CHAPTER 2 LATE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICA 109stone, jade, or turquoise. Deities included the rain god, Dzahui, the Mixtec version
of the Nahua deity Tlaloc and the Mayan deity Chac, and the god of merchants,
Xiton or Xitondodzo. In many Mixtec communities there may have also been a male
deity for the men and a female deity for the women. Moreover, there were numer-
ous local deities associated with specific towns or regions.
The spirits of deceased ancestors of ruling families also played important roles
in the Mixtec belief system. Sacred places included temples and shrines associated
with royal palaces and civic centers as well as spiritually significant natural places
(e.g., caves and mountaintops) away from population centers. These remote locations
often were the places where the founders of Mixtec dynasties were believed to have
emerged miraculously from natural features like trees and stones. The mummy bun-
dles of these divine ancestors were often kept in nearby caves, and periodically, royal
families and their entourages would make pilgrimages to these sacred sites to honor
their ancestors.
Humans were expected to respect nature and the spirit world, and they had to
carry out appropriate activities—rituals, offerings, and sacrifices—in order to main-
tain the proper balance among humans, nature, and supernatural forces. Proper rit-
ual activities were carried out in the household and in the community.
Mixtec creation myths reflect the link between humans and the natural world.
The Mixtec ancestors emerged from the earth itself, from the underworld, a stream,
or the roots of trees (see the account from the Codex Vienna below). In contrast to
other Mesoamerican groups, Mixtec origin stories did not involve multiple human
creations or the cyclical creation and destruction of previous worlds. The origin myth
presented in the Codex Vienna to follow, explains the creation of the Mixtec’s su-
pernatural, natural, and cultural features.
Beginning in the celestial realm, ritual and ceremony existed before anything
else. Then a primordial couple, Lord One Deer and Lady One Deer performed a se-
ries of rituals that culminated in the creation of a number of natural and cultural fea-
tures. Eventually, as other beings continued to make offerings, the Mixtec culture
hero, Lord Nine Wind (the Mixtec equivalent of the Aztec Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl) was
born (see Figure 6.5). Lord Nine Wind is credited with bringing into being the ac-
couterments of political authority: features like royal costumes and the staff of office
that would serve the later Mixtec rulers. He also brought over 200 towns and villages
into being, including many that would figure in later Mixtec history. He created im-
portant spiritual beings, and he caused the first humans to be born from a tree, in-
cluding certain lineage ancestors. Lord Nine Wind and his human creations
continued to make offerings that led to the creation of additional humans and nat-
ural features as well as deities, sacred architecture, and ritual activities. Finally, the
sun rose after Lord Nine Wind’s work was finished. In the final section of the Vi-
enna, the Mixtec world was organized, political units were established, and founda-
tion rituals were carried out, setting the stage for and legitimizing subsequent dynastic
authority (from Boone 2000:89–96).
Like other peoples of Mesoamerica, the Mixtecs used the 260-day ritual calendar
and the 365-day solar calendar. For the 260-day ritual calendar, the Mixtecs recog-