Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/123

Rh laid on the pillow of a baby-boy, to signify that he was born to be a warrior. In this same way a tiny spindle and distaff were given to a girl-baby, to show that her business in life was to spin, weave and provide for a family. A stone mortar and pestle were buried under the family grindstone, where the mother ground corn to ensure plenty, of food in store for her daughter, while the bow and arrows given to her little brother were in due time buried in the fields where it was expected he would some day fight. By this ceremony it was supposed that he would be made successful as a warrior.

A boy who lived to grow up and make a figure in the world was named three times. When years had passed, if he survived the fasts and penances by which he was initiated into the ranks of the priests or the warriors, or when, as a common soldier, he found glory on some bloody battlefield, he had a new name given to him, by which he was ever afterward known. Any remarkable circumstance in a man's life was apt to be commemorated in this way. This is a very old custom, and is often described in the Bible. Thus, Abram and Sarai were renamed Abraham and Sarah in their old age, because God at that time covenanted to make them the parents of a great nation. When Jacob struggled all night by the ford Jabbok, God said, "Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and hast prevailed." The name "Hungry Fox" was given in this way to the most famous of all the chiefs of Anahuac as a memorial of the years of distress and privation through which he passed before he reached his high position. The Aztec "chief-of-men" had a third name, which well expressed his gloomy,