Notes.
Reading edition
The goddess to whom this hymn is devoted was called Teteoinan, the Mother of the Gods, Toçi, our Mother (maternal ancestor), and also by another name which signified “the Heart of the Earth,” the latter being bestowed upon her, says Duran, because she was believed to be the cause of earthquakes. Her general functions were those of a genius of fertility, extending both to the vegetable and the animal world. Thus, she was the patroness of the native midwives and of women in childbirth (Sahagun). Her chief temple at Tepeyacac was one of the most renowned in ancient Mexico, and it was a felicitous idea of the early missionaries to have “Our Lady of Guadalupe” make her appearance on the immediate site of this ancient fane already celebrated as the place of worship of the older female deity. The Codex Ramirez makes her a daughter of the first King of Culhuacan.
1. Tamoanchan. This word Sahagun translates “we seek our homes,” while the Codex Telleriano-Remensis gives the more intelligible rendering “there is their home whither they descend,” and adds that it is synonymous with Xochitlycacan, “the place where the flowers are lifted.” It was the mystical Paradise of the Aztecs, the Home of the Gods, and the happy realm of departed souls. The Codex just quoted adds that the gods were born there, which explains the introduction of the word into this hymn.
5. For teucontli (see Glossary) I should suggest teocomitl, a species of ornament, (cf. Sahagun, Historia, Lib. II., cap. 37.)