MEXICAN DANCES AND MUSIC GENIN. 663 



dance of Loie Fuller, which, in fact, takes place in a nimbus of colors 

 and of gauze. 



I consider that Father Salvatierra is in error when he speaks of 

 " the imitation of ordinary occupations by the dancers." It seems to 

 me. after what I have seen in the writings of Torquemada, Sahagnn, 

 Mendieta, Ixtlixochitl, and other early authors, that these balls were 

 appropriate to circumstances : For example, on the day of the festi- 

 val of the goddess of the chase, Micoail, they imitated activities of 

 the hunt ; those of fishing when they feted Apochtli. When it came 

 to Centeotl, the Mexican Ceres, they simulated in pantomime the 

 gathering of fruits and roots, they organized a battle of flowers, they 

 adorned themselves with garlands; in the same way that in feting 

 Huitzilipochtli, the god of war, they gave representations of combats. 



In short, they dedicated to the god the occupation over which he 

 presided through his special character. As in our calendar, each 

 day of the year had its god, its goddess, its myth, its distinctive em- 

 blem. They celebrated these anniversaries: A child born, for ex- 

 ample, on the day of the festival of Apochtli, god of the fishers ; a 

 woman who was married on that day ; any event which happened on 

 that date, justified the presentation or the representation of some- 

 thing recalling the fete of the day. No doubt they offered up fish, 

 and in the dances which took place in the course of the jubilation 

 they did not fail to introduce people dressed as fishers ; they adorned 

 the hall with nets, harpoons, small boats, aquatic flowers and plants ; 

 in short, everything which belonged to the domain of the god, patron 

 of the day, or which recalled his functions, attributes, or character. 

 This seems to me very probable, but I confess that I am not able to 

 determine it definitely from the texts of ancient authors. It is 

 simply a deduction. 



The dances in honor of the god of war, which they would have 

 held in cases like those which I have just mentioned, are not con- 

 nected in any way with the famous dance of victory, to which I now 

 come. 



This ball was celebrated, as its name indicates, after a victory won 

 over their enemies. The conquerors forced the vanquished to dance 

 to exhaustion ; that is, they killed them through dancing. They them- 

 selves mixed from time to time with the captives, uttering loud cries 

 in honor of their god of war — who was not the same throughout 

 Mexico — and gave themselves up to the excesses devised by the sol- 

 diers of all times and of all peoples after a triumph. 



It is to be noted, however, that they did not become intoxicated, at 

 least in the ordinary sense, for although the ancient Mexicans knew 

 several alcoholic drinks, among others (besides those which we have 

 already mentioned) the fermented sap of the agave (now known as 

 pulque, f ormerly as octli) ; a brandy also extracted from the agave ; 



