File:The myths of Mexico and Peru (1913) (14597394450).jpg

Identifier: mythsofmexicoper01spen (find matches)
Title: The myths of Mexico and Peru
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Spence, Lewis, 1874-1955
Subjects: Indians of Mexico Indian mythology Indians of Mexico Indians of South America Indian mythology Indians of South America
Publisher: New York, T. Y. Crowell company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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enomena. This would seemto be in direct opposition to the theory that Tezcatlipocawas the supreme god of the Mexicans. But it must beborne in mind that Tezcatlipoca was the god of a laterage, and of a fresh body of Nahua immigrants, and assuch inimical to Quetzalcoatl, who was probably in asimilar state of opposition to Itzamna, a Maya deity ofYucatan. The Worship of Quetzalcoatl The worship of Quetzalcoatl was in some degreeantipathetic to that of the other Mexican deities, andhis priests were a separate caste. Although humansacrifice was by no means so prevalent among hisdevotees, it is a mistake to aver, as some authoritieshave done, that it did not exist in connection with hisworship. A more acceptable sacrifice to Quetzalcoatlappears to have been the blood of the celebrant orworshipper, shed by himself. When we come to con-sider the mythology of the Zapotecs, a people whosecustoms and beliefs appear to have formed a species oflink between the Mexican and Mayan civilisations, we84
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3 THE MAIZE^GODS OF MEXICO shall find that their high-priests occasionally enacted thelegend of Quetzalcoatl in their own persons, and thattheir worship, which appears to have been based uponthat of Quetzalcoatl, had as one of its most pronouncedcharacteristics the shedding of blood. The celebrant ordevotee drew blood from the vessels lying under thetongue or behind the ear by drawing across thosetender parts a cord made from the thorn-covered fibresof the agave. The blood was smeared over the mouthsof the idols. In this practice we can perceive an actanalogous to the sacrificial substitution of the part forthe whole, as obtaining in early Palestine and manyother countries-—a certain sign that tribal or racialopinion has contracted a disgust for human sacrifice,and has sought to evade the anger of the gods byyielding to them a portion of the blood of eachworshipper, instead of sacrificing the life of one forthe general weal. The MaizeGods of Mexico A special group of deities called

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