1878.] Traces of Solar Worship in North America. 229 
or individually, were not elevated to the Aighest place in their 
worship, by any tribe or people in North America, yet the celes- 
tial orbs, nevertheless, figured prominently in the list of supreme 
objects of worship, and many żraces, at least, of this form of wor- 
ship are found in the religions of aboriginal races of all ages, from 
the oldest American people down to the tribes of the present day, 
especially among those versed in astrology or astronomy. 
Although little is known of the Toltecs of Ancient Mexico, it 
is an established fact that astral worship existed among them. 
They paid homage to the sun and dedicated their earliest temples 
to him. The moon, also, they reverenced as his wife and the 
Stars were believed to be his sisters, according to the Mexican 
Licentiate, Don Mariano Veytia, in his “ Historia Antigua.” The 
same writer describes the ruins of San Juan Teotihuacan, the 
most ancient architectural remains of Mexico, situated about thir- 
teen miles north-east of the capital city. Of these, the largest 
pyramid, which measured six hundred and eighty feet in length 
at the base and was estimated at two hundred and twenty feet in 
height, was dedicated to Tonatinh or Tonatricli, the sun; the 
next structure in size and importance was inscribed to Meztli, the 
moon. On the summit of the former a temple was erected, in 
which was placed an immense statue staan: the sun, which 
faced toward the east. 
According to the accounts of Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish 
writer of the sixteenth century, and one who was particularly 
cautious in his deductions and entirely reliable in his accounts of 
the religion of the Aztecs, as set forth-in his “ Historia Universal 
de Nueva España,” solar and lunar worship occurred in the Aztec 
religion, the sun with them being a spiritual conception. They 
believed that. the heroes who fell in battle or died in captivity, 
or women who died in childbirth, were immediately transported 
into the House of the Sun, where they led a life of everlasting 
delight. From the broad tops of their zeocallis or temples, the 
_ Aztec priests were in the habit of performing impressive, and, in 
too many cases, bloody ceremonies, in which the heavenly bodies 
Were made to take a prominent part. 
After the fall of the Mexican Empire, traces of sun worship 
Were common. Captain Fernando Alarcon, in the year 1540, 
Mentioned having met, on the Colorado River, Indians who wor- 
Daa the sun. 
