Note 15 — Chapter V · DEITIES OF THE EARTH AND GROWTH PROPER

The first festival with which Cinteotl was associated was the uei tozoztli, held in April. After a four days’ fast, the houses were decked with irises and sprinkled with blood drawn from the ears and the front of the legs, and the nobles and wealthier folk decorated their houses with the boughs of a plant called axcoyatl.15 Search was made in the fields for the young stalks of maize, which were decked with flowers and placed before the gods, along with food. The goddess Chicomecoatl was also revered at this festival. At the ochpaniztli festival, too, in honour of his mother Tlazolteotl, Cinteotl was peculiarly venerated, and a full account of the proceedings will be found in the pages referring to Tlazolteotl. It is necessary, however, to refer in passing to one custom, that in connection with which the thigh-skin of the female victim was stripped off and carried to the temple of Cinteotl, where it was made into a mask which the priest of the god placed over his face.16 He also wore a jacket and hood of feathers, resembling the naualli or bird-disguise of the god—the coxcoxtli, which seems to have represented both Cinteotl and Xochipilli, and to have formed a kind of bond between them. The crest of the hood resembled the comb of a cock, and whilst possibly having the significance of a bird’s comb, was also held to symbolize the sharp-cutting flint knife of sacrifice (see Tlazolteotl). Lastly, the horrible relics of the festival were conveyed by the Cinteotl priest and a picked body-guard to a hut on the frontier, where they were left, for what purpose I am able to form no definite opinion.17