THE AZTECS 215 



youthful and robust, arrived on the eighteenth day, 

 being able to outwalk the others, while a few very old 

 and infirm divinities were late in getting to the feast. 

 The one who arrived first was called Telpochtli or 

 Titlacauau hut in reality he was the great Tezcatlipoca 

 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 

 flanii s. 



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 sub- 

 ject to repetition every 260 days. The permutation of 

 twenty day names and thirteen numbers is pictured in 

 Mexican codices in two or more stereotyped forms, but 

 these arc very complete. In the commonest form the 

 entire cycle is divided into twenty groups of thirteen 

 days each and each group is presided over by a special 

 divinity. There are other repeating series of gods, 

 sacred birds, etc. that preside over the individual days 

 in these groups. The tonalamatl was much used in 



