380 
The intercalation of thirteen days was cele- 
brated by a great secular festival^ called xiuh~ 
molpia, or toxiuhmolpilia (ligature of our years), 
and described by all the historians of the con- 
quest The Mexicans believed, according to 
a very ancient prediction, that the end of the 
world would take place at the termination of a 
cycle of fifty-two years ; that the sun would no 
more appear on the horizon ; and that mankind 
would be devoured by evil genii of hideous ap- 
pearance, known under the name of Tzitzh 
mimes. This belief was no doubt connected 
with the Tolteck tradition of the Jour ages, ac- 
cording to which the Earth had already under- 
gone four great revolutions, three of which had 
taken place at the end of a cycle. The people 
passed in the deepest consternation the five com- 
plementary days, which preceded the xiuhmol- 
pia : on the fifth day, the sacred fire was extin- 
guished in the temples by order of the teoteuctli, 
or high priest ; in the convents, the number of 
which was as considerable at Tenochtitlan, as it 
has been from the remotest periods in Thibet 
and Japan, the monks, or tlamacazquis, devoted 
themselves to prayer : at the approach of the 
night, no person dared light the fire in his house ; 
* Torqueraad^ de iina Fiesta grandissima, lib. 10, c. 33 
—30; tom. 2, page 312 et 321. Acosta, lib. 0^ r. 2, 
p. 259. 
