296 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



like the famous Teotihuacan, abandoned in prehistoric times, where in 

 the midst of desohited fiehls and the fiat mounds which indicate the 

 sites of ancient dwellings still rise the two high pyramids of the sun 

 and the moon. 



There is no actual record of sun worship among the ancient Zapo- 

 tecs; but there was, and is, in the ancient tribal countr}^ of the Zapo- 

 tecs, in the Valle de Oaxaca, a place which is called in Mexican 

 Teotitlan, '' near the sun god "; in Zapotec, Xa-Quie, " at the foot of 

 the stone ". This village, as Father Hurgoa relates," was one of the 

 most important and oldest cities of the Zapotecs, and there, on a rocky 

 crag, directly opposite the houses of the village, was a very ancient 

 sanctuary, where an idol uttered oracles in a terrific, rumbling voice, 

 which sounded as if it came from the depths of the earth; and 

 this idol was said " to have come from heaven, in the foi-m of a bird, 

 in a luminous constellation " (fingiendo haver venido del cielo, en 

 figura de ave, en una lumiosa constelacion). 



It admits of no doubt that this luminous bird is to be regarded 

 merely as a particular conception of the sun god. So also descended 

 about noon in Izamal, as Father Lizana relates,'' the idol called 

 Kinich Kaknio, which means, " sun with a face whose rays Avere of 

 fire '', to consume the sacrifice on the altar, " as the red guacamayo 

 (macaw) flies down with his bright feathers '\ We often meet Avitii 

 similar conceptions on the American continent. The Zapotecs called 

 the sun's rays simply " foot, sting, or plumage of the sun " (xinnij, 

 xicoocho, xilouela copijcha).*^^ 



This Zapotec Teotitlan generally had the addition del valle (" of 

 the valley''), to distinguish it from the Teotitlan which is situated 

 on the road from Oaxaca, on the boundaries of the Mazateca, and 

 which on that account generally receives the addition of del camino 

 ("of the road") (see the hieroglyph in a). Herrera makes some 

 statements concerning the latter place,** from which it would seem 

 that there the god Xipe, " the flayed one '', received s})ecial wor- 

 ship. In fact, a number of characteristic Xipe representations 

 from Teotitlan del camino have found their way into the collec- 

 tions, together with representations of the rain god. The Eoyal 

 Museum of Ethnology in Berlin possesses a beautiful large pottery 

 image of Xipe, which Professor Felix obtained in Teotitlan del cam- 

 ino. But, during my stay in that place, I found most frequently 

 complete figures and fragments of a deity distinguished by a white 



" Work cited, chap. 53. 



6 Histoi-ia de Yucatan, Devocionario de Nuestra Senora de Izmal, Valladolid, 1633, 

 la. part 7, chap. 4. 



'"Compare lohue. " plumas, las ordenes dellas (lue tieneii lospapagallos en si (feathers, 

 the kinds thereof that parrots have on them)"; Lohue-yache, "las amarillas (the yel- 

 low) " : Lohufe-yiia, " las azules (the hlue) " ; Lohue-naxinaa, L. huijta, " las coloradas 

 (the red)" (.Tuan de Cordova, Vocahulario). 



" Decada III, book 3, chap. 18, p. 102. 



