _Moquequeloa_, the Mocker, _Nezaualpilli_, the Lord who Fasts, _Tlamatzincatl_, He who Enforces Penitence; and as dark, invisible and inscrutable, he was _Yoalli ehecatl_, the Night Wind.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Moyocoyatzin_, is the third person singular of _yocoya_, to do, to make, with the reverential termination _tzin_. Sahagun says this t.i.tle was given him because he could do what he pleased, on earth or in heaven, and no one could prevent him. (Historia de Nueva Espana, Lib. III.

cap. II.) It seems to me that it would rather refer to his demiurgic, creative power.]

[Footnote 2: All these t.i.tles are to be found in Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva Espana_.]

He was said to be formed of thin air and darkness; and when he was seen of men it was as a shadow without substance. He alone of all the G.o.ds defied the a.s.saults of time, was ever young and strong, and grew not old with years.[1] Against such an enemy who could hope for victory?

[Footnote 1: The description of Clavigero is worth quoting: ”TEZCATLIPOCA: Questo era il maggior Dio, che in que paesi si adorava, dopo il Dio invisible, o Supremo Essere. Era il Dio della Providenza, l' anima del Mondo, il Creator del Cielo e della Terra, ed il Signor di tutle le cose.

Rappresentavanlo tuttora giovane per significare, che non s' invecchiava mai, ne s' indeboliva cogli anni.” _Storia Antica di Messico_, Lib. vi, p.

7.]

The name ”Tezcatlipoca” is one of odd significance. It means The Smoking Mirror. This strange metaphor has received various explanations. The mirrors in use among the Aztecs were polished plates of obsidian, trimmed to a circular form. There was a variety of this black stone called _tezcapoctli_, smoky mirror stone, and from this his images were at times made.[1] This, however, seems too trivial an explanation.

[Footnote 1: Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. ii, cap. x.x.xvii.]

Others have contended that Tezcatlipoca, as undoubtedly the spirit of darkness and the night, refers, in its meaning, to the moon, which hangs like a bright round mirror in the sky, though partly dulled by what the natives thought a smoke.[1]

[Footnote 1: _a.n.a.les del Museo Nacional_, Tom. ii, p. 257.]

I am inclined to believe, however, that the mirror referred to is that first and most familiar of all, the surface of water: and that the smoke is the mist which at night rises from lake and river, as actual smoke does in the still air.

As presiding over the darkness and the night, dreams and the phantoms of the gloom were supposed to be sent by Tezcatlipoca, and to him were sacred those animals which prowl about at night, as the skunk and the coyote.[1]

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