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The next sanctuary was dedicated to Tezcatlipoca, who, they believed, had created the earth and watched over it.
At the head of these stood one, infinite, supreme ruler, "the unknown God," and next beneath him came Tezcatlipoca, the "son of the world," supposed to be the creator of the earth, Huitzilopotchli was the god of war, a sort of Mars, but with very much more name. Then there was the god of air, Quetzatcoatl, who controlled vegetation, metals, and the politics of the country.
They renounced all commerce with the world, and lived in contemplation, temperance, and frugality, and in absolute poverty.... The Peruvians were required to fast before sacrificing to the gods, and to bind themselves by vows of chastity and abstinence from nourishing food.... There were ascetic orders for old men and nunneries for widows among the Totomacs, monastic orders among Toltecs dedicated to the service of Quetzalcoatl, and others among the Aztecs consecrated to Tezcatlipoca."
Compared with the ferocious barbarism of ancient Mexico, the contemporary Spanish modes of life were mild, and this, I think, helps further to explain the ease with which the country was conquered. In a certain sense the prophecy of Quetzalcoatl was fulfilled and the coming of the Spaniards did mean the final dethronement of the ravening Tezcatlipoca.
It was the religion of a conquering race, formed in part by a coalition of tribes and a combination of cults. These were probably local gods with universal functions gradually differentiated. Another side of social life was embodied in the conception of Tezcatlipoca, who represented law and justice, but naturally became also a god of war.
Thus at the festival called Toxcatl, the greatest festival of the Mexican year, a young man was annually sacrificed in the character of Tezcatlipoca, "the god of gods," after having been maintained and worshipped as that great deity in person for a whole year.
Near the sacrificial block were the altars, and sanctuaries of the gods, Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and others, with idols as hideous as their names. On these altars smoked fresh human hearts, of which the gods were fond, while other parts of the bodies were ready for the kitchens of the communal houses below. The gods were voracious as wolves, and the victims as numerous.
This seems the place named Pontonchan in the former voyage. These were probably swivel guns mounted on the bows of their boats. According to Clavigero, I. 240, the proper name of this Mexican sovereign was Moteuczoma. Named Tezcatlipoca by Clavigero, and said to be the god of providence, the soul of the world, and the creator of all things.
The myth reported that Quetzalcoatl journeyed to the shores of the Gulf about the isthmus of Tehuantepec and there disappeared. Nonohualco; the reference is to the cerro de Nonoalco, which plays a part in the Quetzalcoatl myth. The words of the song are almost those of Tezcatlipoca when he is introduced to Quetzalcoatl. Asked whence he came, he replied, "Nihuitz in Nonohualcatepetl itzintla, etc."
The occurrences alluded to are the marvels performed by Quetzalcoatl on his journey from Tulan. See my American Hero Myths, p. 115. The departure of Quetzalcoatl was because he was ordered to repair to Tlapallan, supposed to be beyond Xicalanco. 8. quinti, for iquintia; the reference is to the magic draught given Quetzalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca.
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