Aztec mythology; Indian mythology -- Mexico; Mexico -- Religion
Codex Borbonicus.—She has a skeleton’s head, which differs from that of
the Death-god in that it is coloured yellow, with red lines instead of
black, but shows a similarity to it in the ruffled “night-hair” with
which it is covered. In most of the pictures of her in this codex her
blue dress is dotted with circular white spots which are perhaps
intended for stars. This garment is completed with thongs, from which
depend snail-shells, a decoration also seen in the rattling girdle
ornaments (citlalicue) characteristic of the Earth and Underworld
goddesses.
MYTHS
According to the myth related by Motolinia, [246] Ilamatecutli or
Ilancuêyê, as he designates her, was the wife of Iztac Mixcoatl (q.v.),
with whom she dwelt in Chicomoztoc, “the land of the seven canes,” the
mythical officina gentium of the Mexican tribes, whence the aboriginal
ancestors of the several races of Mexico were supposed to have had
their being. By a second wife, Chinamatl, or Chimalmat, Iztac Mixcoatl
became the father of Quetzalcoatl.
FESTIVAL
Tititl (“Stretching of Limbs”).—This festival was held in the Kalends
of the seventeenth month, probably about December 19. [247] A female
slave was bought by the authorities and dressed as follows: She wore an
upper garment or peplum of white stuff and a skirt of the same colour,
beneath which showed the citlalicue, or star-skirt, of the goddess, a
dress sprinkled with stars, cut at the ankles in the shape of many
thongs, from each of which hung a small shell, so that when she walked
these came together and made a rattling sound. Her sandals were white
and she bore a shield whitened with chalk, having a design of eagle’s
feathers in the centre. Fringes of heron’s feathers terminating in
eagle’s plumes hung from the lower edge of the shield. In the other
hand she carried the tzotozopaztli, a wooden knife, used for pressing
cloth. Her face was painted black and yellow. Her hair was dressed in
the form known as tzompilinalli, or “hair tied at the temples,” and
eagle’s plumes fell from it behind.
Before the victim was dispatched they made her dance to the sound of
instruments played by old men, which mingled with the chanting of the
priests. The wretched woman wept and sobbed as she danced, and as
evening approached she was taken to the temple of Uitzilopochtli,
accompanied by all the priests wearing their insignia and the masks of
their gods, one of which was that of Ilamatecutli. On arriving at the
summit of the teocalli, or pyramid-temple, she was immediately slain,
her heart was torn out and she was decapitated. The head was given to
the priest attired in the insignia of the goddess, who held it in his
right hand by the hair, and engaged in a dance, raising and lowering
the horrid trophy, and in this solemn measure he was accompanied by the
priests who represented the other divinities. They then descended the
steps of the teocalli in procession, and sought their quarters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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