After five days of penitential exercises mingled with dancing and singing, and on the day before the festival, the captives rose with dawn and betook themselves to the houses of those who had dedicated them to the slaughter, preceded by a man carrying a vessel full of black ink or red ochre or blue tincture. On arriving at the houses of those who had devoted them to death, they dipped their hands in the vessel and pressed them on the gates and the pillars of the dwelling, so that the imprint remained. [86] They then entered the kitchen of the house and walked several times round the furnace. Then they marched in procession to the temple, accompanied by porters bearing rich attire, which the captives donned. The hair was then taken from their heads to be kept “as a relic.” They were then given cylindrical cakes to eat, which must be held on the point of a maguey thorn and not between the fingers. With the dawn of day the god Paynal, the herald of Uitzilopochtli, descended from the temple of Uitzilopochtli. Four captives were then slain, two in honour of “the god Oappatzan.” Paynal, borne by four “necromancers,” then took the road to Tlatelolco, whence he passed to Nonoalco, the priest of the temple there receiving him with the representative of the god Quauitlicac, “his companion” (see “Myths”). The images were then carried to Tlaxotlan and Popotlan, where other captives were slain. Then the procession took its way to Chapultepec, passing the hill of that name and crossing the little river Izquitlan, at the temple of which other captives called Izquiteca (“who eat roasted maize”) were sacrificed. They then crossed to the right under Coyoacan, passing by way of Tepetocan to Acachinanco. During the time they made this progress the slaves who were about to die engaged in a skirmish. They divided themselves into two parties, the Uitznauatl (“They of the Thorny Wizard”), the other unnamed. The former seem to have been professional soldiers armed with mock weapons; the others slaves, armed with maquahuitls, wooden swords set with obsidian flakes. On Paynal’s return those who watched them from the summit of the temple, seeing the banner of the god (epaniztli), cried out, “Mexicans, cease your strife, the lord Paynal has come.” The warriors in the patrol of Paynal then rushed to the summit of the temple, where they arrived in a breathless condition. They placed their idol beside the paste image of Uitzilopochtli. Their ears were pierced by the priest. They descended again, carrying an image of Uitzilopochtli made of paste, which they divided, each bearing his own portion to his own house, where he made festival with his parents and neighbours. A tour of the temple was then made, the captives walking in front.