Catholic image and make it a charismatic icon because 
it expressed for them, in the new Christian religion, a 
theme that was already familiar to them in their own 
supernatural beliefs / 
The tradition of the doncella at the metate is of vener- 
able age. Jacinto de la Serna, writing his Manual para 
Ministros toward the middle of the 17th Century, said in 
his Chap. NV:8 about olodiuhqui and peyotl: 
como para algunas medicinas es menester molerlo, dicen que para 
que haga éste etfecto 4 de ser molido por mano de doncella. 
Nor is this citation unique. An Indian afflicted in his 
nether limbs was told to take pipidtzintzintl > 
que la habia de beber molida por una doncella, desleida en agua tibia, 
en ayunas, habiendo contesado y comulgado antes de tomarla y ayun- 
ado viernes y sibado y el dia siguiente beberlo en el nombre de la 
Santisima Trinidad y de la Virgen de Guadalupe y de San Cayetano 
. y que el aposento habia de estar muy abrigado, sin luz, ni aire, 
ni ruido, y que no se habia de dormir, sino estar en silencia aguard- 
ando a ver dichas figuras (un viejecito vestido de blanco y unos much- 
achos pequenitos vestidos del mesmo color) que ellas lo untarian y 
desenganarian si tenia remedio su mal o no. 
What an extraordinary recapitulation of the salent 
features of the divinatory ritual as practiced in Middle 
America! There is the interweaving of Christian ele- 
ments and pagan. There is the maiden grinding the divine 
element, and the preparation of the supplant, confessing 
and communicating before he consults the Mediator. 
There is the sheltered spot,—-protected from sound and 
light. There is the consultation on an empty stomach. 
There is the clear intimation as to what one sees: a little 
old man clothed in white and little boys garbed in the 
same. Finally there is the august pronouncement whether 
the affliction of the suppliant can or cannot be remedied. 
All these features are always present, regardless of the 
divinatory plant that is consulted. 
[ 186 ] 
