FESTIVALS
Nauollin.—One of the feasts of the Sun-god was held at the ceremony known as nauollin (the “four motions,” alluding to the quivering appearance of the sun’s rays) in the Quauhquauhtinchan (House of the Eagles), an armoury set apart for the military order of that name. The warriors gathered in this hall for the purpose of dispatching a messenger to their lord the sun. High up on the wall of the principal court was a great symbolic representation of the orb, painted upon a brightly coloured cotton hanging. Before this copal and other fragrant gums and spices were burned four times a day. The victim, a war-captive, was placed at the foot of a long staircase leading up to the stone on which he was to be sacrificed. He was clothed in red striped with white and wore white plumes in his hair—colours symbolical of the sun—while he bore a staff decorated with feathers and a shield covered with tufts of cotton. He also carried a bundle of eagle’s feathers and some paint on his shoulders, to enable the