350 ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



practices among the Lacandones, the inhabitants of the re- 

 gion of the Usumacinta at the present time (Tozzer, 1907)^ 

 where the greater part of the food of the people must, first 

 of all, be offered to the gods before it may be eaten by the^ 

 natives. 



The figures of the deer in the codices are clearly associated 

 with god M, and the latter may be considered a god of the- 

 hunt as well as a god of war. It is very unusual to find a 

 quadruped used as a head-dress in any way, and yet in several 

 cases we find god M has the head of a deer as a sort of head 

 covering, Tro-Cortesianus 50b (PL 31, fig. 6), 51c (PL 31,. 

 fig. 7) and 68b. In the first two cases, the god seems to be 

 supplied with a bow and arrow. In a passage in Landa 

 (1864, p. 290)* there is a description of this very scene. 



In the month Zip, the hunters each took an arrow and 

 a deer's head which was painted blue; thus adorned they- 

 danced. God M is found in one case in the Dresden in con- 

 nection with the deer. In Dresden 13c the animal is repre- 

 sented as female and is shown in intercourse with god M. 



An offering of venison is frequently pictured in the manu- 

 scripts. Landa (1864, p. 220) f also furnishes a parallel 

 for this. The haunches of venison arranged as offerings in dishes^ 

 are realistically seen in a number of representations of re- 

 ligious rites, as in Dresden 28c (PL 31, fig. 14) in the last 

 of the rites of the dominical days, 35a (PL 31, fig. 12) and in. 

 Tro-Cortesianus 5a above the serpent enclosing the body 

 of water, 65a in front of god B or D and 105b (PL 31, fig. 13) 

 and 108a (PL 31, fig. 15), both of which are in connection- 

 with the bee ceremonies. 



The head of the deer, rather than the legs, is also shown. 



*"Y con su devocion invocavan los cagadores a los dioses de la caga, . . . 

 sacava cada uno una flecha y una calabera de venado, las quales los chaces- 

 untavancon el betun azul; y untados, vailavan con ellas en las manosunos." 



fin the Muluc years, he states "davan al sacredote una pierna de venado" 

 and also in the same month, "Ofrecian a la imagen pan hecho como yemas- 

 de uevos y otros como coragones de venados, y otro hecho con su pimienta . 

 desleida." 



