XVI. Hymn to the Goddess of Food.

XVI. Chicomecoatl icuic.

English

CHICOMECOATL, GODDESS OF FOOD AND DRINK

1. Chicomollotzin xayameua, ximiçotica aca tona titech icnocauazqui tiyauia mochan tlallocan nouia.

2. Xayameua ximiçotica aca tonan titech icnocauazqui tiyauian mochan tlallocan nouiya.

Var. 1. Xaia mehoa.

Gloss.

1. Q. n., yn ti chicomolotl, id est, in ti centli ximeua, xiça, xixoa, ca otimouicaya in mochan tlallocan.

2. Q. n., xayameua, id est, ximeua, xixua, xiça, ca otimouicaya in mochantzinco in tlallocan ca yuhquin ti tonatzon.

Hymn to Chicomecoatl.

1. O noble Chicomolotl, arise, awake, leave us not unprotected on the way, conduct us to the home of Tlaloc.

2. Arise, awake, leave us not unprotected on the way, conduct us to the home of Tlaloc.

Notes.

The goddess Chicomecoatl, "seven guests," was the deity who presided over food and drink. Hence in the first verse she is referred to as Chicomolotl, "seven ears of corn," and is spoken of as a guide to Tlalocan, or the home of abundance.

Father Duran, who gives a long chapter on this goddess (Historia, cap. 92), translates her name "serpent of seven heads," and adds that she was also called Chalciucihuatl,

{p. 60}

"Lady of the Emerald," and Xilonen, "goddess of the tender ears of maize." Every kind of seed and vegetable which served for food was under her guardianship, and hence her festival, held about the middle of September, was particularly solemn. Her statue represented her as a girl of. about twelve years old.