12 - Huey Tozoztli

Huey Tozoztli means “Great Vigil,” although it can also be translated as “the Great Perforation,”  for towards the end of this metztli the skies open, and the life-bringing rains begin to fall in torrents. The skies are “perforated,” they are drilled, and the waters which are held up in the heavens throughout Tonalco fall down upon the thirsty Earth below. 

During Huey Tozoztli we give thanks to the Lords of Maize. We honor Chicomecoatl, Seven Serpent, who is the grown plant, who gives Her fruit for us to eat, and we honor Chicomexochitl, Seven Flower, also called Centeotl, Our Lord the Maize, who is the cob itself, whose flesh we grind on the metate to make the tortilla which is the staff of life. They die for our sake, and so we give Them honor and sacrifice as the rains begin to fall in earnest, and ask Them to return, to be reborn, and to give us the gift of Their miraculous flesh once more. 

In the past, and in many rural communities in Mexico still, our connection to the corn and the life of the fields was much more intimate. The purpose of the ceremonies of Huey Tozoztli is to seek the blessings of the Lords of Maize, so that the corn will grow with the coming of Xopan. However, today, most of us live in cities, or, even if we live in the country, we do not raise the maize we eat ourselves. Therefore, the ceremonies of Huey Tozoztli cannot be carried out as they had been by our ancestors, and still are in many Indigenous communities. But this does not absolve us of our responsibility to give thanks to the Lords of Maize or release us from our debt. Our debt is, indeed, far greater than it had been in the past, for though we do not personally soak the fields in artificial fertilizers and pesticides, or pollute the air by eating foods transported across the world by truck and ship, we none-the-less participate in this dishonorable harvest, by eating the foods thus produced. We therefore spill our blood before Chicomecoatl and Centeotl, and give thanks to Them for Their bounty. We dance in ceremony and burn Them copal at our altars. And we donate money to NGO´s and re-assess the way we eat and feed our children. Perhaps we do not have the money or ability to eat organic and locally produced food. If so, then we should give a day or even an afternoon to volunteer or protest. Perhaps you become vegetarian, even if just for the 20 days of Huey Tozoztli, as a sacrifice, as a way to bring yourself back into alignment with Our Mother the Earth. 

The metztli of Huey Tozoztli is also a time of naming. Young children and babies are taken to the temple or altar at night, by the light of candles or torches, and are there given their Nahua names by the elders of the community. In the past, everyone was given their name as children at this time, but today, adults are given their names at the solstices and equinoxes, if they have come to the Toltecayotl tradition later in life. Children receive their names during Huey Tozoztli for it is the start of the rains, when the maize in the field will begin to grow. They are given their names by the smoke of incense and the sound of conch trumpets, and they are given the tiniest of cuts, so that no more than a thin line of red appears, on their ear-lobes, and if male on their penis as well. This is a sign of our covenant of sacrifice with the Teteo, and a beginning of the journey of sacrifice the Teteo have asked of us. The children shall grow like the corn, blessed by the Teteo and the Lords of Maize, whose divine bodies they will eat throughout their lives and who will transform into their very flesh, and in the first spilling of their blood, they begin the life-long process of repaying their debt. 

The Ceremonies of Huey Tozoztli

If you are a farmer who raises corn, or can grow corn in your garden, the ceremonies of Huey Tozoztli can take place much as they did for our ancestors. If you are an urban dweller, or otherwise find it impossible to grow corn, then the ceremonies will be very different for you. But in either case, this is a time to give thanks to the Lords of Maize. 

Images of Chicomecoatl and Centeotl are placed at dawn upon the altar, and hung with paper banners and flowers, and leafy branches are hung there as well. Before the images of the Teteo beds of spanish moss are made, upon which pots of soup are placed. For those who can, stalks of dried maize from the previous year’s harvest are collected from the field or garden with the smoke of copal, and are brought back to the altar, and reverently placed there, for they are the divine body of Chicomecoatl. If you cannot find dried maize plants, simply decorate it with flowers, and place paper maize plants upon your altar instead, and give thanks to the Lords of Maize for Their harvest. Five cooked frogs, or clay or paper images of frogs, are placed before the Lords of Maize. Frogs are symbols of the Lords of Rain, and represent life and water. Likewise, they represent Cipactli, one of the manifestations of Our Mother the Earth. Leaves from the maize plants are inserted into their backs, or if such cannot be found, paper flags. If the frogs are made of paper, these flags are laid down upon them. The corn leaves or paper flags symbolize the corn growing from the body of Our Mother the Earth. Finally, seven cobs of dry corn are placed upon the altar, to the sound of conch trumpets and the smoke of copal. All of the papers, flags, and offerings are painted red, the color of sacrifice and blood. These offerings remain all day upon the altar. 

At night guests are invited to the ceremony who come with their own dried corn-cobs to bless. The soup and frogs and other offerings are eaten with joy and merriment by the party. Young women take up the cobs of corn, in groups of no more than seven, and wrap them in their mantles or rebozos. 

Their legs and arms are painted red, and an elder dips a daisy in liquid rubber or black ink and spatters it across their faces. In the past the young women lead the gathered people to the temples of Chicomecoatl and Cinteotl to bless the seeds, but today Their temples no longer exist. Therefore, they takes them instead to the field or garden where the maize is to grow, for this is Their home, and sacred to Them, and here they, with the elders of her community, seek the blessings of our Mother and Father the Maize. With the smoke of copal we ask that They bless us and give us the gift of Their sacred flesh. The procession to the field takes place in silence. No one may speak, and if any speak, they should be reprimanded. If there are no fields or gardens at which to bless the corn-cobs, then the maidens should walk in a circle six times, perhaps around the block on which you live or even just in your living room, while asking the blessings of the four directions, of Our Father the Sky and Our Mother the Earth, and beg all of the Teteo to bless the seeds and to bring abundance into our lives. The corn is then wrapped in papers and spattered with rubber or ink, and if you have a granary, They are placed there, and left there throughout the year, for They are its heart, They are the body and soul of Chicomecoatl, in whom She dwells. If you do not have a granary, They remain in your kitchen, on an altar, where They will bring abundance into your life.