General.—As second member of the third row in Codex Borgia, Vaticanus B, and Fejérváry-Mayer, he is recognized by his red body and face-painting, and flame-coloured hair bound up by a jewelled chain or strap, with the conventional bird figure on the frontal side.
WALL-PAINTINGS
Several lively paintings decorate the friezes executed on the walls of the palaces at Mitla, where the insignia of the god are given in the manner familiar throughout Mexico. The fillet with the bird’s-head frontal ornament, the peculiar disposition of the panache, and the necklace typical of the deity are all reproduced, and here serve to prove the widespread character of his worship.
MYTHS
The myths dealing with the origin of the sun and the several epochs in which he reappeared under different forms have already been given in the chapter on Cosmogony, and in the précis of the opening chapters of the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas. The myths relating to his paradise have also been dealt with in that chapter.
The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A says:
“It was Tonatiuh they affirm who conducted to heaven the souls of those alone who died in war; and on this account they paint him with these arms in his hands. He sits as a conqueror, exactly opposite to the other who is near him, who is god of hell. They allege that the cause of winter being so disagreeable is the absence of the sun, and that summer is delightful on account of its presence; and that the return of the sun from our zenith is nothing more than the approach of their god to confer his favours on them.”