dbirths.
The Eddas style her the most favorable of the goddesses.[334:5]

In _Gaul_, the ancient Druids worshiped the _Virgo-Paritura_ as the
"Mother of God," and a festival was annually celebrated in honor of this
virgin.[334:6]

In the year 1747 a monument was found at Oxford, England, of pagan
origin, on which is exhibited a female nursing an infant.[334:7] Thus we
see that the Virgin and Child were worshiped, in pagan times, from China
to Britain, and, if we turn to the New World, we shall find the same
thing there; for, in the words of Dr. Inman, "even in Mexico the 'Mother
and Child' were worshiped."[334:8]

This mother, who had the title of "Virgin," and "Queen of
Heaven,"[334:9] was Chimalman, or Sochiquetzal, and the infant was
Quetzalcoatle, the crucified Saviour. Lord Kingsborough says:

"She who represented 'Our Lady' (among the ancient Mexicans)
had her hair tied up in the manner in which the Indian women
tie and fasten their hair, and in the knot behind was
inserted a small _cross_, by which it was intended to show
that she was the Most Holy."[335:1]

The Mexicans had pictures of this "Heavenly Goddess" on long pieces of
leather, which they rolled up.[335:2]

The annunciation to the Virgin Chimalman, that she should become the
mother of the Saviour Quetzalcoatle, was the subject of a Mexican
hieroglyphic, and is remarkable in more than one respect. She appears to
be receiving a bunch of flowers from the embassador or angel,[335:3]
which brings to mind the _lotus_, the sacred plant of the East, which is
placed in the hands of the Pagan and Christian virgins.

The 25th of March, which was celebrated throughout the ancient Grecian
and Roman world, in honor of "the Mother of the Gods," was appointed to
the honor of the Christian "Mother of God," and is now celebrated in
Catholic countries, and called "Lady day."[335:4] The festival of the
conception of the "Blessed Virgin Mary" is also held on the very day
that the festival of the miraculous conception of the "Blessed Virgin
Juno" was held among the pagans,[335:5] which, says the author of the
"Perennial Calendar," "is a remarkable coincidence."[335:6] It is not
such a very "remarkable coincidence" after all, when we find that, even
as early as the time of St. Gregory, Bishop of Neo-Caesarea, who
flourished about A. D. 240-250, Pagan festivals were changed into
Christian holidays. This saint was commended by his namesake of Nys