Note 40 — Chapter V · DEITIES OF THE EARTH AND GROWTH PROPER

Stone effigies of Xochipilli were set up in the tlachtli courts. In the Museo Naçional at Mexico there is a stone statue of the god which represents him as sitting cross-legged, as if watching the ball-game. He wears the mask of a player or dancer. By the aid of such statues of Xochipilli, which are found in considerable numbers all over the eastern Mexican slope, the transition from the bird-helmet to the rudimentary crest may be studied.40