The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

280 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)each other, and was crushed by them as they fell together. Hisremains were buried, and a feast and dance followed. Thissacrifice was known as “the meeting of the stones.” 729 “Tlalocwas worshipped in Mexico as the god of the thunder and thestorm which precedes the fertilising rain; elsewhere his wifeXochiquetzal, who at Tlaxcallan was called Matlalcuéyé or theLady of the Blue Petticoats, shared these honours, and it wasto her that many countries in Central America particularly paidtheir devotions. Every year, at the time when the cobs of thestill green and milky maize are about to coagulate and ripen,they used to sacrifice to the goddess four young girls, chosenamong the noblest families of the country; they were deckedout in festal attire, crowned with flowers, and conveyed inrich palanquins to the brink of the hallowed waters, where thesacrifice was to be offered. The priests, clad in long floatingrobes, their heads encircled with feather crowns, marched infront of the litters carrying censers with burning incense. Thetown of Elopango, celebrated for its temple, was near the lakeof the same name, the etymology of which refers to the sheavesof tender maize (elotl, ‘sheaf of tender maize’). It was dedicatedto the goddess Xochiquetzal, to whom the young victims wereoffered by being hurled from the top of a rock into the abyss.At the moment of consummating this inhuman rite, the priestsaddressed themselves in turn to the four virgins in order to banishthe fear of death from their minds. They drew for them a brightpicture of the delights they were about to enjoy in the companyof the gods, and advised them not to forget the earth whichthey had left behind, but to entreat the divinity, to whom theydespatched them, to bless the forthcoming harvest.” 730 We have729 Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et del'Amérique Centrale (Paris, 1857-1859), i. 274; H. H. Bancroft, Native Racesof the Pacific States (London, 1875-1876), ii. 340.730 Brasseur de Bourbourg, “Aperçus d'un voyage dans les États de San-Salvador et de Guatemala,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris),