Note 17 — Chapter VI · THE GODS OF RAIN AND MOISTURE

“When the procession reached the temple near Tepetzinco, on the east, called Tozoacab, the priests rested there all night, watching and singing songs, so that the children could not sleep. In the morning the march was again resumed; if the children wept copiously those around them were very glad, saying it was a sign that much rain would fall; while if they met any dropsical person on the road, it was taken for a bad omen and something that would hinder the rain. If any of the temple ministers, or of the others called quaquavitli, or of the old men, broke off from the procession or turned back to their houses before they came to the place where the sacrifice was done, they were held infamous and unworthy of any public office; thenceforward they were called mocauhque, that is to say, ‘deserters.’ ”17