Two other special festivals connected with the solar calendar call for mention. The first of these occurred every eight years, in the month of Quecholli or Tepeiluitl; it was called Atamalqualiztli, and during it only bread and water were consumed, with the intention of letting other food-products rest. An image of Tlaloc was set up, and the worshippers performed a ceremonial dance clad in various animal costumes. An interesting feature of the ceremonies was the following: In front of the image of the god was a tank of water, containing frogs and snakes. A number of men called Mazateca, perhaps inhabitants of the Mazatec district, tried to seize one of these animals in his mouth, without using his hands, and having succeeded, continued to dance with it in his teeth. The custom has a strange resemblance to the snake-dance performed by the Pueblo Indians up to the present time. [Illustration: FIG. 8.--Key to the “calendar-stone” figured on Pl. VIII, 1.] [Illustration: _PLATE VIII_ MEXICO (Scale: 1, ¹⁄₅₀th; 2, ⅙th) _Photo. C. B. Waite_ _Mexico Museum_ 1 1. THE “CALENDAR STONE”] [Illustration: _British Museum_ 2 2. STONE FIGURE OF AN OCTLI GOD] [Illustration: FIG. 9.--Priests making new fire. (_Zouche MS., British Museum_)] The other festival was that which occurred every fifty-two years, when the year-date 2. acatl recurred. The occasion was considered as especially dangerous to mortal men, since it was feared that the sun might fail to rise, and the Tzitzimimé demons would descend from the first heaven to destroy mankind and so bring about the end of the world. The principal feature of the ceremonies was the production of new fire by means of the ceremonial fire-sticks (Fig. 9), and it was upon the successful performance of this operation that the rising of the sun was supposed to depend. On the eve of the new year all fires were extinguished, and the priests started in procession to the top of the mountain Uixachtlan, outside Mexico, timing their arrival just before midnight. At midnight, which was calculated by observation of the Pleiades, the high-priest of the Calpulco quarter of Mexico, kindled the new fire on the breast of a prisoner, who was sacrificed immediately after in the usual manner. Representatives of the surrounding cities were present, and torches lit at the new fire were rapidly carried to the chief temples in each city, where the populace awaited their arrival in the greatest anxiety. From the temples the fire was distributed all over the city, and universal rejoicings hailed the commencement of a new era and the deliverance of the world from universal destruction. Old garments were discarded, and all household utensils were broken or freshly painted in token of the new lease of life given to mankind. A peculiar custom in connection with these ceremonies is seen in the fact that women expecting to become mothers,