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
In Peru each person wore on the head a twisted cord, of the color of its
quarter, whilst the Inca alone wore these colors combined, in the band
which encircled his brow, as a sign that, in his person he united the
rulership over the four provinces. Molina records the colors of these as
red, yellow, white and black. In the titles of the Maya Bacabs, or lords
of the provinces, as given by Landa, the words for yellow, red, white and
black, are found to be incorporated and prove to be identical with the
arrangement in Peru. In Mexico, on the other hand, we find red, yellow,
green and blue as the colors of the Four Quarters, white and black being
assigned to the Above and Below. All colors combined are to be found
united in symbols of the Centre and it is known that the use of
centzon-tilmatli and quachtli=mantles of four hundred colors=multicolored
were supplied as tributes to the capital, for the use of a privileged
caste. A somewhat similar arrangement to the Mexican is that of the Zuñis
at the present time. According to Mr. Cushing, they assign yellow, blue,
red and white to the cardinal points, speckled and black to the
Above=zenith and Below=nadir, and “all colours to the Middle or Centre.”
In Peru, Mexico and Yucatan I have found scattered notices proving that
individuals habitually painted their bodies with their respective colors.
The Mexican “lords of the night” smeared themselves with black. A passage
in Sahagun (book I, chap. V) speaks of the whitening of the “face, arms,
hands and legs with ‘tiçatl’ ”=chalk, as though this were a habit of the
“noblewomen.” In the Codices some women are, in fact, represented with
white faces, whilst those of the majority are painted yellow and it is
known that yellow ochre was employed in reality. I have, in preparation, a
brief, illustrated monograph showing the various modes of painting the
face represented in the native pictorial records. In these, men painted
red are of frequent occurrence, and it is known that the “red man” owed
his appellation to the custom of using red pigment on his body.
Let us now briefly consider some of the results which inevitably followed
the establishment of two diverging cults which were the outcome of the
primitive recognition of duality and the artificial association of sex
with Heaven and Earth, Day and Night, etc. On pp. 60-62 I have cited
evidence showing that at one time in the past history of the Aztecs,
serious differences arose between the male and female rulers, and led to a
separation of the tribe and the establishment of two distinct centres of
government.
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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 — John Shaqi
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