-och=vessel,
o-och=maintenance, ho=5, thus proves to be completely carried out, for, on
this consecrated spot, which emblematized the source whence all life
proceeded, sacred emblematic rites were performed, the purpose of which
was to typify the union, in the centre, of the four elements requisite for
the productiveness of the earth.

[Illustration.]

Figure 30.

The ground plan of the Caracol or Round Temple of Chichen-Itza, which was
built, according to tradition, by the high priest Quetzalcoatl, carries
out the idea of the middle and of the four quarters in so obvious a manner
that it may safely be assumed that it represented the supposed centre of a
dominion (fig. 30). Referring the reader to the interesting description of
this remarkable edifice in Mr. William Holmes' valuable work already
cited, I note that round temples, dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, are recorded
to have also existed in Mexico. It seems probable that, at certain
festivals, the living representatives of the Above and Below performed
certain sacred rites on the summit of one of these circular edifices. It
is obvious that such rites could only have been fitly performed by the
cooeperation of both twin rulers or Quequetzalcoas, each of whom
personified two elements. The appropriate season for such rites would be
that when the necessity of insuring a successful harvest would seem most
urgent. It is a recorded fact that the most solemn festivals of the year
were held between the vernal equinox, on which date the ritual year began,
and the fall of the first rain which usually occurs about the middle of
May. It is extremely significant that at this precise period the festival
toxcatl took place (_cf._ Maya thoaxol or thoxol=distribution, giving each
one a little, and o-och=food or maintenance) during which Tezcatlipoca and
Huitzilopochtli were jointly honored. During this festival the "sacred
dough," named tzoalli, was a prominent feature of the ritual and it was
undoubtedly associated with the idea of the life-giving union of the four
elements, the Above and Below, or the male and female principles.

It can, moreover, be directly connected with the recumbent statues
representing the centre; for, whilst Bernal Diaz recorded that the statue
on the summit of the Great Temple held a collection of all the seeds of
the land, Cortes, in his descriptive letter, gives us an important detail
which ev