The inference to be drawn from the foregoing data is that the Mexicans and the Mayas habitually kept, on the summit of their principal temple, in their centres of government, a statue holding a circular vessel and figuratively representing the "navel or centre of the land." The group of ideas already traced in the Maya ho=capital, hom=pyramid, ho-och=vessel, o-och=maintenance, ho=5, thus proves to be completely carried out, for, on this consecrated spot, which emblematized the source whence all life proceeded, sacred emblematic rites were performed, the purpose of which was to typify the union, in the centre, of the four elements requisite for the productiveness of the earth.
The ground plan of the Caracol or Round Temple of Chichen-Itza, which was built, according to tradition, by the high priest Quetzalcoatl, carries out the idea of the middle and of the four quarters in so obvious a manner that it may safely be assumed that it represented the supposed centre of a dominion (fig. 30). Referring the reader to the interesting description of this remarkable edifice in Mr. William Holmes' valuable work already cited, I note that round temples, dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, are recorded to have also existed in Mexico. It seems probable that, at certain festivals, the living representatives of the Above and Below performed certain sacred rites on the summit of one of these circular edifices. It is obvious that such rites could only have been fitly performed by the coöperation of both twin rulers or Quequetzalcoas, each of whom personified two elements. The appropriate season for such rites would be that when the necessity of insuring a successful harvest would seem most urgent. It is a recorded fact that the most solemn festivals of the year were held between the vernal equinox, on which date the ritual year began, and the fall of the first rain which usually occurs about the middle of May. It is extremely significant that at this precise period the festival toxcatl took place (_cf._ Maya thoaxol or thoxol=distribution, giving each one a little, and o-och=food or maintenance) during which Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli were jointly honored. During this festival the "sacred dough," named tzoalli, was a prominent feature of the ritual and it was undoubtedly associated with the idea of the life-giving union of the four elements, the Above and Below, or the male and female principles.