Note 34 — Chapter II · COSMOGONY

But we have glimpses here and there in Aztec literature of a much more elaborate series of heavens, thirteen in number. The first contained certain planets, the second was the home of the Tzitzimimê, who included many of the great gods, the third that of the Centzon Mimixcoa, or star-warriors, who were many-coloured—yellow, black, white, red, blue—and provided the sun with food in the shape of blood. The fourth was inhabited by birds, the fifth by fire-snakes (perhaps comets), the sixth was the home of the winds, the seventh harboured dust, and in the eighth dwelt the gods. The remainder were placed at the disposal of the high primal and creative gods Tonacatecutli and his spouse Tonacaciuatl, whose abode proper was in the thirteenth and highest heaven.34