slew his rebellious brothers and sister, the enemies of his mother Coatlicue, as Indra slew those of his mother, both of these events occurring immediately after the birth of the gods thus compared. (In the case of Indra the weapon was a thunderbolt.) The fire-serpent in this place evidently symbolizes the scorching, torrid heat which brings about famine. If the rain continues not, the maize-plant, the young heart of which is green as jadeite, and from which the golden maize will emerge later, may perish. Finally the worshipper (?) states that he will remain unsatisfied until the plumed and full-grown plant, symbolic of the warrior and all that he fights for, has come to fruition.
My reading of this song differs considerably from those of other authorities, but I may, perhaps, be pardoned if I say that I prefer my own elucidation as at least more circumstantial and more in line with the facts of Mexican belief.
FESTIVAL
Tlacaxipeuliztli.—The best description of this festival is that of Sahagun (bk. ii, c. xxi) who tells us that on the last day of the month of that name the Mexicans celebrated a solemn festival to Xipe and Uitzilopochtli. On the afternoon of the day prior to that on which the feast was to take place they held a solemn areyto, or dance, and they watched all the night in the temple called calpulco51 with those who were to be sacrificed on the morrow. They