SCOPE OF THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION. 41 
Still another important event, recorded in practically all the Aztec his- 
torical codices, was the renewal of the sacred fire at the end of each xihwit/- 
molpia (Nahuatl for “‘our years are tied up again”) or 52-year period. 
This religious festival always occurred at the beginning of the year 2 
Acatl, and its observance is recorded in the manuscripts in one of two ways: 
either by the fire-stick with which the sacred fire was rekindled, or by a knot 
below the year-sign, signifying thereby that the years had been tied up, 
hence the name xihuitlmolpia by which the period was known. 
Examples of the first are shown in figure 4, a, b, c, and d, where the 
renewal of the sacred fire in the year 2 Acatl (1507 a. p.) is recorded according 
to the Codices Telleriano-Remensis,! Vaticanus 37382, Mendoza’, and Botu- 
rini* respectively. Here the fire-stick appears with a row of charred holes 
in it, with the fire-drill in position; smoke-curls rising from the orifice, 


a b c Woe 
Fic. 4.—Feast of xihuitlmolpia or the completion of the 52-year cycle, always celebrated at the beginning of 
the year 2 Acatl (i. ¢., 2 Reed, 1507 or 1455 or 1403 or 1351 A.D., etc.) as represented in: a, the Codex Telleriano- 
Remensis; 5, the Codex Vaticanus 3738; c, the Codex Mendoza; d, the Codex Boturini; ¢, the Codex Aubin 1576; 
f, the Codex de Tepechpan. 
This method of kindling the sacred fire, the friction of two sticks rubbed 
against one another, had a wide distribution in ancient America, and fire- 
sticks with rows of charred holes, almost identical with those shown in figure 
I, a-d, have been recovered as far north as the Pueblo area in the south- 
western United States.* 
The second character for the xihuitlmolpia, a knot below the year-sign, 
is shown in figure 4, e, and f, from the Codex Aubin, 1576,° and the Codex de 
Tepechpan’ respectively. It is a simple knot and indicates that the previous 
52-year cycle had been tied up, 7. ¢., completed, and the next succeeding 
one had begun with the year 2 Acatl. 
The foregoing examples will suffice to indicate the general tenor of 
the Aztec historical records, the general meaning of which is no longer con- 
cealed from us. Indeed, it is now possible to decipher as high as go per 
cent of all Aztec glyphs, and it is evident from the examples given that 
at least some of their manuscripts are true histories. 


1See Codex Telleriano-Remensis, p. 33. 2See Codex Vaticanus 3738, p. 85. 
3See Codex Mendoza, p. 14. 4See Codex Boturini, p. 20. 
’The writer has found such fire-sticks in the Pueblo ruins of the Jemez Plateau, New Mexico, at Puyé and 
Tyuonyi for example; and Kidder and Guernsey report them from the cliff-dwelling region of northeastern Ari- 
zona (1919, pp. 120 and 121, and plate 50, a and c-e); indeed, their use seems to have been general throughout 
the whole Pueblo area. 
8See Codex Aubin, 1576, p. 78. 7See Codex (Mapa) de Tepechpan, plate 3. 
