Al segundo mes llamaban tlacaxipehualiztli. En el primero día deste mes hacían una fiesta a honra del dios llamado Tótec, y por otro nombre se llamaba Xipe, donde mataban y desollaban muchos esclavos y captivos.
\nA los captivos que mataban arrancábanlos los cabellos de la coronilla y guardábanlos los mismos amos, como por reliquias. Esto hacían en el calpul, delante del fuego. Cuando llevaban los señores de los cativos a sus esclavos al templo donde los habían de matar, llevábanlos por los cabellos. Y cuando los subían por las gradas del cu, algunos de los captivos desmayaban, y sus dueños los subían arrastrando por los cabellos hasta el taxón\ndonde habían de morir. Llegándolos al taxón, que era una piedra de tres palmos de alto o poco más, y dos de ancho, o casi, echábanlos sobre ella de espaldas y tomábanlos cinco, dos por las piernas y dos por los brazos y uno por la cabeza. Y venía luego el sacerdote que le había de matar, y dábale con ambas manos con una piedra de pedernal, hecha a manera de hierro de lanzón, por los pechos, y por el agujero que hacía metía la mano y\narrancábale el corazón, y luego le ofrecía al Sol. Echábale en una xícara.
\nDespués de haberles sacado el corazón, y después de haber echado la sangre en una xícara, la cual recebía el señor del mismo muerto, echaban el cuerpo a rodar por las gradas abaxo del cu. Iba a parar en una placeta abaxo; de allí le tomaban unos viejos que llamaban cuacuacuilti y le llevaban a su calpul, donde le despedazaban y le repartían para comer.
\nAntes que hiciesen pedazos a los cativos, los desollaban y otros vestían sus pellejos y escaramuzaban con ellos con otros mancebos, como cosa de guerra, y se prendían los unos a los otros. Después de lo arriba dicho, mataban otros captivos, peleando con ellos y estando ellos atados por medio del cuerpo con una soga que salía\npor el ojo de una muela como de molino, y era tan larga que podía a andar por toda la circunferencia de la piedra, y dábanle sus armas con que pelease, y venían contra él cuatro con espadas y rodelas, y uno a uno se acuchillaban con él hasta que le vencían, etcétera.
\n|Cuenta deste calendario | Cuenta del calendario romano
\n|----|----|\n|1 d |d 22 Cathedra Sancti Petri. \t\t\t\t\n|2 e |e 23 \t\t\t\t\n|3 f |f 24 \t\t\t\t\n|4 g |g 25\n|5 A |A 26 \t\t\t\t\n|6 b |b 27 \t\t\t\t\n|7 c |c 28\n|8 d |d 1 Martius habet dies XXXI \t\t\t\t\n|9 e |e 2 \t\t\t\t\n|10 f |f 3\n|11 g |g 4 \t\t\t\t\n|12 A |A 5 \t\t\t\t\n|13 b |b 6\t \t\n|14 c |c 7 \t\t\t\t\n|15 d |d 8\n|16 e |e 9 \t\t\t\t\n|17 f |f 10 \t\t\t\t\n|18 g |g 11\t
\n|19 A |A 12 \t\t\t\t\n|20 b |b 13 Leandri archiepi et conf.
They called the second month Tlacaxipehualiztli. On the first day of this month, they would celebrate a festival in honor of the god called Totec, by any other name called Xipe, during which they would kill and skin many captives and slaves.
\nThey would tear the hair off the crowns of the captives’ heads whom they killed, and the owners themselves would keep these, as if relics. They would do this at the calpolli,2 in front of the fire. When the captives’ lords would take their slaves to the temple where they were to be killed, they would drag them by the hair. And some of the captives would faint as they were being taken up the steps of the cu,3 and their owners would drag them up by their hair toward the sacrificial stone where they were to die. When they reached the sacrificial stone—which was a stone three hands in height, or a little more, and two hands wide, or almost—they would throw [the captives] on their backs on top of it, while five [men] would hold them—two by the legs, two by the arms, and one by the head. Then4 the priest who was about to kill him5 would come and strike him on the chest with a flint rock—held in both hands—which had the shape of an an iron spearhead. He would then put his hand through the hole that he had made and tear out his heart, which he would then offer to the sun. He would throw it in a jícara.6 After having taken out their hearts, and after having poured the blood in a jícara that the lord of the dead [captive] would receive, they would toss the body to roll down the steps of the cu. It would come to a stop in the small plaza below; some elders whom they called cuacuacuiltin7 would take it from there and carry it to their calpolli, where they would dismember it and divide it up to be eaten. Before dismembering the captives, they would skin them; and some would put on their skins and, dressed in them, skirmish with other young men in a mock battle, in which they would capture each other. After what has been described above had taken place, they would kill other captives, fighting with them while [the captives] were tied by the waist with a rope that passed through the eye of a round stone that was like a millstone and that was long enough for him to walk around the stone’s entire circumference. And they would give him his weapons to use for fighting, while four [warriors] would come against him armed with swords and shields; and one by one, they would exchange knife8 blows with him until they were able to defeat him, et cetera.
\n|Cuenta deste calendario | Cuenta del calendario romano
\n|----|----|\n|1 d |d 22 Cathedra Sancti Petri. \t\t\t\t\n|2 e |e 23 \t\t\t\t\n|3 f |f 24 \t\t\t\t\n|4 g |g 25\n|5 A |A 26 \t\t\t\t\n|6 b |b 27 \t\t\t\t\n|7 c |c 28\n|8 d |d 1 Martius habet dies XXXI \t\t\t\t\n|9 e |e 2 \t\t\t\t\n|10 f |f 3\n|11 g |g 4 \t\t\t\t\n|12 A |A 5 \t\t\t\t\n|13 b |b 6\t \t\n|14 c |c 7 \t\t\t\t\n|15 d |d 8\n|16 e |e 9 \t\t\t\t\n|17 f |f 10 \t\t\t\t\n|18 g |g 11\t
\n|19 A |A 12 \t\t\t\t\n|20 b |b 13 Leandri archiepi et conf.
Marginal note: Cathedra Sancti Petri ([Feast] of the Chair of Saint Peter).↩
Calpolli, or calpulli, means “big house.” In this book, it usually refers to the temple of the local barrio, or clan ward.↩
cu: the temple. Sahagún, like other sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers, uses the word cu to describe the pyramid temples of Mexico. The word cu comes from the Yucatec Maya word for “temple,” today called k’ult naaj, or “house of divinities.” The Nahuatl term teocalli has the same meaning. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, when describing the Maya stone temples on Isla Mujeres, where the Spaniards first heard the term, said that the word cúes refers to the stone-built “casas de ídolos.” Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera (1939), 1:125.↩
Marginal note: Martius habet dies XXXI (March has thirty-one days).↩
“Him”: Note that the plural captives now changes to singular.↩
jícara: bowl; a Hispanicized form of the Nahuatl word xicalli.↩
cuacuacuiltin: From cuacuilli, a term that may mean “grabber of heads.” The cuacuacuiltin were elder priests, specialized in different functions both at the calmecac (priestly school) and during public ceremonies, such as the one described here.↩
Marginal note: Leandri archiepi et conf. ([Feast] of Leander the Archbishop and his companions). The marginal notes attempt to provide equivalents from the calendar of saints and their feast days with the Nahua calendar.↩
The second month they named Tlacaxipeualiztli. On the first day of this month they celebrated a feast in honor of the god called Totec—[or], as another name, called Xipe—when they slew and flayed many slaves and captives.
\nFrom the captives whom they were to slay the owners themselves tore off the hair of the crowns of their heads and kept it as a relic. This they did in the calpulco before the fire.
\nWhen the masters of the captives took their slaves to the temple where they were to slay them, they took them by the hair. And when they took them up the steps of the pyramid, some of the captives swooned, and their masters pulled them up and dragged them by the hair to the sacrificial stone where they were to die.
\nHaving brought them to the sacrificial stone, which was a stone of three hands in height, or a little more, and two in width,1 or almost, they threw them upon it, on their backs, and five [priests] seized them—two by the legs, two by the arms, and one by the head; and then came the priest who was to kill him. And he struck him with a flint [knife], held in both hands and made in the manner of a large lance head, between the breasts. And into the gash which he made, he thrust his hand and tore from [the victim] his heart; and then he offered it to the sun and cast it into a gourd vessel.
\nAfter having torn their hearts from them and poured the blood into a gourd vessel, which the master of the slain man himself received, they started the body rolling down the pyramid steps. It came to rest upon a small square below. There some old men, whom they called Quaquacuiltin, laid hold of it and carried it to their calpulco, where they dismembered it and divided it up in order to eat it.
\nBefore they dismembered the captives, they flayed them; and others put on the skins, and, [wearing them,] fought mock fights with other youths, as if it were a war. And those [of one band] took captive [those of] the other [band].
\nAfter what hath been set forth above, they slew other captives, battling with them—these being tied, by the waist, with a rope which passed through the socket of a round stone, as of a mill; and [the rope] was long enough so that [the captive] might walk about the complete circumference of the stone. And they gave him arms with which he might do battle; and four warriors came against him with swords and shields, and one by one they exchanged sword blows with him until they vanquished him. Etc.
\nActually a palmo, according to the Diccionario de la lengua española of the Real Academia Española, is equal to one-quarter of a vara; divided into twelve equal parts (dedos or fingers), it is the equivalent of about 21 cm or about eight and one-quarter inches.↩