The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical SystemsNuttall, Zelia
Religion
The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems
As the Zuñi god is said to be standing on his red star (an mo-yätchun
thlana) and figures as a centre of rotation, I look upon this fetish as
affording most striking confirmation of my conclusions concerning the
origin of the swastika and cross symbols. If it is certain that, at the
present day, the Zuñis associate this star-god with Sirius and their cross
symbol with the morning star, then it is quite obvious that they have lost
the original meaning of the rotating-star fetish, which could never have
been suggested by either of these or, indeed, by any other heavenly body
but Polaris. I regret that space does not permit me to consider here, more
fully, other close analogies between ancient Mexican and modern Zuñi
religious ceremonies, etc., besides those which have been so well
described by Dr. J. Walter Fewkes.
I cannot omit to note here for further reference that the national war
gods of the Zuñis are the twin-brothers Ahaiiuta, the elder, whose altars
were situated _to the right_ or south and west of Zuñi, and Matsailéma,
the younger, whose altars stood _to the left_ or north and east of the
village. The secret society of the warriors and priests of the bow
dedicated their cult to these brothers, whose counterparts we have already
studied in Mexico and Yucatan.
Returning to the primitive designs which expressed the union of the Above
and Below, I point out an interesting example from the “Lyfe of the
Indians,” which likewise symbolizes the four quarters, and their
subdivision and their relation to the whole (fig. 32, no. 3). A somewhat
analogous design, from Peru, presents an outline resembling a swastika
(fig. 40, no. 9) which, when filled in with alternate colors, yields fig.
40, no. 1, in which the idea of the Above and Below preponderates. Another
example of an analogous employment of a light and dark color is furnished
by a shield in the Codex Mendoza, shown in fig. 1, no. 1, alongside of an
interesting image which gives us an insight into the depths of meaning
contained in the dualistic native designs. It consists of a disk, one-half
of which represents the starry heaven and the other the sun, resting on a
parti-colored support (no. 8). It is evident that day and night are thus
symbolized, and it is reasonable to infer that in some centres of thought
especially the ideas of light and darkness should have become associated
with the two different forms of cult the followers of which would be
respectively designated as the children of light and the children of
darkness. By means of a light and a dark color numberless variations of
the one theme were indeed obtained. In the native Codices, in textile
fabrics and on pottery, there are also numerous examples of an extremely
simple design consisting of a single zigzag line running between two
parallel lines and dividing the intervening space into two fields, the
lower of which is filled out with black and the other with some light
color.
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