Section 2. Eating the God among the Aztecs.
THE CUSTOM of eating bread sacramentally as the body of a god was
practised by the Aztecs before the discovery and conquest of Mexico by
the Spaniards. Twice a year, in May and December, an image of the great
Mexican god Huitzilopochtli or Vitzilipuztli was made of dough, then broken
in pieces, and solemnly eaten by his worshippers. The May ceremony is
thus described by the historian Acosta: "The Mexicans in the month of May
made their principal feast to their god Vitzilipuztli, and two days before this
feast, the virgins whereof I have spoken (the which were shut up and
secluded in the same temple and were as it were religious women) did
mingle a quantity of the seed of beets with roasted maize, and then they did
mould it with honey, making an idol of that paste in bigness like to that of
wood, putting instead of eyes grains of green glass, of blue or white; and
for teeth grains of maize set forth with all the ornament and furniture that I
have said. This being finished, all the noblemen came and brought it an
exquisite and rich garment, like unto that of the idol, wherewith they did
attire it. Being thus clad and deckt, they did set it in an azured chair and in
a litter to carry it on their shoulders. The morning of this feast being come,
an hour before day all the maidens came forth attired in white, with new
ornaments, the which that day were called the Sisters of their god
Vitzilipuztli, they came crowned with garlands of maize roasted and
parched, being like unto azahar or the flower of orange; and about their
necks they had great chains of the same, which went bauldrick-wise under
their left arm. Their cheeks were dyed with vermilion, their arms from the
elbow to the wrist were covered with red parrots' feathers." Young men,
dressed in red robes and crowned like the virgins with maize, then carried
the idol in its litter to the foot of the great pyramid-shaped temple, up the
steep and narrow steps of which it was drawn to the music of flutes,
trumpets, cornets, and drums. "While they mounted up the idol all the
people stood in the court with much reverence and fear. Being mounted to
the top, and that they had placed it in a little lodge of roses which they held
ready, presently came the young men, which strewed many flowers of
sundry kinds, wherewith they filled the temple both within and without. This
done, all the virgins came out of their convent, bringing pieces of paste
compounded of beets and roasted maize, which was of the same paste
whereof their idol was made and compounded, and they were of the
fashion of great bones. They delivered them to the young men, who carried
them up and laid them at the idol's feet, wherewith they filled the whole
place that it could receive no more. They called these morsels of paste the
flesh and bones of Vitzilipuztli. Having laid abroad these bones, presently
came all the ancients of the temple, priests, Levites, and all the rest of the
ministers, according to their dignities and antiquities (for herein there was a
strict order amongst them) one after another, with their veils of diverse
colours and works, every one according to his dignity and office, having
garlands upon their heads and chains of flowers about their necks; after
them came their gods and goddesses whom they worshipped, of diverse
figures, attired in the same livery; then putting themselves in order about
those morsels and pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with
singing and dancing. By means whereof they were blessed and
consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idol. This ceremony and
blessing (whereby they were taken for the flesh and bones of the idol)
being ended, they honoured those pieces in the same sort as their god. ...
All the city came to this goodly spectacle, and there was a commandment
very strictly observed throughout all the land, that the day of the feast of
the idol of Vitzilipuztli they should eat no other meat but this paste, with
honey, whereof the idol was made. And this should be eaten at the point of
day, and they should drink no water nor any other thing till after noon: they
held it for an ill sign, yea, for sacrilege to do the contrary: but after the
ceremonies ended, it was lawful for them to eat anything. During the time of
this ceremony they hid the water from their little children, admonishing all
such as had the use of reason not to drink any water; which, if they did, the
anger of God would come upon them, and they should die, which they did
observe very carefully and strictly. The ceremonies, dancing, and sacrifice
ended, the went to unclothe themselves, and the priests and superiors of
the temple took the idol of paste, which they spoiled of all the ornaments it
had, and made many pieces, as well of the idol itself as of the truncheons
which they consecrated, and then they gave them to the people in manner
of a communion, beginning with the greater, and continuing unto the rest,
both men, women, and little children, who received it with such tears, fear,
and reverence as it was an admirable thing, saying that they did eat the
flesh and bones of God, where-with they were grieved. Such as had any
sick folks demanded thereof for them, and carried it with great reverence
and veneration." 1
From this interesting passage we learn that the ancient Mexicans, even
before the arrival of Christian missionaries, were fully acquainted with the
doctrine of transubstantiation and acted upon it in the solemn rites of their
religion. They believed that by consecrating bread their priests could turn it
into the very body of their god, so that all who thereupon partook of the
consecrated bread entered into a mystic communion with the deity by
receiving a portion of his divine substance into themselves. The doctrine of
transubstantiation, or the magical conversion of bread into flesh, was also
familiar to the Aryans of ancient India long before the spread and even the
rise of Christianity. The Brahmans taught that the rice-cakes offered in
sacrifice were substitutes for human beings, and that they were actually
converted into the real bodies of men by the manipulation of the priest. We
read that "when it (the rice-cake) still consists of rice-meal, it is the hair.
When he pours water on it, it becomes skin. When he mixes it, it becomes
flesh: for then it becomes consistent; and consistent also is the flesh. When
it is baked, it becomes bone: for then it becomes somewhat hard; and hard
is the bone. And when he is about to take it off (the fire) and sprinkles it
with butter, he changes it into marrow. This is the completeness which they
call the fivefold animal sacrifice." 2
Now, too, we can perfectly understand why on the day of their solemn
communion with the deity the Mexicans refused to eat any other food than
the consecrated bread which they revered as the very flesh and bones of
their God, and why up till noon they might drink nothing at all, not even
water. They feared no doubt to defile the portion of God in their stomachs
by contact with common things. A similar pious fear led the Creek and
Seminole Indians, as we saw, to adopt the more thoroughgoing expedient
of rinsing out their bodies by a strong purgative before they dared to
partake of the sacrament of first-fruits. 3
At the festival of the winter solstice in December the Aztecs killed their
god Huitzilopochtli in effigy first and ate him afterwards. As a preparation for
this solemn ceremony an image of the deity in the likeness of a man was
fashioned out of seeds of various sorts, which were kneaded into a dough
with the blood of children. The bones of the god were represented by
pieces of acacia wood. This image was placed on the chief altar of the
temple, and on the day of the festival the king offered incense to it. Early
next day it was taken down and set on its feet in a great hall. Then a priest,
who bore the name and acted the part of the god Quetzalcoatl, took a
flint-tipped dart and hurled it into the breast of the dough-image, piercing it
through and through. This was called "killing the god Huitzilopochtli so that
his body might be eaten." One of the priests cut out the heart of the image
and gave it to the king to eat. The rest of the image was divided into minute
pieces, of which every man great and small, down to the male children in
the cradle, receive one to eat. But no woman might taste a morsel. The
ceremony was called teoqualo, that is, "god is eaten." 4
At another festival the Mexicans made little images like men, which stood
for the cloud-capped mountains. These images were moulded of a paste of
various seeds and were dressed in paper ornaments. Some people
fashioned five, others ten, others as many as fifteen of them. Having been
made, they were placed in the oratory of each house and worshipped. Four
times in the course of the night offerings of food were brought to them in tiny
vessels; and people sang and played the flute before them through all the
hours of darkness. At break of day the priests stabbed the images with a
weaver's instrument, cut off their heads, and tore out their hearts, which
they presented to the master of the house on a green saucer. The bodies of
the images were then eaten by all the family, especially by the servants,
"in order that by eating them they might be preserved from certain
distempers, to which those persons who were negligent of worship to those
deities conceived themselves to be subject." 5
