380 



The intercalation of thirteen days was cele- 

 brated by a great secular festival, called xiuh- 

 molpia, or toxiuhmolpilia (ligature of our years), 

 and described by all the historians of the con- 

 quest *. The Mexicans believed, according to 

 a very ancient prediction, that the end of the 

 world would take place at the termination of a 

 cycle of fifty-two years ; that the sun would no 

 more appear on the horizon ; and that mankind 

 would be devoured by evil genii of hideous ap- 

 pearance, known under the name of Tzitzi- 

 ?ni?nes. This belief was no doubt connected 

 with the Tolteck tradition of the Jour ages, ac- 

 cording to which the Earth had already under- 

 gone four great revolutions, three of which had 

 taken place at the end of a cycle. The people 

 passed in the deepest consternation the five com- 

 plementary days, which preceded the xiuhmol- 

 pia : on the fifth day, the sacred fire was extin- 

 guished in the temples by order of the teoteuctli, 

 or high priest ; in the convents, the number of 

 which was as considerable at Tenochtitlan, as it 

 has been from the remotest periods in Thibet 

 and Japan, the monks, or tlamacazquis, devoted 

 themselves to prayer : at the approach of the 

 night, no person dared light the fire in his house ; 



* Torquemada, de una Fiesta grandisslnia, lib. 10, c. 33 

 — 36; torn. 2, page 312 et 321. Acosta, lib. 6, c. 2, 

 p. 259. 



