(5) A crown of heron-feathers, such as is worn by the Rain-god, but here combined with the cuecaluitoncatl, Quetzal’s neck-ornament made of dark feathers, with some projecting arara plumes. (6) A stone axe as a weapon. The most striking of these objects are the first two. So characteristic are they of the octli-gods, that a juxtaposition of red and black lines on a tilmatli is explained in the Codex Magliabecchiano as “manta de dos conejos,” or shoulder-covering of the Two-rabbit octli-god. [305] ALLUSIONS TO THE OCTLI-GODS IN GENERAL Sahagun, speaking of the octli-gods, [306] says that Tezcatzoncatl [307] was the parent or brother of the rest, who were called Yiauhtecatl, Izquitecatl, Acolua, Tlilhua, Patecatli, Toltecatl, Papaztac, Tlaltecayoua, Ome tochtli, Tepuztecatl, Chimapaleuecatl, and Cohuatzincatl. One of the hymns in Sahagun’s collection alludes as follows to the octli-gods: In Colhuacan in fear Fear has his home. The God in the Palace, Tezcatzonco, He was dealt with, therefore he wept (the fire wept?). Not so, not so (shall it be) (saith he) The God was dealt with, therefore he wept. The God in the Palace Axalaco, He was dealt with, therefore he wept. Not so, not so (shall it be) (saith he) The God was dealt with, therefore he wept. I have followed Seler’s translation of this hymn, but, like him, can glean little from it. It seems to me to allude vaguely to the cutting of the agave-plant, and the consequent withdrawal of the sap from which octli is made. A report on the Huaxtec territory dated 1579 evidently relates to the octli-gods. It states that: “They related another fable, that they had two other effigies as gods, one called Ometochtli, who is the god of wine; the other Tezcatlipocâ, which is the name of the most exalted idol worshipped by them, and with these they had painted the figure of a woman named Hueytonantzin, that is, ‘our great mother,’ because they said she was the mother of all those gods or demons. And those four above-mentioned male demons, they related, had killed this great mother, founding with her the institution of human sacrifice, and taking her heart out of her breast and presenting it to the sun. Similarly, they related that the idol Tezcatlipocâ had killed the god of wine with his consent and concurrence, giving out that in this way he gave him eternal life, and that if he did not die, all persons drinking wine must die; but that the death of this Ometochtli was only like the sleep of one drunk, that he afterwards recovered and again became fresh and well.” FESTIVAL The principal festival of the octli-gods was ome tochtli (“two rabbit”), and this calendrical name became in a measure deified as a separate god, who was the same as Tepoxtecatl. [308] Sahagun says of this festival: