Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/106

74 interesting feature of the ceremonies was the following: In front of the image of the god was a tank of water, containing frogs and snakes. A number of men called Mazateca, perhaps inhabitants of the Mazatec district, tried to seize one of these animals in his mouth, without using his hands, and having succeeded, continued to dance with it in his teeth. The custom has a strange

resemblance to the snake-dance performed by the Pueblo Indians up to the present time.

The other festival was that which occurred every fifty-two years, when the year-date 2. acatl recurred. The occasion was considered as especially dangerous to mortal men, since it was feared that the sun might fail to rise, and the Tzitzimimé demons would descend from the first heaven to destroy mankind and so bring about the end of the world. The principal