Tezcatlipoca

(Shining Mirror), the chief of the thirteen greater gods of the ancient Mexicans. On the monuments and in the paintings he is often represented as encircled by the disk of the sun. Lord Kingsborough (Antiquities of Mexico) states that "all the attributes and powers which were assigned to Jehovah by the Hebrews were also bestowed upon Tezcatlipoca by the Mexicans." Mr. Hardwick, however, inclines to the belief that this deity was merely the deified impersonation of the generative powers of nature, and as such his highest type was the sun. A festival in his honor was held annually in May, when a young and beautiful person was sacrificed, and the heart of the victim, still warm and palpitating, was held up towards the sun, then thrown down before the image of the god, while the people bowed in adoration.