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"In every thing relating to the treatment of the Mexican children, even in the mode of punishing them,
the Mexicans resembled the Jews. Torquemeda has also observed that festivals took place at the naming
of the Infant, and afterwards on its being weaned; omitting further mention of baptismal ceremonies and
the use of circumcision, both which it maybe presumed, on the authority of very ancient writers, were in
use amongst the Mexicans."
"In nothing did the civil policy of the Mexicans more closely resemble that of the Hebrews, than in their
dedicating their children to the Temple, [1] and afterwards sending them to be instructed by the master
or superior Rabbi in the doctrines of their religion and moral and ceremonial laws. Torquemeda says that
the ceremony of
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1 Torquemeda says "The same time in which this offering or purification was made, one of the old men
held the child in his arms, whence it is plain that either these people descend from the Hebrews, or that
the devil gave them these rites and ceremonies to emulate those with which God honoured his people.
Certain however it it that greater would have been this triumph of the accursed Demon if he had," &c. &c.
Baron Humboldt remarks, with reference to this passage of the interpretation of the collection of
Mendoza, "that the Mexican custom of naming children in the presence of three other children who were
parties to the ceremony was analogous to the Jewish rite of baptising the proselytes before three
witnesses. The remaining rites of baptizing the children, and after presenting them with an offering at
the Temple, seem to be a confusion of Christian ceremonies with Jewish customs and traditions, which
however distant the period, or intricate the manner in which it was effected, the longer we meditate on
the religious rites of the Mexicans and the Peruvians, the more we are inclined to believe did actually
take place, (viz. the colonization of the new continent by the Hebrews.) The custom of offering their children
at the Temple was peculiar to the Jews, and no other nations imitated them in this except the Mexicans." -- p. 45.
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dedicating their children to the military profession, was also a religious one."
He continues, "I likewise wish it to be noticed, that the Devil commanded amongst this vain Indian
people, that the first thing a father bid his children do, should be to love and honor their gods." [1] Of
the excellent nature however of the moral precepts which the Mexican parents inculcated on the minds
of their children, the same author is a witness; where, adducing the authority of the book of
Ecclesiasticus, in favour of the early education of children, quoting the seventh chapter, page 230, he
says, the Indians strictly fulfilled this doctrine. "This doctrine" adds Torquemeda, "we shall find
wonderfully approved amongst the Indians of the territory of New Spain, who not only took care to
nourish their children with food and bodily aliments, for the sake of strengthening their bodies, but also
with admirable moral doctrines in order to render them rational and proper members of a civil
Community; and that they might live the life which had been allotted to them as befitted those who
possessed minds capable of reason and order: since the doctrines of those Indians are characterized with
much prudence and counsel. I will not omit to record their conversations and exhortations to their
children, since from them it will be apparent that neither natural law, nor that of grace, nor human policy
could demand more, as far as moral policy is concerned, setting aside the knowledge of the true God."
These exhortations were translated from the Mexican language into the Spanish by the venerable Father
Andrew
__________
1 It is certainly doing the Mexicans injustice to suppose that their embodiments of the attributes of God
were considered by them as distinct gods. It would therefore be more in character with the rest of their
peculiarities to introduce the Hebrew term _____ which implies a concentration and manifestation of
powers in one essence. It is impossible for our translated term to express this, for either it is simply God
in the sense of a unit, or else in combination of persons it is gods.
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91
D'Olmes, a brother of the order of the glorious Father St. Francis; (who laboured in this vineyard and
new plantation of the Holy Gospel with the greatest diligence, undergoing great and numerous hardships
in laying the foundation of this new church,) which exhortations in the Mexican language I have in my
possession; and I can venture to affirm that neither the said Father D'Olmes, nor the Lord Bishop of
Chiapa, Don Bartholomew Las Casas, who obtained them from him, nor I, who now own them, and
have bestowed pains on understanding them, and thoroughly comprehending their metaphors; have
known how to translate them into the same softness and sweetness as the natives uttered them in their
own language. They impressed upon them the duty of serving the Gods, carrying the children with them
to the Temples on appointed days, and hours, in order that they might acquire a liking for the same
teaching when they should live separate from them, and become fathers of families." -- p. 57.
"The early Spanish writers have not failed to point out some curious traits of resemblance to Hebrew
usages, in certain acts performed by the Kings and Incas, and in the external marks of reverence these
monarchs received from their subjects: these consisted in their Kings presiding at sacrifices, dancing on
great religious festivals; in being consecrated to the regal dignity by the hands of the high priests, with a
pretended holy unction; in being invested with a crown and bracelets as the insignia of majesty. In his
wearing a signet on his arm; in his rending his garments on receiving intelligence of any national
calamity; in his saluting with a kiss, the general who brought him tidings of a victory; in his employing
regular couriers for the despatch of public matters; in the ceremonies with which his subjects were
accustomed to cuter the palace -- (taking
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off their sandals, as in the temples of the gods,) as not looking the king in the face, but addressing him
with their eyes on the ground, and finally, in burning incense and precious perfumes at his funeral."
Herrera remarks "that the priests of Vitzliputzli, were entitled to succeed to their office, by being born of
families resident in certain suburbs of the city, especially marked out for the purpose." Numbers i. 53.
The dress was a crimson vest, resembling a robe, with open sleeves, to which were fastened fringes as a
border."- -- p. 69.
Amongst the Jews, all wars, not excepting their civil ones, bore a religious character, &c. and in the
twelfth chapter of Deuteronomy, directions are given to the priests [1] to accompany and exhort the
soldiers to battle. The interpreter of the collection of Mendoza says, that priests likewise followed the
Mexican armies, not only for the purpose of joining the combatants, but also to perform certain religious
ceremonies, in which some analogy is discovered between the customs of the two nations."
"It has already been observed, that many analogies might be pointed out, in the usages of the Mexicans
and Jews, in reference to their treatment of their kings. But omitting, in this place, to notice the oath
which was administered to the kings of Mexico, at their coronation, by the high priest, (which is
described by Gomara, p. 122, of his History of the Conquest of Mexico, in which the kings made a
covenant with the people to protect the established religion, to preserve the laws, and to maintain justice,
__________
1 The Hebrews in going to war were accompanied by a Priest to serve some of their special occasions in
it ¡ and after a sacred unction bestowed upon him, (we are told by Maimonides) he was called _____
_____ (Priest of the war.)
"That Incas waged war for the express purpose of compelling other nations to lay aside what they
deemed their idolatry, and embrace the knowledge of the true God, we have the authority of Acosta, and
other eminent historians for asserting." -- p. 49.
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reminding us of what David did, on a similar occasion, as recorded by Samuel -- "So all the elders of
Israel came to the king to Hebron, &c." and the great burning of spices and other odoriferous substances,
which took place at the funerals of the kings of Mexico, which was also customary at the funerals of the
Jewish kings, we shall remark that the regalia, worn by the kings of both nations, were nearly the same.
Amongst the Jews, they consisted of a crown and bracelets, as is evident from 2 Sam. i. 18, where the
Amalekite announces to David the death of Saul, bringing him, not his sword and armour, but what he
thought would be a more agreeable present to an aspirant to the throne, the royal insignia. A sceptre was
also part of the Jewish regalia, and a mantle. The crown of the Jewish king more nearly resembled a
mitre than the crown worn by emperors and monarchs. A crown and bracelets, sceptre and mantle
constituted, though not the entire, the principal part of the royal costume of the Mexican kings. The
crown was named TEOcatli, and the bracelets Cozcatl, and they are both represented in the 57th plate, in
the collection of Mendoza, as forming a specimen of the dress worn by the Mexican kings, since the
regal apparel of Montezuma differed but slightly from that of Moquihuix. It is true as a general remark,
that both nations, in their costume [1] and the external decoration of their persons and buildings, nearly
resembled each other. "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm," and it is very
singular since there was
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1 "Montezuma wore sandals embroidered with gold. The Mexican paintings shew that the use of shoes
amongst the Mexicans was very general; their heroes, &c. are always represented with them. p. 230.
They call themselves," says Gumilla, "to the third degree of kindred, brothers and sisters, this was a
Hebrew custom in the time of Abraham. What Gumilla affirms of the frequency of ablution, and
anointing themselves with oil, corresponds with the account of Toriuemeda and Claregero. Oil was used
likewise at the consecration of the high priests and the kings."
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something peculiar in the Hebrew fashion, that this should have been a Mexican custom likewise, as we
learn from Cortez, Torquemeda, and Bernal Diaz."
"Torquemeda says, in the 20th chapter of the 8th book of his "Indian Monarchy," that the priests and
ministers who lived in the great Temple of Mexico, were more than five thousand, who resided by day
and by night within its walls, occupied in the service of the Temple. These priests are constantly named
Levites by Acosta, and certainly that learned author may be excused for giving them that appellation, as
the Temple service of the Mexicans was in reality very like that of the Jews." -- p. 281.
"The offerings of the Mexicans consisted, like those of the Jews, in the lives of animals, (or blood,)
incense, and the first fruits, which, like the Jews, they presented three times a year, which Torquemeda
undertakes, in the following manner to explain. "It is certainly a thing calculated to create astonishment
to see, in their offerings of the first fruits, the two republics resemble each other, but we need not feel so
much surprise at it, since it was the Devil who persuaded and instigated them; who, as we have proved
in the whole course of this history, wished to substitute himself for God, (remedar a Dios), whenever it
was possible; and this being the case, the task was more easy, inasmuch as these Indians are extremely
addicted to religious worship, he found little trouble in inducing them to tender to him this kind of
offering and sacrifice, which, as we have observed, all paid very generally and regularly, without being
either remiss in the offering, or inexact in its proper quantity." -- Monarquia Indiana, cap. 21, lib. 8. in
Antiquities of Mexico.
"The interpreter of the larger Vatican MS. says that the light was obliged to be always kept burning in
the Mexican Temples; and instancing this and other traits of resemblance
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95
between the Mexicans and the Jews, he shortly afterwards adds, from all these circumstances, the fact is
plain and probable, that this nation descends from the Hebrews, since all the ceremonies of this chapter
are as it were, according to the text in Leviticus, such as, that the people shall not touch the holy things;
and again as in Exodus, that light should he always in the temple, and incense, and trumpets, and sacred
vestments." -- p. 66.
"Cinna-TEO-Calli was the proper name of a Mexican Temple, and which may be recognized as forming
part of a compound name. The word Cinna, which corresponds exactly with the word Sinai, the
mountain from which God delivered the laws and tables of stone to Moses. Its accompanying symbol is
two rows of arrow-headed characters engraved upon a single table of stone. Similar rows of characters
occur in the 65th arid 73d pages of the larger Vatican MS., and in the 3d page of the first part of the
Codex. The expression, arrow-headed characters, and table of stone, is applied here rather improperly to
these symbols, in order to point out the possibility of the inclosed square, representing a table of stone,
and of the lines which it contains, alluding to alphabetical writing."
"A respectable writer says, that the inhabitants of Florida made use in their religious songs of the
exclamation, "Hosannah," and their priests were named Yohewas." -- Collection of Mendoza, p. 71.
"It is certainly curious, that the Mexican mode of fortification seems chiefly to have consisted in their
Temples, which were also like that of Jerusalem arsenals, and in the thick walls which surrounded their
cities, protected on the outside by a fosse, with ramparts above."
"The Incas of Peru wore a tassel on the forehead, [1] as
__________
1 Some writers have thought that the Indians of Haiti or St. Domingo, named
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the insignia of royalty, which, considering that they accounted themselves the representatives of
Verachocha, might have served to remind them to keep his laws, and like the rose worn by the Muscas,
have been in imitation of the dress of Bachiha. The mitre upon the head of Sugamoxti, the founder of the
empire of Botoga, and those upon the heads of the 10th and llth Incas of Peru, are very deserving of
notice, and remind us that the Incas of Peru, and the Zippus of Botoga, considered a priest the founder of
their respective dynasties. The mitre does indeed seem to have usurped the place of the crown in the
New "World, for the Copilli worn by the Mexican monarch was a half mitre, and the coincidence is
curious, that all the native Indian Monarchs, at the period of the discovery of America by the Spaniards,
should have worn mitres as the insignia of royalty." -- P. 518 -- 19.
"Acosta says, that the Inca, after confession, walked into an adjoining river, bidding its waters receive
his sins, and carry them into the sea, that he might be rid of their power." * * * "In the 212th page of the
1st vol. of the Religious Customs of all Nations, the following passage occurs; "The ancient Hebrews
formerly laid all their sins upon a he-goat, which they afterwards drove into the desert; but the modern
Jews, instead of a goat, now throw them on the water." After dinner they repair to the brink of a pond,
and then shake their clothes over it with all their might; this practice is taken from the 19th verse of the
7th chapter of Micah. The Jews, as well as the Peruvians, entertained a
__________
the phylacteries, which they bound to their hair Zemei. Piedrahuta in the 3rd chapter 1st book of his
History of the Conquest of New Grenada, describes the stranger who preached to the Mozcas or Indians
of Botoga, -- whom some named Nem-que-che-ba, others Bachicha, and others Inke, as wearing a kind
of phylactary on his forehead, in imitation of which the Indians of that province continued to wear roses
of feathers hanging over their eye-brows, until the conquest of the territory by the Spaniards."
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97
notion, that the sins of the fathers were visited upon the children." -- p. 301.
"The Incas [1] went to war for the express purpose of bringing the other tribes over to their faith.
Accordingly, we find that from New Mexico, to the extreme province of Chili, which resisted
successfully the invasion of the Incas, The same religion with different [1] modifications of rites and
ceremonies prevailed; and circumcision, although not universally practised, was one of its
characteristics." -- p. 306.
"Sahagun says in the fourteenth chapter of his first book, in mentioning the festival of Xuhilhuitl, that
the Mexicans ate on one of their fasts unleavened bread." -- Ibid.
"It deserves to be remarked, that as amongst the Jews certain cities were appointed as cities of refuge, to
which criminals might fly, and escape the punishment of the laws; so amongst the Mexicans and other
Indian states, there were appointed places of refuge to which culprits might fly and claim the rights of
sanctuary."
Dr. Boudinot observes -- "in almost every Indian nation there are several peaceable towns, called old
beloved, ancient, holy, or white towns. They seem to have been formerly towns of refuge: for it is not in
the memory of their oldest people that ever human blood was shed in them, although they often force
persons from thence, and put them to death elsewhere." -- Star in the West.
The places of refuge amongst the Southern Indians, were the palaces of their kings, called by the
Mexicans Tecpan -- wherever there was a palace, there was a city of refuge
__________
1 Of the Inca Nezahualcojotl, the Abbe Clavegero observes, "To his sons he said that although in
conformity with the usages of the people, he permitted religious homage to images they should in their
hearts detest their worship, which was only deserving of contempt, as it was directed to lifeless forms;
that he acknowledged no other God than the Creator of heaven. He did not forbid image worship in his
kingdom, though he inclined to do so, that he might not be deemed by the people sacrilegious."
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likewise. But it may also be inferred, although it is not stated by the Indian writers, that the Mexican
TEOcalli, especially the greater Temple of Mexico, were places of refuge, and that the city of Cholula
was a city of refuge."
"It is unnecessary to quote Scripture to shew, that to offer incense in their Temple was a Jewish custom;
since no nation ever came so near the Jews in their prodigality in making this offering to the Deity: but it
deserves to be remarked, that the Jews were expressly commanded in the fortieth verse of the twenty-
third chapter of Leviticus, to carry boughs and branches of trees in their hands as a religious ceremony;
"And ye shall take to you on the first day boughs and branches of goodly trees; and of palm trees, and
the boughs of thick trees: and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days."
"The Mexicans were accustomed to decorate their temples profusely with boughs of trees and flowers;
and to carry them in their hands in certain festive processions. It is said in the thirty-fifth chapter of
Exodus of the Israelites, "And they came both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and
brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man offered of an offering of
gold unto the LORD." The Mexican paintings shew, that the Mexicans were accustomed to present at
the shrine of their gods jewels of gold, bracelets, and necklaces; and it would also appear, that they
placed loaves of bread in the sanctuary of their temples before their idols, which must remind us of the
Jewish shew-bread. Acosta, describing in the ninth chapter of the fifth volume of his Natural and Moral
History of the Indies, the adoration which the Mexicans paid to their three principal Deities, of
Vitziliputzli and Tlaloc says, Praeter haec etiam, &c." See Antiq. Mex. vol. vi. p. 292.
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99
Torquemeda says, "that in one of the Mexican months, the Mexicans celebrated a festival by going up to
a neighbouring mountain, and building a kind of tabernacle with boughs for one of their principal idols.
In the forty-second plate of the first part of the Monuments of M. Du Paix, under number ninety-seven, a
stone table occurs in relievo containing four figures seated, &c. having a very Jewish cast of
countenance, with long beards; one of whom holds what appears to be a branch of palm or willow in his
hand. Between them in the centre is the place of a Temple. Exultation is evidently depicted in their
countenances while there is something votive in their attitude." -- page 292.
The purple veil said to have been spread before the shrine of Tezcatlipoca, and to have been painted
with skulls and bones, recalls to our recollection the 35th verse of the 36th chapter of Exodus, in which
mention is made of the veil of the tabernacle. Torquemeda says "that the skulls and bones which
occupied the place of the Cherubims in the temple of Tezcatlipoca, signified that God possessed equal
power over life and death." "In the same way as amongst the Jews, none were permitted except the
Levites to enter the place of the Sanctuary, so the Mexican ritual forbade any but the priests to enter the
Sanctuary of Tezcatlipoca." Acosta, describing the temple of that god in the 13th of the 5th book, says: --
"As the Temple in Jerusalem contained great store of gold and silver vessels which the king of Babylon
pillaged, so the Peruvian temples were excessively rich in precious vases, especially that of Pachacamac,
near Lima, from which Acosta observes Francis Pizarro and his soldiers obtained immense quantities of
gold and silver vases."
It was customary among the Jews to summon the people to worship by the sounding of horns; and to
blow trumpets,
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was a religious ceremony which Moses declared in the 23d chapter of Leviticus, that God himself
appointed. "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, in the
seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets,
an holy convocation: "and again in the 29th chapter of Numbers, "In the seventh month, in the first day
of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of the trumpets unto you." It is not a little
curious that according to Torquemeda, the Mexicans should have been summoned to prayer at stated
hours by the blowing of horns, in the same way as the Jews, although they were acquainted with bells;
and that according to Garcia, they should have approached the temple with the same reverential custom
oí pulling off their sandals when within a certain number of paces distant from it. See Exodus iii. They
have likewise imitated the Jews in their sacerdotal costume, and Garcia, in the 2nd chapter of the 36th of
the account of the Indians, treating of the resemblance [1] of the Indian dress to that of the Jews, says,
"Father Augustin Dovila, Arcopisco de St. Domingo, ressere on su Historia
__________
1 The natives of Peru in ancient times allowed their hair to grow long like the Nazarites, with the
exception of that class called Orezonis; and those who are yet unconquered, wear at the present day the
hair in this fashion. That this was the dress and costume of the Hebrews, is evident, as well from their
histories, as from their ancient paintings, which represent them habited in this apparel: and this kind of
dress and sandals was worn by the apostles. The two articles of apparel, the mantle and tunic which are
worn by the Indians of Peru, were what Samson laid a wager on, and which are named in Scripture the
tunic talis, and syndon, which are the same as what the Indians of Peru call cusma and paca, and the
Spaniards, camiseta, and mantan. It would appear from what Garcia here asserts, who speaks from
observation, having himself been many years in Peru, that the dress of the Peruvians was more like that
of the Jews, than was the Mexicans; whilst the sandals of the people of New Spain, were strictly in the
Hebrew fashion. If that learned author, as well as Acosta, had sought out the Hebrew analogies, in the
customs and manners of the Indians of New Spain and Peru, before Spanish intercourse had rendered
many of those customs obsolete, and had put their books in the beginning of the sixteenth century,
instead of the beginning of the seventeenth: perhaps they would have found that no Hebrew fashion was
wanting in the New World." -- Ibid.
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101
Dominicana del Nuevo Mondo, como en un pueblo, llamado Tamaculapa que es en la Misteca de
Nallaron unas vestiduras sagradas de al que ellos teieen por escondidas los Indios." The Arcopisco of St.
Domingo, relates in his Historia Dominicana of the New World, that some sacred vestments were
discovered in a town called Tecpati, in Mexico, which had belonged to the person whom they
considered the High Priest, which nearly resembled those worn by the High Priest of the Mexican
nation, which vestments the Indians kept concealed. -- P. 293.
"In the twelfth part of that manuscript in the Bodleian Library, which seems to represent the migration
of the Mexicans, or some other subject connected with a descent into hell, and which is unfortunately
only a fragment of a large painting, from which a part has evidently been torn off; the figure of a
Mexican priest occurs in a dress very like that of the high priests of the Jews; the linen ephod, the
breastplate, and the border of pomegranates described in Exodus, are there represented. The golden bells
are wanting, but those ornaments will be found in the valuable paintings preserved in the Royal Library
at Dresden, attached to the dress of several of the figures, as was ordained in the 28th chapter of Exodus,
in the use of the dress of the Jewish high priest." Gomara has observed, "that a girdle sometimes formed
part of the Mexican costume."
"The head of the above-mentioned priest seems to be ornamented with ribbons interwoven with the hair;
but the Mexican TEOcalli, or crown, which bore a much closer resemblance to the head-dress of Aaron,
than the episcopal mitre, is represented in the same page of the Oxford manuscript, on the head of
another figure; it also frequently occurs amongst the paintings of the college of Mendoza, and
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is there always painted blue. This crown or mitre was worn by the Mexican kings, and likewise by the
judges; the former had it richly adorned with plates of gold. Those kings, it is supposed, united pontifical
with regal dignity; although the ostensible head of the Mexican religion was the high priest, who at his
consecration to the office, was anointed with oil" Exodus xxix. p. 296.
"Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS
UNTO THE LORD: and thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the fore-
head of the mitre shall it be." These things deserve to be noticed in the Mexican mitre. It frequently
consisted of a plate of gold on a blue ground. It was tied to the hair by a lace or ribbon, and was
perpetually worn on the fore-head of the kings or the priest. The breastplate of the high priest is
described in Exodus xxviii."
"The breast-plates of the Mexicans appear to have been of different shapes and sizes, and to have been
set with precious stones. In the 13th page of the original Mexican paintings preserved in the library of
the Vatican, the figure of a priest occurs with a round breast-plate attached by a chain to his neck, and
near him appears to be two other breastplates, one square, and the other of a round form."
"It is to be supposed, that so solemn an injunction to the Jews to wear fringes on the borders of their
garments, would be scrupulously obeyed throughout their generations. Reference to the 8th page of the
Oxford MS. will shew that it was a Mexican custom to wear fringes and borders fastened to their
apparel, and an examination of any of the Mexican paintings contained in this volume, will establish the
fact." -- p. 299. Antiq. Mex.
"Acosta, in the 25th chap, of the 5th book of his Natural
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103
and Moral History of the Indies, says, Daniel's description in his vision, resembles a passage in the 9th
chap, of the 6th book of Sahagun's History of New Spain, in which the newly-elected King of Mexico
returns thanks to the God of heaven, -- the God of years: the following is the passage alluded to. "Who
am I, O LORD! and of what account, that thou shouldest place me in the rank of those whom thou
regardest, and knowest, and numberest among thine allies and elect, whom thou dost esteem as persons
sustaining the highest honour, and such as are born and educated for dignity and royal thrones: and
accordingly hast endowed them with talents and wisdom, selecting for that purpose those who are
descended from noble and illustrious lineage, who have been brought up with those expectations, and
who have been baptized in the signs and constellations which preside at the birth of kings, that they
might become thy instruments, thy images to govern kingdoms, Thou being in them, and speaking by
their mouth, and they declaring Thy words, that thus they might, in conformity to the will of their
ancient God, and Father of God, -- even the God of Fire, whose habitation is in the waters which
battlements and encompasses where He dwells -- surrounded with works -- as it were of roses, whose
name is Xuileticeutli, who determines, examines, and brings to an issue, the controversy of the
multitudes, cleansing Thy people as it were with water, before whom are ever present in attendance, the
noble ones, be." -- p. 364.
"Both nations (viz. Hebrews and Mexicans) were most punctual in the payment of their religious
offerings, and first fruits, &c. The Mexicans, as Montezuma informed Cortez, feared if they failed in this
part of their religious duties that they would incur the severest vengeance, &c. And the prophet Malachi,
or rather God speaking through the mouth
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of that prophet, assures the Jews that they were under a peculiar blessing promised in the third chapter of
the book of Malachi." * * *
"The paintings of the Mexicans shew that censers were used in profusion in the ceremonies of their
religion. The priests lodged round the temples in chambers built for the express purpose, and it appears
from the twenty-seventh verse of the ninth chapter of Chronicles, that a certain portion of the Levites
lodged round the Temple built by Solomon. The Mexican temples contained fountains in the courts, in
which t he priests performed their ablutions, and Solomon is said to have made a molten-sea which
contained two thousand baths, which served the same purpose, and stood in the court of the Temple.
Every thing relating to preserving unextinguished the sacred fire which burnt in the Temple, was
considered by the Mexicans as a matter of the utmost consequence. The manner in which they kindled
the sacred fire is not precisely known: that it was a religious rite accompanied with certain ceremonies,
cannot be doubted; and we may even be permitted to believe from an expression in the fourteenth verse
of the nineteenth chapter of Ezekiel: "And fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which hath
devoured her fruits," that they were acquainted with the Mexican method of kindling fire by wood."
"Many passages of scripture lead us to imagine that the ground-plan of the great Temple of Mexico
resembled that of Jerusalem." [1] -- p. 378.
"Reasons for supposing that the Mexicans were acquainted with the book of Job, will be found at page 382 of this vol.
__________
1 It deserves to be remarked, observes the commentator, that the name of the HOLY HOUSE, which
Josephus always bestows upon the temple of Jerusalem, is the literal signification of the Mexican TEO-CALLI.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
105
(Mex. Antiq.) and their custom of shaving their hair, sitting upon the ground, and sprinkling dust upon
their heads as a sign of humiliation, closely resembles what is said in the first chapter of that book, of the
mourning of Job and his friends." -- p. 523-5, notes.
"According to Rabbinical doctrine, the accusations of Satan were confounded by the noise of the
trumpets which Moses commanded the priests to blow on their solemn festivals, and which the
Mexicans, (as it were, in compliance with the precept contained in the eighth verse of the tenth chapter
of Numbers. "And the priests, the sons of Aaron, shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be to you
an ordinance throughout your generations") -- continually sounded in the courts of their temples; a
custom which the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, believed they had borrowed from the Hebrews, as he
unequivocally declares p. 224 of the present volume," (viz. Antiq. of Mexico.)
In connection with this typical silencing of the enemy and avenger, a striking passage occurs with
respect to the perfection of praise from guileless lips.
"The Mexicans believed that the intercession of children in behalf of men are efficacious with God; we
shall quote a remarkable passage from the twenty-first chapter of Suhagun's History, in confirmation of
this curious fact. "They say that it is for their sake that God preserves the world, and that they are our
intercessors with God;" which passage, adds Aglio, deserves to be considered in connection with what is
said of children in the eighth Psalm, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained
strength because of the enemy and the avenger" -- p. 517-18. notes. -- Ibid.
Of the same peculiarity of belief, the interpreter goes on to observe, "They believed that they were dear to God,
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
and that they interceded with Him for men: that at their death they went to heaven, and were nourished
by the Tree distilling milk which grew in the garden of Tonacateuctli where they ever abided in the
presence of Tonacateuctli; the name of the tree was Chichiualquanitl, and a representation of it will be
found in the fifth page of the lesser Vatican MS. When we recollect what is said in the New Testament,
of little children, and the mysterious words, "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones who
believe in me. For in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven," &c.
"Considering at the same time, that the signification of Tonaquatitlan, is, the Place where grows the Tree
of our bodies or life, that word being compounded of tonacaqu, the human body, and quantil, which
signifies a tree or piece of wood; to which is added a particle of local reference: -- Can a doubt remain in
our minds that the Mexicans borrowed some of their notions about children from the scriptures, and had
heard of the Tree of Life which grew in the garden of Eden, the fruit of which is said in the twenty-
second verse of the third chapter of Genesis, to confer immortality on the taster," &c.
One of the curious and characteristic notices which we have from the Abbe Clavegero, is as follows: "At
the foot of the hill is now the most famous church in the new world, dedicated to the true God; where
people from the most remote corners assemble to worship the celebrated and truly miraculous image of
the most Holy Lady of Guadaloupe; thus converting a place of abomination into a mercy-seat, where
religion has distributed its favours," &c.
Speaking of these "abominations," he says, "The divinity of these false gods was acknowledged by
prayers, kneeling, prostrations, with vows and fasts, and other austerities, sacrifices, and offerings." * *
* "They prayed upon their knees,
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
107
with their faces turned toward the east, and therefore made their sacrifices with the door to the west."
"There was a Temple, or as the Mexicans called it 'House of God' where," continues Clavegero, "the
king of Mexico retired at certain times for the purpose of fasting and prayer. The high priest had also a
place of retirement within its precincts. There were also within its enclosure a house of entertainment for
the reception and accommodation of those strangers who came on devout visits to the Temple. There
were ponds in which the priests bathed, and a fountain of whose waters they drank." "In the pond called
Tezcapan, many bathed in obedience to a particular vow made to their gods. The water of one of the
fountains was esteemed holy; it was drank only at the most solemn feasts." "There were places allotted
to the rearing of birds for the sacrifices, and gardens in which odoriferous herbs and flowers were used
for the altar." "All the old historians speak with wonder of the multitude of places of worship." "Cortez
wrote to king Charles V. that from the top of one Temple he had counted more than four hundred towers
of others." [1] Of the most ancient, the worthy Abbe observes, "The lofty pyramid raised by the Toltics,
remains to this day in that place where there was formerly a temple consecrated to the false deity, and
now a holy sanctuary [2] for the mother of the true God; and the pyramid, from its great antiquity, is so
covered with earth and bushes, that it seems more like a natural eminence than an edifice." "We are
ignorant indeed of its dimensions, but its circumference at the lower part is more than half a mile." "We
have reason to believe that
__________
1 "Certifico a vuestra Alteza que yo conté desder una mosqueta, quatro cíenlas y tantas torres en la dicha
cuidad (de Cholula) y todas son de mosquetas." -- Letter to Charlea V.Oct. 30, 1520.
2 Thus Cortez addressed the Lord of Champoella, after ordering his soldiers to throw down and destroy
their images. "That as they could never more adore those detestable images of the Demon their enemy,
he would place in their stead
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that tract of country called TEOtotlalpan, 'Land of God,' was so named for being the possession of the
Temples." "There were besides, daily great numbers of free offerings, from the devout, of all kinds of
provisions, and 'first fruits,' which were presented on returning thanks for seasonable rains, and other
blessings of heaven," "The surplus of the provision contributed for the maintenance of the priests, was
distributed amongst the poor, for whom also there were hospitals in all the larger towns." "The high
priests were the oracles whom the king consulted in all the more important affairs of the state, and no
war was ever undertaken without their approbation. It belonged to them to anoint the king after his
election," &c. "For incense they made use of an aromatic gum, but on certain festivals they employed
chapopotli, or bitumen of Judea; the censers were of clay or gold." "The priests 'observed many fasts and
great austerity of life, they seldom even tasted wine; all the time of their ministrations in the temples
they were living in separation from their wives. Incontinence was punished with death by bastinado.
Those who failed to perform the nocturnal duties of the temple (repairing the fire which was never
suffered to go out, &c.) had boiling water poured on their heads."
"Many of the Mexican paintings would seem to ¿imply that the Mexicans were acquainted with various
books of the Old Testament, and had even attempted to express in brilliant colours and hieroglyphics,
the very same metaphors
__________
an image of the true Mother of God, that they might warship and implore her protection in all their
necessities." "He caused an altar to be made after the model of the Christians, and placed the image of
the Most Holy Mary there!" &c.
1 "The prophet Jeremiah in verse 21 of the eighth chapter of his prophecy thus figuratively describes the
grief which he felt for the afflicted state of his land, &c. which passage might have induced the Mexican
priests to paint their faces black as a symbol that they mourned and were afflicted for the sins of their
people. "For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I wounded, I am black," &c. -- Ibid. p. 364.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
109
as had been employed by the prophets whose frequent denunciations of vengeance against the Jews and
other nations on account of their sins, might have laid the foundation of a school for painting among the
Mexicans, which would convey the same ideas of religious terror to the imagination, but through the
medium of another sense. How, it may le demanded, could so many scriptural images and allegories
have presented themselves to the minds of the Mexicans, if they had not had some acquaintance with the
forcible language of the prophets; and from what source could they have been derived?"
"Mexican paintings contain allusion to the restoration of the dispersed tribes of Israel; and we may
remark that it is not improbable that the three principal figures in the pages 89, 90, of the lesser Vatican
MS. represented each of them as a sucking infant -- no doubt introduced with some mysterious design,
may refer to the famous prophecy of the return of the Jews to their own land, &c." "Rejoice ye with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:
that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may draw forth with
delight, of the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the LORD, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the influx of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her arms
and dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you; and ye shall be
comforted IN JERUSALEM."
"The supposition that the three female figures with infants at their breast, refer to the above prophecy, is
chiefly founded on the situation which they occupy in the Mexican paintings which precede and follow
them; since the Branch is found in the same page as one of the figures, and that
110
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
Quetzalcoatl slaying the Leviathan or Dragon, occurs in the next page, which appears to be a
consummation of the shadows, types, and symbols with which that and the other Mexican paintings
abound." [1] Zech. iii. 8. vi. 12. Psalm lxxx. 15. Isaiah iv. 2.
"In the Bodleian Library is a symbol very much resembling a jaw-bone, from the side of which water
seems to issue forth, which might allude to the story of Samson slaying a thousand Philistines with such
a jaw-bone which remained miraculously unbroken in his hand, and from which he quenched his thirst.
In the first page of the Borgian MS. a remarkable representation of Quetzalcoatl, cast forth from the
jaws of some amphibious animal occurs, in reference to which curious painting it would be interesting to
know whether the Hebrews had any tradition that their Messiah would be devoured by a monster who
would afterwards be compelled to yield up his prey; like the serpent in the seventy-fifth page of the
lesser Vatican MS. which a fierce Eagle compels to disgorge a lamb -- the symbol of suffering
innocence amongst the Mexicans, according to Humboldt, which corresponded to the lamb of the
Hebrews, and which afterwards was a type substituted for the latter by the Hebrews of Mexico, and
referred by them to Quetzalcoatl in the same manner as their brethren of Peru appeared to have replaced
the sacrifice of sheep in the old world, by those of llamas in the new: the former species of animal being
unknown to the Indians before the arrival of the Spaniards among them." -- p. 61.
"In Exodus xix. 6, God commands Moses to address the following language to the Hebrews, "Ye shall
be unto Me a kingdom of priests, an holy nation." The Mexicans
__________
1 The paintings more particularly referred to are in the seventy-seventh and seventy-ninth pages of the
lesser Vatican MS.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
111
resembled the Hebrews in being a nation of priests, &c. Jeremiah's apostrophe, "I am called by Thy
Name, O LORD God of Hosts." This text may receive some illustration from the following curious
passage of Sahagun's History, in which that learned author gives some account of the ancient Toitecas,
"they were very religious and much addicted to prayer, they worship one God only whom they name
Quetzalcoatl, whose priests bore likewise the same appellation." Of a particular person with whom the
author id conversation, he goes on to say, "He was frequently accustomed to declare that there was one
God only, and Lord, whose name was Quetzalcoatl, and that he requires no other sacrifices than snakes
and butterflies." [1] We here only wish to refer to the thirty-sixth page of the present work, viz. (Antiq.
of Mex.) in order to point out the probability that God's promise to Jeremiah, "Thou shalt be as my
mouth," was known to the Mexicans since the newly-elected king of Mexico in a prayer of thanksgiving
to Tezcatlipoca, there emphatically says of kings, &c. "They are thine instruments, and thine images to
govern thy kingdoms, Thou being in them, and speaking through their mouth, and they declaring Thy
words," &c.
The Abbe Clavegero institutes an interesting comparison between the religion of the Mexicans and that
of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and other famous nations. He observes, "The Romans, like the Greeks,
shewed the opinion they entertained of their gods [2] by the vices which they ascribed
__________
1 From a people abounding in allegory might these not be symbolic of evil desires and vain thoughts?
2 "Jove that licentious omnipotence, that "Father," that "king" as the poets style him, sometimes as a
satyr, as in the case of Antiope, or as a swan, as in that of Leda, or as a bull, in that of Europa, or as
gold, to corrupt Danae, accomplished his guilty purposes. Of the same stamp were the subaltern train,
especially the dei majores, or select gods, as they were called. "Select," says St. Augustine, "for the
superiority of their vices." "What good example could those nations imitate in their gods who had
nothing consecrated but their
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
to them. Their whole mythology is a long series of crimes; the whole life of their gods was made up of
enmities, revenge, incest, adultery, and other base passions, capable of defaming the most degenerate of
men."
"The Mexicans entertained very different ideas of their deities. We do not find, in all their mythology,
traces of the least of that depravity which characterized the idols of these nations. The Mexicans
honoured the virtues, not the vices, of their divinities. The Mexicans believed they had a strong aversion
to every species of vice, therefore their worship was calculated to appease that displeasure which the
guilt of man provoked, and to procure their favour and protection by repentance and religious respect."
"There is not to be found in the rites of the Mexicans the least trace of those abominable customs which
were so commonly blended with those of the Romans and other nations of antiquity. But how could they
celebrate the feasts of Venus, Bacchus, Priapus, &c. without such depraved practices. How was it
possible for them to have been ashamed of those vices which they saw sanctioned by their own
divinities?" "We confess that their sacrifices were cruel, and the Mexican austerities beyond measure
barbarous. The Romans, while under the kings, sacrificed young children to the goddess Mania. Authors
cited by Suetonius, affirm that Augustus, in honor of his uncle, Julius Caesar, who was by this time
deified by the Romans, sacrificed three hundred Romans, partly senators and partly knights, upon an
altar erected to the new deity. Nor were the Spaniards free from this practice." "If those Spaniards who
wrote the history of
__________
crimes. What merits obtained deification for Leena among the Greeks, and to Lupa Paula among the
Romans? But what shall we say of the Egyptians who were amongst the first authors of superstition?
They not only paid worship to the most loathsome animals, but leeks, onions, and garlic." -- Clavegero Disser.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
113
Mexico, had not forgotten this, they would not have wondered at such sacrifices among the Mexicans."
"What numbers of men must have been consumed in those hecatombs of the ancient Spaniards!" "The
Mexican sacrifices have been greatly exaggerated by those whose interest it was to defame them." "In
their inhumanity to their prisoners the Mexicans voluntarily partook in their own case, as the dreadful
austerities [1] of the priests, &c. demonstrate." -- Clavegero Dissertation.
"Emanuel Mores and Acosta affirm that the Brazilians marry in their own tribe or family. Charlevoix
writes of the Hurons and Iroquois, that the wife is obliged to marry her husband's nearest kinsman." --
Star in the West.
Beltrami, a literary traveller describing a marriage ceremony amongst the Sieux, adds, "The father grants
his request on condition of his remaining with him, and hunting
__________
1 By Father Ovales" account, the Indian priestly austerities were not mitigated by that kind of gospel
which the church had introduced. He observes of a solemn festival and procession. "This procession is
divided into three troops; the first of which carries La Veronica to the cathedral, where it stays for the
second, in which comes the Redeemer with his cross, so heavy that he if forced to kneel often; in sight
of a vast multitude the Veronica comes, and kneeling down to the image of Christ, which is a very large
one, seemingly wipes his face, and then shews the people the representation of it remaining in the
handkerchief; then appears the third procession; in which comes St. John, shewing the Virgin Mary, that
dolorous spectacle," &c. "There are to be seen some people whipping themselves with divers sorts of
penance, each one according to his own devotion; yet the processions which are called bu excellence
"the bloody processions," are performed this night. This is from the Chapel of the true cross." He who
carries the cross is obliged (besides the collation, which he provides for the preacher, &c ) to provide
men to attend the procession and relieve the whippers who often draw so much blood as to faint away;
and others take care to cut oil' some of the spurs of the disciplines, for they used to have so many on that
they almost kill themselves, nay, I have seen some of so indiscreet a zeal, that they used certain buttons
with points, so sharp, that if they were let alone, it is a dispute whether they would not die before the end
of the procession. Before this, go also two others, both of them bloody processions – one of the Indians,
and it is this which has most whippers." "There is another;" "a great cross is set up, and when the image
of the Virgin comes to it, it lifts up its eyes, as one who misses the sovereign good which hung upon it,
and drawing out a white handkerchief, applies it to the eyes, as if crying, and then opening the arms,
embraces the cross, and kneeling, kisses the foot of it once or twice, all this is done so dexterously that
one would swear it were a living creature." -- Sec Ovale Hist, in Pinkerton Coll.
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
for him a year longer: such are the wages of the Sieux. Among the Chippeways he is not at liberty to
remove till he has obtained offspring of his marriage. Here we find is the case of Jacob and Laban. --
See letters to Countess Campagnoni.
Charlevoix, speaking of the northern Indians, observes, that "the greater part of their feasts, their songs,
and their dances, appeared to him to have had their rise from religion; and yet preserve some traces of it.
I have met with some persons," says he, "who could not help thinking that our Indians were descended
from the Hebrews, and found in every thing some affinity between them and that people. There is indeed
a resemblance -- as not to use knives at certain meals, and not to break the bones of the beast that they
ate at those times (and we may add that they never eat the lower part of the thigh, but always reject it.)
The separation of their women after the manner of the Jewish," &c.
Bertram observes, that "In every town or tribe there is a resident high priest usually nicknamed by the
whites, the powow, the juggler, the conjurer, &c. besides several of inferior rank. But that the oldest
high priest or seer always presides over spiritual affairs, and is a person of great consequence. He
maintains and exercises great influence in the state, particularly over the military affairs, their council
never determining on an expedition without his sanction and assistance. These people believe most
firmly that their priest or seer has communion with powerful invisible spirits, who they suppose have
some delegated share in human affairs." He further adds, that "these Indians are no idolaters, unless their
puffing their tobacco fume towards heaven, and rejoicing at the appearance of the new moon may be
termed such." "It is evident," observes a writer conversant with their customs, that "they use the smoke of
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
115
their calmut in a sacred manner, as the Jews did their incense -- and as to the new moon, as they reckon
their time by it, they are as careful observers of it as the Jews are." -- See Star in the West.
Smith in his history, observes of the Indians in the year 1681, that "their religious solemnity of singing
and dancing was performed rather as something handed down from their ancestors than from any
knowledge of its origin. They said their Great King also created them, and that He dwelt in a glorious
land where the spirits of the just should go and live. Their most solemn worship was the sacrifice of their
first fruits, in which they burnt the fattest buck and feasted together on what else they had collected. But
in this sacrifice they broke no bones of the animal. When done, they gathered them very carefully," &c.
-- p. 140. The same writer assures us that "twelve men take each a stone which they make hot in the fire,
and place them together after the manner of an altar within the tent, and thereon burn the fat of the
insides of the sacrifice. At the same time they cry to the worshippers outside 'We pray -- or praise!' They
without, answer, 'We hear!' Those in the tent then cry aloud Yoh-hah! After the fat was offered, some
tribes burned tobacco finely cut, in imitation of incense. Other tribes chose only ten men and ten stones."
Doctor Beatty visited the Delaware nation, of whom Sir William Penn bears a similar testimony. The
occasion of a great council was a proposition whether they should go to war. "At this time," says he,
"they killed a buck and roasted it, as a kind of sacrifice on twelve stones, which they would not suffer
any tool of iron to touch. They did not eat of the middle joint of the thigh." "In short," he adds, "I was
astonished to find so many of the Jewish customs prevailing among them, and began to con-
116
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
elude there must be some affinity between them and the Jews."
"The Muscoghea tribe," says Dr. Boudinot, "sacrifice a piece of every deer they kill at their hunting
camps or near home. If the latter, they dip the middle finger in the broath, and sprinkled it over the
domestic tombs of their dead," &c. Charlevoix informs us, "That to be esteemed a good hunter, a man
must fast three days without the least nourishment, having his face covered all the time. When the fast is
over, the candidate sacrifices to the GREAT SPIRIT a piece of each of the animals he intends to hunt.
His family and relations do not touch these devoted gifts; they would as soon die with hunger as eat any
of them."
"A people who have lived so long separated from the nations of the earth, are not to be wondered at in
having forgotten the meaning and end of their sacrifices." -- Boudinot's Star in the West.
Boturini informs us that he discovered one of those knotted cords called by the Peruvians quipos, and by
the Mexicans Nepohuali-zitzin, [1] in the possession of a powerful lord of the province of Tluxcallan. It
was so consumed by age, that it served only to convince me that they had been used, (although
sparingly); it would appear equally probable that paintings resembling those of the Mexicans had
formerly existed in Peru, although consigned to perpetual oblivion by the prudence of those who thought
that such documents had better never be brought to light. The same reason may be assigned for Europe
after the lapse of three centuries, being before the publication of the American monuments of
__________
1 Doctor Robertson observes of the Peruvians: "Every officer intrusted with the Inca's commands might
proceed alone throughout the empire without opposition, for on producing a fringe from the royal Borla,
&c. the lives and fortunes of the people are at his disposal." -- Hist. Amer. vol. ii. p. 308.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
117
Baron Humboldt, ignorant whether the soil of the new world possessed any marks of antiquity!"
"We come," says the commentator on the Antiquities of Mexico, "to another precept by which we find
from the indubitable testimony of their own paintings, that the Mexicans followed more scrupulously the
Jews of the middle ages: viz. "Thou shalt make thee fringes," &c. From the "four corners of thy
vesture," (which could not apply to the girdle) it may be inferred, that the square [1] mantle which
covered their body is understood, and that was precisely the part of the dress to which the Mexicans
fastened fringes." "Further arguments," he adds, "may appear unnecessary, to establish the fact that, in
military matters as well as in their civil institutions, the Mexicans resembled the Jews. It is a remarkable
fact which admits of no doubt (the proof of it being found in their paintings) that the Mexicans evinced a
predilection for exactly the same numbers as the Jews." -- p. 77.
The attachment of the wandering tribes of the north, for their dogs, is as proverbial as is their traditional
contempt for the term "dog." The following notices are illustrative of this peculiarity:
The French accompanied by their Indian allies, came to the state of New York, in order to attack the
Onondagoes, one of the confederate tribes of that territory, which had espoused, or rather which had
been allured into the British interest. On entering the Indian village, they found only a very aged man,
the others having fled during the darkness of the night. One of the allies of the French stabbed the
__________
1 This is the well known tallis which the Jews all over the world use in their synagogues. In eastern
countries it was the common daily covering, as is evident from the circumstance related by the
evangelists where the woman touched the fringe of the tallis, or square mantle, improperly translated
"hem of his garment." For the origin of the tzitzis, or fringe, see Deuter, xxii. 12.
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
old man; who thus indignantly addressed him, "You ought rather to make me die by fire, that these
French dogs may learn how to suffer like men -- you their Indian allies -- you dogs of dogs, think of me
when you come to suffer through them." -- See Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 159.
Mr. M'Kenny, an agent of the United States government, writes, "there is hardly any thing on which an
Indian sets so much value as his dog -- this is proverbial; but yet he is constantly referred to as an object
of contempt." [1] He illustrates this by an interesting incident of which he was an eye witness.
It was customary to call the nations because of their lawless excesses, dogs. There is a remarkable
instance of this in the prophetic appeal of David; who seeing by faith that the Romans would be the
executioners of the sentence which the religious world of Jerusalem pronounced against the Messiah,
thus characterises that event: "Deliver my darling from the power of the dogs;" in the same manner we
find apostate professors designated 2 Peter ii. 22. Isaiah characterises false teachers as such, Ivi. 11.
Philip, iii. 2. Matt. vii. 6. the term is applied to unregenerate characters, as also xv. 27. Rev. xxii. 15.
"Father Joseph Gumilla says in the 59th of the Oronoco IIlustrado: "I affirm in the second place, that the
nations of the Oronoco and its streams, observed many Hebrew ceremonies during the time of their
paganism, which they followed blindly without knowing wherefore; they had been transmitted
__________
1 "It appears that an Indian had been falsely accused of murder. We told him if he had been guilty, we
would have tried him by our laws, and if on proof it had turned out that he had been found guilty, he
would have been hanged. During this examination his brother came up to the table greatly agitated. He
said he knew the murderers had upbraided him because he would not join them. Another Indian declared
he was innocent. The governor said, Will you put your hand on your breast and swear that, in the
presence of the GREAT SPIRIT? The moment the interpreter put this question, he looked him full in the
face and answered, "Am I a dog, that I should lie?" 2 Samuel iii. 8.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
119
by tradition -- handed down from father to son, without their being able to assign any reason for the
practice of them." "There is not that Jew in existence," he adds, "who holds the flesh of the pig, &c. in
such abhorrence, as these said Gentiles," &c. Lafitau and Rochfort, of the Caribs observe, "They reject
with abhorrence some of the richest bounties of nature; refusing to eat the hog, the sea- cow, the turtle,
and the eel, with which their rivers are stored; this motive," it is added, "has been supposed to arise from
religious motives like the Jews." &c. [1]
Acosta says, "the garments of the southern Indians are shaped like those of the ancient Hebrews, being a
square or (tallis) over a loose coat." -- See Clavegero.
Beltrami observes of the ephod, which he found amongst the Indians beyond the Mississippi. "It passed from Asia
__________
1 Adair, who was for forty years amongst the northern tribes, thus writes "They reckon all birds of prey,
and night birds, to be unclean and unlawful to be eaten. Not long ago, when they were making their
winter hunt, and the old women at home were without meat, I shot a fat hawk and desired one of them to
cook it; but though I strongly importuned her by way of trial, she decidedly refused it for fear of
contracting pollution, which she called the 'accursed sickness.' It must be acknowledged," he adds, "they
are all degenerating, insomuch that the Chocktaws, on account of their great scarcity began to eat
horseflesh, frogs, &c. which are accounted in the highest degree impure by the neighbouring tribes; who
in ridicule of the Chocktaws for their canabal apostacy, call them 'the evil Chocktaw.' When swine were
first brought among them, they deemed it such a horrid abomination in any of their people to eat the
flesh of that filthy creature, that they excluded the criminal from all religious communion in their
circular house, or quadrangular square of sacred ground -- as if he had eaten unsanctified fruit. I once
invited the Arch ¡magus to partake of my dinner; but he excused himself saying, 'In a few days he had a
holy duty to perform, and that if he should eat evil or accursed food, it would spoil him. Shu-kapa
(swine-eater) is the most opprobrious epithet with which they brand us. When the English traders were
making sausages of blood, I have observed the Indians east their eyes upon them with the horror of their
forefathers when they viewed the defilement of the sanctuary. An instance lately occurred which
sufficiently proves their aversion to blood. A Chickasaw woman became ill with a complication of
disorders. The Indian physician could not cure her, after having tried all his remedies, he at last ascribed
it to eating swine's flesh, or blood, and said that such an accursed sickness overcame the power of all his
beloved things and medicine,' &c. I asked her sometime afterwards from what cause her illness
proceeded? She said, 'The accursed sickness,' -- having eaten after the manner of the white people with
the issih ookproo (the accursed blood) in them." -- See Adair in Star of the West.
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into Greece, thence to Rome, and lastly to these countries; for this specimen of the short tunic with wide
sleeves, which come down to the girdle, &c. is precisely the ephod. That the women should wear
necklaces, &c. is not extraordinary, but what does surprise one, is, that like the women of antiquity, they
offer them to the spirits of their departed relations, of which I have been an eye-witness." -- Discov. of
the Sources of the Mississippi.
Edwards observes, "they call their uncles and aunts fathers and mothers, which is a Hebrew custom; and
wear their clothes in the fashion of the Hebrews." -- Hist. West Ind.
"It is not a little singular, that the Mexicans should have made use of a cup, in order that by this mode of
divination, which Torquemeda describes in the following passage of the 48th chap, of the 6th book of
his Indian Monarchy, they might discover stolen goods, and who the thief was, and where they were
concealed, since it will argue some acquaintance with the History of Joseph." -- Antiq. Mex. p. 105.
The mode of twisting [1] or wringing off the head from the body of birds to prevent death by
strangulation, is similar to that practised by the Mexicans in their daily sacrifice, not of young pigeons,
but of quails, as we learn from Sahagun, [2] where the phrase is arrancardolas la cabeza, wrenching off
their heads."
Gumilla says, "anointing with oil and perfumes, (which was so peculiarly a Jewish custom, that even
Christ himself
__________
1 "There is a curious painting in the Borgian MS, (the 44th), ¡n which thirteen squares surrounding the
person of Quetzalcoatl, seem to contain twelve birds and one dragon-fly, which was held in abomination
by the Jews, and for which the figure of an animal, &c. is perhaps making atonement by the sacrifice of
some clean bird, the head of which he has twisted of the body, so as not to cause death by
strangulation." -- Antiq. Mex. vol. vi. p. 274.
2 Appendix to the 2nd book of his History of New Spain. -- Antiquities of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 100.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
121
reproaches the pharisee for being wanting in that mark of courtesy, in which Mary Magdalene excelled,)
was a usage which continued in such full form on the Oronocos, that it would require a chapter by itself
to explain it; besides which, if we consider the indispensable obligation which they were under, to bathe
themselves three times a day, at least twice, who will not confess that the Indians resemble the Jews. I
shall note down other marks of Judaism." -- Antiq. Mexico. * * *
"With reference to the cherubimic figures borne on the four chief standards [1] among the Hebrews --
"the head of a lion," -- "of a man," -- "of a bullock," -- "of an eagle;" Adair writes -- "At present indeed,
the most numerous tribe generally bears the highest command; but their old warriors assure us it was not
so, even in their remembrance. The title of the "old beloved man," or archi-magi, is still hereditary in the
panther family. As no lions are found in North America, the panther is the nearest representation of it.
The Indians give a name compounded of celestial and terrestrial to each cherub, which reflects great
light on the subject. They call the Buffalo -- the Indian Bull, YAnosa, (sacred bull); the panther, * * *
(cat of God); the human figure -- YA-we, (holy man), and the eagle -- Ovola, a word compounded of
divine power and fire." -- Star in the West.
"The Hebrews had various ablutions and anointings. The Indians observe the same practice from
religious motives. "When," writes Adair, "the ground is covered with snow, they turn out of their warm
lodges, men, women, and children, at the dawn of day, adoring YOHEWAH at the gladsome light of
morn, and thus they skip along,
__________
1 The standard of the Peruvian Incas was an eagle gazing upon the sun.
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
singing his praise till they get to the river, when they plunge in. If the water is frozen, they break the ice
with religious zeal. The neglect of this has been deemed so heinous, that they have scraped the arms and
limbs of the delinquent with snakes-teeth, not allowing warm water to relax the stiffened joints. The
criminals scorn to move themselves in the least degree, be the pain ever so intolerable; if they did, they
would be laughed at by their relatives, first for being vicious, and next for being timorous." -- Adair, in
Star in the West.
"The Indian priests and prophets" [1] he adds, "are initiated [2] by anointing. They first undergo a
medicated vapour bath for three successive evenings in a small green hut constructed for the purpose.
Daring that time they drink only a dilution of snake-root to cleanse their bodies, and prepare them for
their holy beloved offices before the Divine Being whom they invoke solemnly by his essential Name.
After this, their priestly garments and ornaments are put on, bear's oil being poured on their heads. If
they could procure olive or palm oil, they would prefer it. The other is the only substitute." -- See "Hope
of Israel," and Adair.
"According to the Mosaic law, women after child-birth [3] absented themselves from all society, forty
days for a male, and double that period for a female child. The Muskohge mothers are separated for
three moons after their delivery, exclusive of that in which the event took place."
Baron La Hontan writes, "the Indian mothers purify themselves after travail, thirty days for a male child,
and forty for a female."
"The Hebrews became polluted by touching a dead body.
__________
1 For an account of an initiation into the priest's or prophet's office in one of the Northern tribes, by the
Jesuit Lafitau, -- See Appendix.
2 "The ceremonies of ablution practised among the Indian mothers, &c. led the Spanish priests to the
belief, that at some distant epoch, Christianity had been preached among them." -- Antiq. Mex.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
123
The Indians, in order to prevent pollution, when the sick is past hope of recovery, prepare a grave and
tomb, anoint his head, and paint his face: when his breath ceases, they soon inter the corpse. One of a
different family will not pollute himself for a stranger; though, when living, he would have hazarded his
life for his safety. The relations who become unclean by performing the funeral duties, must live apart
from the clean several days, and be cleansed by one of the religious order. See "Hope of Israel." --
Adair.
Wailing for the dead was customary among the Hebrews, the antiquity, as well as the sacredness of it,
are manifest. Thus saith the LORD, 'Did not thy father do judgment and justice, and then it was well
with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy, and then it was well with him. -- Was not this to
know Me saith the LORD? But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to
shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it; therefore thus saith the LORD, of
Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, they shall not wail [1] for him, saying, 'ah my
__________
1 "In his letters to the Countess Campagnoni, (Beltrami writes thus of the newly-deceased Indian,) "All
his relations are seated round him, and for some time observe a profound silence, exhibiting
countenances at once indicative of seriousness and grief. Each person then addresses him, some in
pathetic tones, but without tears; -- others more emphatically, but still calmly. Where are you my
beloved husband? you are present indeed, but you do not speak to me; you are now entirely in the
society of spirits, and can no longer interest yourself about your wife, but your wife will never cease to
interest herself about you; your eyes are employed in looking upon something more amiable and
engaging than your wife. Perhaps you even have it not in your power to remember me. Your wife will
nevertheless remember you. The sun, moon, and stars, shall witness me deploring your loss, and I will
make no delay in rejoining you. Catalani could not sing Ombra adorata aspettami, with more expression
than the Indian widow uttered this address."
Another said, "Why is there silence now on those lips, which lately spoke a language so energetic and
expressive? You are gone to the place where you existed, before coming to these countries, but your
glory will remain with us for ever." A third said, "Alas! Alas! Alas! that form which was viewed with
such admiration, is now become as inanimate as it was three hundred winters ago. But you will not be
for ever lost to us, we will rejoin you in the supreme region of spirit, &c. Meanwhile, full of respect for
your virtues and your valour, we come to offer you a tribute of kindness; your body shall not be
124
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
brother,' they shall not lament for him, saying, [1] 'ah! Lord!' or 'ah his glory!' he shall be buried with the
burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem."
Boudinot writes, "They often sleep over these tombs, which, by the loud wailing of the women at dusk
of eve, and dawn of day, on benches close to the tombs, must awaken the memory of their relatives very
often." -- Star in the West.
It was customary [2] for the Hebrews to bury with the illustrious dead, many valuables. Josephus notices
this ancient custom, when by the treachery of an apostate of the Asmonean family, the Syrian invader
robbed the sepulchre of David of three thousand talents of gold, which had for one thousand three
hundred years been entombed with his body.
"On the death of the husband the squaws shew the sincerity of their grief by giving away to their
neighbours every thing they possess. They go out from the village and build for themselves a small
shelter of grass or bark, and mortify themselves by cutting off their hair, scarifying their skin, and in
their insulated hut they lament incessantly. If the deceased has left a brother, he takes the widow to his
lodge, after a proper interval, and considers her as his wife without any preparatory formality." -- Hope
of Israel, p. 208.
__________
exposed in the fields to beasts of prey, but we will take care that it, like yourself, shall be gathered to
your forefathers." He adds, "the face of the corpse is turned to the east." -- Discovery of the Source
Mississippi.
1 The Chocktaws employ mourners for the dead, as the Hebrews, and both they and the Chickasaws
term a person who does so, Yah-ah, (Ah Lord.)
2 It was invariably the custom of the Indians to bury with the dead his effects, no enemy ever molests
those bodies which had once been the dwelling- places of the immortal part of their being. The grave,
with them, proves a place inviolably sacred.
"On the Talapoose river were found two brazen tablets, and five of copper. They esteemed them so
sacred as to keep them secreted in their holy of holies, without touching them except at their festivals,
some had writing on them, and had been buried with their beloved prophets." This is attested by William
Bolsover, Esq. 1759.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
125
"I have noticed, (writes Mr. Makenny, in his late Tour,) several women here carrying with them rolls of
clothing. On inquiring what it imported, I learn that they are widows who carry them, and that they are
the badges of mourning. It is indispensable, when a woman of the Chippaway tribe loses her husband,
for her to take off her best apparel, and roll it up, confining it by means of her husband's sashes: and if
he had ornaments, these are put on the top of the roll, &c. This she calls her husband, and it is expected
that she is never to be seen without it. If she walks, she takes it with her; if she sits down in her lodge,
she places it by her side. This badge of widowhood she is to carry, until some of her husband's family
shall call and claim it, &c. She is then, but not before, released from her mourning, and at liberty to
marry again. Sometimes a brother of the deceased takes her for his wife at the grave of her husband,
which is done by the ceremony of walking over it. And this he has a right to do. I was told by the
interpreter, that he had known a woman left to mourn after this manner for years, none of her husband's
family having called for the token of her grief. At length it was told her that one of her husband's family
was to pass, and she was advised to speak to him on the subject. She told him she had mourned long,
and was poor, having no means to buy clothes -- those she had being all in the mourning badge, and thus
too sacred to be touched. She expressed a hope that her request might not be interpreted into a wish to
marry; it was only made that she might be placed in a situation to get some clothes. He answered, that he
was then going to Mackinack, and would think of it. In this state of uncertainty she was left, but on his
return, finding her still faithful, he took her "husband," and presented her with clothing of various kinds.
Thus was she rewarded for her constancy."
126
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
This custom is so evidently, (however modified,) of Hebrew origin, that it is not a little surprising
Makenny should say he "found nothing Jewish among them, except their houses of purification."
CIRCUMCISION.
The testimony of Herrera, Garcia, Diaz, Torquemeda, Gomara, and Martyr, are unanimous in
establishing the practice of circumcision among the tribes of the New Continent. "Herrera," (observes
the commentator on the Autiq.Mex.) "almost in the very words of Acosta, notices in the seventeenth
chapter of the second book of the third Decade, that this custom was prevalent among the Mexicans; and
Bernal Diaz is quite explicit on the subject in the following passage of the twentieth chapter of his Hist.
of the Conq. of Mex.
"In some provinces they were circumcised, and they had flint knives with which they performed the
ceremony." -- Ibid. p. 334.
With respect to circumcision, Martyr and Gomara, whose veracity as historians was never doubted, both
affirm
__________
1 "The Indians to the eastward say, that previous to the white people coming into the country, their
ancestors were in the habit of using circumcision, but latterly, not being able to assign any reason for so
strange a practice, their young people insisted on its being abolished." -- Star in the West.
M'Kenzie says the same of the Indians whom he saw on his route. History, p. 34. Speaking of the
nations of the Slave and Dog-rib Indians, very far to the north-west, he says, "Whether circumcision be
practised among them, I cannot pretend to say, but the appearance of it was general among those I saw."
"The Dog-rib Indians live about two or three hundred miles from the straits of Kamschatka."
Dr. Beatty says, in his journal of a visit paid to the Indians on the Ohio, about fifty years ago, that an
aged Indian informed him, that an old uncle of his, who died about the year 1728, related to him several
customs and traditions of former times; and among others, "that circumcision was practised among the
Indians long ago, but their young men making a mock at it, brought it into disrepute, and so it came to
be disused." -- Journal, p. 89.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
127
that the Indians were circumcised. The former, addressing Leo X. in the tenth chapter of the third Ocean
Decade, says, speaking of the Indian fugitive who came to the Spanish settlements of Darien. "He sayde
further, that in his country there were cities fortified with walls, and governed by laws; that the people
used apparel, but of what religion they were I did not learne, yet hadde our Manne knowledge both by
words and signs of the fugitive, that they were circumcised. What think ye now hereby most holy Father,
or what doe you divine may come hereof when time shall have subdued all these under your throne?"
And in the first chapter of his fourth Decade, inscribed to the same Pontif, he gives the following
description of the people of Yutican. "This nation is not appareled with woole, because they have no
sheep, but with cotton, after a thousand fashions and diversely colored. Their women are clad from their
waiste to their ancles, and cover their heads and brests with vayles." "This people frequent their temples
often. They are great idolaters, and are circumcised, but not all."
"In the third chapter of the same Decade, he says, that the inhabitants of the Island of Cozumilla,
situated on the coast of Yutican, were circumcised. Garcia, likewise, in the following passage of the first
section of the eighth chapter of the third book of his Origin of the Indians, confutes the error of Acosta
respecting the use of circumcision amongst the Indians."
"It is certainly very extraordinary to find from the "Oronoco Iliustrada" of Gumilla, and Carreat's
Voyages to the West Indies, that in nations remote from each other, as those of the Oronoca, and the
tribes who lived on the confines of Peru, on the banks of La Plata, as well as the Chalachaques, a people
situated between Peru and Tecumion,
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
all used circumcision, and abstained from the flesh of swine. Captain Cook also discovered that
circumcision- had extended to the Islands of the South Sea. "How, to use the words of Gumilla, are these
moral phenomena to be explained? The Mexicans, besides this rite, marked the breasts and arms of the
children on the feast of Toxcatl, with another sign which Torquemeda compares in the following
passage of the sixteenth chapter of the tenth book of his Indian Monarchy, with the analogous ceremony
of marking the sign of the cross upon the breast, &c. of the faithful among Christians with the holy oil
and chrism." [1]
"Gomara and Gumelli say, that the Silivas circumcise their children the eighth day after their birth.
Sahagun says, in the twenty-fourth chapter of the second book of his History, describing the attire of the
Deity Huitzilopoctli.
"If they believed that that god had commanded circumcision, it is probable that their symbol, the 'flint
knife,' upon that part of his dress was a memorial of that ordinance." -- Ibid. p. 271.
"The earliest Spanish writers, &c. such as Martyr, (who scarcely would have ventured to state a
deliberate falsehood to the Pope; and one which he sooner than any other person would have been
capable of detecting,) and Gomara, who was chaplain to Cortez, and dedicated his History to Don
Martin Cortez, his son, and therefore had the best
__________
1 "It is no light thing to note, that on this day the priests make a scar on the breasts and stomachs of the
male and female children, and on the wrists and fleshy parts of the arms of others, impressing them as it
were with the iron and mark of the devil, to whose service they offered them, in order that they might be
known as his: in the same way that God commands that those of his fold should be anointed on their
breasts with the holy oil, and on their foreheads with the most blessed cross of his passion and death,
since this à the sign with which God is accustomed to mark those who are his, (as circumcision was
formerly amongst his ancient people,) which is now the cross and holy chrism: hence John bade the
persecutors and murders desist from the work of slaughter, until the servants of God were marked on
their foreheads, since this is the kind of sign by which he distinguishes those who are his, as the owners
of cattle mark their herds with a particular print or sign," -- p. 394.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
129
means of information; and Bernal Diaz, and other Spanish writers also, who are acknowledged to be
men of the greatest learning and research, such as were Garcia and Torquemeda, who had themselves
visited America, have all declared that various Indian nations used circumcision.
"The ceremony of circumcision was performed with a 'flint knife,' as is evident from the twenty-fifth
verse of the fourth chapter of Exodus, &c. which induced Garcia to suppose that the reason why the
Tecpatl, or flint knife, was held in such reverence, was on account of its connexion with circumcision:
and Torquemeda says, that the Totomacs, a numerous nation, inhabiting a mountainous country to the
east of Mexico, circumcised their children, "and that the High Priest, or the next in order and rank,
performed the ceremony with a flint knife." [1] -- Monarchia Indiana, cap. 48, in Mex. Antiq. vol. vi.
"That the Mexicans believed the earth and the sun drunk up the blood of the innocent is clearly proved
by a lord who in a speech to the king of Mexico, recently elected, takes occasion to caution him not to
draw down on himself the anger of God. It may here be remarked that most of the speeches in Sahagun's
History of New Spain, have a strong unction of Jewish rhetoric; "the same complaisant mode of
speaking of themselves as God's peculiar people, the same familiar communication with deity beginning
frequently as in Abraham's dialogue with God, with the word 'peradventure,' the same unceasing
solicitude after dreams, visions, and inspirations, the same manner of addressing each other as brethren,
and finally the same choice of metaphors distinguish the compositions of the Jews and Mexicans, which
may serve in some measure, to explain the specimens of Mexican eloquence."
__________
1 The Flint knife is one of the signs in the Mexican Calendar.
130
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
"The Lord's slaying Leviathan, which the Jews understood to refer to the time of their Messiah, seems to
be alluded to in the ninety-sixth page of the lesser Vatican, MS. "I cannot fail to remark that one of the
arguments which persuades me to believe that this nation descends from the Hebrews is to see the
knowledge they have of the book of Genesis; for although the Devil has succeeded in mixing up so
many errors, his lies are still in such a course of conformity with catholic truth, that there is reason to
believe that they have had acquaintance with this book, since this and the other four books which follow,
are the Pentateuch, written by Moses, and were only found amongst the Hebrew People. There are very
strong grounds for believing that this nation proceeds from them," &c.
"In nothing did the civil policy of the Mexicans more closely resemble that of the Hebrews, than in their
dedicating their children to the Temple, and afterwards sending them to be instructed by the Master or
Rabbi, in the doctrines of their religion and moral and ceremonial laws. Torquemeda says, "that the
ceremony of dedicating children to the military profession, was also a religious one. Amongst the Jews,
all wars, not excepting their civil ones, bore a religious character," &c. "And in Deuteronomy, directions
are given to the priests [1] to accompany and
__________
1 "When the war chief beats up for volunteers, he goes thrice round the dark winter house, contrary to
the sun's course, whooping the war-song and beating the drum. He then declares the occasion of the war.
He strongly urges his kindred and warriors and others, who fear not bullets and swords, to come and join
him with manly cheerful hearts, assuring them that as they are all bound in one love-knot, so they are
ready to hazard their lives to avenge the crying blood of their kindred; that the piety of obeying the old
beloved customs had hitherto checked their daring generous hearts, but now those hindrances are no
more; he then proceeds to whoop for the warriors to join him, and sanctify themselves for success
according to their ancient manner."
The town of refuge, called Coate, is on a large stream of the Mississippi. "Here, some years ago," says
Doctor Boudinot, "a brave Englishman was protected, after killing an Indian in defence of his property." He informed Mr.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
131
exhort the soldiers to battle. The Interpreter of the Collection of Mendoza says, "that the priests likewise
followed the Mexican armies, not only for the purpose of joining the combatants, but also to perform
certain religious ceremonies, in which some analogy is discovered between the customs of the two
nations. That the Incas waged war for the express purpose of compelling other nations to lay aside their
idolatries and embrace the knowledge of the true God, we have the authority of Acosta and of other
eminent historians, for asserting." -- p. 49.
"Father Joseph Gumelli, in his account of the nations bordering on the Oronoco, relates that they
punished adultery like the ancient Hebrews, by stoning the criminals to death before the assembled
people." -- Edwards's West Indies, vol. i. p. 39, note.
"It is not a little singular, also, (as establishing that to be a fact which few persons would feel inclined to
suspect) that, the Mexicans and the Jews should have believed that similar divine judgments (even when
these were of a very peculiar nature) would follow the commission of similar crimes. The fifth chapter
of Numbers records the extraordinary effect produced on a guilty woman whose husband was jealous by
her drinking the bitter water in the trial of jealousy. And Torquemeda says, that nearly the same kind
__________
Adair, "that after some month's stay in this place of refuge, he intended to return to his house in the
neighbourhood; but the chiefs assured him it would be fatal to him. So that he was obliged to continue
there, until at length he succeeded in pacifying the friends of the deceased," &c.
In another part of the Muskagee was the ancient beloved town called Coosak, which implies a place of
safety fur those who have slain undesignedly. "In almost every tribe," he adds, "there are these
"peaceable towns," which arc called "sacred beloved towns." It is not within the recollection of the most
aged, that ever blood was shed in them; although the refugees have often been forced out of them and
put to death elsewhere. And this is a sacred duty -- the manes of the slain crying to the nearest of kin for
redress. This has often seemed a revengeful disposition, when, with more justice, it ought to have been
traced to a higher motive, however much obscured and mistaken." -- See Boudinot's Star in the West,
and Hope of Israel.
132
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
of threat was held out by the Mexican priests to induce the virgins to dread the vengeance of God when
they violated their vow." -- p. 55.
Edwards observes in his History of the West Indies, "The Indians would not eat the Mexican hog or the
turtle, but held them in the greatest abhorrence." Gumilla observes, "Neither would they eat the eel, nor
many other animals; and birds they deemed impure." Even the Rev. Dr. Mather, one of the spiritual
Israel, "who felt 'necessitated' unto the rooting out" the aboriginal Canaanites, and who published a work
entitled 'Magnalia, &c. Wars of the Lord,' does admit, amongst other points of resemblance, which he
could not but acknowledge, that these "salvages had a great unkindness for our swine."
Hearne, who published a work in 1795, entitled a Journey to Prince of Wales's Island, remarks, "that
some Indians who had killed an Indian at Copper River, considered themselves in a state of uncleanness,
which induced them to practice some very curious ceremonies. In the first place all who were concerned
in the murder, were prohibited from cooking any sort of food, either for themselves or others. They
refrained also from eating many parts of the deer and other animals, particularly the entrails and blood;
and during their pollution their food was never sodden with water, but dried in the sun, eaten quite raw,
or broiled when a fire could be procured." -- 2 Samuel xv.
James Adair, Esq. who spent forty years amongst one of the northern tribes, writes, "They affix very
vicious ideas to eating impure things, and all their priests and prophets, and war leaders, before they
enter into their religious duties, observe the strictest abstinence on this point. Formerly, if any of them
did eat in white-mens' houses, or even of what had been cooked there, while they
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
133
were sanctifying themselves, it was esteemed a dangerous pollution."
Kelly in his Sketch of the Oregons, observes, "There are many things in the religious faith and
observances which bear a strong analogy to the Hebrew ritual. Besides the instances above, they observe
a day of fasting and humiliation and prayer. They have also annually, celebration of a solemn nature
which lasts seven days, on which occasion they have thanksgiving sacrifices. From these and many
other circumstances respecting their dress, ornaments, genius, and customs; from the great resemblance
in complexion, figure, manners, and even language which these people, and those on the islands in the
Pacific bear to the inhabitants of the Island of Cratoatoa, lying in the entrance of the Straits of Sundan,
the important inference may be drawn, that the Hebrews had effected the settlement of the Western
continent," &c.
Major Long, an agent of the United States Government, published a work entitled an "Expedition to the
Rocky Mountains," thus he makes mention of the ark of the Omawhas: "The Omawha branch is divided
into two powerful sections, one of which is interdicted from eating the flesh of male deer and male elk,
in consequence of having their great mystic medicine (ark) enveloped in the skins of these animals. The
shell, which is regarded as an object of the greatest sanctity and superstitious reverence by the whole
nation, has been transmitted from the ancestry of this band, and its origin is unknown. A skin lodge or
temple, is appropriated for its preservation, in which a person constantly resides charged with the care of
it, and appointed its guard. It is placed upon a stand, and is never suffered to touch the earth. It is
concealed from sight by several envelopes, which are composed of strands of proper skin
134
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
plaited together. The whole constitutes a parcel of considerable size, from which various articles are
suspended, such as tobacco and the roots of certain plants. No person dares to open the coverings of the
sacred deposit, in order to expose the shell to view. Tradition informs them that curiosity induced three
different persons to examine the mysterious shell, who were immediately punished for their profanation
by total blindness. Previously to undertaking [1] a national expedition against an enemy, the sacred shell
is consulted as an oracle. For this purpose the maji of the band seat themselves around the great
medicine lodge; the lower part of which is hung round and thrown open like curtains, and the extreme
envelope is carefully removed from the mysterious parcel, that the shell may receive the air. During this
ceremony, an individual occasionally inclines his head forwards, and listens attentively to catch some
sound which he expects to issue from the shell," this is considered as a favourable omen, and the nation
prepares for the projected expedition with a confidence of success."
"They are," adds Major Long, "of opinion that the WAHCONDAH has been more profuse of his gifts,
especially the knowledge of letters to the white people, than to themselves. They consider the result of
experience thus easily
__________
1 Adair, speaking of Indian "cities" (or places) "of refuge," says, with reference to the ark which went
out to the war, "I observed that if a captive taken by the reputed power of the holy things of their ark,
should be able to make his escape into one of these beloved towns, or even into the winter house of the
archimagus, he is delivered," &c. "It is also worthy of notice that they never place, the ark cm t he
ground. They rest it on stones, or short logs, where they also seat themselves. And when we consider in
what a surprising manner the Indians copy after the observances of the Hebrews and their strict purity in
the war camps; that opae, "the leader," obliges all, during the campaign, which they have made with the
beloved ark, to stand every day they are not engaged in warfare from sun-rise to sun-set, and after a
fatiguing days march, and scanty allowance, to drink warm water embittered with the snake-root in
order to purification; that they have also as strong a faith in the power of their ark as ever the Israelites
had of old, ascribing the success of one party to their stricter adherence to the law than the other. We
have strong reason to conclude them of Hebrew origin.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
135
transmitted, "like the operation of some mystic medicine." "But they claim a superiority in natural intelligence," &c.
"They esteem themselves more generous, brave, and hospitable to strangers than the white people, and
these beneficent virtues with them, mark "the perfect man." If a white man or stranger enters the
habitation of an Indian, he is not asked if he has dined, or if he is hungry, -- but independently of the
time of the day or night, the pot is put on the fire, and if there is a single pound of venison in the
possession of the family, that pound is cooked and set before him." * * *
FESTIVALS.
It has been justly remarked that "ancient customs become modified by change of situation and circumstance, after a
great lapse of time."
The transference of the Levitical economy to the New Continent is a striking comment on this
observation; for in reflecting on that disregard of "the statutes and judgments of the LORD, which had
caused their expatriation, the tribes seem in their 'outcast' state to have even zealously continued for
more than two thousand years in such a modified observance of these, as change of situation and
circumstances, and want of the written WORD admitted.
In failing to be governed and instructed by the revealed mind of God in their Land, they were to
experience, as an act of retribution, the want of it when "afar off." Hence the prophet foretold, that "not a
famine of bread and water, but of hearing the words of the LORD," should be their punishment -- a
famine which they should deeply feel and
136
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
deplore, when they should "wander from sea to sea, &c. to seek the Word of the LORD, and should not find it." [1]
Hieroglyphic and other painted records, together with oral tradition, became a substitute for the written
WORD, but these artificial means were comparatively cold and ambiguous, and however they might
have traced the outlines of their ritual and historical peculiarities, they could not enter into the minute
detail of these, and were moreover subject to more or less of that tincture of error which necessarily
accompanies such mediums of conveyance.
"Language," observes a late Hebrew critic, "is subject to three qualifications, viz. _____ (cogitative),
____ (organic), and ____ (writing). There is an inherent connection between these three qualifications;
the first terminates in the first person; the second is to deliver verbatim to the second person present; but
the third is to communicate to persons absent and to posterity. These three qualifications are infallibly
absolute and essential objects to man as an intellectual being. A man when deficient of this triplex is an
unfinished being." [2]
"Four times a day," writes Clavegero, "They offered incense -- namely, at day-dawn, mid-day, sunset,
and at midnight. The last offering was made by the priest whose turn it was to do so, and the most
respectable officers of the Temple attended it."
"For incense on certain Festivals they employed the bitumen of Judea, but usually they burned copal or
other aromatic gums. The censers were either of clay or of gold. The Hebrews had a rejoicing Festival
on the ingathering,
__________
1 There is a self-constituted famine more grievous in its character, and more fatal in its results than that
under which the outcasts of Israel have been left to pine for a series of ages: -- that which in explaining
away the integrity of the written WORD (in order to self or party monopoly) starves the heart while it
inebriates the mind. Amos viii. 11, 12.
2 Theological and Critical Treatise, by Solomon Bennet, p. 35.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
137
called the Feast of Tabernacles. It was commemorated with temporary verdant booths, in which certain
prescribed leafy branches were interlaced in remembrance of their having sojourned in temporary lodges
in the wilderness. The willow and palm, &c. emblematic of humiliation and triumph, were united in
these tabernacles. It has always been a tradition among them that the triumphant Messiah would come at
the celebration of the feast of Tabernacles into HIS BELOVED CITY; and that his herald Elijah, the
ancient prophet, would precede that coming six months: -- that he would come at the feast of passover to
announce His triumphant advent to "restore all things, and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and those of the children to the fathers," preparatory to that event.
"It will be recollected that Peter unmindful of time and season, and not knowing what he said for joy at
that demonstration of the identity of the Sufferer and the Victor of which he was an eye witness,
exclaimed,
"let us make three Tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias."
"The coming of the Messiah therefore is connected (in the warrant of Scripture expectation, as well as
traditionary hope) with the Feast of tabernacles, which the Jews believe will then come together with the
Jubilee period. We have this festival in an obscure manner in the following extract from the Abbe
Clavegero:
"In their twelfth month (October) they celebrated the feast of the arrival of the gods, which they express
by the word TEOtlico, which name they gave to both the month and the festival. On the sixteenth day of
this month they covered all the temples and the corners of the streets of the city with green branches. On
the eighteenth, the gods, according to their accounts, began to arrive. They spread before the door of the
sanctuary of the god, a mat, made
138
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
of the palm tree, and sprinkled upon it some powder of maize."
"The High Priest stood on watch all the preceding night, and went frequently to look whether footsteps
were observable on the mat. Sometimes a cry was made, "Our great God is now come." When all the
priests and crowds of people repaired there to greet Him, and celebrate His arrival with hymns and
dances, which were repeated the rest of the night." -- See Clavegero.
"The feast of trumpets seems to be discernible in the Abbe's description of the following faded
memorial:
"The second of the four principal festivals, was that which they made in honour of the great God. Ten
days before it, a priest dressed in his most elaborate manner, went into the Temple, with a bunch of
flowers and a horn or flute of clay which made a very shrill sound. Turning his face toward the 'east,'
and afterwards to the other three principal 'winds,' he sounded the horn loudly, and then, taking up a
little dust from the earth with his fingers, he put it to his mouth and swallowed it. Upon hearing the
sound of the horn, all knelt down; criminals were thrown into the utmost terror and consternation, and
with tears implored the God to grant pardon for their offences," &c. "All the people tasting a little
particle of earth, after the example of the priest, who supplicated for favor and mercy."
"The day before the festival, all the virgins and youths, as well as the nobles, wore wreaths. Then
followed a procession through the lower area of the Temple, where flowers and odorous herbs were
scattered, two priests offered incense to the idol, while the people were kneeling," &c.
He adds, "The dances were more solemn in Tlascalo, Huetxotzinco, and Cholvla. In like manner the
festivals at the beginning of every thirteen years were attended with
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
139
more pomp and gravity. They had a festival called Tezcalli, 'Behold the HOUSE!'
"We have already noticed that the Mexican jubilee period was every fifty-two years. The following
extract seems to point to the ancient jubilee:
"But," continues Clavegero, "the festival which was celebrated every fifty-two years, was by far the
most splendid and imposing, not only among the Mexicans, but likewise among all the nations of the
Empire, or who were neighbouring to it.
"On the last night of their century they extinguished the fire of all their temples and houses, and broke
their vessels, earthen pots, and utensils, preparing, as it were, for the end of the world, which at the
termination of each cycle they expected.
"The priests, attended by the people, travelled during the night, six miles out of town, to a certain
mountain, on the top of which the new fire was to be kindled.
"All who did not go forth with the priests, stood anxiously upon terraces to wait the result. As soon as
the fire was kindled, they all at once exclaimed with joy, and a great fire was made on the mountain that
it might be seen from afar. Immediately they took up portions of the sacred new fire, to carry to their
respective households. [1] Every place resounded with mirth and mutual congratulations, &c.
__________
1 'We cannot,' writes Clavegero, 'express too strongly the care which parents and masters took to instruct
their children and pupils in the history of their people; they made them learn speeches and discourses,
which they could not express by the pencil; they put the events of their ancestors into verse, and taught
them to sing them. This tradition dispelled the doubts and undid the ambiguity which paintings alone
might have occasioned, and by the assistance of those monuments perpetuated the memory of their
heroes, and of virtuous examples, their rites, their laws, and their customs.' -- See Clavegero.
The Feasts of Weeks, or the Hunters' Feast, or Pentecost. -- An ancient missionary, who lived a long
time with the Outaowaies, has written, that among these savages, an old man performs the office of a
priest at the feasts. That they begin by giving thanks to the Great Spirit, for the success of the chase, or
140
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
"The illuminations during the first nights were extremely magnificent, their ornaments of dress, their
entertainments, dances, and public games, were superiorly brilliant."
__________
hunting time. Then another takes a cake, breaks it in two, and casts it in the fire. This was upwards of
eighty years ago.
Dr. Beatty says, that once in the year, some of the tribes of Indians beyond the Ohio, choose from
among themselves twelve men, who go out and provide twelve deer; and each of them cuts a small
sapling from which they strip the bark, to make a tent, by sticking one end into the ground, bending the
tops over one another, and covering the poles with blankets. Then the twelve men choose, each of them,
a stone, which they make hot in the fire, and place them together, after the manner of an altar, within the
tent, and then burn the fat of the insides of the deer thereon. * At the time they are making this offering,
the men within cry to the Indians without, who attend as worshippers, "We pray, or praise." They
without answer, "We hear." Then those in the tent cry ho-hah, very loud and long, which appeared to be
something in sound like halle-lujah. After the fat was thus offered, some tribes burned tobacco, cut fine,
upon the same stones, supposed in imitation of incense. Other tribes choose only ten men, who provide
but ten deer, ten saplings, or poles, and ten stones.
The southern Indians observe another religious custom of the Hebrews, as Adair asserts, by offering a
sacrifice of gratitude, if they have been successful, and have all returned safe home- But if they have lost
any in war, they generally decline it, because they imagine, by some neglect of duty, they are impure;
then they only mourn their vicious conduct, which defiled the ark, and thereby occasioned the loss.
Like the Israelites, they believe their sins are the procuring cause of all their evils, and that the divinity
in the ark will always bless the more religious party with the best success. This is their invariable
sentiment, and is the sole reason for mortifying themselves in so severe a manner while they are out at
war; living very scantily, even in a buffalo range, under a strict rule, lest by luxury, their hearts should
grow evil, and give them occasion to mourn. From Mr. Adair, the following account, or rather abstract
of his account, of the feast and fast of what may be called their Passover, and feast of First Fruits, is
made.
"On the day appointed (which was among the Jews, generally in the spring, answering to our March and
April, when their barley was ripe, being the first month of their ecclesiastical, and the seventh of their
civil year, and among the Indians, as soon as their first spring produce comes in) while the sanctified
new fruits are dressing, six old beloved women come to their temple, or sacred wigwam of worship, and
dance the beloved dance with joyful hearts. They observe a solemn procession as they enter the holy
ground, or beloved square, carrying in one hand a bundle of small branches of various green trees; when
they are joined by the same number of beloved old men, who carry a cane in one hand, adorned with
white feathers, having green boughs in the other hand. Their heads are dressed with white plumes, and
the women in their finest clothes, and anointed with bears' grease, or oil, having also small tortoise
shells and white pebbles fastened to a piece of white dressed doer skin, which is tied to each of their
legs. The eldest of the beloved men, leads the sacred dance at the head of the innermost row, which of
course is next the holy fire. He begins the dance, after once going round the holy fire, in solemn and
religious silence. He then
* Thou shalt sprinkle the blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a
sweet savour unto the LORD. -- Numb. xviii. 17.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
141
Herrera observes, "The Mexicans celebrated the principal festival of their god Vilziliputzli, in the month
of May, and two days before the festival, the virgins who were shut up
__________
in the next circle, invokes yak, after their usual manner, on a bass key, and with a short accent. In
another circle, he sings ho, ho, which is repeated by all the religious procession, till they finish that
circle. Then in another round, they repeat, he he, in like manner, in regular notes, and keeping time in
the dance. Another circle is continued in like manner, with repeating the word wah, wah, (making in the
whole, the divine and holy name of yah, ho, he, wah.) A little after this is finished, which takes
considerable time, they begin again, going fresh rounds, singing ha-hal-le-le-lu-lu-yah-yah, in like
manner; and frequently the whole train strike up, hallelu, hallelu, halleluyah, halleluyah, with great
earnestness, fervour, and joy, while each strikes the ground with right and left feet alternately, very
quick, but well timed. Then a kind of hollow sounding drum, joins the sacred choir, which excites the
old female singers to chant forth their grateful hymns and praises to the divine Spirit, and to redouble
their quick, joyful steps, in imitation of the leader of the beloved men, at their head.
"This appears very similar to the dances of the Hebrews, and may we not reasonably suppose, that they
formerly understood the psalms and divine hymns, at least those which begin or end with hallelujah;
otherwise how comes it to pass, that all the inhabitants of the extensive regions of North and South
America, have and retain these very expressive Hebrew words, and repeat them so distinctly, applying
them after the manner of the Hebrews, in their religious acclamations.
"On other religious occasions, and at their Feast of Love, they sing ale yo, ale yo, which is the divine
name by the attribute of omnipotence. They likewise sing he-wah, he-wah, which is the immortal soul
drawn from the divine essential name, as deriving its faculties from yo-he-wah. These words of their
religious dances, they never repeat at any other time, which has greatly contributed to the loss of their
meaning; for it is believed they have grown so corrupt, as not now to understand either the spiritual or
literal meaning of what they sing, any farther than by allusion to the name of the Great Spirit.
"In these circuitous dances, they frequently also sing in a bass key, aluhe, aluhe, aluirah, alutrah. Also,
shilu-yo, shilu-yo, shilu-he, shilu-he, shilu-wah, shilu-wah, and shilu-hoji, shilu-hah. * They transpose
them also several ways, but with the very same notes. The three terminations make up the four lettered
divine name. Hah is a note of gladness and joy. The word preceding it, shilu, seems to express the
predicted human and divine Shiloh, who was to be the purifier and peace-maker. They continue their
grateful divine hymns for the space of about fifteen minutes, and then break up. As they degenerate, they
lengthen their dances, and shorten the time of their fasts and purifications; insomuch, that they have so
exceedingly corrupted their primitive rites and customs, within the space of the last thirty years, (now
about eighty years) that, at the same rate of declension, there will not long be a possibility of tracing
their origin, but by their dialects and war customs. At the end of this notable religious dance, the old
beloved women return home to hasten the feast of the new sanctified fruits. In the mean time, every one
at the temple drinks plentifully of the cussena and other bitter liquids, to cleanse theîr sinful bodies, as
they suppose. After which, they go to some convenient deep water, and there, according to the
ceremonial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins with water. They then return
* Cruden in his Concordance, says, -- "Shiloh ought to be understood of the Messiah. Jerome translates
it, -- He who Is to be tent, and manifestly reads Shiloach, tent; instead of Shiloh."
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RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
in the Temple kneaded flour of bledas, and roasted maize with honey, and formed a large idol of dough,
and on the day of the festival, before the dawn, the virgins came forth in new white apparel, crowned
with ears of roasted maize, and wearing chains of the same hanging down below their left arms, &c.
During this day they bore the name of sisters of Vitziliputzli, &c. All the people humbled themselves,
and taking dust from the ground, strewed it on their heads, since this was a ceremony which was usual
on their principal festivals. [1] Afterwards the people went in quick procession to the mountain
Chapaltepec, a league distant from Mexico, and there made a halt and sacrifice, and then proceeded with
the same haste to a place called Atacinaviaz, which was the second resting place: and passed on a league
further to Cuivican, from whence, without stopping, they returned to Mexico. This journey of four
leagues was performed in four hours, and they named the procession Zpaina Vitziliputzli. "The quick
procession of Vitziliputzli," &c. Exodus xii. 33, 34. The people likewise assisted with great reverence in
this act, (viz. drawing up the image to the area of the Temple.") "Having been drawn up, and placed in a
chamber adorned with flowers, the young men of the
__________
with great joy, in solemn procession, singing their notes of praise, till they again enter their holy ground,
to cat of the new delicious fruits, which are brought to the outside of the square, by the old beloved
women. They all behave so modestly, and are possessed of such an extraordinary constancy and
equanimity in pursuit of their religious mysteries, that they do not shew the least outward emotion of
pleasure at the first sight of the sanctified new fruits. '
1 Mr. Penn was at one himself. "Their entertainment was a great feast in the spring -- under some shady
trees. It consisted of twenty bucks, with hot cakes made of new corn, with both wheat and beans, which
they make up in a square form, in the leaves of the corn, and then bake them in the ashes -- they then fall
to dancing: but all who go to this feast must take a small present in their hand, it might be but sixpence,
which is made of the bone of a fish. The black is with them as gold, and the white as silver, they call it
wampum." Afterwards speaking of their agreement in the rites with the Hebrews, he says, that "they
reckon by moons -- they offer their first fruits -- they have a kind of Feast of Tabernacles -- they are said
to lay their altars upon twelve stones -- they mourn a year -- they have the separation of women; with
many other things that do not now occur." -- Star in the West.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
143
Temple strewed many more around, and the virgins brought a quantity of pieces of dough, &c. The
dignitaries of the Temple then came forth in exact order, according to their seniority, attired in dresses
corresponding to their offices, with garlands and chains of flowers; they placed themselves around the
pieces of dough, and performed over them a certain ceremony, which consisted in singing and dancing,
&c. Afterwards the young men and young women who were educated in the Temple came forth, and
placing themselves opposite to each other, danced and sung, in praise of the Festival of the Idol, and all
the lords and principal persons replied to the song. The whole city flocked to the spectacle, and the
Festival being concluded, the Priests took the idol of dough, and distributed the pieces like the holy
communion, and gave it to the people great and small, who received it with great reverence, fear, and
shedding of tears, declaring that they ate the flesh of God. This being over, an old man of great authority
ascended some elevated place, and preached on the law and ceremonies." [1] – Herrera. Mex. Antiq. p. 418.
__________
1 A curious comment on this Festival occurs: * -- "This took place at night, and as soon as it was
morning, the ministers and high priests proceeded to consecrate it; (if such an act can be called
consecration) all the citizens were present, together with crowds of strangers, &c. The consecration
being over, all who could, drew near to touch it, as if it mere to touch a relic, or the body of a saint,
although that was the lurking place of the Devil, &c." "They made this liberal offering, thinking that
they were rendering their god a considerable service, and that on account of it he would pardon their
sins, which is what we are taught by the sound catholic doctrines of the holy Scriptures; that charity
diminishcth sin, and if when done to our neighbour it possesses so much force, it will possess much
greater when the offering is made unto God; who accordingly has chosen to declare that it avails those
who give and bestow for their Justification, and the cleansing away of their sins: although in this place it
possesses no meritorious quality, inasmuch as it was done to the Devil, &c. To speak plainer, was done
at his instigation." Antiq. Mex.
* The Mexicans computed the period of a day from the noon of one day to that of another, as we are
informed by the Interpreter of the Codex Telleranis Remesis, p. 152, and this computation arguing to the
night a sort of priority over the day, probably induced them to keep the vigils of festivals as a part of the
festivals themselves." -- Antiq. of Mex. vol. vi. p. J05.
144
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
"The day of the consecration of that infernal bread and dough being past, nobody was allowed to touch
it, or enter the chapel where it was, but the priests only, &c. They afterwards brought forth the statue of
the god Paynalton, the god of war, the vicar of the said Huitzilopoctli, which was made of wood, and
carried in the arms of a priest, who represented Quetzalcoatl, who was dressed very richly with curious
ornaments and apparel, being preceded by another, holding in his hands a large and thick serpent twisted
in many folds, which was carried before, and was lifted up on hiyh in the manner of the cross in our
processions. They then lifted the statue of Paynalton, and placed it on the altar, by that of Huitzilopoctli,
and there left it, together with the banner named Epaniztli, which was carried in front: the serpent alone
was taken away, and deposited in a place allotted to it." -- p. 416.
Of the Festival of the sign of the rose, they say, "There is a mansion from which they fell, and where
they plucked the rose." In order to shew that this Festival was not commemorative of good, and that it
was celebrated with fear, they painted the Tree, "distilling blood, and cracked in the midst, and named it
the feast of toil, by reason of that transgression."
"The Festival for the dead: -- while the priests celebrated this in the temples, the entire population
ascended the terraces of their houses, and looking toward the north, [1] made earnest supplications to the
departed of their own lineage, ejaculating aloud, "Come quickly, since we expect you."
"The Festival of the raising of the Banners began in December; a note says, with reference to this
painting, "the famous prophecy of the same prophet relating to the LORD's
__________
1 A note here says, "they supposed hades to be the north."
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
145
slaying Leviathan, which the Jews understood to refer to the time of their Messiah, seems to be alluded
to." -- p. 96, of the lesser Vatican M.S. "In the Name of our God we raise up our banners." Psalm xx. 5.
"In the tenth chapter of his twelfth book, Torquemeda affirms, that the Devil counterfeited amongst the
Indians the Feast of Passover. This third month of the Mexicans commenced on the fifteenth of March,
which like the solemn Passover of the Jews, lasted eight days, when they offered the first fruits. The ripe
grain and the ears, it was unlawful for them to taste before they had presented the said first fruits to the
priests. The Indians observed the same custom on this third month, (the Pasqua) which they celebrated
in honor of their (ancients or lords.) Before the arrival of the day appointed for carrying these first fruits
to the temples and altars, no one dared to touch them, for they were forbidden to do so by an express
law, as the Jews were forbidden to taste the ears of corn: and (adds the complacent son of the church,)
"It might well provoke a hearty laugh from Christians, to see that the Devil wished to constitute himself
the god of the first fruits," fire.-p. 282.
"The Festival of the New Moons was another Mexican solemnity so analogous to the Neomanio or Jewish Festival of the
New Moon, that Torquemeda describing the former says, 'If this custom be attentively considered it will be found to
have been stolen from the Hebrews, of whom Saint Thomas says that it was ordained that the Neomanio should be kept at the
commencement of every month, in memory of the government and preservation of all things; which same preservation is that
which our Indians pray for in their Neomanio, at the commencement of each of their months. 'But my reply to this
objection would be, that the Devil
146
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
taught them, &c. p. 283. 'But,' adds the commentator, 'if our surprize is justly excited at being informed
by Torqnemeda that the Devil had imitated among the Indians the Jews' feasts of Passover and the New
Moon, what shall we think of the Fast of Atamal, which the Mexicans kept every eighth year (the flint)
as a Sabbatical year! eight was a number highly esteemed by the Christians, and as they have not
scrupled to change the Sabbath from the seventh day, (on which day it was kept by the Jews,) to the
eighth day, Sunday, on account of the resurrection of Christ having occurred on that day, we must not
reject a striking analogy because it is open to an answerable objection, since the Mexicans also have had
their reasons for preferring the eighth to the seventh." [1]
Torquemeda, taking for granted St. Isadore's "excellencies" to be scriptural, seems to consider them
more than sufficient to transfer the attributes of the seventh to the first day of the week. "Saint Isadore
saith, the eighth day is the first," &c. "On it were formed the elements! on it were created the angels! on
it God bestowed manna upon his people!"
"Our BEGINNING and our END," [2] were names characteristic of the Festival of Tatzen, "since Eve
was the beginning and termination of man's existence." She is a Suchequacal represented in the forty-
eighth page of the Vatican painting, with two children who appear to have been combating, mid one of
them to have been killed." "Is it not more probable, since the beginning and ending signs of the calendar
are dedicated as symbols of Quetzalcoatl, that this allusion is to Him rather than to Eve, except
__________
1 "The faithful of the dark ages," observes Basnage, "were informed that after his resurrection, Jesus
(having neglected to institute a new day) sent Elias to the church with an express order from him to
effect this change." -- See Basnage.
2 It is probable that this title had a more profound allusion.
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
147
as she is the mother of the promised Seed of the Woman? "It is not unfrequent that the first and the
second Adam are contrasted in the Mexican paintings, the following passage from the Antiq. of Mex. is
in point -- "Opposite Cantico they placed Quetzalcoatl in a golden House, arrayed in precious gems, and
seated as a Priest, with a bag of incense in his hand -- that as the former had been punished for his
appetite, so He was honoured for His self-denial and sacrifice. -- p. 213. A note here says, "the Mexicans
believed that Quetzalcoatl united in his own person the character of Prophet, Priest, and King."
"Some authors forgetting that the Mexicans in representing a periodical series of signs wrote from right
to left, have taken the last month for the first." [1] -- p. 289.
__________
1 The following are the names of the eighteen months -- First, Titil, to glean, Itzcalli (to renew houses)
from the ninth to the twenty-eighth of January, in the first year of the indiction of the cycle
Xeuihmolpili. Second, Hochilhuitt, from twenty-ninth January to seventeenth of February. Third,
Xilomanaiatli -- Fourth, Atalcahualca, (wants rain.) Fifth, Quachuitlihua, (month of trees buding.) Sixth,
Cihtialhuitl, (woman's Festival,) from the eighteenth of February to the ninth of March. Seventh,
lacajripehualiztli, (feast of the snake's skin.) Eighth. Tozostontli (month of watching, because the
ministers of the temple were obliged to watch during the Festival celebrated on this month.) From
thirteenth of March to eighteenth of April. Huey Tozoztli (grand watching the grand penitence.) From
nineteenth of April to eighteenth of May. Ninth, Toxcatl, (garlands of maize were tied round the necks
of the priests.) Tenth, Tezopachuilizlli, a censer,) from ninth to twenty-eighth of May. (It was in this
month Toxcatl that the fellow soldier of Cortez Alvarado, that ferocious warrior, made a horrible
slaughter of the Mexican nobility assembled within the enclosure of the TEO-calli (house of God.) This
attack was the signal of the civil dissensions that caused the death of the unfortunate Montezuma.)
From May 29 to June 17. Tehutl-hwtztli (festival of the young warriors). From June 18 to July 2.
Maccailhuitiintii, (festival of the departed or dead). From July 28 to August 16. Huey-miccailhuitl,
(Grand festival to the memory of illustrious dead). From August 28 to September 5. Ochpamitli, (besom
renewing month). From September 6 to 25. Pachili, name of a wild clinging vine which is supported and
cherished on the trunk or stock of great trees, which begins to bud this month. From September 26 to
October 15. Ezoztli TEOtilico, (come from the gods), and also the maturity or perfection of the plant
pachili. From October 16 to November 4. Tepechuitl, (feast of the mountains). From Novembers to
December 14. Quecholli, (month in which the Phoenicoptorus, (Flamingo), which, on account of its
peculiarities is called by the Mexicans Tuoquechol, (Divine visitor) arrives on the borders of the lake.
From December 15 to January 3. Atemotlec the descent of renovating showers." No one acquainted with
the metaphoric genius of the Mexicans, will doubt that all these allusions are replete with prophetic
expectation. See Clavegero and Antiq. Mex.
148
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.
Dr. Beatty thus describes a Festival at which he was present on the Ohio. "Before they use any of 'the
first fruits,' twelve of their elders meet, when a deer is divided into twelve parts, and the corn beaten in a
mortar and prepared for use by boiling or baking under the ashes. (Of course unleavened.) This is also
divided into twelve parts. These men hold up the venison and bread, and with their faces toward the East
acknowledge the bounty of God to them. It is then eaten. They have at evening another feast which
looks like the Passover. A great quantity of venison is provided with other things dressed in the usual
way, and distributed among the guests; that which is left is thrown into the fire and burned: none of it
may remain till sunrise, nor must a bone of the venison be broken. Exod. xii. 46. They also purify
themselves with bitter herbs and roots."
Beltrami, a literary traveller, thus writes to the Countess Compagnoni, with reference to the same Feast
among a tribe west of the Mississippi -- "Women and old men station themselves behind the performers,
and join chorus in the Canticle. To give you an idea of the clatter and hubbub of music thus produced, it
would be necessary to be either an Indian or a Jew. Public sacrifices are considered indispensable by the
Indians, when they hold their grand assemblies for deliberating on the question of peace or war. Here
also we trace the resemblance to antiquity. I have been present at one of their feasts; as there was a
mystic solemnity connected with it, every individual was obliged to eat or make some other eat the
portion set before him; to leave a single morsel on the bark trencher on which the repast was served,
would have been an insufferable insult to the divinity to whom it was consecrated."
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