Shell- Trumpets and their Distribution. 5 1 



In the same work and elsewhere mocauani, the Fasting 

 Man, Ruler of the Nineteenth 'Da.y-count quiauitl, "Rain," 

 is figured blowing a conch-shell and associated with Tona- 

 tiuh, the Sun God.*^ 



According to Sahagun and other authorities the 

 ancient Mexicans held a special festival once or twice a 

 year, on the day Nahui Ollin, in honor of Tescatlipoca 

 Lord of the Night, etc. At noon on each of the four days 

 preceding this festival, conch-shells were blown by the 

 priests, whereupon everybody, great and small, old and 

 young, gashed their tongues and ears, and presented the 

 the blood to the Sun — " doubtless," says Seler, " with the 

 intention thereby to give it strength to resume its course 

 in the usual way."°° The linking together of ear-piercing 

 and the use of shell-trumpets in this ceremony is of con- 

 siderable significance. 



It is important to note, also, the remarkable resem- 

 blance to the Minoan use of the conch-shell trumpet in sum- 

 moning the divinity. (See p. 33). An even more striking 

 parallel is found in the Babar Is. (Malay Archipelago), 

 where the sun-god is called down to accept offerings by 

 means of a YVzVow-shell.''^ 



In the Mexican pictorial manuscript — Codex Maglia- 

 becchiano — in the Florentine Biblioteca Naztonale is an 

 illustration showing Xochipilli, called by Seler the God 

 of Flowers and Food Supplies, being carried in procession 

 preceded by a priest blowing a conch-shell trumpet.'" 

 (See Fig. 6 on plate facing p. 52.) 



^' Seler, 0/. di., p. 1S5, fig. 393, and sheets 28 and 94. The shell is 

 probably Fasciolaria gigantea. 



«» Seler, op. cit., p. i86. Zelia Nuttall, "A Penitential Rite of the 

 Ancient Mexicans." Arch. Sd' Ethnol. Papers of Peabody Mus., vol. i.. No. 

 7, 1904, p. 4. 



s" I am indebted to Mr. W. J. Perry for this information. 



''° Seler, op. cit., p. 162, fig. 363. The shell looks like a reversed Cassis 

 cornuta. This species is common to the West Indies, Pacific Islands, etc., 

 and is used as a trumpet in Papua and other Pacific Islands. 



