The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations Part 3

18, I, II, III, VI, VII and VIII. They will be found to consist of variations of two fundamental types, often figured alongside of each other and enclosed in a square, or circle. One type consists of two diagonally crossed bars, plain or representing cross bones (I). A rectilinear cross with interlaced circle (II) is also found. The other type exhibits a small cross, square, circle or dot in the centre of the square with a circle in each corner. In some cases these are united by a series of dots to the central circle and thus form a diagonal cross (VI and VIII) which is sometimes figured as contained in a flower with four petals, such as is also found in Mexican symbolism. The diagonal, dotted cross is frequently combined with four pairs of black bars, placed in the middle of each side of the square, pointing towards the centre. Similar pairs of black bars are figured in the B. N. MS. (p. 3) on the manta of Mictlantecuhtli, with stars, around one of his symbols, a spider. They likewise recur on two of several sacrificial papers on p. 69, amongst which one exhibits a diagonal cross, another the S-sign, while others display realistic drawings of stars with six or eight points.

The pairs of bars figure in the hieroglyph designated by Maya scholars as the sign for _Kin_, the sun, which may be seen in the centre of large diagonal cross-symbols in fig. 18, VII, VIII, from the Dresden Codex: The cross, of fig. 18, VII, is composed of two bones and two arrowpoints, a particularly interesting combination considering that in the Maya a bone is _bak_, an arrow is _kab-cheil_ and the name given to the G.o.ds of the four quarters "the sustainers of the world," is _Bakab_. It cannot be denied that the phonetic elements of this name occur in the words for bones and arrows which form the cross, symbolic of the four quarters. In fig. 18, VIII, the cross may be composed of four bones, but of this I am not certain. In both cases, however, the crosses rest on a curious double and parti-colored symbol and are a.s.sociated with serpent signs, in which the open jaws and teeth are prominent features. It is noteworthy that while "can" or "cam" is the Maya for serpent, the word "camach" means jaw.

The figure consisting of the upper jaw only of a serpent, in the left hand corner of the band above, fig. 18, VIII, proves, therefore, to be a cursive phonetic sign for serpent.

The parti-colored symbol combined with the cross obviously signifies a duality, such as light and darkness, the Above and the Below and a series of dualities-possibly the two divisions of the year, the dry and rainy seasons. In Mexico we are authorized by doc.u.mentary evidence, to give a wider and deeper interpretation to the symbol of duality, for it can be absolutely proven that the Mexican philosophers divided the heavens into two imaginary portions, and respectively identified these with the male and female principles.

In Nahuatl the West was designated as Cihuatlampa, "the place or part of the women." The souls of the women who had earned immortality were supposed to dwell there, whilst the souls of the men resided in the East.

In the appendix to book III of Sahagun's Historia, it is described how, according to the native belief, the souls of the male warriors hailed the daily appearance of the sun above the eastern horizon, and escorted it to Nepantla, the zenith. Here the souls of the women awaited it and a.s.sumed the duty of escorting the sun to the western horizon, the symbol for which was calli=the house. The above pa.s.sage indicates that the native philosophers imagined across the middle of the sky a line of demarcation, separating the portions of the heaven respectively allotted to the male and female souls. For four years after death these souls retained their human form, and then, after pa.s.sing through nine successive heavens, entered into the celestial paradise where they a.s.sumed the forms of different kinds of b.u.t.terflies and humming-birds. The names of these are enumerated in the Nahuatl text of Sahagun's Laurentian MS. (book III).(5) The symbolism of the humming-bird has already been explained by a pa.s.sage cited from Gomara's Historia. In this connection it is extremely interesting to find the humming-bird represented in the B. N. MS., as sucking honey from a flower, which is attached by a cord, covered with bird's down, to a bone, the symbol of death.

This peculiar but expressive group of symbols figures only on the head-dresses of deities wearing certain other symbols, amongst which we find the Eca-cozcatl and Eca-xonequilli the image of Ursa Minor, already described.

The merest indication of the a.s.sociation of a circ.u.mpolar constellation with the idea of death (disappearance) and resurrection (re-appearance) is of special interest, since the ancient Mexicans located the Underworld, the "place of the dead," in the North. Reflection showed, however, that such an a.s.sociation could only have suggested itself to the minds of star-observers living in southern lat.i.tudes, approximate to the equator, or in localities where the northern horizon was more or less shut off from view by intervening mountains. In such places Polaris would appear comparatively close to the boundary-line of the northern sky so that the Ursa constellations and Ca.s.siopeia would be invisible to the local astronomers at midnight during that period of the year when one or the other of the star-groups seemingly stretched between Polaris and the northern horizon. A glance at plate I shows that, at the present time, it is about the period of the autumnal equinox that Ursa Minor would be invisible at midnight, in such localities, while Ursa Major would gradually disappear from view towards midnight, during a certain number of nights, according to lat.i.tude and locality, between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice whilst Ca.s.siopeia would seem to hover above the horizon. The total or partial alternate periodical disappearance of the two most familiar star-groups in the extreme North and their re-appearance after sometimes regular intervals of time could but have made a profound impression upon primitive astronomers and thinkers. Whilst the mere periodical reversal of the positions of Ca.s.siopeia and Ursa Major suggested alternate victory and defeat, the actual though brief and partial disappearance of either star-group must have appeared to be a descent into an under-ground s.p.a.ce, a.s.sociated with darkness and death, followed by a resurrection. In his Cronica, Tezozomoc records, besides Mictlan (the land of the dead), another name for the underworld, Opochcal-ocan, literally, the place of the house to the left. This appellation can only be understood when it is realized that, in a sufficiently southern lat.i.tude, an observer, watching the setting of a circ.u.mpolar constellation below the horizon, would always see it disappear to his left and subsequently rise to his right. It is evident that in time this fact would give rise to the a.s.sociation of the left with the underworld, the lower region, and the right with the region above. The native idea of a dwelling in the underworld is further demonstrated by the bestowal of the symbol _calli_=house, upon the western horizon below which all heavenly bodies were seen to disappear. A definite connection between the West and one half of the North being thus established, it would naturally result that a corresponding union of the South and East would be thought of in time, and that these quarters would become a.s.sociated with the rising of celestial bodies, _i. e._, with light, the Above, while the opposite quarters became identified with their setting, _i. e._, with darkness, the Below.

Pausing to review the foregoing conclusions, which I have shown to be the natural and inevitable result of simple but prolonged astronomical studies, observation and plain reasoning, we see that they led to a conception of the Cosmos as divided into seven parts, _i. e._, the fixed Centre, the pivot, primarily suggested by Polaris who was regarded as the creative, generative and ruling power of the universe; the Four Quarters, seemingly ruled by the central force and a.s.sociated with the elements; the Above and the Below, suggested by the rising and setting of celestial bodies and a.s.sociated with light and darkness, sky and earth, etc., etc.

Many of my readers will doubtless recognize at once that the above organization of the Cosmos into the Centre or Middle, the Above and the Below, and the Four Quarters, is precisely that which the Zuni priests taught Mr. Frank Cushing, when they initiated him into their secret beliefs. Other explorers have recorded the same conception amongst different native American tribes and with these proofs that this set of ideas is still held on our Continent at the present time, I point out the fact that the Maya figures (fig. 18, VII and VIII, from the Dresden Codex) become perfectly intelligible only when interpreted as representing the Centre, the Four Quarters, the Above and the Below, the latter figured by the dark and light halves of the dual sign. Furthermore, I can demonstrate that this fundamental set of elementary, abstract ideas, furnishing the first principles of organization, is plainly visible under the surface of the ancient Mexican civilization and can be traced not only in Yucatan and Central America, but also in Peru. In these countries, as I shall show, it a.s.sumed an absolute dominion over the minds of the native sages, directly suggesting the forms of government and social organization existing at the time of the Conquest and faintly surviving to the present day. It entirely controlled the development of aboriginal religious cult and philosophical speculations and pervaded not only the native architecture and decorative art, but also all superst.i.tious rites and ceremonies, and entered into the very games and pastimes of the people.

The following table presents the bare outline of the scheme of organization exposed in the preceding text. In making it I have, after due consideration, definitely adopted the a.s.signment of the Mexican symbols and colors to the cardinal points given by Friar Duran in the Calendar-swastika contained in his atlas and reproduced (pl. II, _g_).

Each of these is North; West; South; then East.

Symbols: Tecpatl, Flint; Calli, House; Acatl, Cane; Tochtli, Rabbit.

Colors: Red; Yellow; Blue; Green.

Elements: Fire; Earth; Air; Water.

Warmth; Darkness; Breath; Rain.

Together, North and West are The Below, the "female" region.

TEZCATLIPOCA=MICTLANTECUHTLI.

South and East are The Above, the "male" region, HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

Combined, they are The Centre.

The dual, generative, ruling and directive Force.

QUETZALCOATL.

The Divine Twin.

Before proceeding to examine more closely the great edifice of human thought which was reared, in the course of centuries, on the ground plan designated above, we must retrace our steps and consider what a deep impression the gradual realization of the changes in the relative positions of Polaris and certain familiar star-groups must have produced upon those who were the first to realize them. Transporting ourselves back to the gray dawn of civilization, let us endeavor to understand the position of the native priest astronomers who, having received and transmitted a set of religious and cosmical ideas, based on the a.s.sumption of the absolute and eternal immutability of the centre of the heaven, Polaris, gradually became aware that it also was subject to change, evidently obeyed an unseen higher power and that the ancient order of things, recorded by their predecessors, had actually pa.s.sed away.

It is obvious that, in all centres of astronomical observation and intellectual culture, a complete revolution of fundamental doctrine or thought must have taken place. A period of painful misgivings and doubt must have been pa.s.sed through, during which an earnest and anxious observation of all celestial bodies must have seemed imperative and obligatory. Under such circ.u.mstances astronomy must have made great strides and astronomical observation become the foremost and highest duty of the intellectual leaders of the native races. Pyramids and temples would be built for the purpose of verifying and recording the positions of sun, moon, planets and stars, and the orientation of these buildings would be carefully planned accordingly. Before obtaining glimpses of the great evolution of religious thought which progressed on our Continent in olden times, it is well to realize, by means of Piazzi Smyth's map (fig. 6) that the world ceased to possess a brilliantly conspicuous, absolutely immovable pole-star for a prolonged period of time, stretching somewhere between 500 B.C. and 1200 A.D.

The ancient native chronicles record that under "divine" leadership great migrations of tribes took place within this period, the purpose of which was to find a locality which fulfilled certain ardently-desired conditions connected with religious cult.

From various centres of civilization in Mexico and Central America we also hear different accounts of how, at different times, small bands of earnest men, under a leader of superior intelligence, bent on a peaceable but unexplained errand, arrived from distant regions and departed for an unknown goal, after delaying just long enough to teach social organization and impart a higher civilization to the tribes encountered on their pa.s.sage.

These preserved the memory of the _t.i.tle_ of the leader, in their different languages and he became the culture-hero of their tribe. The fact that, in each case, these sages taught the ignorant tribes the division of time and inst.i.tuted the calendar, proves that they were skilled in astronomy.

From a sentence uttered by Montezuma to the native astronomers whom he termed "the Sons of the Night," we learn that it was their custom "to climb mountains" so as "to study the stars." When one considers the full import of the problems which had to be faced by these ancient sages, who earnestly endeavored to account for the great changes which had taken place in the heavens, within the memory of man, it seems natural to suppose that many an expedition was undertaken for the purpose of acquiring further astronomical knowledge, of finding, perhaps, the immovable star which had been revered in past ages by the ancestors of the native race.

The cult of Polaris may well have made such expeditions a.s.sume the aspect of an imperative religious duty and sacred pilgrimage. As all expeditions across Mexico and Central America would necessarily be limited by the oceans and be fruitless as far as Polaris was concerned, it is obvious that the line of exploration which would be ultimately adopted, would run from south to north and _vice versa_. A small band of enthusiasts, setting forth under the leadership of some of the most advanced thinkers of the time, would undoubtedly have been prepared to devote their entire lives to the object in view. As long as a single member of such an expedition existed, he would be a powerful and active agent in spreading the fundamental set of ideas derived from the observation of Polaris. In lapse of time, by transmission, its influence might travel to a region too remote perhaps for direct contact to have taken place.

If I have indulged in the foregoing line of conjecture and surmise, it is because it is my purpose also to demonstrate, by absolute proof, that the dominion of the above set of ideas extended over Yucatan, Honduras, Guatemala and even reached Peru, where its influence is distinctly visible.

It also extended far to the north in prehistoric times, for certain carved sh.e.l.l-gorgets which have been found in prehistoric graves in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee exhibit emblems which have definite meanings in the Maya language, spoken in Yucatan.

In order to maintain this a.s.sertion I must make a slight digression from the main subject and revert to the myth already cited, recording the casting down from heaven of Tezcatlipoca who arose and ascended again in the form of an ocelot. There are interesting native pictures of this combat and the fall of the ocelot in the Vatican Codex II, p. 34, the Fejervary Codex, p. 56, and others equally important, representing the fall or descent of an eagle from the sky, to which I shall revert.

It is moreover recorded by Mendieta (p. 82) that Tezcatlipoca likewise descended or let himself down from the sky by a spider's thread, and in the Bodleian MS. (p. 12) there are two curious pictures one of an ocelot and a cobweb, the other of an ocelot, descending head foremost from stars.

The same incident is also pictured in the Vienna Codex (p. 9) where the ocelot, attached by the tail, is connected by a cord with star-emblems.

There are two facts of special interest in regard to the above descent of Tezcatlipoca by a spider's thread. The first is that the t.i.tle Tzontemoc="he who descends head foremost" is recorded in the Codex Fuenleal immediately after the name Mictlantecuhtli. The second is that the spider is figured on the manta of Mictlantecuhtli in the B. N. MS. and is sculptured in the centre, above his forehead, in his sculptured image, identified as such by Senor Sanchez (a.n.a.les del Museo Nacional III, p.

299) and reproduced here (fig. 19). It represents "the lord of the North or Underworld" descending, head foremost, with a tecpatl or flint knife issuing from his mouth and with outspread limbs, the outlines of which are almost lost under the mult.i.tude of symbols which are grouped around him.

These symbols are carefully a.n.a.lyzed in my commentary on the B. N. MS. in which I also describe other known carved representations of the same conception and point out a.n.a.logous pictures in the Maya Codices. The position of the limbs of the descending figure is best understood by a glance at fig. 20, II, from the Dresden Codex. It represents a bar with cross symbols from which a human body is descending. The feet rest on dual symbols, about which more could be written than the scope of the present paper allows. A tecpatl or flint knife, attached to the body by a double bow with ends, may be seen between the dual symbols, and its presence is of utmost importance since it proves that the Mayas also a.s.sociated the flint with the same figure. Instead of a head the body exhibits a sort of equidistant cross with four circles. Strange to say, the only a.n.a.logous cross-figures I have been able to find in all the Codices are those reproduced in fig. 20, I, III, and IV. The latter exhibits a curious, conventionalized flower growing on the top of a pyramid. Its stem and leaves are painted brown and are spotted, resembling the skin of an ocelot. As there is a Mexican flower, the Tigridia, of which the native name was ocelo-xochitl, it may be that it is this which is thus represented. Fig. 20, III, from the B. N. MS., figures as a sacred cake, alongside of the S-shaped xonecuilli breads which were made in honor of Ursa Minor at a certain feast. Finally, fig. 20, I, represents a certain kind of ceremonial staff which is inserted between the two peaks of a mountain-a favorite method employed by the native scribes, to convey the idea that the object figured was in the exact centre. This kind of staff occurs frequently in certain Codices, sometimes being carried by a high priest. It invariably exhibits a flower-like figure with five circles and is surmounted by a tecpatl or flint knife. Without pausing to discuss the subject fully I merely point out here that, collectively, these symbols explain each other and convey the idea of the Centre and the Four Quarters evidently a.s.sociated with the tecpatl, the symbol of the north, and the ocelot and xonecuilli=Ursa Minor. It is particularly interesting to note that the outspread human body is made to serve as a sort of cross-symbol.

A careful study of the conventional representation of the face of "the lord of the North," in fig. 19, gives the impression that it was also used to convey the idea of duality, or the union of two in one. The upper half of the face exhibits a numeral on either cheek under the eyes, seeming to convey the idea of dualities. The two circular ear ornaments, united by a band above the head, and the two nostrils united in one nose, seem to convey the idea of the union of the dualities, whilst the lower half of the face, which is rendered strikingly different to the upper, by being in higher relief and marked with perpendicular lines, exhibits a mouth from which a flint knife, with symbolical eye and fangs carved on it, is hanging like a tongue. I have already shown that the flint knife was regarded as the sacred producer of the "vital spark." I may add here that I have also found, in the Codices, tecpatl-symbols on which the curved symbol of air or breath was figured. To my idea the sculptured face is meant to symbolize the dual creator, the dispenser of the spark and breath of life, whilst the human skull on his back betokens that he is also the giver of death. Though unable to enter fully into the subject here, I would nevertheless state that I can produce further data to prove that the human face was frequently employed for a symbolical purpose by the native American races who were evidently entirely under the dominion of the idea of duality, of the Above and Below and the life-producing union of both.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Figure 19.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Figure 20.

The question why the spider, named "tocatl" in Nahuatl, should have been adopted as the chief symbol of Mictlantecuhtli, occupied me much until I found the clue to its significance in the Maya language. In this the word for North is _Aman_ and the name for "the spider whose bite is mortal," is _Am_. This striking fact may be interpreted as a positive proof that the spider-symbol, employed by the Mexicans, must have originated in Yucatan, from the mere h.o.m.onymy of two Maya words.

On the other hand sh.e.l.l-gorgets exhibiting the effigy of a spider, and obviously intended to be worn with its head turned downwards, have not only been found in Illinois but also in Tennessee and Missouri. On the gorgets from the latter States a cross is carved on the body of the spider (fig. 22, _a_). As certain spiders exhibit cross-markings, it is, of course, possible that it was chosen as a cross-symbol for this reason only, in some localities, just as the b.u.t.terfly was evidently adopted in Mexico, as an apt image of the Centre and the Four Quarters on account of its shape and its possession of four wings. The conventionalized figure of a b.u.t.terfly, with a star on its body and four b.a.l.l.s, painted with the colors of the quarters, was a sacred symbol which is minutely described by Sahagun and is figured on a manta in the B. N. MS. A glance at its reproduction (fig. 21, no. 13) shows how the form of the insect has been conventionalized so as to resemble the ollin (no. 12) and other Mexican cross-symbols (nos. 2, 4, 11, 14 etc.). The eye or star in its centre, like that in the ollin, and circle (no. 4), signify Polaris; the conventionalized head and antennae are obviously made to convey the idea of "two in one," of the Above and Below united in the Centre.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Figure 21.

I venture to suggest that the dragon-fly was employed as a cross-symbol in an a.n.a.logous manner, on the Algonquin garment preserved at the Riksmuseum, Stockholm, and described by Dr. Hjalmar Stolpe in his admirable study on American art (Amerikansk Ornamentik, Stockholm, 1896, p. 30). As I shall revert to it later on, I now draw special attention to the circ.u.mstance that instead of the cross, on a spider-gorget from Tennessee, there is a round hole which, when the sh.e.l.l-disc is held aloft, lets a ray of light shine through and furnishes an apt presentation of a star. This and the cross furnish a.n.a.logies to the Mexican and Maya symbols of Polaris which are too obvious to need to be emphasized. Nor do these gorgets alone furnish an undeniable indication that an identical symbolism extended from Yucatan to Illinois. Other gorgets, also figured in Mr. Wm. H. Holmes'

monograph "Art in Sh.e.l.l," several of which are in the Peabody Museum, from the stone graves in Tennessee, exhibit variously carved representations of a serpent. In all specimens the identical idea is carried out: the eye of the serpent forms the centre of the design on the disc and four circles on the body of the reptile, or four solid bars, interrupting a hollow line encircling the central motif, emphasized a division of the disc into four equal parts. The idea of the Serpent in repose, the Centre and the Four Quarters is thoroughly carried out and the true meaning of the design is only appreciated by the light of the Maya and Mexican symbolism which has already been so fully discussed.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Figure 22.

The third Tennessee gorget reproduced here (fig. 22, _c_), from Mr.

Holmes' work, exhibits a combination of numerals which is particularly interesting if confronted with the sacred numbers of the Mexicans and Mayas. From a central circle three curved lines issue in a fashion resembling those on fig. 21, no. 2, but the fact that the circular band exhibits seven double circles and the outer edge is divided into thirteen parts, is of special moment. Still another design, on a sh.e.l.l-gorget from Tennessee, not only exhibits the peculiarity, pointed out by Mr. Holmes, of a square with loops, resembling certain figures in Mexican Codices, but also other significant details which I shall point out (fig. 22, _b_). The cross in the centre occupies the centre of a star with eight rays and the four birds' heads at the sides of the square ill.u.s.trate rotation from right to left. I am inclined to view in this gorget an emblem of Polaris with Ca.s.siopeia in rotation around it, figured as a bird, but whether this is the case or not it must be conceded that it is indeed remarkable to find a set of symbols, consisting of the spider, the cross, the serpent and the bird, carved on prehistoric gorgets found in the United States whilst the deep meaning of these identical symbols is furnished by Maya and Mexican records. I venture to remark here that no more expressive and appropriate ornament than these sh.e.l.l-gorgets could have been designed, or worn by the ancient Maya or Mexican priests, prophets and leaders who, in a remote past, had guided themselves by the light of Polaris and inst.i.tuted its cult as the basis of their native religion.

On realizing the above-mentioned ident.i.ty of symbolism, it is impossible not to conclude that the prehistoric race which inhabited certain parts of the United States was under the dominion of the same ideas as were the Mexicans and Mayas. The indications point, in fact, to the probability that the origin of the employment of the spider-symbol originated in Yucatan, and if this be admitted then there is no reason to deny the possibility that the serpent-symbol came from there also, since the Maya language suggests an affinity between the serpent, _can_, and the sky=_caan_, and the numeral 4=_can_. I refrain, for the present, from expressing any final conclusion on this subject, which will doubtless afford ample food for reflection and argument to all interested in the important problem as to where the cradle of ancient American civilization was situated. But these symbolic gorgets go far towards substantiating Professor Putnam's oft-expressed conclusions that the ancient peoples of the central and southern portions of the United States were, to a certain extent, offshoots of the ancient Mexicans.

[Ill.u.s.tration.]