Note 5 — Chapter XII · MINOR DEITIES

This god appears to have been partly of a convivial nature and presided over banquets and festivities generally. On the occasion of a public or private rejoicing he was borne thither by certain priests. If the banquet was suitable he praised the host, but otherwise rebuked him, and it is said that, if irritated in any way, he would turn the viands into hair (as did certain of the fairies of Brittany, when annoyed or insulted). The night before a festival a cake like a large bone was made, and this, it was feigned, was a bone of the deity himself. This cake was eaten and octli was drunk, after which spines of the maguey were thrust into the stomach of the idol. There can be little doubt that, as Sahagun states,5 Omacatl was solely and simply a god of festivities.