# The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru

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THE HIBBERT LECTURES, 1884.
LECTURES
ON THE
ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF RELIGION
AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE
NATIVE RELIGIONS OF MEXICO AND PERU.
DELIVERED AT OXFORD AND LONDON,
In APRIL and MAY, 1884.
BY
ALBERT RÉVILLE, D.D. PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE OF RELIGIONS AT THE COLLÈGE DE FRANCE.
Translated by PHILIP H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; And 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
1884
[All Rights reserved.]
LONDON: PRINTED BY C. GREEN AND SON, 178, STRAND.
CONTENTS. :
| Lecture I. ||
| INTRODUCTION.—CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO. THEIR COMMON BASES OF CIVILIZATION AND RELIGION. ||
| | PAGE |
| Importance of the history of Religion | 1 |
| The religions of Mexico and Peru, and the special importance of studying them | 7 |
| Journey to another planet | 8 |
| Parallelism of religious history in the New World and in the Old | 9 |
| Central America and Mexico, and the authorities as to their history and religion | 14 |
| Area and general character of this civilization | 18 |
| The Mayas | 20 |
| Toltecs, Chichimecs and Aztecs | 24 |
| The Aztec empire | 29 |
| Character of the religious conceptions common to Central America and Mexico | 35 |
| The serpent-god and the American cross | 38 |
| Estimate of the character and significance of the parallelisms observed | 39 |
| Lecture II. ||
| THE DEITIES AND MYTHS OF MEXICO. ||
| The Sun and Moon | 45 |
| The pyramidal Mexican temples | 47 |
| The great temple of the city of Mexico | 48 |
| The narrative of Bernal Diaz; and the two great Aztec deities, Uitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca | 51 |
| Mythical significance of Uitzilopochtli | 54 |
| Significance of Tezcatlipoca | 60 |
| The serpent-god Quetzalcoatl, god of the east wind | 62 |
| Netzalhuatcoyotl, the philosopher-king of Tezcuco | 69 |
| Number of Mexican deities | 70 |
| Tlaloc, god of rain | 71 |
| Centeotl, goddess of maize | 72 |
| Xiuhtecutli, god of fire | 74 |
| The Mexican Venus | 75 |
| Other deities | 76 |
| The Tepitoton | 77 |
| Mictlan, god of the dead | 78 |
| Summary and reflections | 79 |
| Lecture III. ||
| THE SACRIFICES, SACERDOTAL AND MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS, ESCHATOLOGY AND COSMOGONY OF MEXICO. ||
| Recapitulation | 85 |
| Original meaning of sacrifice | 86 |
| Human sacrifices and cannibalism | 87 |
| Importance attached to the suffering of the victims | 90 |
| Tragic and cruel character of the Mexican sacrifices | 91 |
| The victims of Tezcatlipoca and Centeotl | 93 |
| The children of Tlaloc | 96 |
| The roasted victims of the god of fire | 97 |
| Mexican asceticism | 99 |
| Mexican "communion" | 101 |
| Religious ethics | 102 |
| The priesthood | 106 |
| Convents, monks and nuns of ancient Mexico | 109 |
| Mexican cosmogonies | 112 |
| The great jubilee | 116 |
| The future life | 118 |
| Conversion of the Mexicans | 121 |
| The Inquisition | 122 |
| Conclusion | 123 |
| Lecture IV. ||
| PERU.—ITS CIVILIZATION AND CONSTITUTION.—THE LEGEND OF THE INCAS: THEIR POLICY AND HISTORY. ||
| The Peru of the Incas | 127 |
| Cortes and Pizarro | 131 |
| The Inca hierocracy | 132 |
| The Quipos | 134 |
| Authorities for the history and religion of Peru | 136 |
| Garcilasso el Inca de la Vega | 137 |
| Peruvian civilization | 139 |
| Huayna Capac's taxation | 142 |
| Social, political and military organization of Peru | 143 |
| Education | 152 |
| Material well-being | 153 |
| The legend of the Incas: Manco Capac and Mama Ogllo | 156 |
| Were the Incas really the sole civilizers of Peru? | 159 |
| Succession of the Incas and character of their rule | 160 |
| Free-thinking Incas | 161 |
| Huayna Capac's departure from traditional maxims | 166 |
| Lecture V. ||
| THE FALL OF THE INCAS.—PERUVIAN MYTHOLOGY. PRIESTHOOD. ||
| Recapitulation | 171 |
| Atahualpa and Pizarro | 172 |
| Father Valverde's discourse | 174 |
| Atahualpa's imprisonment and death | 176 |
| Inca pretenders | 179 |
| Worship of the Sun and Moon | 182 |
| Viracocha, god of fertilizing showers | 184 |
| His consort, Mama Cocha | 186 |
| Old Peruvian hymn | 187 |
| Pachacamac, god of internal fire | 188 |
| The myth of Pacari Tambo | 191 |
| Cuycha, the rainbow | 194 |
| Chasca, the planet Venus | 194 |
| Worship of fire | 195 |
| Worship of the thunder | 196 |
| Worship of esculent plants | 197 |
| Worship of animals | 198 |
| The Huacas | 199 |
| Peruvian priesthood | 202 |
| The Virgins of the Sun | 204 |
| Punishment of faithless nuns | 206 |
| Independent parallelisms, illustrated by the "couvade" | 208 |
| Lecture VI. ||
| PERUVIAN CULTUS AND FESTIVALS.—MORALS AND THE FUTURE LIFE.—CONCLUSIONS. ||
| Peruvian temples | 215 |
| Sacrifices | 218 |
| Columns of the Sun | 222 |
| Hymns | 223 |
| Religious dances | 224 |
| The four great festivals | 225 |
| Chasing the evil spirit | 227 |
| Occasional and minor festivals | 229 |
| Eclipses | 230 |
| Sorcerers and priests | 230 |
| Moral significance of the Peruvian religion | 232 |
| Communion, baptism and sacerdotal confession | 233 |
| Various ideas as to the future life | 235 |
| Supay, the god of the departed | 237 |
| Conversion of the Peruvians | 239 |
| Are the origins of the American civilizations to be sought in the Old World? | 241 |
| Real significance and importance of analogies observed | 243 |
| Sacrifice | 245 |
| Three stages of religious faith: animistic nature-worship, anthropomorphic polytheism and spiritual monotheism | 246 |
| The genesis of the temple | 249 |
| Primitive independence and subsequent mutual interpenetration of religion and morals | 250 |
| Human nature invincibly religious | 252 |
| The guiding principle | 254 |
| Farewell | 255 |
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. :
| P. 16, | note, under Acosta, add, "E[dward] G[rimstone]'s translation was edited, with notes, for the Hakluyt Society, by Clements R. Markham, in 1880." |
| P. 17, | note, lines 4 and 5, to "English translation" add "in epitome." |
| „ | lines 8 and 9, for "Ixtilxochitl" read " Ixtlilxochitl." |
| „ | line 7 from below, for "note" read "notes." |
| P. 32, | line 10 from below, for "bases" read "basis." |
| P. 34, | line 1, for "lama" read "llama." |
| P. 35, | last line, insert "and" after "America." |
| P. 77, | note, last line, for "caps." read "capp." |
| P. 92, | line 9 from below, omit "to" before "which." |
| P. 113, | note, last line, for "Chichemeca" read "Chichimeca. " |
| P. 129, | line 3, for "East to West" read "West to East." |
| P. 224, | note, for "Rivero y Tschudi, l.c." read "Rivero y Tschudi: Antigüedades Peruanas: Viena, 1851." N.B. An English translation of this work by F. L. Hawks appeared at New York in 1853. |
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