9 Hymn to Chimalipan in Parturition

Hymn to Chimalipan in Parturition._

  1. Chimalipan was a virgin when she brought forth the adviser of
battles; Chimalipan was a virgin when she brought forth the adviser of
battles.

  2. On the Coatepec was her labor; on the mountain he ripened into age;
as he became a man truly the earth was shaken, even as he became a man.


_Notes._

The goddess Chimalipan is not mentioned by the authorities at my
command; but from the tenor of the hymn it is evident that the name is
a synonym for the virgin mother of Huitzilopochtli, who is distinctly
referred to by his title _Yautlatoani_ (see _ante_, p. 18). In the myth,
she dwelt upon the Coatepetl, the Serpent Mountain, on the site of
Tulan. For a full discussion of this myth I refer to my inquiry, "_Were
the Toltecs an Historic Nationality?_" in _Proceedings of the Amer.
Phil. Soc._ for Sept. 1887, and _American Hero-Myths_, chap. 11.
(Phila., 1881).

The Gloss distinctly states that the mother of Huitzilopochtli is
referred to in the hymn. We must regard Chimalipan therefore as
identical with _Chimalman_, who, according to another myth dwelt in Tula
as a virgin, and was divinely impregnated by the descending spirit of
the All-father in the shape of a bunch of feathers.

In other myths she is mentioned as also the mother of the Huitznahua,
the enemies and the brothers of Huitzilopochtli, referred to in the
second of this collection of chants.