There is evidence, however, that the feathered serpent
did not occupy the paramount place in the Toltec-Maya
pantheon. Not infrequently, what seems to be a supreme
deity is depicted seated on a low throne-bench in the shape
of a jaguar before a giant sun disk designed in the manner
of central Mexico. This theme demonstrates the preoccupa-
tion of Toltec-Maya religion with the sun, which is presum-
ably also the main concern of the ritual ball game. Based on
central Mexican analogies, long rows of reliefs of strangely
reclined warriors have been interpreted in relation to the sun
cult: the sun that passed beneath the earth during the night
had to be revived every morning through rituals executed by
the warriors.
To the water deities was directed a special cult peculiar
to Chichén Itzá: on certain occasions, human beings were
thrown into the sacred cenote (natural well) and drowned to
appease the rain gods or to act as intermediaries between
them and men. The continuing belief in the old Maya water
god Chac is clearly visible in the large masks with elongated
noses that adorn the corners and facades of most temples,
sometimes together with the bird-snake-man motif.
A great variety of human sacrifice was practiced among
the Toltec-Maya, in contrast to earlier Maya times. The
sheer quantity of victims, whose skulls were displayed on spe-
cial racks, is impressive. Striking, too, is the constant pres-
ence of the death symbol on buildings, as well as on warriors’
clothing. The act of human sacrifice is frequently depicted,
not only in the metaphorical form of wild beasts (symboliz-
ing warriors) feeding on human hearts but also in naturalistic
representations found on the interior walls of temples and
along the field of the ball court. In the latter, the decapitation
of the leader of the losing team is depicted. The rubber ball
of the game in this scene is a symbol of glorious death, and
snakes emerging from the victim’s neck symbolize precious
blood.
These are examples of the abundant metaphorical mo-
tifs, also seen in the chacmools and the images of feathered
serpents, whose interpretation is fraught with difficulties.
Chichén Itzá clearly presents a syncretic religion in which the
veneration of old Maya water gods mingles with foreign
solar-astral ideas. Everything points to the martial rituals as
being associated with the elite warrior group, or “Toltecs,”
whereas the cult of the water deities is likely to have been
connected with the commoners, the Maya farmers.
TOLTECS OF TOLLAN XICOCOTITLAN. Although identified
by Jiménez Moreno with Tula de Allende, the famous Tollan
Xicocotitlan referred to in colonial sources is not this town
alone. As epithet or name, the word Tollan has been used to
designate other famous cities, and the description of this Tol-
lan corresponds—if to any place on earth at all—more to
Classic Teotihuacan than to Tula de Allende. As described
in the written sources, Tollan Xicocotitlan was a sort of para-
dise. Thanks to their prudence, the inhabitants of Tollan
possessed everything they needed in abundance, including
maize and cotton, precious stones, and gold.
They worshiped only one god, whom they called Quet-
zalcoatl (“quetzal-feathered serpent”), a name also given to
the highest priest of the deity. This god did not require any
sumptuous service and reportedly abhorred human sacrifice
(although scholars believe that these accounts were designed
to please the Spanish missionaries and divert from historical
truth). People were admonished to offer their god only ser-
pents, flowers, and butterflies. They considered their incom-
parable wisdom, science, skill, and arts as emanating from
their god and strictly obeyed the orders given by Quetzal-
coatl and voiced by his priest. The god, resembling a mon-
ster, lay like a fallen rock, as one source says, in his temple
on the top of a tall pyramid. He had a long beard. He—or
perhaps his priest—repeatedly made autosacrifice by bleed-
ing himself with sharp thorns, thus becoming a prototype for
all later priests in central Mexico.
This account, given to the sixteenth-century Spanish
missionary and historian Bernardino de Sahagún by educat-
ed Indians, is incompatible in its details not only with the
ecological situation of Tula but also with a warrior-
dominated society like that of archaeological Tula. It seems
to correspond to earlier times, when the idea of a divine
feathered serpent was developed or introduced in Teotihua-
can iconography and later refined and elaborated in places
like Xochicalco and Cacaxtla. On the other hand, Sahagún
and other sources tell the story of a famous ruler of Tollan
Xicocotitlan, who, confusingly enough, bore the title of
Quetzalcoatl in addition to his personal name Topiltzin
(“our beloved prince”) and the name of the date of his birth,
Ce Acatl. Details of his origin, genealogy, and life are contra-
dictory. He may have belonged to the Nonoalca, the cultur-
ally (and perhaps politically) dominant group of multiethnic
Tollan Xicocotitlan. Scholars assume that the Nonoalca mi-
grated from the southern Veracruz region, where they had
been in contact with a more sophisticated civilization, which
would explain their opinion of themselves and of Quetzal-
coatl as the incarnation of cultural superiority.
One of the more important virtues of the people of Tol-
lan Xicocotitlan was their forthrightness. According to
Sahagún, they spoke thus: “It is so, it is true, yes, no.” But
the very personification of their integrity— Topiltzin him-
self, the Quetzalcoatl—was attacked by three demons, two
of them bearing the names of later, Aztec deities (Huitz-
ilopochtli and Titlacahuan, that is, Tezcatlipoca), although
they do not seem to have been identical with them. One
should refrain from interpreting this incident as the mythic
rendering of an antagonistic struggle between divine princi-
ples or between two religious factions practicing and oppos-
ing human sacrifice. Topiltzin was eventually overthrown,
and consequently one disaster after the other befell his city.
Finally he had to gather his followers and leave the place. It
is generally accepted that part of the story reflects internal
dissent in Xicocotitlan between Nonoalca and Tolteca-
Chichimeca, another constituent ethnic group.
From here on, history once more becomes legend. On
his flight, Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl worked miracles in manyTOLTEC RELIGION 9223