She is the patroness of chilli pepper, which was naturally associated with the fiery element and was therefore connected with the end of a period of fasting, the Mexicans regarding abstinence from this condiment as equivalent to a fast. The myth which speaks of her as having been punished for eating fish before a sacrifice is also eloquent of this relationship, and also by its reference to her transformation into canine form connects her further with the dog and makes her a patroness of the nanualtin, or wizards, who on the day itzcuintli (“dog”) had especial power to transform themselves into animals. Her name “In the House” alludes, of course, to her character as a goddess of the domestic hearth. She was also the patroness of the goldsmiths and jewellers of Xochimilco, who of all crafts required the assistance of her element. QUAXOLOTL = “SPLIT AT THE TOP” (FLAME) Relationship: A variant of Chantico. Festival: Ce xochitl, “one flower.” ASPECT AND INSIGNIA She is so called because she wears Xolotl’s decoration on her head. The double face of Xochiquetzal in Codex Borgia (sheet 60) is regarded by Seler as that of Quaxolotl—the goddess parting into two heads. She is also the goddess who has borne twins. NATURE AND STATUS Quaxolotl is a variant of Chantico. The name, which signifies “split at the top,” seems to signify the kind of flame which bifurcates or splits into two tongues. She is thus connected with things double, and is the goddess who has borne twins. Sahagun, who calls her Quaxolotl-Chantico, [304] thereby identifies her with that goddess, and states that she was housed in the twenty-ninth temple in the great court at Mexico, the Tetlanman, which he distinguishes from that of Chantico proper, the Tetlanman Calmecac, the twenty-seventh. He states that slaves were sacrificed here on the sign ce xochitl, “one flower,” and perhaps this fixes the date of the festival of the goddess. CHAPTER VIII THE OCTLI OR PULQUE (DRINK) GODS GENERAL Name: Centzon Totochtin = “Four Hundred Rabbits.” Area of Worship: Mexico generally. Festival: The day ome tochtli (“two rabbit”) in the sign ce mazatl (“one deer”), a movable feast. ASPECT AND INSIGNIA The constituent elements of the insignia of the octli-gods may be generally described as follows: (1) A two-coloured face-painting, the front half of the facial profile (i.e. the middle part of the face) being painted red in its entire length, both sides at the temples black (or dark green), or else black with longish yellow spots. (2) A nasal plate, handle-shaped, the ends involuted outwardly, or crescent-shaped, the golden Huaxtec nose-ornament, yaca-metztli. It is usually marked on all articles dedicated to the octli-gods. (3) A four-cornered ear-pendant, which agrees substantially with that of the Rain-god. (4) A neck-ornament falling far down, loose in texture, made of malinalli grass fibre.