[Footnote 1:  Codex Vaticanus, Pl. xv.]

[Footnote 2:  Codex Telleriano Remensis, Pl. xxxiii.]

In some myths Quetzalcoatl was the sole framer of the Calendar; in others he was assisted by the first created pair, Cipactli and Oxomuco, who, as I have said, appear to represent the Sky and the Earth.  A certain cave in the province of Cuernava (Quauhnauac) was pointed out as the scene of their deliberations.  Cipactonal chose the first name, Oxomuco the second, and Quetzalcoatl the third, and so on in turn.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Mendieta, Hist.  Eclesiastia Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. xiv.  “Una tonta ficcion,” comments the worthy chronicler upon the narrative, “como son las demas que creian cerca de sus dioses.”  This has been the universal opinion.  My ambition in writing this book is, that it will be universal no longer.]

In many mythologies the gods of light and warmth are, by a natural analogy, held to be also the deities which preside over plenty, fertility and reproduction.  This was quite markedly the case with Quetzalcoatl.  His land and city were the homes of abundance; his people, the Toltecs, “were skilled in all arts, all of which they had been taught by Quetzalcoatl himself.  They were, moreover, very rich; they lacked nothing; food was never scarce and crops never failed.  They had no need to save the small ears of corn, so all the use they made of them was to burn them in heating their baths."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Sahagun, Historia, Lib. iii, cap. iii.]

As thus the promoter of fertility in the vegetable world, he was also the genius of reproduction in the human race.  The ceremonies of marriage which were in use among the Aztecs were attributed to him,[1] and when the wife found she was with child it was to him that she was told to address her thanks.  One of her relatives recited to her a formal exhortation, which began as follows:—­

[Footnote 1:  Veitia, cap. xvii, in Kingsborough.]

“My beloved little daughter, precious as sapphire and jade, tender and generous!  Our Lord, who dwells everywhere and rains his bounties on whom he pleases, has remembered you.  The God now wishes to give you the fruit of marriage, and has placed within you a jewel, a rich feather.  Perhaps you have watched, and swept, and offered incense; for such good works the kindness of the Lord has been made manifest, and it was decreed in Heaven and Hell, before the beginning of the World, that this grace should be accorded you.  For these reasons our Lord, Quetzalcoatl, who is the author and creator of things, has shown you this favor; thus has resolved He in heaven, who is at once both man and woman, and is known under the names Twice Master and Twice Mistress."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxv.  The bisexual nature of the Mexican gods, referred to in this passage, is well marked in many features of their mythology.  Quetzalcoatl is often addressed in the prayers as “father and mother,” just as, in the Egyptian ritual, Chnum was appealed to as “father of fathers and mother of mothers” (Tiele, Hist. of the Egyptian Religion, p. 134).  I have endeavored to explain this widespread belief in hermaphroditic deities in my work entitled, The Religious Sentiment, Its Source and Aim, pp. 65-68, (New York, 1876).]