FEAST OF CENTEOTL.

The following month, which was called Huey-Tozoztli, 'great vigil,'[292] a feast was celebrated in honor of Centeotl, the god of cereals, and Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions. At this time both people and priest fasted four days. Offerings of various kinds were made to the gods of the feast, and afterwards a procession of virgins strangely and gaudily attired carried ears of corn to be used as seed, to the temple to be blessed.[293]

The first half of the succeeding month, called Toxcatl, was, among the Mexicans, taken up with a continuous series of festivals in honor of Tezcatlipoca; the latter half of the month was devoted to the worship of his brother-god Huitzilopochtli. Ten days before the feast began, a priest, arrayed in the vestments of Tezcatlipoca, and holding a nosegay in one hand and a clay flute in the other, came out from the temple, and turning first to the east and then to the other three quarters, blew a shrill note on his instrument; then, stooping, he gathered some dust on his finger and swallowed it, in token of humility and submission. On hearing the whistle all the people knelt, ate dust, and implored the clemency and favor of the god. On the eve of the festival the nobles brought to the temple a present of a new set of robes, in which the priests clothed the idol, adorning it besides with its proper ornaments of gold and feathers; the old dress was deposited in the temple coffers as a relic. The sanctuary was then thrown open to the multitude. In the evening certain fancifully attired priests carried the idol on a litter round the courtyard of the temple, which was strewn with flowers for the occasion. Here the young men and maidens devoted to the service of the temple formed a circle round the procession, bearing between them a long string of withered maize as a symbol of drought. Some decked the idol with garlands, others strewed the ground with maguey-thorns, that the devout might step upon them and draw blood in honor of the god. The girls wore rich dresses, and their arms and cheeks were dyed; the boys were clothed in a kind of net-work, and all were adorned with strings of withered maize. Two priests marched beside the idol, swinging their lighted censers now towards the image, now towards the sun, and praying that their appeals might rise to heaven, even as the smoke of the burning copal; and as the people heard and saw they knelt and beat their backs with knotted cords.

As soon as the idol was replaced, offerings poured in of gold, jewels, flowers, and feathers, as well as toasted quails, corn, and other articles of food prepared by women who had solicited and obtained the privilege. This food was afterwards divided among the priests, who, in fact, seem to have really reaped the benefit on most religious occasions. It was carried to them by a procession of virgins who served in the temple. At the head of the procession marched a priest strangely attired in a white-bordered surplice, reaching to the knee, and a sleeveless jacket of red skin, with a pair of wings attached, to which hung a number of ribbons, suspending a gourd filled with charms. The food was set down at the temple stairway, whence it was carried to the priests by attendant boys. After a fast of five days these divine viands were doubtless doubly welcome.

FEAST OF TEZCATLIPOCA.

Among the captives brought out for sacrifice at the same festival a year before, the one who possessed the finest form, the most agreeable disposition, and the highest culture, had been selected to be the mortal representative of the god till this day. It was absolutely necessary, however, that he should be of spotless physique, and, to render him still more worthy of the divine one whom he personated, the calpixques, under whose care he was placed, taught him all the accomplishments that distinguished the higher class. He was regaled upon the fat of the land, but was obliged to take doses of salted water to counteract any tendency toward obesity; he was allowed to go out into the town day and night, escorted by eight pages of rank dressed in the royal livery, and received the adoration of the people as he passed along. His dress corresponded with his high position; a rich and curiously bordered mantle, like a fine net, and a maxtli with wide, embroidered margin, covered his body; white cock-feathers, fastened with gum, and a garland of izquixuchitl flowers, encircled the helmet of sea-shells which covered his head; strings of flowers crossed his breast; gold rings hung from his ears, and from a necklace of precious stones about his neck dangled a valuable stone; upon his shoulders were pouch-like ornaments of white linen with fringes and tassels; golden bracelets encircled the upper part of his arms, while the lower part was almost covered with others of precious stones, called macuextli; upon his ankles golden bells jingled as he walked, and prettily painted slippers covered his feet.

Twenty days before the feast he was bathed, and his dress changed; the hair being cut in the style used by captains, and tied with a curious fringe which formed a tassel falling from the top of the head, from which two other tassels, made of feathers, gold, and tochomitl, and called aztaxelli, were suspended. He was then married to four accomplished damsels, to whom the names of four goddesses, Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Atlatonan, and Huixtocioatl were given, and these remained with him until his death, endeavoring to render him as happy as possible. The last five days the divine honors paid to him became still more imposing, and celebrations were held in his honor, the first day in the Tecanman district, the second in the ward where the image of Tezcatlipoca stood, the third in the woods of the ward of Tepetzinco, and the fourth in the woods of Tepepulco; the lords and nobles gave, besides, solemn banquets followed by recreations of all kinds. At the end of the fourth feast, the victim was placed with his wives in one of the finest awning-covered canoes belonging to the king, and sent from Tepepulco to Tlapitzaoayan, where he was left alone with the eight pages who attended him during the year. These conducted him to the Tlacochcalco, a small and plain temple standing near the road, about a league from Mexico,[294] which he ascended, breaking a flute against every step of the staircase. At the summit he was received by the sacrificing ministers, who served him after their manner, and held up his heart exultingly to the sun; the body was carried down to the courtyard on the arms of priests, and the head having been cut off was spitted at the Tzompantli, or 'place of skulls;' the legs and arms were set apart as sacred food for the lords and people of the temple. This end, so terrible, signified that riches and pleasures may turn into poverty and sorrow; a pretty moral, truly, to adorn so gentle a tale.

After the sacrifice, the college youths, nobles, and priests commenced a grand ball for which the older priests supplied the music; and at sunset the virgins brought another offering of bread made with honey. This was placed upon clay plates, covered with skulls and dead men's bones, carried in procession to the altar of Tezcatlipoca, and destined for the winners in the race up the temple steps, who were dressed in robes of honor, and, after undergoing a lustration, were invited to a banquet by the temple dignitaries. The feast was closed by giving an opportunity to boys and girls in the college, of a suitable age, to marry. Their remaining comrades took advantage of this to joke and make sport of them, pelting them with soft balls and reproving them for leaving the service of the god for the pleasures of matrimony.[295] Tezcatlipoca's representative was the only victim sacrificed at this festival, but every leap-year the blood flowed in torrents.

FEAST OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

INCENSING OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

After this celebration commenced the festival in honor of the younger brother of Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the Mexican god of war. The priests of the god prepared a life-size statue like his original image, the bones of which were composed of mezquite-wood, the flesh of tzoalli, a dough made from amaranth and other seeds. This they dressed in the raiments of the idol, viz: a coat decorated with human bones, and a net-like mantle of cotton and nequen, covered by another mantle, the tlaquaquallo, adorned with feather-work, and bearing a gold plate upon its front; its wide folds were painted with the bones and members of a human being, and fell over a number of men's bones made of dough, which represented his power over death. A paper crown, very wide at the top and set with plumes, covered this head, and attached to its feather-covered summit was a bloody flint-knife, signifying his fury in battle. The image was placed upon a stage of logs, formed to resemble four snakes whose heads and tails protruded at the four corners, and borne by four of the principal warriors[296] to the temple of Huitznahuac, attended by a vast number of people, who sang and danced along the road. A sheet of maguey-paper, twenty fathoms in length, one in breadth, and one finger in thickness, upon which were depicted the glorious deeds of the god, was carried before the procession on the points of darts ornamented with feathers, the bearers singing the praises of the deity to the sound of music.[297] At sunset the stage was raised to the summit of the temple by means of ropes attached to the four corners, and placed in position. The paper painting was then rolled up in front of it, and the darts made into a bundle. After a presentation of offerings consisting of tamales and other food, the idol was left in charge of its priests. At dawn the next morning similar offerings, accompanied with incense, were made to the family image of the god at every house. That day the king himself appeared in the sacerdotal character. Taking four quails, he wrenched their heads off one after another, and threw the quivering bodies before the idol; the priests did the same, and then the people. Some of the birds were prepared and eaten by the king, priest, and principal men at the feast, the rest were preserved for another occasion. Each minister then placed coals and chapopotli incense[298] in his tlemaitl,[299] and wafted the disagreeable odor towards the idol. The ashes were then emptied from the censers into an immense brazier, called the tlexictli, or 'fire-navel.' This ceremony gave the name to the festival, which was known as the 'incensing of Huitzilopochtli.' The girls devoted to the service of the temple now appeared, having their arms and legs decorated with red feathers, their faces painted, and garlands of toasted maize on their heads; in their hands they held split canes, upon which were flags of paper or cloth painted with vertical black bars. Linking hands they joined the priests in the grand dance called toxcachocholoa. Upon the large brazier, round which the dancers whirled, stood two shield-bearers with blackened faces, who directed the motions. These men had cages of candlewood tied to their backs after the manner of women. The priests who joined in the dance wore paper rosettes upon their foreheads, yellow and white plumes on their heads, and had their lips and their blackened faces smeared with honey. They also wore undergarments of paper, called amasmaxtli, and each held a palm wand in his hand, the upper part of which was adorned with flowers, while the lower end was tipped with a ball, both balls and flowers being made of black feathers; the part of the wand grasped in the hand was rolled in strips of black-striped paper. When dancing, they touched the ground with their wands as if to support themselves. The musicians were hidden from view in the temple. The courtiers and warriors danced in another part of the courtyard, apart from the priests, with girls attired somewhat like those already described.

At the same time that the representative of Tezcatlipoca was chosen, the year before, another youth was appointed to represent Huitzilopochtli, to whom was given the name of Ixteocale, that is, 'eyes of the lord of the divine house.'[300] He always associated with the other doomed one of Tezcatlipoca, and shared his enjoyments; but, as the representative of a less esteemed god, he was paid no divine honors. His dress was characteristic of the deity for whom he was fated to die. Papers painted with black circles covered his body, a mitre of eagle-feathers, with waving plumes and a flint knife in the centre adorned his head, and a fine piece of cloth, a hand square, with a bag called patoxin above it, was tied to his breast; on one of his arms he had an ornament made of the hair of wild beasts, like a maniple, called imatacax, and golden bells jingled about his ankles. Thus arrayed he led the dance of the plebeians,[301] like the god conducting his warriors to battle. This youth had the privilege of choosing the hour of his death, but any delay involved the loss to him of a proportionate amount of glory and happiness in the other world. When he delivered himself up to the sacrificers, they raised him on their arms, tore out his heart, beheaded him, and spitted the head at the place of skulls. After him several other captives were immolated, and then the priests started another dance, the atepocaxixilihua, which lasted the remainder of the day, certain intervals being devoted to incensing the idol. On this day the male and female children born during the year were taken to the temple and scarified on the chest, stomach, and arms, to mark them as followers of the god.

The feast in honor of Quetzalcoatl, as it was celebrated during this month in Cholula, and the feast of the following month, called Etzalqualiztli, dedicated to the Tlalocs, or rain gods, the reader will find fully described in the next volume.[302]

SMALL FEAST OF THE LORDS.

The next month was one of general rejoicing among the Nahuas, and was for this reason called Tecuilhuitzintli, or Tecuilhuitontli, 'small feast of the lords.' The nobles and warriors exercised with arms to prepare for coming wars; hunting parties, open-air sports, and theatricals divided the time with banquets and indoor parties; and there was much interchanging of roses out of compliment. Yet the amusements this month were mostly confined to the lower classes, the more imposing celebrations of the nobility taking place in the following month. The religious celebrations were in honor of Huixtocihuatl, the goddess of salt, said to have been a sister to the rain gods, who quarreled with her, and drove her into the salt water, where she invented the art of making salt. Her chief devotees were, of course, the salt-makers, mostly females, who held a ten-days' festival in her temple, singing and dancing every evening from dusk till midnight in company with the doomed captives. They were all adorned with garlands of a sweet-smelling herb called iztauhiatl, and danced in a ring formed by cords of flowers, led by some of their own sex; the music was furnished by two old men. The female who represented the goddess and was to die in her honor danced with them, generally in the centre of the circle, and accompanied by an old man holding a beautiful plume, called huixtopetlacotl; if very nervous she was supported by old women.[303] She was dressed in the yellow robes of the goddess, and wore on her head a mitre surmounted by a number of green plumes; her huipil and skirt with net covering were worked in wavy outlines, and bordered with chalchiuites; ear-rings of gold in imitation of flowers hung from her ears; golden bells and white shells held by straps of tiger-skin, jingled and clattered about her ankles; her sandals were fastened with buttons and cords of cotton. On her arm she bore a shield painted with broad leaves, from which hung bits of parrot-feathers, tipped with flowers formed of eagle-plumage; it was also fringed with bright quetzal-feathers. In her hand she held a round bludgeon, one or two hands broad at the end, adorned with rubber-stained paper, and three flowers, at equal distances apart, filled with incense and set with quetzal-feathers; this shield she flourished as she danced. The priests who performed the sacrifice were dressed in an appropriate costume; on the great day, the priests performed another and solemn dance, devoting intervals to the sacrifice of captives, who were called Huixtoti in honor of the deity. Finally, towards evening, the female victim was thrown upon the stone by five young men, who held her while the priests cut open her breast, pressing a stick or a swordfish-bone against her throat to prevent her from screaming. The heart was held up to the sun and then thrown into a bowl. The music struck up and the people went home to feast.[304]

GREAT FEAST OF THE LORDS.

The feast of the following month, Hueytecuilhuitl, or 'great feast of the lords,' occurred at the time of the year when food was most scarce, the grain from the preceding harvest being nearly exhausted and the new crop not yet ripe for cutting. The nobles at this time gave great and solemn banquets among themselves, and provided at their personal expense feasts for the poor and needy. On the eleventh day a religious celebration took place in honor of Centeotl, under the name of Xilonen, derived from xilotl, which means a tender maize-ear, for this goddess changed her name according to the state of the grain. On this occasion, a woman who represented the goddess and was dressed in a similar manner, was sacrificed. The day before her death a number of women took her with them to offer incense in four places, which were sacred to the four characters of the divisions of the cycle, the reed, the flint, the house, and the rabbit. The night was spent in singing, dancing, and praying before the temple of the goddess.[305] On the day of sacrifice certain priestesses and lay women whirled in a ring about the victim, and a number of priests and principal men who danced before her. The priests blew their shells and horns, shook their rattles and scattered incense as they danced, the nobles held stalks of maize in their hands which they extended toward the woman. The priest who acted as executioner wore a bunch of feathers on his shoulders, held by the claws of an eagle inserted in an artificial leg. Towards the close of the dance this priest stopped at the foot of the temple, shook the rattle-board before the victim, scattered more incense, and turned to lead the way to the summit. This reached, another priest seized the woman, twisted her shoulders against his, and stooped over, so that her breast lay exposed. On this living altar she was beheaded and her heart torn out. After the sacrifice there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took part by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red macaw-feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with marcasite. The whole pleasantly finished with a feast. Offerings were also presented to the household gods. This festival inaugurated the eating of corn.[306]

During the next month, which was called Tlaxochimaco, or 'the distribution of flowers,'[307] gifts of flowers were presented to the gods and mutually interchanged among friends. At noon on the day of the great feast, the signal sounded and a pompous dance was begun in the courtyard of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, to whom the honors of the day were paid, in which the performers consisted of various orders of warriors led by the bravest among them. Public women joined these dances, one woman going hand in hand with two men, and the contrary, or with their hands resting on each other's shoulders, or thrown round the waist.[308] The musicians were stationed at a round altar, called momuztli. The motions consisted of a mere interwinding walk, to the time of a slow song. At sunset, after the usual sacrifices, the people went home to perform the same dance before their household idol; the old indulging in liquor as usual. The festival in honor of Iyacacoliuhqui, the god of commerce, was, however, the event of the month, owing to the number and solemnity of the sacrifices of slaves, brought from all quarters by the wealthy merchants for the purpose, and the splendor of the attendant banquets. The Tlascaltecs called this month Miccailhuitzintli, 'the small festival of the dead,' and gathered in the temples to sing sorrowful odes to the dead, the priests, dressed in black mantles, making offerings of food to the spirit of the departed. This seems to have been a commemoration of the ordinary class only, for the departed heroes and great men were honored in the following month. Duran and others assert, however, that the festival was devoted to the memory of the little ones who had died, and adds that the mothers performed thousands of superstitious ceremonies with their children, placing talismans upon them and the like, to prevent their death.[309]

FEAST OF THE FALL OF FRUIT.

The feast of the next month, called Xocotlhuetzin, 'fall, or maturity of fruit,' was dedicated to Xiuhtecutli, the god of fire. At the beginning of the month certain priests went out into the mountains and selected the tallest and straightest tree they could find. This was cut down and trimmed of all except its top branches.[310] It was then moved carefully into the town upon rollers, and set up firmly in the courtyard of the temple, where it stood for twenty days. On the eve of the feast-day the tree was gently lowered to the ground; early the next morning carpenters dressed it perfectly smooth, and fastened a cross-yard five fathoms long, near the top, where the branches had been left. The priests now adorned the pole with colored papers, and placed upon the summit a statue of the god of fire, made of dough of amaranth-seeds, and curiously dressed in a maxtli, sashes, and strips of paper. Three rods were stuck into its head, upon each of which was spitted a tamale, or native pie. The pole was then again hoisted into an erect position.

Those who had captives to offer now appeared, dancing side by side with the victims, and most grotesquely dressed and painted. At sunset the dance ceased, and the doomed men were shut up in the temple, while their captors kept guard outside, and sang hymns to the god. About midnight every owner brought out his captive and shaved off his top hair, which he carefully kept as a token of his valor. At dawn the human offerings were taken to the Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were spitted, and there stripped by the priests of their dress and ornaments. At a certain signal each owner seized his captive by the hair and dragged or led him to the foot of the temple-steps. Thereupon those priests who were appointed to execute the fearful sacrifice descended from the temple, each bearing in his hand a bag filled with certain stupefying powder extracted from the yiauhtli plant, which they threw into the faces of the victims to deaden somewhat the agony before them. Each naked and bound captive was then borne upon the shoulders of a priest up to the summit of the temple, where smoldered a great heap of glowing coal. Into this the bearers cast their living burdens, and when the cloud of dust was blown off the dull red mass could be seen to heave, human forms could be seen writhing and twisting in agony, the crackling of flesh could be distinctly heard.[311] But the victims were not to die by fire; in a few moments, and before life was extinct, the blackened and blistered wretches were raked out by the watching priests, cast one after another upon the stone of sacrifice, and in a few moments all that remained upon the summit of the temple was a heap of human hearts smoking at the feet of the god of fire.

These bloody rites over, the people came together and danced and sang in the courtyard of the temple. Presently all adjourned to the place where the pole before mentioned stood. At a given signal the youths made a grand scramble for the pole, and he who first reached the summit and scattered the image and its accoutrements among the applauding crowd below, was reckoned the hero of the day. With this the festival ended, and the pole was dragged down by the multitude amid much rejoicing.

FEASTS OF TEPANECS AND TLASCALTECS.

The Tepanecs, according to Duran, had a very similar ceremony. A huge tree was carried to the entrance of the town, and to it offerings and incense were presented every day during the month preceding the festival. Then it was raised with many ceremonies, and a bird of dough placed at the top. Food and wine were offered, and then the warriors and women, dressed in the finest garments and holding small dough idols in their hands, danced round the pole, while the youths struggled wildly to reach and knock down the bird image. Lastly, the pole was overthrown.[312]

The Tlascaltecs called the same month Hueymiccailhuitl, 'the great festival of the dead,' and commemorated the event with much solemnity, painting their bodies black and making much lamentation. Both here and in other parts of Mexico the priests and nobles passed several days in the temple, weeping for their ancestors and singing their heroic deeds. The families of lately deceased persons assembled upon the terraces of their houses, and prayed with their faces turned towards the north, where the dead were supposed to sojourn. Heroes who had fallen in battle, or died in captivity, defunct princes, and other persons of merit were, in a manner, canonized, and their statues placed among the images of the gods, whom, it was believed, they had joined to live in eternal bliss.[313]

The festival of the next month, called Ochpaniztli, was held in honor of Centeotl, the mother-goddess. Fifteen days before the festival began those who were to take part in it commenced a dance, which they repeated every afternoon for eight days. At the expiration of this time the medical women and midwives brought forth the woman who was to die on this occasion, and dividing themselves into two parties, fought a sham battle by pelting each other with leaves. The doomed woman, who was called 'the image of the mother of the gods,' placed herself at the head of one party of the combatants, supported by three old women who guarded and attended upon her continually. This was repeated during four successive days. On the fifth day the unfortunate creature was conducted by her guardians and the medical women through the market-place. As she walked she scattered maize, and at the end of her journey she was received by the priests, who delivered her again to the women that they might console her (for it was necessary that she should be in a good humor, say the old chroniclers) and adorn her with the ornaments of the mother-goddess. At midnight she was carried to the summit of the temple, caught up upon the shoulders of a priest, and in this position beheaded. The body while yet warm was flayed, and the skin used in certain religious ceremonies which will be described at length elsewhere.[314] In this month the temples and idols underwent a thorough cleansing and repairing, a sacred work in which everyone was eager to share according to his means and ability, believing that divine blessings would ensue. To this commendable custom is no doubt to be attributed the good condition in which the religious edifices were found by the Conquerors. Roads, public buildings, and private houses also shared in this renovation, and special prayers were offered up to the gods for the preservation of health and property.

The festival of the succeeding month, called Teotleco, 'coming of the gods,' was sacred to all the deities, though the principal honors were paid to Tezcatlipoca as the supreme head. Fifteen days of the month being passed, the college-boys prepared for the great event by decorating the altars in the temples, oratories, and public buildings, with green branches tied in bunches of three. In the same manner they decked the idols in private houses, receiving from the inmates, as their reward, baskets containing from two to four ears of maize; this gift was called cacalotl.

FOOTSTEPS OF THE GODS.

Tezcatlipoca, being younger and stronger than the other gods, and therefore able to travel faster, was expected to arrive during the night of the eighteenth. A mat, sprinkled with flour, was therefore placed on the threshold of his temple, and a priest set to watch for the footprints which would indicate the august arrival.[315] He did not, however, remain constantly close to the mat; had he done so he would probably never have seen the longed-for marks, but he approached the spot from time to time, and immediately on perceiving the tracks he shouted: "His majesty has arrived;" whereupon the other priests arose in haste, and soon their shells and trumpets resounded through all the temples, proclaiming the joyful tidings to the expectant people. These now flocked in with their offerings, each person bringing four balls made of roasted and ground amaranth-seed kneaded with water; they then returned to their homes to feast and drink pulque. Others beside the old people appear to have been permitted to indulge in libations on this occasion, which they euphoniously called 'washing the feet of the god' after his long journey. On the following day other deities arrived, and so they kept coming until the last divine laggard had left his footprints on the mat. Every evening the people danced, feasted, 'washed the feet of the gods,' and made a sacrifice of slaves, who were thrown alive upon a great bed of live coal which glowed on the tecalco.[316] At the head of the steps leading up to the place of sacrifice stood two young men, one of whom wore long, false hair, and a crown adorned with rich plumes; his face was painted black, with white curved stripes drawn from ear to forehead, and from the inner corner of the eye to the cheek; down his back hung a long feather, with a dried rabbit attached to it. The other man was dressed to resemble an immense bat, and held rattles like poppy-heads in his hands. Whenever a victim was cast into the fire these weird figures danced and leaped, the one whistling with his fingers and mouth, the other shaking his rattles.[317]

After the sacrificing was ended, the priests placed themselves in order, dressed in paper stoles which crossed the chest from shoulder to armpit, and ascended the steps of the small edifice devoted to fire sacrifices; hand in hand they walked round, and then rushed suddenly down the steps, releasing each other in such a manner as to cause many to tumble. This game, which certainly was not very dignified for priests to play at, was called mamatlavicoa, and gave rise to much merriment, especially if any of the reverend players should lose his temper, or limp, or make a wry face after a fall. The festival closed with a general dance, which lasted from noon till night. At this season all males, young and old, wore feathers of various colors gummed to the arms and body, as talismans to avert evil.[318]

The festival of the next month, called Tepeilhuitl, was sacred to the Tlalocs, and is fully described elsewhere.[319] The Mexican Bacchus, Centzontotochtin, was also especially honored during this month, according to Torquemada, and slaves were sacrificed to him. A captive was also sacrificed by night to a deity named Nappatecutli.[320]

FESTIVAL OF THE MONTH QUECHOLLI.

The festivals of the ensuing month, which was called Quecholli,[321] were devoted to various deities, though Mixcoatl, god of the chase, seems to have carried the honors in most parts of Mexico. The first five days of the month were passed in repose, so far as religious celebrations were concerned, but on the sixth day the authorities of the city wards ordered canes to be gathered and carried to the temple of Huitzilopochtli; there young and old assembled during the four days following, to share in the sacred work of making arrows. The arrows, which were all of uniform length, were then formed into bundles of twenty, carried in procession to the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and piled up in front of the idol. The four days were, moreover, devoted to fasting and penance, involving abstinence from strong liquors, and separation of husbands from wives. On the second day of the fast, the boys were summoned to the temple, where, having first blown upon shells and trumpets, their faces were smeared with blood drawn from their ears. This sacrifice, called momacaico, was made to the deer which they proposed to hunt. The rest of the people drew blood from their own ears, and if any one omitted this act he was deprived of his mantle by the overseers.

On the second day following, darts were made to be used in games and exercises, and shooting matches were held at which maguey-leaves served for targets. The next day was devoted to ceremonies in honor of the dead by rich and poor. The day after, a great quantity of hay was brought from the hills to the temple of Mixcoatl. Upon this certain old priestesses seated themselves, while mothers brought their children before them, accompanied by five sweet tamales. On this day were also ceremonies in honor of the god of wine, to whom sacrifices of male and female slaves were made by the pulque-dealers.

On the tenth day of the month a number of hunters set out for mount Cacatepec, near Tacubaya, to celebrate the hunting festival of Mixcoatl, god of the chase. On the first day they erected straw huts, in which they passed the night. The next morning, having broken their fast, they formed themselves into a great circle, and all advancing toward a common centre, the game was hemmed in and killed with ease. The spirits of the children sacrificed to the rain-gods, whose dwelling was upon the high mountains, were supposed to descend upon the hunters and make them strong and fortunate. Having secured their game, the hunters started for home in grand procession, singing songs of triumph, and hymns to the mighty Mixcoatl. After a solemn sacrifice of a portion of the game to the god, each took his share home and feasted upon it.[322] The Tlascaltecs sacrificed to the god at the place where the hunt took place, which was upon a neighboring hill. The way leading to the spot was strewn with leaves, over which the idol was carried with great pomp and ceremony.[323] Towards the close of the month male and female slaves were sacrificed before Mixcoatl.[324]

In Tlascala and the neighboring republics this was the 'month of love,' and great numbers of young girls were sacrificed to Xochiquetzal, Xochitecatl, and Tlazolteotl, goddesses of sensual delights. Among the victims were many courtesans, who voluntarily offered themselves, some to die in the temple, others on the battle-field, where they rushed in recklessly among the enemy. As no particular disgrace attended a life of prostitution, it seems improbable that remorse or repentance could have prompted this self-sacrifice; it must therefore be attributed to pure religious fervor. As a recompense for their devotion, these women before they went to their death had the privilege of insulting with impunity their chaster sisters. It is further said that a certain class of young men addicted to unnatural lusts, were allowed at this period to solicit custom on the public streets. At Quauhtitlan, every fourth year, during this month, a festival was celebrated in honor of Mitl, when a slave was bound to a cross and shot to death with arrows.[325]

The feast of the next month, called Panquetzaliztli, was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of war; that of the following month, called Atemoztli, was sacred to the Tlalocs. Both these festivals will be described elsewhere.[326]

FEAST OF THE MONTH OF HARD TIMES.

The ensuing month was named Tititl, or the month of 'hard times,' owing to the inclement weather. The celebrations of this period were chiefly in honor of an aged goddess, named Ilamatecutli, to whom a female slave was sacrificed. This woman represented the goddess and was dressed in white garments decorated with dangling shells and sandals of the same color; upon her head was a crown of feathers; the lower part of her face was painted black, the upper, yellow; in one hand she carried a white shield ornamented with feathers of the eagle and the night-heron, in the other she held a knitting stick. Before going to her death she performed a dance, and was permitted, contrary to usual custom, to express her grief and fear in loud lamentations. In the afternoon she was conducted to the temple of Huitzilopochtli, accompanied by a procession of priests, among whom was one dressed after the manner of the goddess Ilamatecutli. After the heart of the victim had been torn from her breast, her head was cut off and given to this personage, who immediately placed himself at the head of the other priests and led them in a dance round the temple, brandishing the head by the hair the while. As soon as the performers of the vecula, as this dance was named, had left the summit of the temple, a priest curiously attired descended, and, proceeding to a spot where stood a cage made of candlewood adorned with papers, set fire to it. Immediately upon seeing the flames the other priests, who stood waiting, rushed one and all up again to the temple-top; here lay a flower, which was secured by the first who could put hands upon it, carried back to the fire, and there burned. On the following day a game was played which resembled in some respects the Roman Lupercalia. The players were armed with little bags filled with paper, leaves, or flour, and attached to cords three feet long. With these they struck each other, and any girl or woman who chanced to come in their way was attacked by the boys, who, approaching quietly with their bags hidden, fell suddenly upon her, crying out: "This is the sack of the game." It sometimes happened, however, that the woman had provided herself with a stick, and used it freely, to the great discomfiture and utter rout of the urchins.[327] A captive was sacrificed during this month to Mictlantecutli, the Mexican Pluto, and the traders celebrated a grand feast in honor of Yacatecutli.[328] During the last Aztec month, which was called Itzcalli, imposing rites were observed throughout Mexico in honor of Xiuhtecutli, god of fire;[329] in the surrounding states, such as Tlacopan, Coyuhuacan, Azcapuzalco,[330] Quauhtitlan,[331] and Tlascala,[332] ceremonies more or less similar were gone through, accompanied by much roasting and flaying of men and women.

MISCELLANEOUS FEASTS.

Besides these monthly festivals there were many others devoted to the patron deities of particular trades, to whom the priests and people interested in their worship made offerings, and, in some cases, human sacrifices. There were also many movable feasts, held in honor of the celestial bodies, at harvest time, and on other like occasions. These sometimes happened to fall on the same day as a fixed festival, in which case the less important was either set aside or postponed. It is related of the Culhuas that on one occasion when a movable feast in honor of Tezcatlipoca chanced to fall upon the day fixed for the celebration of Huitzilopochtli, they postponed the former, and thereby so offended the god that he predicted the destruction of the monarchy and the subjugation of the people by a strange nation who would introduce a monotheistic worship.[333]

One of the most solemn of the movable feasts was that given to the sun, which took place at intervals of two or three hundred days, and was called Netonatiuhqualo, or 'the sun eclipsed.' Another festival took place when the sun appeared in the sign called Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh,[334] a sign much respected by kings and princes, and regarded as concerning them especially.

At the great festival of the winter solstice, which took place either in the month of Atemoztli or in that of Tititl, all the people watched and fasted four days, and a number of captives were sacrificed, two of whom represented the sun and moon.[335] About the same time a series of celebrations were held in honor of Iztacacenteotl, goddess of white maize; the victims sacrificed on this occasion were lepers and others suffering from contagious diseases.[336] Whenever the sign of Ce Miquiztli, or One Death, occurred, Mictlantecutli, god of hades, was fêted, and honors were paid to the dead.[337] Of the heavenly bodies, they esteemed next to the sun a certain star, into which Quetzalcoatl was supposed to have converted himself on leaving the earth. It was visible during about two hundred and sixty days of the year, and on the day of its first appearance above the horizon, the king gave a slave to be sacrificed, and many other ceremonies were performed. The priests, also, offered incense to this star every day, and drew blood from their bodies in its honor, acts which many of the devout imitated.[338]

At harvest-time the first-fruits of the season were offered to the sun. The sacrifice on this occasion was called Tetlimonamiquian, 'the meeting of the stones.' The victim, who was the most atrocious criminal to be found in the jails, was placed between two immense stones, balanced opposite each other; these were then allowed to fall together. After the remains had been buried, the principal men took part in a dance; the people also danced and feasted during the day and night.[339]

Every eight years a grand festival took place, called Atamalqualiztli, 'the fast of bread and water,' the principal feature of which was a mask ball, at which people appeared disguised as various animals whose actions and cries they imitated with great skill.[340]

THE BINDING OF THE YEARS.

The most solemn of all the Mexican festivals was that called Xiuhmolpilli, that is to say, 'the binding-up of the years.' Every fifty-two years was called a 'sheaf of years,' and it was universally believed that at the end of some 'sheaf' the world would be destroyed. The renewal of the cycle was therefore hailed with great rejoicing and many ceremonies.[341]

CHAPTER X.

FOOD OF THE NAHUA NATIONS.

Origin of Agriculture—Floating Gardens—Agricultural Products—Manner of Preparing the Soil—Description of Agricultural Implements—Irrigation—Granaries—Gardens—the Harvest Feast—Manner of Hunting—Fishing—Methods of Procuring Salt—Nahua Cookery—Various Kinds of Bread—Beans—Pepper—Fruit—Tamales—Miscellaneous Articles of Food—Eating of Human Flesh—Manufacture of Pulque—Preparation of Chocolatl—Other Beverages—Intoxicating Drinks—Drunkenness—Time and Manner of Taking Meals.

AGRICULTURE AND CIVILIZATION.

Hunting, fishing, and agriculture furnished the Nahua nations with means of subsistence, besides which they had, in common with their uncivilized brethren of the sierras and forests, the uncultivated edible products of the soil. Among the coast nations, the dwellers on the banks of large streams, and the inhabitants of the lake regions of Anáhuac and Michoacan, fish constituted an important article of food. But agriculture, here as elsewhere, distinguished savagism from civilization, and of the lands of the so-called civilized nations few fertile tracts were found uncultivated at the coming of the Spaniards. Cultivation of the soil was doubtless the first tangible step in the progressive development of these nations, and this is indicated in their traditionary annals, which point, more or less vaguely, to a remote period when the Quinames, or giants, occupied the land as yet untilled; which means that the inhabitants were savages, whose progress had not yet exhibited any change sufficiently marked to leave its imprint on tradition. At a time still more remote, however, the invention of bows and arrows is traditionally referred to.[342]

The gradual discovery and introduction of agricultural arts according to the laws of development, were of course unintelligible to the aboriginal mind; consequently their traditions tell us wondrous tales of divine intervention and instruction. Nevertheless, the introduction of agriculture was doubtless of very ancient date. The Olmecs and Xicalancas, traditionally the oldest civilized peoples in Mexico, were farmers back to the limit of traditional history, as were the lineal ancestors of all the nations which form the subject of this volume. Indeed, as the Nahua nations were living when the Spaniards found them, so had they probably been living for at least ten centuries, and not improbably for a much longer period.

It was, however, according to tradition, during the Toltec period of Nahua culture that husbandry and all the arts pertaining to the production and preparation of food, were brought to the highest degree of perfection. Many traditions even attribute to the Toltecs the invention or first introduction of agriculture.[343]

But even during this Toltec period hunting tribes, both of Nahua and other blood, were pursuing their game in the forests and mountains, especially in the northern region. Despised by their more civilized, corn-eating brethren, they were known as barbarians, dogs, Chichimecs, 'suckers of blood,' from the custom attributed to them of drinking blood and eating raw flesh. Many tribes, indeed, although very far from being savages, were known to the aristocratic Toltecs as Chichimecs, by reason of some real or imaginary inferiority. By the revolutions of the tenth century, some of these Chichimec nations, probably of the Nahua blood and tillers of the soil, although at the same time bold hunters and valiant warriors, gained the ascendancy in Anáhuac. Hence the absurd versions of native traditions which represent the Valley of Mexico as occupied during the Chichimec period by a people who, until taught better by the Acolhuas, lived in caverns and subsisted on wild fruits and raw meat, while at the same time they were ruled by emperors, and possessed a most complicated and advanced system of government and laws. Their barbarism probably consisted for the most part in resisting for a time the enervating influences of Toltec luxury, especially in the pleasures of the table.[344]

CHINAMPAS, OR FLOATING GARDENS.

The Aztecs were traditionally corn-eaters from the first, but while shut up for long years on an island in the lake, they had little opportunity for agricultural pursuits. During this period of their history, the fish, birds, insects, plants, and mud of the lake supplied them with food, until floating gardens were invented and subsequent conquests on the main land afforded them broad fields for tillage. As a rule no details are preserved concerning the pre-Aztec peoples; where such details are known they will be introduced in their proper place as illustrative of later Nahua food-customs.

The chinampas, or floating gardens, cultivated by the Aztecs on the surface of the lakes in Anáhuac, were a most extraordinary source of food. Driven in the days of their national weakness to the lake islands, too small for the tillage which on the main had supported them, these ingenious people devised the chinampa. They observed small portions of the shore, detached by the high water and held together by fibrous roots, floating about on the surface of the water. Acting on the suggestion, they constructed rafts of light wood, covered with smaller sticks, rushes, and reeds, bound together with fibrous aquatic plants, and on this foundation they heaped two or three feet of black mud from the bottom of the lake. Thus the broad surface around their island home was dotted with fertile gardens, self-irrigating and independent of rains, easily moved from place to place according to the fancy of the proprietor. They usually took the form of parallelograms and were often over a hundred feet long. All the agricultural products of the country, particularly maize, chile, and beans were soon produced in abundance on the chinampas, while the larger ones even bore fruit and shade trees of considerable size, and a hut for the convenience of the owner, or gardener. The floating gardens have remained in use down to modern times, but since the waters of the lakes receded so much from their former limits, they have been generally attached to the shore, being separated by narrow canals navigated by the canoes which bear their produce to the markets. In later times, however, only flowers and garden vegetables have been raised in this manner.[345]

On the mainland throughout the Nahua territory few fertile spots were left uncultivated. The land was densely populated, and agriculture was an honorable profession in which all, except the king, the nobility, and soldiers in time of actual war, were more or less engaged.[346]

ABORIGINAL AGRICULTURE.

Agricultural products in the shape of food were not a prominent feature among articles of export and import, excepting, of course, luxuries for the tables of the kings and nobles. Each province, as a rule, raised only sufficient supplies for its own ordinary necessities; consequently, when by reason of drought or other cause, a famine desolated one province, it was with the greatest difficulty that food could be obtained from abroad. The Mexicans were an improvident people, and want was no stranger to them.[347]

The chief products of Nahua tillage were maize, beans, magueyes, cacao, chian, chile, and various native fruits.[348] The maize, or Indian corn, the dried ears of which were called by the Aztecs centli, and the dried kernels separated from the cob, tlaolli,[349] was the standard and universal Nahua food. Indigenous to America, in the development of whose civilization, traditionally at least, it played an important part, it has since been introduced to the world. It is the subject of the New World traditions respecting the introduction of agriculture among men. Tortillas, of maize, accompanied by the inevitable frijoles, or beans, seasoned with chile, or pepper, and washed down with drinks prepared from the maguey and cacao, were then, as now, the all-sustaining diet, and we are told that corn grew so strong and high in the fields that covered the surface of the country in some parts, as to seriously embarrass the conqueror Cortés in his movements against the natives hidden in these natural labyrinths.[350]

CORNFIELDS AND GRANARIES.

Respecting the particular methods of cultivation practiced by the Nahuas, except in the raising of corn, early observers have left no definite information.[351] The valleys were of course the favorite localities for cornfields, but the highlands were also cultivated. In the latter case the trees and bushes were cut down, the land burned over, and the seed put in among the ashes. Such lands were allowed to rest several years—Torquemada says five or six—after each crop, until the surface was covered with grass and bushes for a new burning. No other fertilizer than ashes, so far as known, was ever employed. Fields were enclosed by stone walls and hedges of maguey, which were carefully repaired each year in the month of Panquetzaliztli. They had no laboring animals, and their farming implements were exceedingly few and rude. Three of these only are mentioned. The huictli was a kind of oaken shovel or spade, in handling which both hands and feet were used. The coatl, or coa (serpent), so called probably from its shape, was a copper implement with a wooden handle, used somewhat as a hoe is used by modern farmers in breaking the surface of the soil. Another copper instrument, shaped like a sickle, with a wooden handle, was used for pruning fruit-trees. A simple sharp stick, the point of which was hardened in the fire, or more rarely tipped with copper, was the implement in most common use. To plant corn, the farmer dropped a few kernels into a hole made with this stick, and covered them with his foot, taking the greatest pains to make the rows perfectly straight and parallel; the intervals between the hills were always uniform, though the space was regulated according to the nature and fertility of the soil. The field was kept carefully weeded, and at a certain age the stalks were supported by heaping up the soil round them. At maturity the stalks were often broken two thirds up, that the husks might protect the hanging ear from rain. During the growth and ripening of the maize, a watchman or boy was kept constantly on guard in a sheltered station commanding the field, whose duty it was to drive away, with stones and shouts, the flocks of feathered robbers which abounded in the country. Women and children aided the men in the lighter farm labors, such as dropping the seeds, weeding the plants, and husking and cleaning the grain. To irrigate the fields the water of rivers and of mountain streams was utilized by means of canals, dams, and ditches. The network of canals by which the cacao plantations of the tierra caliente in Tabasco were watered, offered to Cortés' army even more serious obstructions than the dense growth of the maizales, or cornfields.

Granaries for storing maize were built of oyametl, or oxametl, a tree whose long branches were regular, tough, and flexible. The sticks were laid in log-house fashion, one above another, and close together, so as to form a tight square room, which was covered with a water-tight roof, and had only two openings or windows, one at the top and another at the bottom. Many of these granaries had a capacity of several thousand bushels, and in them corn was preserved for several, or, as Brasseur says, for fifteen or twenty, years. Besides the regular and extensive plantations of staple products, gardens were common, tastefully laid out and devoted to the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, and particularly flowers, of which the Mexicans were very fond, and which were in demand for temple decorations and bouquets. The gardens connected with the palaces of kings and nobles, particularly those of Tezcuco, Iztapalapan, and Huaxtepec, excited great wonder and admiration in the minds of the first European visitors, but these have been already mentioned in a preceding chapter.[352]

We shall find the planting and growth of maize not without influence in the development of the Nahua calendars, and that it was closely connected with the worship of the gods and with religious ideas and ceremonies. Father Burgoa relates that in Oajaca, the cultivation of this grain, the people's chief support, was attended by some peculiar ceremonies. At harvest-time the priests of the maize god in Quegolani, ceremonially visited the cornfields followed by a procession of the people, and sought diligently the fairest and best-filled ear. This they bore to the village, placed it on an altar decked for the occasion with flowers and precious chalchiuites, sang and danced before it, and wrapped it with care in a white cotton cloth, in which it was preserved until the next seed-time. Then with renewed processions and solemn rites the magic ear with its white covering was wrapped in a deer-skin and buried in the midst of the cornfields in a small hole lined with stones. When another harvest came, if it were a fruitful one, the precious offering to the earth was dug up and its decayed remains distributed in small parcels to the happy populace as talismans against all kinds of evil.[353]

THE CHASE IN ANÁHUAC.

The game most abundant was deer, hare, rabbits, wild hogs, wolves, foxes, jaguars, or tigers, Mexican lions, coyotes, pigeons, partridges, quails, and many aquatic birds. The usual weapon was the bow and arrow, to the invention of which tradition ascribes the origin of the chase; but spears, snares, and nets were also employed, and the sarbacan, a tube through which pellets or darts were blown, was an effective bird-killer. Game in the royal forests was protected by law, and many hunters were employed in taking animals and birds alive for the king's collections. Among the peculiar devices employed for taking water-birds was that already mentioned in connection with the Wild Tribes; the hunter floating in the water, with only his head, covered with a gourd, above the surface, and thus approaching his prey unsuspected. Young monkeys were caught by putting in a concealed fire a peculiar black stone which exploded when heated. Corn was scattered about as a bait, and when the old monkeys brought their young to feed they were frightened by the explosion and ran away, leaving the young ones an easy prey. The native hunters are represented as particularly skillful in following an indistinct trail. According to Sahagun, a superstition prevailed that only four arrows might be shot at a tiger, but to secure success a leaf was attached to one of the arrows, which, making a peculiar whizzing sound, fell short and attracted the beast's attention while the hunter took deliberate aim. Crocodiles were taken with a noose round the neck and also, by the boldest hunters, by inserting a stick sharpened and barbed at both ends in the animal's open mouth. It is probable that, while a small portion of the common people in certain parts of the country sought game for food alone, the chase among the Nahuas was for the most part a diversion of the nobles and soldiers. There were also certain hunts established by law or custom at certain periods of the year, the products of which were devoted to sacrificial purposes, although most likely eaten eventually.

In the month Quecholli a day's hunt was celebrated by the warriors in honor of Mixcoatl. A large forest—that of Zacatepec, near Mexico, being a favorite resort—was surrounded by a line of hunters many miles in extent. In the centre of the forest various snares and traps were set. When all was ready, the living circle began to contract, and the hunters with shouts pressed forward toward the centre. To aid in the work, the grass was sometimes fired. The various animals were driven from their retreats into the snares prepared for them, or fell victims to the huntsmen's arrows. Immense quantities of game were thus secured and borne to the city and to the neighboring towns, the inhabitants of which had assisted in the hunt, as an offering to the god. Each hunter carried to his own home the heads of such animals as he had killed, and a prize was awarded to the most successful. In the month Tecuilhuitontli also, while the warriors practiced in sham fights for actual war, the common people gave their attention to the chase. Large numbers of birds were taken in nets spread on poles like spear-shafts. In earlier times, when the chase was more depended on for food, the first game taken was offered to the gods; or, by the Chichimecs and Xochimilcas, to the sun, as Ixtlilxochitl informs us.[354]

FISHERIES AND SALT.

Fish was much more universally used for food than game. Torquemada tells us that the Aztecs first invented the art of fishing prompted by the mother of invention when forced by their enemies to live on the lake islands; and it was the smell of roasted fish, wafted to the shore, that revealed their presence. This tradition is somewhat absurd, and it is difficult to believe that the art was entirely unknown during the preceding Toltec and Olmec periods of Nahua civilization. Besides the supply in lake and river, artificial ponds in the royal gardens were also stocked with fish, and we have seen that fresh fish from the ocean were brought to Mexico for the king's table. Respecting the particular methods employed by the Nahua fishermen, save that they used both nets and hooks, the authorities say nothing. The Tarascos had such an abundance of food in their lakes that their country was named Michoacan, 'land of fish'; and the rivers of Huastecapan are also mentioned as richly stocked with finny food.[355]

The Nahuas had, as I have said, no herds or flocks, but besides the royal collections of animals, which included nearly every known variety of quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, the common people kept and bred techichi (a native animal resembling a dog), turkeys, quails, geese, ducks, and many other birds. The nobles also kept deer, hares, and rabbits.[356]

Next to chile, salt, or iztatl, was the condiment most used, and most of the supply came from the Valley of Mexico. The best was made by boiling the water from the salt lake in large pots, and was preserved in white cakes or balls. It was oftener, however, led by trenches into shallow pools and evaporated by the sun. The work would seem to have been done by women, since Sahagun speaks of the women and girls employed in this industry as dancing at the feast in honor of the goddess of salt in the month Tecuilhuitontli. A poor quality of salt, tequizquitl, brick-colored and strongly impregnated with saltpetre, was scraped up on the flats around the lakes, and largely used in salting meats. Las Casas mentions salt springs in the bed of fresh-water streams, the water of which was pumped out through hollow canes, and yielded on evaporation a fine white salt; but it is not certain what part of the country he refers to. The Aztec kings practically monopolized the salt market and refused to sell it to any except tributary nations. In consequence of this disposition, republican Tlascala, one of the few nations that maintained its independence, was forced for many years to eat its food unsalted; and so habituated did the people become to this diet, that in later times, if we may credit Camargo, very little salt was consumed.[357]

THE NAHUA CUISINE.

We now come to the methods adopted by the Nahuas in preparing and cooking food. Maize, when in the milk, was eaten boiled, and called elotl; when dry it was often prepared for food by simply parching or roasting, and then named mumuehitl. But it usually came to the Aztec table in the shape of tlaxcalli, the Spanish tortillas, the standard bread, then as now, in all Spanish America. It would be difficult to name a book in any way treating of Mexico in which tortillas are not fully described. The aborigines boiled the corn in water, to which lime, or sometimes nitre, was added. When sufficiently soft and free from hulls it was crushed on the metlatl, or metate, with a stone roller, and the dough, after being kneaded also on the metate, was formed by the hands of the women into very thin round cakes which were quickly baked on earthen pans, or comalli, and piled up one on another that they might retain their warmth, for when cold they lost their savor. Peter Martyr speaks of these tortillas as "bread made of Maizium." They were sometimes, but rarely, flavored with different native plants and flowers. There was, however, some variety in their preparation, according to which they bore different names. For example totanquitlaxcallitlaquelpacholli were very white, being folded and covered with napkins; huietlaxcalli were large, thin, and soft; quauhtlaqualli were thick and rough; tlaxcalpacholli, grayish; and tlacepoallitlaxcalli presented a blistered surface. There were many other kinds. In addition to the tlaxcalli, thicker corn-bread in the form of long cakes and balls were made. Atolli varied in consistency from porridge, or gruel, to mush, and may consequently be classed either as a drink or as food. To make it, the hulled corn was mashed, mixed with water, and boiled down to the required consistency; it was variously sweetened and seasoned, and eaten both hot and cold. According to its condition and seasoning it received about seventeen names; thus totonquiatolli was eaten hot, nequatolli was sweetened with honey, chilnequatolli was seasoned with chile, and quauhnexatolli with saltpetre.

Beans, the etl of the Aztecs, the frijoles of the Spaniards, were while yet green boiled in the pod, and were then called exotl; when dry they were also generally boiled; but Ixtlilxochitl mentions flour made from beans.

Chilli, chile, or pepper, was eaten both green and dry, whole and ground. A sauce was also made from it into which hot tortillas were dipped, and which formed a part of the seasoning in nearly every Nahua dish. "It is the principal sauce and the only spice of the Indias," as Acosta tells us.