Evidence exists among Native American cultures and their artifacts that Jesus Christ visited America. It is surprising how much exists and has been ignored, swept aside or hidden through the ages. It hasn’t been fashionable to promote Christ or that The Book of Mormon is True.
A book written by L. Taylor Hansen 45 years ago chronicles much evidence gathered. The author died 33 years ago. The publisher was kind enough to send me a partial autobiography of L. Taylor Hansen. Born before the turn of the century, she was inducted into the Ojibway (Chippewa) tribe with blood rites because she sought justice for the tribe from a horrible agency doctor. As a college student the subject of Indian Legends for a paper was approved by the instructor. It was then that the Legend of The White Prophet was learned. At the time it was disregarded as a garbled memory of early missionary instructions. Ten years later her lifelong gathering effort took place.
Here are excerpts from the book “He Walked The Americas.” You draw your own conclusions. The book is not widely available so if you can’t find it, the publisher iformation is: Ray Palmer, Legend Press, 9533 Clinton Rd., Amherst, WI 54406, lgpress@hotmail.com
Legends of the Healer,saintly white teacher, who performed miracles with healing and control over the winds, waters, and other natural items. All describe his eyes as gray-green like the ocean and told stories of the future. His symbol has been woven into blankets, carved on canyon walls, put on pottery and danced in dances. His name has been given to mountains and rivers.
When the University of Oklahoma was digging the Spiro Mound, they found mush pottery showing winged beings singing, and also the hand with the cross through the palm. To them, He was known as Chee-Zoos, the Dawn God, and they whisper of Him about the campfires when no white man can listen. To quote the book, “The love they bear Him is beyond measurement, for well they know He watches over them, and that when their journey here is over, He will meet them in the Land of Shadows, for such was His sacred promise.
*An interesting story told in the book is about the Great Mound Builders, Dakota (the last high priest of extinct Elks, translated and recorded by Walter Pidgeon around 1850) described them as tribes that spoke the Algonquin ~ Haudenosaunee language and they were the Ancients of the country. According to him, these mounds marked the sites of cities. They were a type of writing that recorded history. They were to be read from the inside out and one had a history longer than London. The mounds were thought to have been covered by wood and painted as the Mayans had done. It was here too that the Prophet with his gray-green eyes and golden sandals came. They tell He was the “Great White Robed Master.
In the Spiro Mound in Oklahoma, they found the symbol of the hand with the “T” cross through its center. As aforementioned, this is where they found the pottery with the winged beings. In the Indian Mound of Pittsfield was found three pages of parchment, and according to the author, they are in “old Harvard.
One these pages were supposed to be quotations, written in Archaic Hebrew, from the Old Testament. About 8 miles southeast of Newark, the father of Bancroft, the Native American recorder of untold legends, claimed to have the only stone pictograph of the Prophet. About His head, again in ancient Hebrew were written the Ten Commandments.
Quoting the author….”His hair and beard are well pictured as well as His flowing toga. It was a small stone, highly polished, an inch and a half thick, eight inches long, four inches on one end to three on the other. This had been placed in a casket completely watertight, and many feet above it was the burial of the Indian high priest. How many other mounds have been plowed and leveled, and their contents scattered which the Red Men held as holy, planting trees of the sacred cedar upon them to keep them safe through two millennia?
True, the invasion of the Serpents from perhaps 700 AD onward, coming up the Mississippi in their long snake-painted dugouts, carrying their sacred fire, brought an end to peaceful living, brought with them war and pillage and the priesthood of the Sacrificers. Yet they turned away from the hills of cedar, seeing the symbols of the Healer.
*The Pawnee tell of a Prophet who taught them of His Father, “The Mighty Holy of the Heavens.” He warned them not to forget what they were taught by Him, and when they would return to warfare, they often thought about how He taught them that “war but breeds more carnage.” He had also told them about the white men coming. They remember Him as Paruxti and His Father was Tirawa.
The Pawnee claim the Prophet visited them twice, the second time was out of anger. As the story goes, some young men of the Pawnee had gotten together a secret league to attack merchants and make “war” on them. One night the Pawnee was by the Mississippi River and came across a camp of worn out merchants. The merchants had not been aware these young Pawnees had returned to the old ways and thought they were safe. One of the young merchants had stated that he was sad he never got to see the Dawn God. But they smoked the Peace Pipe and went to sleep.
The wild Pawnee then attacked, forced the merchants to carry their own goods back to the bandits’ camp. They had a wild night, dancing, yelling and preparing the two men for a sacrifice to the Fire god. One old man protested, pointed to the east where the Morning Star was beginning to rise. But no one paid attention to him and carried on what they were doing. One of the prisoners was already dead and the other was dying. The Pawnee stated, “Let Him come and revive these men! That would be much better magic than stopping a wind storm or walking on water!
At the point, the eastern sky lit up with fire, clouds reflecting the fire ever brighter. Everyone turned toward the brightened sky and stopped in their tracks. Suddenly there He was among them! They say He shined with a strange radiance, each hair of His head luminescent, a weird glow rippling from His garments and His sea-colored eyes flashing with lightning. He stood staring at the wild Pawnees.
He asked them if this was how they kept His commandments, insulting the Father. “I came to shield you from His anger, or lo, great wind would ignite the forest! And to ashes would be consigned the Pawnee Nation!
At this point, the prisoner that was still alive called to Chee-Zoos and asked to be released. The Healer told the man he was free and to walk from the fire. Those who were watching saw the man stumble toward the Healer. When he had touched the Healer’s robe, the man straightened up and didn’t have a mark on him from the fire. The Healer turned to the dead man, telling him that he wasn’t yet for the Land of the Shadows. The fire died away and the blackened body stirred. The Healer told him to rise up. The man rose up and was completely healed.
This story is still told sometimes by the elders at the fireside during the winter evenings.
*The “Algonquin of the Eastern Seaboard” tell they received their name for the Dawn Light from the Pale One. They wouldn’t name the Prophet as He had asked them to do. They wanted to know what He was called where He grew up and He told them a name that was strange and hard to say. But they tried hard to say it: Chee-Zoos, God of the Dawn Light, basically the same as the Puants.
*The Chippewa remember very well the “pale Great Master.” They tell He gave them medicine lodges where the signs and emblems are secret and taken from those across the ocean. And according to the author, they keep this secret to this day.
*The Dakota (Sioux) say He gave them their rite of baptism and purification, also many of their lodges. They remember Him talking about the coming of the white man and many other predictions. “We have backslid from His teachings, but to Him we dance the Sun Dance. We remember Great Wakona well. (Speaker not identified.)
*In the times of the Prophet, the place which is now St Louis was once the capital of the Puant nation. The streets of the city actually represented history. Each street started from the Central Hub (which is where the Crest mounds were) and grew outward like a spoke on a wheel. When a dynasty was complete, the line would end and pottery with significant pictures of the period would be placed within the mound. The crest would be closed with a Mound of Extinction. Beyond it, counterclockwise, the new crest would begin.
*In Michigan, according to Decorah, was the center of the Giant Cross of Waters. The Prophet was known to travel this trail. No tribe was too far, too small, too poor, too war-like. If He heard of a war, He went there. He would call all the chiefs together, divide the lands, give seeds and show how them how to garden. He would teach them His principles. “Do not kill unless you are hungry, and then ask the animal’s forgiveness, and explain your great need to him before ever you pull the bow-string.” This was one rule that Native Americans ever violated. Before hunting, each tribe would hold a prayer-dance.
The Prophet was always called the Feathered Serpent or Eeseecotl among the Algonquians. They tell that He always wore a long white toga, with black crosses embroidered along the bottom, and had golden sandals. Every new town He would arrive in would have a new garment waiting for Him. They would keep the old ones, treasuring them, saying that to touch them would bring healing. During the visits He would train twelve disciples, with one to be their leader, who would take His place when He left to “go about My Father’s Business.” After He would leave, the grieving people would carve His sign upon the walls of canyons-a hand with a T cross in it.
*While visiting the Chinooks, the Prophet pointed to a plain laying below them, stating that He saw through the cycles of time a great city spread across this plain, named Tacomah. It was to be a white man’s city. The Chinooks were confused as to why the white man would name a city after Him, Tla-acomah. He explained that they would use the name of the mountain named after Him, but they would not understand the meaning of the name.
*It is said the hot springs of Tacobya mark the passage of the Healer. In a canyon nearby is the hand with the T cross in it, and near this the Great Cross. It is understood that He traveled to the Havasu, raising one arm in greeting meaning “Peace and Prosperity to you”. He then stopped and tapped a large rock with his staff and water gushed out of it. He drank from this sacred water and today it is called the Spring of Tacobya.
*Tacobya went on to the Pueblos where the Empire of Tula, the capital of the peaceful Toltecs. He also went to the Wallapai tribe and gathered the chiefs in a great counsel and redistributed the grain fields. He taught them more clever gardening with melons, squashes, pumpkins, mescal, and beans; he gave them many other plants which have been lost through the ages. He also taught them how to conserve water under the ground.
He went on to the people of the White Rock. They told Him they had come here after a great war in the south. Their cities had been burnt and they were all that was left of the once great power. They were sad in their hearts and the Prophet told them of another nation that had to flee oppression in days long gone. Then He showed them the beauty of their land and taught them how to garden well.
As He was leaving the Pueblos, He told them, “In truth I give to you a promise. Keep you my precepts, forsake all warfare and you shall ever have my blessing even beyond White Man’s coming. And woe to the hands that are raised against you…If to my teaching you are faithful, and to show that you have lived each day rightly, leave alight at night burning against the time I will return through the Dawn Light, and lead thee unto My Father’s Kingdom.” So every night a light is burning in Acoma and other Pueblos among these tribes, which we call heathen. From there He moved on.
*In August of 1918, the chief of the Chippewa (East of Lake Huron to the mountains of Montana), Dark Thunder, once was talking with a college student whom the tribe had affectionately adopted. He, the student, had learned to look through the tribal eyes on the reservation, as the Ancient Ones and keepers of the Olden Knowledge.
He was bearded, and pale of feature-without doubt a White Man. His eyes were as gray-green as still green water, and just as changeable in their color. He came to us one day at dawning and the light touched His hair with the sheen or red-gold until it shone like newly-mined copper. Yet He was not as the men of your people. This one was a god, with high soul-stature. If He touched a man who was wounded, that one became healed.
His robe was long and white down to the hemline which almost hid His golden sandals. He came alone. He organized the churches, changed the temples, taught the priesthood. Some say He taught them a secret language with certain signs of greeting. I know not. The student was new to the lore, but he found out quickly that 13 was the number of the Prophet, twelve disciples plus Him, and eight and five were also important.
Marksman, an old Chippewa warrior:
It is well tonight that we speak of the Pale God, and fitting as well that we council with others, greeting our enemies as brothers, for such would have been the wish of the Prophet. I have heard some talk among the lodges that the Lord of Wind and Water was but a myth brought down by the old ones from times beyond our present reckoning. That is true, but it is a strange legend! If the youth among our people doubt the wide-flung strength of this ancient story, look about at His symbols from tribe to tribe across the broad land.
And the color of snow: among all the nations it stands for peace. Why is this so? Because He wore it., as he traveled from nation to nation He taught the people to live in peace and to speak in council, thus settling all their problems. This was His way and the way of His Father.
Thus He left us, and to Him I raise the Peace Pipe, the tobacco mixed with cedar shavings (to ask His forgiveness, as was once taught by the Pale Prophet), and blow the smoke to the four directions, thus making the sign of His Cross. For tonight, I have spoken.”
Next to speak was a Dakota Sioux.
When He came, we lived far to the southward, where the sun makes shorter shadows and our cities were built on islands, many of which have since gone down into the ocean. After He left we forgot His teaching and we returned to the ways of the Fire God.
And remembering back, our wise men told us that once Great Wacoma tete (The white prophet healer) predicted that it would be so, even to the final coming of white man. Now when it is too late, we remember.
You ask me to tell you of Great Wacoma tete. Our memory of Him is greatly garbled for so long ago was He living. We know that He prayed to the Dawn Star, and today, in His memory, our most sacred lodge carries that name. To the memory of Him, I make His symbol, and for this night-I have spoken.
One who spoke English stood to talk next.
Our memories of the Prophet are dimmed by the ages. Among the Choctaw, He was known as Eemeshee, the Wind God, for strange are the tales which are told of His power over the heavens, and the winds which speak with the breath of the spirits.
It is said that He told us of White Man’s coming, and when He did His eyes had a sad look as if seeing about Him the scenes of the future. Once He said: ‘All my life have I struggled against this thing called the Law of the Jungle. Are these bearded ones who are still my children going down war’s trail to final destruction, and thus give the last human victory in death to the Law of the Jungle?
In our land of Oklahoma where our plows turn the good earth, and our cattle graze on the brown hills, I have often seen His symbol among the woman’s work (who still weave baskets) as I ride to other camps trading. Sometimes it is woven with the Star of the Morning, or the Cross of Four Directions or the symbol for the Cedar, sacred Tree of Ceremony.
Once when riding my pony to another camp, I saw some old pottery shards sticking out of the earth on top of a large hill. There was a cedar on the hill. I walked up and smoked a cigarette rolled with cedar shavings. Then I picked up the shards. One them was drawn winged beings. Carefully I put them back and then I made inquiries to all the wise old men of different tribes. They told me that the Healer had said something about winged beings singing at this birth. Do you have this memory of the Prophet’s teaching?
This is about all that I remember. Except one thing. Even today, when we hear the weird music of the wind, we whisper to one another;
Be quiet and chant the old prayers, the Peace Chants with which He opened the councils, for that is the great Eemeshee chanting with the singing spirits in the Wind-song. To His name, still unforgotten, still beloved among the people, I too, take the Pipe and send the smoke to the Four Directions where His feet trod over the wide land. For this night, I , too, have spoken.”
One more than one hundred years stood next to speak.
You asked me here to speak of the Healer, and the ancient days of our people’s greatness. I was surprised to receive such an invitation. Are our young men having a change of spirit? Since when have they listened to the chanting? Have they ceased their love of White Man whiskey, truly known as Devil-Water, which looses their tongues and makes them foolish?
Coming north from our Capitol City, where the Mississippi meets the Missouri, in the longboats of the traders, the Prophet made His journey toward the city we called Sacred. This was an ancient metropolis. Before we built its Mound of Extinction, after the Great Civil War of the Turtles, ninety-six dynasties of rulers had lived their long and eventful history.
Like the Capitol, it too had strawberry carpets about all the buildings built upon the Great Crests, and from them the streets radiated outward among the dwellings of the people. This city was called Sacred because it was in the center of the Cross of Waters from whence ran the rivers to the Four Oceans. East to the Sunrise ran the waters, and Northward to the Sea of Dancing Lights; to the West beyond the Great Divide the waters ran to the Sea of the Sunset, while the Missouri and Mississippi ran to the Southern Sea, the Sea of the Karibs.
To this, the City of the Great Cross of Waters, up the river called the Father of Waters, one golden morning, came the Healer.
The streets were mosaic of flowers strewn in homage to the path before Him as He walked toward the Temple. Greatly beloved now was the Pale God, known as the Lord of the Wind and Water. His every move bespoke His kindness; His very touch revealed His divinity; and before Him all the people bowed down.
Through rows of worshippers He moved to the Temple, in quiet solemnity, holding up His hand in blessing-that hand with the strange palm-marking, for through it was engraved the True Cross which He had taken as His Symbol.
There at the Temple He abode among us, though He often rode away with the merchants, or more often walked to distant villages, holding in His hand His great staff, and stopping to speak with all the people, from the aged to the children.
Once there was a great stir among the villages. Messages had been flashed with obsidian mirrors and the smoke-puffs of more distant signals. They spoke of an array of nobles who were coming to the Sacred City from a land called Golden Tollan.
The Prophet was the least disturbed. He gathered about Him a council of the merchants, and soon had mastered the Toltec language. These men in peace were coming northward, He told the frightened people, and shortly the messages confirmed His story.
Then at the last day dawned and the long boats were sighted coming up the river. In the lead, as was proper, came the ships of the Puans, laden down with goods of commerce, and following them the ships of the Mayans and some other forgotten peoples. At last came the beautiful ships of Tollan.
Proudly they walked behind their honor guard as they made their way to the Great Temple, where framed in the painted great-log doorway the Prophet stood quietly waiting with His shining hair and wearing His snow-white mantle embroidered with crosses about the hemline.
It is said that the strangers brought many presents, among which were snowy garments and a pair of golden sandals, which indeed He wore forever after. The Mayans, too, laid gifts before Him and received from Him the Blessing. However, when after four days passed, the ships departed without the Prophet, the joy of the people was tempered with sorrow when they learned that the Pale God had given His promise to go one day soon to Tollan, after He had visited first with other nations.
The Mayans, too, and the other peoples, all returned happily down the river, for they all carried back a promised visit. For them this was a thing for rejoicing, for it was a well-known fact that the Healer never broke a promise.
Thus for you of this night, and for those even more distant in time from those living this hour, I have spoken. In bitterness had I sworn that these pictures would fade with the mind which carried them forward, but it is true that I had no right to think that.
And so I release them into the future, to that perhaps unborn soul who will listen and love them, as I when a boy would crouch listening about the firelight, and walk enraptured in spirit through a day so long vanished. I too have spoken.
The last to speak was a man from the Cheyenne.
Like our brothers we remember the Fair God who foretold the coming of the White Man. Yet so long ago was He living that like the Dakota, our memories are garbled.
Four years ago I went to the West Coast to seek work in the motion pictures where they were filming. There I met Indians from many nations, and all were courteous, and more or less friendly. One particular man, a Yakima from Washington, told me this about the Fair God.
When he came to the Yakima people, they called Him Tacoma, and so greatly did they pay Him reverence that they renamed their highest mountain in honor of His coming.
My friend said that when Tacoma left them, He promised the sorrowing people that one day through the light of the dawning, He, Tacoma, would return to them. Through the long vistas of the moon, the sun and the dawn star, the people still remembered this promise and always faithfully watched for Tacoma, and dying told their children to keep on watching.
Then one time a great ship came into the harbor. On the deck were men who were bearded, carrying rods which killed at a distance. The people were alarmed and amazed, but their chief, who was named Chief Seattle, reminded them of the Fair God who had not told them the manner of His coming. So to the ship they brought presents, food of all kinds and cool fresh water, carved work and other trinkets. The bearded ones took the presents, smiled and were friendly, but they sailed away without remaining.
Many years later the people learned that this was not Tacoma, but Sir Francis Drake of England.
As my friends listened to this story, there was among them a man from Hawaii. He told a similar story. Once there came to them the Fair God whom they called Wakea. This god-like one healed the injured, raised the dead, walked on water and taught the people. When Wakea left, said the Polynesian, He promised that some day He would come back to them through the dawn light.
Through countless generation cycles the people still remembered, teaching their babes and then their grandchildren to keep watching the dawn for Wakea’s coming.
One time a great ship came to them. The people met it with rejoicing, bringing presents to the bearded White Men, fruits and food and entertained them with feasting. Yet the White Men did not remain among them. They sailed away and the people, embittered, wondered if Wakea had rejected His people. True, they had not entirely lived up to His teachings. There had been some war and fighting, but on the whole through the long, long years, they had tried to remain faithful.
That night a great storm struck the island. Was this another sign of Wakea’s displeasure? The people were hurt as they thought upon it. Then they saw the ship returning. It was running like a frightened dog for cover, heading back to the safety of the harbor.
Now the people knew this was not Wakea. The Fair God had full command of the sea and windstorms. He had but to hold high that slim hand and the mightiest storms obeyed Him. These men were but imposters pretending with their beards to be Wakea! So the surprised White Men met an army fo warriors who swarmed over the ship and killed the explorers.
It was years later that the Polynesians learned the truth of this story of misunderstanding. These men probably had never heard of Fair Wakea. This was but James Cook, the explorer, trying to map the wide Pacific for a distant island named England. For this night, I have spoken.
Dark Thunder then arose and looked outside as the wind was singing through the trees. He finished the evening with these words:
My heart is heavy to hear these stories. The feathers of my soul are drooping. Yet almost a if foretelling the present is the manner of the Prophet’s going. He left our people one night when it was snowing. He was to go on to the Cree northward to Canada, and after seeing the People northward, would turn toward the sunset and the Western River running toward the Sunset Ocean.
They say that as He walked onward, the snowflakes danced through the skies in patterns. There were two wolves, which were always with Him, and now they followed His footsteps. One was white and one was dark silver. He had laughed when they had offered to guide Him, for He had often gone with the merchants and He knew the country well. Thus the People saw Him leaving in an aura of dancing snowflakes where was before a living forest-like ours tonight. He faded into the whiteness like a wisp of smoke is lost in the snowstorm, leaving only millions of moving snowflakes swirling about in fantastic patterns.
Remembering this and how He predicted the distant coming of White Man ‘like the snowflakes which blow in from the ocean’, I am suddenly stricken with sorrow. Once we lived in the wild free forest on a planet just as the Great Spirit made it. Now that world is changed and sullied, and the Red Man walks away sadly through millions of engulfing snowflakes-lost like a wisp of smoke in the snowstorm. For this night I have spoken.
*In Mexico, on an island known as Triburon, lives the Seri. These peoples have long lived in poverty and neglect; however, their memories of the Ancient Prophet live on with great memory.
“Tlazoma,” the Miracle Worker, came to them. They say Tlazoma lived with them for many months teaching them not only the ways of living right, but also ways on how to survive, such as how to store water, how to feed weaned children and showed them many wild plant they had not known could be eaten. Before this time they had used a “population control” method in order to not run out of food, now the Prophet spoke against this law saying “Raise not the knife in bloody slaughter.
Eventually the time came for Tlazoma to leave and continue o his journey. He spoke to them of going to the Papago. Yet the people exclaimed these were their enemies and begged Him not to go there. But He claimed that His Father had many different lodges. And He was asked about where He had come from as He had never said. And very gently the Bearded One answered, “My Father’s Land lies deep within you.
*Early one morning, the children of the Papagos were out playing, louder than usual. And then Eseecotl was spotted approaching the village. The adults scolded the children for playing so rudely because they had been embarrassed. But upon His approach, Eseecotl told them not to scold the children but have them come to Him instead for this was His and His Father’s will.
And every day after that , the Prophet talked and played with the children. But He did not make His home in the village. He chose a mountain known as “Bavokeevulick” which translated is “hour-glass” mountain. Eseecotl meant “the Healer.” And one day the Healer meandered into a place where a child was being sacrificed. Anger overcame Him and He grabbed the baby, calling it by name, healed his wounds and revived him. The priests became paralyzed and as much as they wanted, couldn’t kill the Healer.
The Healer left the building and gathered all the people around Him. He told them that this sacrificial tradition was against all of His teachings. The people then became ashamed of this but didn’t know what to do as they were afraid of the priests.
Later that night a couple of the priests went in search of the Healer in order to kill Him because He was changing their way of life. Right before sunrise, the Healer was in the entrance of His cave that faced the East praying. As the priests were nearing this cave, the Healer apparently had sat back and awaited their approach. As the priests slipped into the cave, Eseecotl stepped forward into the moonlight out of the cave and turned to them inside.
He asked the priests why didn’t they go ahead and kill him, after all He did not have any weapons. He then told them that they could not do so until the Father had deemed His work upon the earth was finished. And at that point, there was an earthquake. At this point, the entire cave mouth closed, leaving the Healer standing there by Himself. He heard from within the cave the priests calling out, pleading with Him to tell the village what had happened.
When the sun came up, Eseecotl walked into the village. The people in astonishment asked where the priests were after the Fire God had shaken the mountain. He answered, ” They came with knives before the trembling. They are still within the mountain, and from a great distance, you can hear their voices. My Father has spoken in the earthquake. No more am I to live among you.” … and He was never seen among them again.
*After this, He continued on His way to the Zuni. But before this, He stayed with the Dene. Now at this time, these were not the tribes as they are known today for this was just after they had traveled to this area, yet unsettled in themselves. According to this legend, they were a part of the Serpent people and had met up with the Prophet in the red lands of Monument Valley. They were very skeptical of Him and His reputation that was rumored. They questioned Him as to what right did He have as to claim the title of “Lord of Wind and Water” and asked Him if His and His Father’s power was actually greater than that of the Fire God.
In reply, He said, “My Father is a spirit who has no image. His power is greater than any other. Watch!” And He pointed upward. At that point a giant rock which was half the size of the cliff they were standing by started rising. with eyes full of terror they watched. It seemed to them a living creature, swaying and rising, knowing that if it fell it would crush them. Yet after a little, it balanced itself on another rock, so evenly balanced that a child could have pushed it over with a simple nudge.
This impressed the Dene so much they asked Him what the name of His One God was. The Prophet then asked them what name they would like to know Him as. But the Dene did not want to name this One Great God as they knew not what to call Him. So they asked the Prophet what His name was in other lands. And to the astonishment of many today, the Prophet revealed “The Great Yeh-ho-vah.”
The Prophet? He was a great god, a miracle-worker, a pure man of dreams and visions. We called him Great Azoma. He came to us on His way to Tula, Capitol of the Toltec Empire.” And sadly, this is all that is remembered in their legends told to this day.
* A Yaqui chieftain known as Tall Sedillo spoke of ancient ways freely, probably due to the fact he knew that he would not live much longer. He was a man very holy, filled with love, yet His heart was heavy; for in spite of all the honors of the people, the Lord had laid strange visions on Him. His eyes could see the future. It must be so. For as He predicted, all that He spoke of has happened.
Welcoming Him with open temples, the Yaqui streamed to meet the Healer. The women competed to weave Him mantles, to embroider the crosses about the hemline, and the men to fashion new golden sandals, knowing that He would leave the old ones, strangely enchanted because of His wearing, a touch of which would heal the body.
For Him they stopped all sacrificing. Instead, they used but fruits and flowers to fill their temples, and then placed them on their tables, even as He directed. Indeed we still try to follow His teaching, although often it is not easy, and many are the times we have turned from Him to use the rougher ways of the Serpent, yet we know that we are doing wrong.
The baptismal? Yes. It was the Prophet who taught this. The godfather and godmother with their names of kinship; all must last for the life of the infant.
*It is told that the Prophet then came to Tula. Their lands were abundant with slaves, agriculture, birds of rare beauty, gold, silver, bronze, copper, and wealth unheard of in other lands. Animals bred by the thousands for their furs, feathers, and meats in abundance. Fountains, flowers, perfumes and other legends told for generations and generations even after its fall. But it was during this time of its utmost grandeur that the Prophet came to them.
By the time the Prophet entered Tula, His fame had been told among Tula long before He actually walked there. People had been waiting. And when they heard of His coming to their lands, they lined the valleys and hillsides in masses so much so that most of the villages of the great land had been emptied. Knowing how much He loved flowers, they filled the air with perfumes and “rained” flowers upon Him as He entered their land. As He walked over the petals that lay on the road, people would flock to pick up the pieces that He had walked on, hoping to keep even a single petal for their memories.
When He reached the gateway into Tula, they say He paused a moment to take in the beauty of the city. The leaders led Him to the Hill of Loud Out Crying, Tzatzitepec. Here they put Him on a seat of honor were He sat to watch the ceremonial dances performed for Him. But then He started to speak and the people were absolutely amazed as His voice carried far and wide so that all could hear Him. They say that after His greetings to all, he denounced their position of slavery asking them “do you expect to enter into the gates of Heaven carried upon the backs of your slaves?” And He continued on telling them there should not be wars or hatred as He had walked among their enemies teaching them the way of peace.
