It is recorded in the old histories that the priests dedicated to his service wore a peculiar head-dress, imitating a snail shell, and for that reason were called Quateczizque.[1] No one has explained this curiously shaped bonnet.  But it was undoubtedly because Quetzalcoatl was the god of reproduction, for among the Aztecs the snail was a well known symbol of the process of parturition.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267.  The word is from quaitl, head or top, and tecziztli, a snail shell.]

[Footnote 2:  “Mettevanli in testa una lumaca marina per dimostrare que siccome il piscato esce dalle pieghe di quell’osso, o conca. cosi va ed esce l’uomo ab utero matris suae.” Codice Vaticana, Tavola XXVI.]

Quetzalcoatl was that marvelous artist who fashions in the womb of the mother the delicate limbs and tender organs of the unborn infant.  Therefore, when a couple of high rank were blessed with a child, an official orator visited them, and the baby being placed naked before him, he addressed it beginning with these words:—­

“My child and lord, precious gem, emerald, sapphire, beauteous feather, product of a noble union, you have been formed far above us, in the ninth heaven, where dwell the two highest divinities.  His Divine Majesty has fashioned you in a mould, as one fashions a ball of gold; you have been chiseled as a precious stone, artistically dressed by your Father and Mother, the great God and the great Goddess, assisted by their son, Quetzalcoatl."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Sahagun, Historia, Lib. vi, cap. xxxiv.]

As he was thus the god on whom depended the fertilization of the womb, sterile women made their vows to him, and invoked his aid to be relieved from the shame of barrenness.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. xi, cap. xxiv.]

In still another direction is this function of his godship shown.  The worship of the genesiac principle is as often characterized by an excessive austerity as by indulgence in sexual acts.  Here we have an example.  Nearly all the accounts tell us that Quetzalcoatl was never married, and that he held himself aloof from all women, in absolute chastity.  We are told that on one occasion his subjects urged upon him the propriety of marriage, and to their importunities he returned the dark answer that, Yes, he had determined to take a wife; but that it would be when the oak tree shall cast chestnuts, when the sun shall rise in the west, when one can cross the sea dry-shod, and when nightingales grow beards.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Duran, in Kingsborough, vol. viii, p. 267.  I believe Alva Ixtlilxochitl is the only author who specifically assigns a family to Quetzalcoatl.  This author does not mention a wife, but names two sons, one, Xilotzin, who was killed in war, the other, Pochotl, who was educated by his nurse, Toxcueye, and who, after the destruction of Tollan, collected the scattered Toltecs and settled with them around the Lake of Tezcuco (Relaciones Historicas, p. 394, in Kingsborough, vol. ix).  All this is in contradiction to the reports of earlier and better authorities.  For instance, Motolinia says pointedly, “no fue casado, ni se le conocio mujer” (Historia de los Indios, Epistola Proemial).]