NO. 1887. CENSERS AND INCENSE OF MIDDLE AMERICA— IJOVGH. 128 



Small ladle forms found in the huacas of the Guetaro Indians of 

 Costa Rica are called incensarios, but examination of the specimens 

 in the Arellano collection, exhibited at Madrid in 1892/ showed only 

 one bearincj traces of fire. There is, however, a mask on the handle 

 adjoining the bowl, and the weight of opinion must class them as 

 incensarios. Lelimann has discovered ladles of this form near 

 Cartago, Costa Rica. (Fig. 8.) 



(d) The most familiar object of this class and the most highly 

 developed is the Nahuatl hand censer spoon having a long handle and 



decorated with painting and 



sculpture. This censer was /^^^^^n^\ 



held in the hand of the ofli- /j^^^^^^^\\ 



dating priest and the fumes -.^^^^ -^^'i^^ "^iVX 



of the copal or other incense }lTT^^^\'\^^^mf' W 



wafted toward the figure of ^^ " '"" '*"'*''^^^w4^JlK' 1 1 



the god. They are rather ^Ol^\ // 



frequently found in the ^^^^s*-^^'^/ 



Nahuatl area of Mexico, and ^ -^ 



numbers were unearthed in fiq. s.— ladle censer, guetaeo huacas, costa rica, 

 the trenches near the Cathe- Arellano collection. 



dral plaza in the Federal district some years ago,^ several having 

 been brought to the United States by collectors. Their mode of use 

 may be seen in numerous instances in the picture writings, where the 

 characteristic extended arm holding the censer is graphically depicted. 

 Sahagun describes the offerings made b}'- the Mexicans in their 

 calpulle, and mentions that the satraps (attendant chief priests) 

 offered incense day and night in the temples at certain hours. 



They used for that purpose censera of terra cotta in the form of a kind of skillet of 

 medium size with a hollow handle of the largeness of a vara in measure and of the 

 length of the arm up to the elbow or a little more, having within little stones which 

 served as rattles. The censer was ornamented with sculptures which are pierced at 

 intervals from the middle to the base. They took in it lighted coals from the fire and 

 they threw on it copal; they approached the statue of the demon and they elevated 

 the censer toward the four cardinal points; at the same time they incensed also the 

 idol. When this was done they threw the coals on the fire. The same practice was 

 imitated by the people in their houses, morning and evening, before the statues 

 which they had in their chapels or in their courts. The parents taught their children 

 to make the same evening and morning.'' 



Sahagun also tells us that at the 



feast of Tezcatlipoca everyone carried perfume pots. They made fire in the temple 

 in order to have coals. They carried also copal and censers of terra-cottalike pots. 



> Alfaro, Anastaslo. Catalogo de las Antiguldades de Costa Rica e.xhibldas por el Excmo. Sr. D. Julio 

 .\reUano. Exposicion Historico-Amcricana de Madrid. Madrid, 1892, p. 17. 



Hougli. .\ncient Central and South American Pottery in the Columbian Historical Exposition at Madrid 

 in 1892. Report of the Madrid Commission, 1892, Washington, 1895, p. 347. 



« Seler, work cited, 1U08, vol. 2, p. 856. 



• Sahagun, work cited, p. 183. 



