THE AZTECS 208 
origins to the same deity. One god is addressed by 
many names, descriptive or figurative, that are intended 
to bring out the various aspects of his power. Over- 
lapping functions make it impossible to assign each 
god to his special province. There are universal gods, 
there are special gods, and there are patron gods of 
trade guilds. Moreover, there are foreign gods, some 
recent, some ancient. 
The religion of central Mexico had its objective, 
ritualistic side, which appealed directly to the under- 
standing of the masses, and its more subtle theological 
or philosophical side seen, for instance, in the poems 
written by priests and rulers. It was a mixture of 
spiritualism and the grossest idolatry. The ceremonial 
calendar, with a description of the feasts and sacrifices 
that occurred at different times of the year, has been 
preserved in a number of documents. Pageants, in- 
cense-burning, and human sacrifice gave a_ strong 
dramatic quality to the religious rites. 
The conception of a supreme deity is seen in Ome- 
teucth, the Lord of Duality, a vague god head and 
creator who is sometimes addressed in some of the 
religious poems as the “Cause of All.’ In the back- 
ground of the popular religion was the belief in the 
Earth Mother and the Sky Father and in the divinity 
of the Sun, the Moon, the Jaguar, the Serpent, and 
whatever else was beautiful, powerful, and inexplicable. 
Tezcatlipoca, by reason of his magic and ‘his omnis- 
cience, was placed at the head of the pantheon of active 
gods, Huitzilopochtli was, however, the favorite god of 
the Aztecs through his relation to war. Tlaloc, the 
god of rain, was naturally of great importance to 
agriculturists living in arather arid region. 'Tonatiuh, 
the Sun God, was a more or less abstract deity who 
