the Mayas, as I have pointed out in a previous work, he was supposed to govern the generative proclivities and the sexual relations.[112] Another of his names was Xiuhtecutli, which can be translated "God of the Green Leaf," that is, of vegetable fecundity and productiveness.[113]
To
transform themselves into a globe or ball of fire was, as we have seen
(ante, p. 13), a power claimed by expert nagualists, and to handle it
with impunity, or to blow it from the mouth, was one of their commonest
exhibitions. Nothing so much proved their superiority as thus to master
this potent element.
30. The same name above referred to, "the Heart of the Town," or "of the Hills," was that which at a comparatively late date was applied to an idol of green stone preserved with religious care in a cavern in the Cerro de Monopostiac, not far from San Francisco del Mar. The spot is still believed by the natives to be enchanted ground and protected by superhuman powers.[114]
These green stones, called chalchihuitl, of jadeite, nephrite, green quartz, or the like, were accounted of peculiar religious significance throughout southern Mexico, and probably to this day many are preserved among the indigenous population as amulets and charms. They were often carved into images, either in human form or representing a frog, the latter apparently the symbol of the waters and of fertility. Bartholomé de Alva refers to them in a passage of his Confessionary. The priest asks the penitent:
"Dost thou possess at this very time little idols of green stone, or frogs made of it (in chalchiuh coconeme, chalchiuh tamazoltin)?
"Dost thou put them out in the sun to be warmed? Dost thou keep them wrapped in cotton coverings, with great respect and veneration?
"Dost thou believe, and hold for very truth, that these green stones give thee food and drink, even as thy ancestors believed, who died in their idolatry? Dost thou believe that they give thee success and prosperity and good things, and all that thou hast or wishest? Because we know very well that many of you so believe at this very time."[115]
Down to quite a recent date, and perhaps still, these green stones are employed in certain ceremonies in vogue among the Indians of Oaxaca in order to ensure a plenteous maize harvest. The largest ear of corn in the field is selected and wrapped up in a cloth with some of these chalcihuite. At the next corn-planting it is taken to the field and buried in the soil. This is believed to be a relic of the worship of the ancient Zapotec divinity, Quiegolani, who presided over cultivated fields.[116]
They are still in use among the natives as lucky stones or amulets. In the Zotzil insurrection of 1869, already referred to, one was found suspended to the neck of one of the slain Indians. It came into the possession of M. Maler, who has described and figured it.[117] It represents a human head with a curious expression and a singular headdress.
From
specimens of these amulets preserved in museums it is seen that any
greenish stone was selected, preferably those yielding a high, vitreous
polish, as jadeite, turquoise, emerald,
chloromelanite or precious serpentine. The color gave the sacred character,
and this, it seems to me, was distinctly meant to be symbolic of water
and its effects, the green of growing plants, and hence of fertility,
abundance and prosperity.
31. There is another symbol, still venerated among the present indigenous population, which belongs to Nagualism, and is a survival from the ancient cult; this is the Tree. The species held in
[112] See my Myths of the New World, p. 154, seq.
[113] In the Nahuatl language the word xihuitl (xiuitl) has four meanings: a plant, a turquoise, a year and a comet.
[114] J. B. Carriedo, Estudios Historicos del Estado Oaxaqueño, Tom. i. p. 82, etc.
[115] Alva, Confessionario en Lenqua Mexicana, fol. 9.
[116] Carriedo, Estudios Historicos, pp. 6, 7.
[117] In the Revue d' Ethnographie, Tom. iii, p. 313. Some very fine objects of this class are described by E. G. Squier, in his "Observations on the Chalchihuitl ." In the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History, Vol. 1 (New York, 1869).
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