300 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 28 



xochitl of Teotitlan del camino, and this again points to the identity 

 of the deities worshiped in both cities. 



As to the other conceptions of tlie sun held by the Zapotecs, Juan 

 del Cordova mentions in his grammar " the remarkable impression 

 which the eclipse of the sun made on the ancient Zapotecs. They 

 feared nothing less than the end of the world, war of all against all, 

 and murder on all sides; and since they had a notion that dwarfs 

 were created at the bidding of the sun, when an event like the 

 one above mentioned occurred they seized upon all dwarfed persons 

 wherever found and sacrificed them, in this way paying their debt 

 to the sun, as it were, by restoring that which belonged to it. 



There is not much to be extracted from literature concerning 

 the other deities worshipped by the Zapotecs. Besides the sun, the 

 moon, certainly also some of the stars, received a certain sort of 

 worship. Of the moon the Zapotecs believed, as did the Mexicans 

 and other peoples, that the Avomen stood in speeial relation to it. 

 If there was an eclipse of the moon, they thought it indicated the 

 death of the wives of the caciques and chieftains.'' I have already 

 spoken of the morning star and its relation to the wind god and the 

 <^reative deities. Moreover, the Pleiades seem to have been especially 

 regarded, and the Zapotecs called them Pi/.aana-Cache, the " seven 

 boys "\ 



The rain god, who, as I have already stated above, was called 

 Cocijo by the Zapotecs, evidently had a special significance. With- 

 out doubt he was entirely similar in form and conception to the Mex- 

 ican Tlaloc. Large stone images and small figures with the char- 

 acteristic features of Tlaloc have been frequently found also in the 

 Zapotec country ; and, as I have stated above, children in particular 

 were sacrificed to the rain god among both the Mexicans and the 

 Zapotecs. 



A god whom the dictionary calls Pitao-Cozobi, " god of the har- 

 vests " (dios de las mieses), appears to have stood in a certain rela-^J 

 tion to the rain god. Human sacrifices were also made to him, and^" 

 the people sacrificed to him were called peni-nije, j)eni-quij-nije, or 

 pen i- cocijo. 



A special ceremony relating to the increase of the fruits of the 

 field Avas recorded from the village of Quiecolani. Father Burgoa 

 relates ^ that at the time of harvesting in this village, which was 

 famed throughout Die province for the quantity, size, and superiority i 

 of its maize, tlie ear wliich was the largest, fullest, and most conspicu- | 

 ous for its beauty and the perfection of its kernels was selected, and | 

 this was honored with demonstrations of all kinds; "for thev said 



"Arte (lei idioma znpotero, p. 215. ''.Tiian de Cordova. Arte, p. 215. , 



• Work cited, chap. 67. t 



