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Updated: June 19, 2025
All the old writers who were familiar with the native songs speak of their extreme obscurity, and the difficulty of translating them. No one will question the intimate acquaintance with the Nahuatl language possessed by Father Sahagun; yet no one has expressed more strongly than he the vagueness of the Nahuatl poetic dialect.
It recognizes the loitering habits of an Aztec household, and perhaps the irregularity of the dinner-hour. Passing over the descriptions of Sahagun, Clavigero, and Prescott, who have kindled into enthusiasm over this dinner of Montezuma, Mr. Hubert H. Bancroft shall be allowed to furnish us with the very latest version.
Sahagun, Historia Nueva Espana, Bk. II, ch. i. Bernal Diaz describes how he saw one of these monstrous figures that of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, all inlaid with gold and precious stones; and beside it were "braziers, wherein burned the hearts of three Indians, torn from their bodies that very day, and the smoke of them and the savor of incense were the sacrifice."
Sahagun gives a most formidable list of roast, stewed, and broiled dishes, of meat, fish, and poultry, seasoned with many kinds of herbs, of which, however, that most frequently mentioned is chile.
Take the case of poor Sahagun, who wrote a refutation of the historian of the conquest, under the pretense of giving the Indian account of that event: when his book was finally allowed to see the light, after a delay of many years, it was found that his own account of the conquest had been suppressed, and the regular Spanish account had been substituted.
Sahagun, who mentions this fact, adds that the name of this edifice was Teotlalpan, which literally means "on holy ground." Chicomoztoc; "at the Seven Caves," a famous locality in Mexican legend, and the supposed birthplace of their race. Colhuacan is probably for Acolhuacan; the early rulers of the latter were of the blood of the Chichimec chiefs of the Tepanecas.
Sahagun was a wonderfully broad-minded and fine man who, while he did not conceal the barbarities of the Aztec religion, was truthful enough to point out redeeming traits in the manners and customs of the people and some resemblances to Christian doctrine and practice. This infuriated the bigoted Catholics of the newly formed Mexican Church.
Sahagun learned from the old books and traditions, and stated in the introduction to the first book of his history, that the Toltecs came from that distant northeastern country; and he mentions a company that came by sea, settled near the Tampico River, and built a town called Panuco.
And he sent his letters through all the land, calling upon his vassals to assemble together upon the first day of March in Sahagun, upon pain of forfeiting his favour. Now though the King was yet but a young man, whose beard was but just coming, he was of so great courage that the people feared him, and dared not do otherwise than as he commanded.
I consider the poem one of undoubted antiquity and purely native in thought and language. The destruction of the Mexican state was heralded by a series of omens and prodigies which took place at various times during the ten years preceding the arrival of Cortes. They are carefully recorded by Sahagun, in the first chapter of the 12th book of his history.
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