“In the sign ce maçatl, on the second day called ome tochtli, they made a great feast to the god Izquitecatl, who is the second god of wine, and not only to him, but to all the gods of wine, who were very numerous. They ornamented his image in the temple, offered him food, and made songs and played on instruments in his presence. They placed a great jar of octli in the court of the temple, and whoever wished drank from it. The duty of replenishing the jar was given to the men who cut the maguey. They carried to the house of the god the first-fruits of the first sap, which they drew from it.” NATURE AND STATUS IN GENERAL When a man was intoxicated with the native Mexican drink of octli, a liquor made from the juice of the Agave Americana, he was believed to be under the influence of a god or spirit. The commonest form under which the Drink-god was worshipped was the rabbit, that animal being considered as utterly devoid of sense. This particular divinity was known as Ometochtli. The scale of debauchery which it was desired to reach was indicated by the number of rabbits worshipped, the highest number, four hundred, representing the most extreme degree of intoxication. The chief octli-gods apart from these were Patecatl and Tequechmecauiani. If the drunkard desired to escape the perils of accidental hanging during intoxication, it was necessary to sacrifice to the latter, but if death by drowning was apprehended, Teatlahuiani, the deity who hurried drunkards to a watery grave, was placated. If the debauchee wished his punishment not to exceed a headache, Quatlapanqui (The Head-splitter) was sacrificed to, or else Papaztac (The Nerveless). Each trade or profession had its own Ometochtli, but for the aristocracy there was one only of these gods, Cohuatzincatl, a name signifying “He who has Grandparents.” Several of these drink-gods had names which connected them with various localities; for example, Tepoxtecatl was the octli-god of Tepoztlan. The calendar day Ometochtli, which means “two rabbit,” because of the symbol which accompanied it, was under the special protection of these gods, and the Mexicans believed that anyone born on that day was almost inevitably doomed to become a drunkard. All the octli-gods were closely associated with the soil and with the Earth-goddess. After the Indians had harvested their maize they drank to intoxication, and invoked one or other of these gods. On the whole it is safe to infer that they were originally deities of local husbandry who imparted virtue to the soil as octli imparted strength and courage to the warrior. Many of the titles of these deities are derived from place-names, as Acolua, Calhuatzincatl, Chimalpanecatl, etc., and this widespread denomination would seem to show that their worship must have been established at an early period, and that each seems to represent a section of the population of Mexico. Their relation with the moon is plain—a rabbit dwelt therein, and they were rabbit-gods.