the days of fasting in honour of the sun, when that luminary was at its greatest height.18 In the Cinteopan was to be seen a statue of Cinteotl, before which captives were sacrificed on the occasion of his festival.
The temple of Tlatauhqui Cinteotl (red maize) appears to have been the preserve of the maize-gods collectively.
PRIESTHOOD
That Cinteotl had a separate and distinct priesthood is manifest from allusions to it in accounts of his festivals. Among the Totonacs two high-priests were especially dedicated to him. These were widowers over sixty years of age, who wore jackets made from the skins of jackals, were not permitted to eat fish, and whose duty consisted in the preparation of manuscripts and the deliverance of oracular messages. The Totonacs thought human sacrifices unnecessary to him, and offered up birds and small animals at his shrine, regarding him as their protector from the more sanguinary deities, says Clavigero.19
NATURE AND STATUS
It would appear from the data at our disposal that Cinteotl was originally a maize-god of the Totonacs, a people allied in race to the Maya-speaking Huaxtecs of the east coast. It will be recalled that his mother, Tlazolteotl, was of Huaxtec origin. Cinteotl may originally have been regarded by the Maya-speaking coast people as her son, or again the relationship between them may have been symbolic and relatively late in its development. But the myth appears as ancient and well founded, and the corn-mother who has