The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-05-09
THE CROSS PREHISTORIC.
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did the cross stand for or what did it svmbozc 10
these people of lost civilization?
without IN any way compromising my indie
pendence OF thought or identifying myself with
any party, L am free to state what, in my opinion
the pre-Columblan cross in America symbolized in
the religious life of the Mexicans and Mayas From
the dim traditions which still linger among the
tribes of Central America. from the civilized In
dians and from conversations held with the priests
mlnstering to these Indians, am satisfied that the
cross was the emblem of the
GOD OF RAIN
And water, and possibly of the god of the winds
The astronomer CANA, is of the opinion that the
Gross of Teotihuacan7 served for an astronomical
expression of the verna and autumnal eouinoxes
(sprlng and autumn, when days and nights are of
the same length) and for the summer and winter
sostlces; that IS, the time, June u and December
D. when the sun stops still for moment in its
revolution.
1t was to the that the dwellers on the AZ
tee plateau made pilgrimage to invoke the help
of Quetzal-Cohuatt, and pray to him for rain when
their lands were parched with prolonged droughts
At the foot of the cross the people of Oaxaca
offered their supplications to the Heart of the
and it was before the cross the Mayas and CLUTCHES
stood when they pettioned their god Cuchulchan
to send them rain and save their crops from the
plague of locusts.
The Spanish missionaries, who came over with
the conquerors astonished at seeing the cross and
finding traces of Christian morality and of Chris
tian ceremonies and customs, were of the opinion
that st. Thomas an angel sent of God had
preached the faith to these semi-barbarous and
heather But of this another time 1t is
singular and striking analogy that among the
Egyptians in the days of Moses the cross was also
the emblem of rain and fertility. Placed in the
hand of the Osiris, it represented the season of
spring, and in the hand of Isis it symbolized au-
tumn and the inundation of the Nile. In Yucatan
the crosses found in the temples OF Nachan, and
the Taus-T-discovered in the ruins of the build
ings. symboized the overflow upon the lands of the
Tabasco and Uzumacnta rivers. As the inundation
of the Nile is periodic and caused by the great
rains falling on the mountains of ETHIOPIA, so the
overflow of the two rivers of Yucatan results from
the rains which fall in the distant mountains of
Cachumatanes.
The man standing to the right of the cross in the
photograph and holding aloft newly born babe is
the god of fecundity returning thanks to Votan
the Jupiter of the Mayas, for chasing from the
country the evil spirit of sterility. The opposite
figure represents Hunaphue, one of the gods, who
represents and ministers to the supreme god Votan
On his scarf is the transverse cross emblematic of
the year among the Aztecs, the Mayas and of all the
emi-civilized races of America at the time of its
discovery 1t was also among the Egyptians the
L Ill H.
the Cuevitz or Quetzal, sacred to the sun.
The religious practices of the Mexican and Cen
trail American races bore such striking analogy
to those of the Christian and Jewish faiths that
many early writers contended for the Hebrew orr
gin of the American Indian Lord Kinsborough
expended fortune in his researches in the publica
ton of profusely illustrated volumes, and in travels
in his attempt to prove that the civilization of the
BIexicans, Peruvians and CLUTCHES of Central Amer
lea. came from the lost tribes of Israel, the ten
tribes made captive by Salanazar King of Assyria.
I am of the opinion that the overwhelming mass of
the pre- Columbian population of America were of
Phoenician origin and migrated from the great
basin of the Mediterranean; but that Egyptians,
Tyrians. Etruscans and even Jews and early Chris
tians NAV have in scattered numbers, found their
way to this country is not at all improbable.
Among the inhabitants of Yucatan, Chiapas and
Oaxaca there were vague traditions that, some
time about the third or fourth century, a great
change in their religious customs and ceremonies
occurred Certain it is that, at some period in the
past. strange and extraordinary made their APP
pearance in the country for the memory of such
men was preserved among the indigenous races
from Peru to Michoca.n Viracocha, Sube and
yixpechocha were the names of the men who
went from end to end of the country preaching
new doctrines and introducing new ceremonies.
1t was Vixipechocha who laid the foundations