MEXICAN DANCES AND MUSIC — GENIN. 661 



which they drank during the ball of the dead, and also another 

 beverage which had for a base a fungus named cuauhnanacatl, of 

 which they made use during certain religious ceremonies." 



On the subject of the Mexican balls, Father Acosta tells us the 

 following (it is translated almost word for word respecting the 

 unaffected simplicity of the text) : 



" The recreative exercise the most in use among the Mexicans 

 is the solemn mitote, which is a land of ball, considered so noble 

 and so honorable that the king himself deigned at times to take 

 part. This ball took place generally in the spacious halls of tem- 

 ples or of the royal residences. They placed in the center of the 

 hall the teponaztli and a drum (the huehuetl), like a barrel made 

 of a single piece of wood and hollow inside, which they put upon 

 a support bearing the figure of a man or of an animal, or simply 

 on a column. These two instruments were so tuned that together 

 they gave quite good harmony, and they accompanied the noise 

 of the other instruments and of the many and diversified kinds of 

 chants and songs. All sang and danced to the sound and in 

 the cadence of these instruments, with such good order and such 

 good time, both in the songs and the foot movements, that it was 

 an agreeable thing to watch. They formed two circles or rows, 

 one of which was around the center of the hall near the instru- 

 ments. The old people and the lords — constituting one circle — 

 sang and danced almost without moving from their places. The 

 other circle was for the rest of the crowd and was quite distant 

 from the first. The dancers forming it moved lightly two by two, 

 executing a kind of step together with leaps in cadence. The 

 crowd adorned themselves for these dances with their finest clothes, 

 each according to his means and his taste. They considered it very 

 honorable to take part in these dances, and there they prepared 

 themselves to learn dancing from childhood on. And, although the 

 majority of the dances were in honor of the gods, nevertheless there 

 were those which constituted a form of recreation and pastime for 

 the people." 



Regarding the true war dances, not only did the warriors take 

 part in them, but also the greatest personages of the court and the 

 king himself, for whom a special place was reserved. For sacred 

 dances the dancers were dressed in the image of the deities whom 

 they worshiped on that day, or wore exclusively his emblems and 

 his symbols. The music was the same — that is, it was not very 

 harmonious, but the songs, the movements, and the actions had a 

 more reserved, more solemn character, and mingling was not per- 

 mitted. The men danced alone with the exception of certain days 

 in the year when the vestals were admitted, as were also the stu- 

 dents from the seminaries and even the priests, and it was no longer 



