401 



Ttmatiuh. We know by a fragment of Her- 

 nandez, preserved by the Jesuit Nieremberg 

 in the eighth book of his Natural History 

 that the great teocalli contained within its walls 

 six times thirteen or seventy-eight chapels, se- 

 veral of which were dedicated to the Sun, the 

 Moon, the planet Venus, called Ilcuicatitlan or 

 Tlazolteotl, and to the signs of the zodiac*. 

 The Moon, considered by all nations as the 

 planet that attracts humidity, had a small temple 

 (teccizcalll) built in shell work. The great 

 festivals of the Sun {Tonatiuh) were celebrated 

 at the winter solstice, and in the sixteenth period 

 of thirteen days, over which presided both the 

 sign nahui ollin Tonatiuh, and the milky way, 

 known under the name of Citlalingcue, or Citlal- 

 cueye. During one of these festivals of the Sun, 

 the kings were wont to withdraw into an edifice, 

 built in the midst of the enclosure of the teocalli, 

 and called Hueyquauhxicalco. They passed 

 four days in fasting and penitence ; a bloody 

 sacrifice was afterward offered in honor of the 

 eclipses {Netonatiuhqualo, the unfortunate Sun 

 devoured). In this sacrifice one of two masked 



victims represented the Sun, Tonatiuh, the 



■ .- *^ 



* Eusebii Nierembergii Hist. Nat., lib. 8, cap. 22, (Ant- 

 werpije, 1635, page 142—156}. Templi partes, 3, 8, 9, 20, 

 25. 



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