THE AZTECS 211 
The one who arrived first was called Telpochtli or 
Titlacauan but in reality he was the great Tezcatlipoca 
7 I 
in disguise. 
In anticipation of this return, the temples, shrines, 
and household idols were decorated with branches. 
The youths who did this work were repaid in corn, the 
amount varying from a full basket to a few ears. A 
novel manner of attesting the earliest presence of divin- 
ity is related. Some cornmeal was spread in a circular 
mass upon the ground. During the night the high 
priests kept vigil and visited from time to time this 
circle of cornmeal. When he saw a footprint in the 
center he cried out, ““Our master has come.” Then 
there was a burst of music and everyone ran to the great 
feast in the temple. Much native wine was drunk, for 
this was considered equivalent to washing the tired feet 
of the travel-worn gods. As a final act of the celebra- 
tion there was a dance in costume around a great fire 
and several unfortunates were tossed alive into the 
flames. 
Space will not permit a further examination of the 
eighteen fixed feasts. The movable feasts were mostly 
in definite relation to the tonalamatl and were thus 
subject to repetition every 260 days. The tonalamatl 
as represented in Mexican codices is in much more detail 
than in Mayan codices since every day is covered. 
The entire cycle is divided into twenty groups of thir- 
teen days each and each group is presided over by a 
special divinity. ‘There are other repeating series of 
gods, sacred birds, ete., that preside over the individual 
days in these groups. It seems likely that many of the 
ceremonies connected with the tonalamatl were of 
special rather than general significance like the celebra- 
tion of Catholic saints days. 
