So far we have seen that apparently Mitla was ruled by a High Priest that due to rituals in which he communicated with his gods was very much respected by the Zapotec lords who were also buried in this place. Because of all this Mitla was famed in all of the Zapoteca. What Burgoa does not tell us however is who these gods he communicated with were. Luckily we have a collection of older sources, the so-called 'Relaciones Geográficas', that among many other things deals precisely with this issue. These very interesting primary sources consist of the responses by local officials to a questionnaire issued by King Phillip II of Spain in 1577, requesting information about all of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
One question in particular, i.e. number fourteen, is highly relevant to this thesis as it asks to whom the locals traditionally paid allegiance and who their gods were (Acuěa 1984).
Written down by Alonso de Canseco, on the 12th and 13th of August 1580 and representing all that the local government and the oldest and most ancient Indians knew about these matters, the 'Relacion de Tlacolula y Mitla' starts of in a familiar way with calling the town Lioba and in Mexican Miquitla, meaning ynfierno (Acuña 1984b:260). Answering the question about its gods it states:
“They worshipped the Devil and, among them, they had a married idol, and the woman they called Xonaxi Quecuya and, the husband, Coqui Bezelao, which in Spanish means “señor diablo”. To these they worshipped and sacrificed, not only they, but all the valleys and villages, and they had in front of them dances with musical instruments. They sacrificed and killed children and men, dogs, chicken, quail, doves, and had the ordinary custom to get drunk in front of these idols12.” (Acuña 1984b:260).
12“Adoraban al Demonio y, enter ellos, tenían un ídolo casado, y la mujer se decía Xonaxi Quecuya y, el marido, Coqui Bezelao, que en español dice “ señor diablo”. A éstos adoraban y sacrificaban, not tan solam[en]te ellos, sino todos los valles y pu[ebl]os, y hacían delante dél sus danzas y bailes con instrum[en]tos de músicas. Sacrificaban y mataban niños y hombres, perrillos, gallinas, codornices, palomas, y era de costumbe
So now we know that the primary extra human forces worshipped in Mitla were a pair of married idols that the de Canseco equates with the devil. What these two governed over however is unclear from this text. Maybe an answer lies in the translation of their names? Acuña does remark in his notes that Xonaxi is the Zapotec for lady, while Coqui means lord (Acuña 1984b:260). But while he gives a tentative translation of Xonaxi Quecuya as maybe coming from Xonaxi Quiye Coyo, meaning Lady 3 (or 5) Flower, a calendrical name, he gives no translation of Bezelao (Acuña 1984b:260). No answers are found in the rest of text either, though several useful points of information are given that can also be found in Burgoa's later writings such as that Mitla was the place for burial of the great lords of this kingdom, that there was a house of the Bigaña or High Priest, who like the Roman pope was head of the universal church, that there was a place upstairs used to govern his republic and get drunk and that there were four other halls were the idols were kept and the sacrifices were made (Acuña 1984b:261-263). If indeed all the valleys and villages worshipped this Lady Quecuya and Lord Bezelao who were tended to by a High Priest that was the head of a universal church, then maybe the Relaciones of other towns in the region have more information on them. The account of Tlacolula, located a few miles to the east of Mitla, is not very informative. It states only that they worshipped the devil and in its name had an idol named Coque Cehuiyo, to which they offered dogs, chicken and Indians and in front of which they drank and danced (Acuña 1984b:257). Many of the other Relaciones give more or less the same information, they explain that the people worshipped the devil, in its name had an idol of which sometimes the name is given, and to this idol they made various sacrifices and in front of it they got drunk and danced. Of course there are some differences based on the language of the region, but these mostly concern the names of the idols such as the area around Tututepeque where one can find many names of gods in Nahuatl (Acuña 1984:189-239). In the Nahuatl and Mazatec speaking town of Teotitlan, not to be confused with Teotitlan del Valle located between Oaxaca city and Mitla (see Map 1), there is in addition an extensive list of all the feasts in Nahuatl (Acuña 1984b:200). Amongst these we find two feasts that will become of interest below, namely the 8th feast called Micailhuizintli, feast of the little dead and the 9th feast called Huey Micailhuitl, feast of the big dead. During these feasts offerings were made for the dead (Acuña 1984b:200).
There are however also some towns that directly refer to Lord Bezelao, albeit not to his wife. The most simple of these is in the account of the Zapotec and Mixtec speaking town of Guaxilotitlan, present day Huitzo (Acuña 1984:214).
There it is stated that they worshipped worked stones like persons that were kept in a house in the mountains. They call them Bezaloo, which means diablo and they were guarded by 20 to 25 picana or priests (Acuña 1984:214). To these idols the locals brought dogs and parrot feathers which were presented with copal13, in
ordinaria emborracharse delante estos ídolos.” Translation by Arfman.
13Copal: an indigenous type of incense
addition they offered blood from ear and tongue and with the yearly feast in their honour they sacrificed war slaves, which served to give strength and spirit for the wars (Acuña 1984:214). It is interesting to note that this account actually speaks of Bezaloo in the plural, and talks about several of these idols as being kept in a house near to town, not at Mitla.
A similar situation can be seen in the Relacion of Tecuicuilco and its three dependencies. Of all four it is said that the devil is worshipped in the shape of an image of wood and stone, some of them large, and all with different names (Acuña 1984b:91). Some were offered to for health, some for good times, others for rain, and the female ones for birth (Acuña 1984b:91). In addition to one god for all human needs each town also had its own patron that was revered above the rest, that of Tecuicuilco was named 'Coqu[i] Bezelao, principal dios de los diablos14' (Acuña 1984b:91). For him they built a sacrificadero15 in the mountains on a place called Quiazee, mountain of the mass (Acuña 1984b:91). For this god a feast was held on a special day every 260 days to which all the indigenous people came to sacrifice quail, coloured feathers, and green and blue precious stones (Acuña 1984b:91). These were then given to the priests who were assigned to this god by the local lord, these also sacrificed blood from the tongue and ears (Acuña 1984b:91). These priests however could not tell what these services were for exactly, except for health, good times and remedies against all the needs of the pueblo16 (Acuña 1984b:91). Only they were allowed to enter this sanctified place, and they only made offerings at night (Acuña 1984b:91). These priests were the children of lords and other elite and were raised in the temple where they learned all the ceremonies. When one of them died or left after seven years, he was replaced by a new one (Acuña 1984b:93). They were not allowed to speak with women or drink pulque, but they were higher than the lords, influencing everything (Acuña 1984b:93). The three partidos had other patrons but performed the same ceremonies (Acuña 1984b:92). Here again we see Bezelao as an idol kept in a house in the mountains, guarded by priests without any mention of Mitla.
Unlike in Guaxilotitlan however his name is used for a singular being, which is called the principal lord of the devils. Does this mean that Bezelao was the most important of all the gods, or is los diablos used to refer to a specific group of beings, of which Bezelao was the most powerful?
A somewhat clearer image of Bezelao's portfolio comes from the town of Ocelotepeque, near to Miahuatlan (Map 1). In this town there was a public house were the idols were kept and the bigañas lived, these took care of the temple and made the sacrifices to the idols including those of the war captives whose heart were taken out and put on an altar (Acuña 1984:88-90). In addition the lords and other principal persons drew blood from their nose, ear, tongue and 'other' body parts, this sacrifice was also done through the bigañas, who never left the temple (Acuña 1984:88-90). The ídolo was called Bezalao, el demonyo, the universal god who presided over the killing and helped them in war and was invoked when
14Principal dios de los diablos: principal god of the devils.
15Sacrificadero: building for performing sacrifices
16Pueblo: village
sowing and other agricultural activities (Acuña 1984:88-90). They also had others who were like councillors to him, one of these was Cozichacozee, the fiercely painted god of wars with his bow and arrows in his hand (Acuña 1984:88-90).
But Bezalao was revered above all others because he was the Dyos universal sobre todos17 (Acuña 1984:88-90). The town used to be governed by a cacique18 called Petela or dog. He belonged to the generation who had fled the great flood on a boat. Of his generation he was chosen as the leader and the bravest but after ten years he died (Acuña 1984:88-90). Afterwards he was worshipped and offered to as a god and they kept his body buried, dried and embalmed. These bones were still on their correct place when they were found by the Spaniard de Piza who publicly burned them (Acuña 1984:88-90). But when three years later a disease killed over 1200 people the town officials started offering to his ashes again, so that Petela could be mediator with Besalao, so Besalao would temper the disease (Acuña 1984:88-90). Eventually these people were arrested, put in jail in Miahuatlan, then sent to Oaxaca City where they were tried and punished (Acuña 1984:88-90). Acuña points out that it is possible that the gods that the people from nearby Miahuatlan refer to in Nahuatl as Tlacatecolotl19, being the name of the devil, should also be taken as a reference to Bezelao not only because both mean devil but also because Miahuatlan and Ocelotepeque are part of the same Relacion (Acuña 1984:77).
There are also some other towns for which Bezelao is not named but which still seem to have some relation to Mitla. In the case of Teitipac, located just southwest of Tlacolula, Acuña remarks how even though the Relacion gives 'rock on rock' as the translation of the Zapotec toponym Zetoba, it actually means ‘the other grave’ (Acuña 1984b:170). According to Burgoa it had this name to distinguish it from the normal burial place for the Zapotec kings at Mitla. He later even calls it the second entrance to the Averno20 and the 'laguna Estigia21' with Mitla apparently being the first (in: Acuña 1984b:170). The Relacion itself however gives little new information, talking about sacrifices made to the devil, and how they made idols and faces of him from stone, which were very ugly, it tells about sacrificing dogs and Indian slaves, how they then got drunk, danced and ate mushrooms. The latter are interesting as they made these people see many visions and horrible figures (Acuña 1984b:171).
Another interesting link might be seen between Mitla and Tehuantepec. In this town they had idols made of pottery, wood and precious stones that were sacrificed to as gods (Acuña 1984b:114). They had a principal idol of the town and the province and they talked to this devil visibly. At the place where it was kept there was an old and ancient Indian whose task it was to do the ceremonies,
17Dyos universal sobre todos: Universal god above all.
18Cacique: originally a title among the Caribbean Taino speaking peoples that was adopted by the Spaniards as a title for all indigenous rulers.
19Tlacatecolotl: literally Nahuatl for owl-man, but later by Catholic priests adopted as a Nahuatl synonym for the devil due to its horrific appearance.
20Averno: underworld
21Laguna Estigia: The Stygian Lake, referring to the river Styx that in classic Greek tradition had to be crossed to reach the afterlife.
customs and sacrifices and they called him sacerdote22 or papa (Acuña 1984b:116). The latter might of course mean that in this unique case they referred to a priest as a father figure but given the fact that Burgoa described how the High Priest of Mitla fled to Tehuantepec where he continued his activities it seems more likely that papa should be translated with pope. If this old Indian was then indeed the former High Priest of Mitla or his successor it would also seem likely that the principal idol of the whole province that is referred to in this Relacion is in fact that of Bezelao or maybe his wife.