660 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920 



In an excellent work, Indumentaria Mexicana, 3 the eminent Amer- 

 icanist, Dr. Antonio Pefiafiel, gives some very interesting details 

 on the balls of the ancient Mexicans. The following passages are 

 quoted from it: 



" The ball was almost always accompanied by songs, two singers 

 intoning a verse and all responding in chorus. The music began on 

 a deep note, and the singers in a bass voice. Progressively the}' in- 

 creased the time or raised the voice at the same time that the move- 

 ment of the dancers became quicker and the song gayer * * *. 



"One of the balls, called the Macehualiztli or Areito 'ball' or 

 ' fashion,' was accompanied by drums. Macehualiztli is derived 

 from the Aztec verb maceahua, a dancer, and areito is a word from 

 the Antilles having the same meaning. It is synonymous with 

 Mitote, which is derived from the Mexican Mitotiani, a dancer." 



" According to Sahagun," says Doctor Pefiafiel, " those who directed 

 the ball were luxuriously dressed. The principal leader wore bound 

 around the top of his head a tuft of feathers or of gold, an ornament 

 of gold or a precious stone in the lower lip (le tentetl), and golden 

 ornaments in the ear. A collar of precious stones encircled his neck, 

 and at his wrists shone bracelets of emeralds and turquoises. He 

 held in his hands bunches of feathers or flowers, a rich cloak cov- 

 ered his shoulders, and around his loins he wore the maxtlatl (a cot- 

 ton loin cloth worn by the Mexicans). All the other dancers, gen- 

 tlemen, warriors, and various people who were supposed to take 

 part in the festival, were dressed in the same manner, although less 

 luxuriously. 



" The distinctive mark of the kings at the balls was a kind of 

 banner (the quetzalpatzactli) which constituted also a war stand- 

 ard. 4 



" The tlamanime, warriors who had captured enemy prisoners, wore 

 during the balls a frontal ornament called tottotlamanalli. This 

 ornament consists of the head of a bird surrounded by a crown of 

 eagle feathers. 



" Besides the religious and the war dances, there was one which 

 they called cuicoyan, meaning, according to Tezozomoc, 'the great 

 delight of ladies. The word comes from cuicuatl, song, and the ball 

 took place in a sort of convent, which they called the cihuacalU, 

 'house of women.' The drinks which they used to intoxicate them- 

 selves during these balls contained several venomous, active prin- 

 ciples, which caused visions, luminous, fantastic, and sometimes also 

 veritable delirium. Such were the Itzcuiatl and the Piastecomatl, 



'Mexico, 1903. 



1 The quetzalpatzactli was a sort of shield bearing the hieroglyphics of the chief whose 

 duty it was to carry it in battle, and surmounted with a tuft of green and blue feathers 

 of the quetzal bird. 



