Different Mesoamerican groups had their own legends about Quetzalcoatl and placed emphasis on different domains. All good eclipses must come to an end, and this happened when the snake evolved into a Feathered Serpent and flew out of the sun again. This didnt help a lot to overcome their cruel intentions, however. The east is represented by Xipe Totec who is the Red Tezcatlipoca and the god of gold and farming. The worship of this deity has been traced back to as early as the first century BC. Quetzalcoatl stole the bones from the Underworld, taking great risks and evading many traps to bring them to the surface. https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322 (accessed March 2, 2023). Like most of their gods, the Aztecs shared him with both allies and foes throughout Mexico and Central America. Different versions of the birth of god are prevalent in Mesoamerican mythology. He appears in Post-classic tales from the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec cultures. However, each and every god had failed terribly in doing so. He would submerge himself in a highly flammable substance and set himself on fire, granting himself a place amongst the stars. Minster, Christopher. The date 9 Wind is known to be associated with fertility, Venus and war among the Maya and frequently occurs in relation to Quetzalcoatl in other Mesoamerican cultures. Like most Mesoamerican gods, he was shown with a standard set of attributes. Minster, Christopher. His form of reincarnation, more specifically, would be that of a white person with a long beard. The next morning, Quetzalcoatl, feeling shame and regret, had his servants build him a stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and then, laying in the chest, set himself on fire. Mayans had deities with feathered serpent as their names. You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth. Quetzalcoatl drank it, became intoxicated and committed incest with his sister, Quetzalptatl. For more details, Wikipedia is a good resource. In the codices, he was generally more human-like. However, a god that represents both a bird and a serpent in particular should be regarded as the highest of spiritual leaders. The west is represented by Quetzalcoatl who is also the White Tezcatlipoca and the god of light, justice, mercy, and wind. In sculptures adorning temples throughout ancient Mexico, he generally appeared as a plumed serpent, although sometimes he had human features as well. Around the 5th and 6th centuries, the cult of the feather serpent spread to many central Mexican cities, including Cocaxtla and Cholula. [citation needed], In the Codex Chimalpopoca, it is said Quetzalcoatl was coerced by Tezcatlipoca into becoming drunk on pulque, cavorting with his older sister, Quetzalpetlatl, a celibate priestess, and neglecting their religious duties. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Gods of Death Minster, Christopher. Auh yn jquac molhuja eheca, mjtoa: teuhtli quaqualaca, ycoioca, tetecujca, tlatlaiooa, tlatlapitza, tlatlatzinj, motlatlaueltia. Subtleties in, and an imperfect scholarly understanding of, high Nahuatl rhetorical style make the exact intent of these comments tricky to ascertain, but Restall argues that Moctezuma's politely offering his throne to Corts (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. However, later sources uncover that already a year before him a similar figure dwelled in the lands of the Aztec territory. Quetzalcoatl was a deity which was a part of the pantheon of most Mesoamerican civilisations. The Toltecs and Nahuas worshiped the god before he was eventually adopted by the Aztecs. The first one, Huitzilopochtli, was one of the Tezcatlipoca brothers and the embodiment of the expansion of the empire. In fact, he flew straight into it, leading to a total eclipse. Quetzalcoatl occupied a unique position in the Aztec pantheon and was considered one of the most important gods. These, then, are the people that still inhabit the world. For example, the Aztecs revered him as the god of the priesthood, knowledge, and trade. He is a powerful and benevolent dragon-type entity associated with harvests, wild animals, the morning star ( Venus ), wind and rain. Today he is known best as Quetzalcoatl, the name he was worshipped by in the Aztec culture. Ququmatz Also written as Gukumatz, this name belonged to the Kiche Maya. He sometimes carries flowers or sacrificial tools. Indeed, it turned out that this was the only viable option since the snake wasnt planning on moving for other reasons. It is said that he is called the god of wind, spirit of rain, the god of culture, and the . Or, more appropriately, Abya Yala.Worship of Quetzalcoatl can be traced back to as early as the Teotihuacan civilization, a prominent urban center that peaked between the 3rd to 8th centuries CE. Please like and share this article if you found it useful. These were part of the Nahua culture, which included both these states and other independent ethnic groups in central Mexico. [45][46] The deity has been featured as a character in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! This made it an important sign of fertility because it brought with it the rains that renewed the earth. [44], Quetzalcoatl was fictionalized in the 1982 film Q as a monster that terrorizes New York City. Ehecatl In some Aztec areas, such as Tenochtitlan, this was another wind god with nearly identical iconography to Quetzalcoatl. [11] That period lies within the Late Preclassic to Early Classic period (400 BC 600 AD) of Mesoamerican chronology; veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout Mesoamerica by the Late Classic period (600900AD). . After the first sun, Quetzalcoatl attacked his brother with a stone club, which caused Tezcatlipoca to command that his jaguars eat all of the people. So it should be clear that Quetzalcoatl was, indeed, a great mythical figure. There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. Remember, he has already been deemed a god. Throughout Mesoamerican culture, they practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism to placate this god. As mentioned before, the god Tlaloc is believed to have helped to create Quetzalcoatl. And, it wasnt so bad after all. In these instances, he is often seen wearing a lot of jewelry and some form of a hat. The title of the twin Aztec high priests wasnt just Quetzalcoatl. [9] In Mazatec legends the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl. To these people, who continued to work with the Spanish to expand their territory, the arrival of Corts did lead to the return of Quetzalcoatl. According to this myth, the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, one of them being Quetzalcoatl, represent the four cardinal directions. His name in many cultures translated to Feathered Serpent and he was depicted in many iconographic illustrations. After months of rain, the snake was forced to come out of the cave. Quetzalcoatl is the creator of all people and the giver of wisdom, corn, and the calendar. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. Carrasco's work was revised in 2000, and the new edition provides a valuable overview of the controversy about Cortes and Quetzalcoatl. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in colonial traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican god whose name literally means feathered serpent. And over the North presides the Black Tezcatlipoca, known by no other name than Tezcatlipoca, the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery and the Earth. In their mythology, the world was periodically destroyed and rebuilt by the gods. [24] In another story, the virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald. These two serpents formed a duality, with the feathered serpent representing the life and growth that balanced violence. This is evident in the iconography recovered from these sites. [38] Some Franciscans at this time held millennarian beliefs[39] and some of them believed that Corts' coming to the New World ushered in the final era of evangelization before the coming of the millennium. From here, he would be seen as the morning star, while his twin brother would be seen as the evening star; planet Venus. The Aztecs eventually called Quetzalcoatl for help. On the basis of the Teotihuacan iconographical depictions of the feathered serpent, archaeologist Karl Taube has argued that the feathered serpent was a symbol of fertility and of internal political structures - contrasting with the War Serpent symbolizing the outwards military expansion of the Teotihuacan empire. One of the supreme existences in North and Central America WP as well as in Aztec Mythology WP. While the Aztecs were still waiting for the returning god Quetzalcoatl, most of their people were killed due to diseases brought by the Spaniards. The colonization of Mesoamerica, or rather Abya Yala, has severely impacted the area where Quetzalcoatl was worshiped. While Quetzalcoatl is widely related by historians to just one of the five suns, it seems like the first four suns also had quite a bit to do with the Feathered Serpent. ", "Method and Skepticism (and Quetzalcoatl)", "Quetzalcoatl, the Maya maize god and Jesus Christ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quetzalcoatl&oldid=1141156375, Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints, Articles containing Classical Nahuatl-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from August 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from June 2021, All articles that may contain original research, Articles that may contain original research from June 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2012, Articles with incomplete citations from April 2020, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), Articles with sources in Nahuatl languages (nah), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, White Tecatlipoca, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Feathered Serpent, Precious Twin, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder, the feathered serpent, god of vegetational renewal, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 17:09. At the end of the fourth cycle, when mankind had perished again according to the mythology, Quetzalcoatl created a new people with his blood. Others said that he had invented the calendar and books. In the Aztec religion, Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of water, but she was also the only Chalchiuhtlicue: The Aztec Goddess of Water, gods to Spanish legends, heres everything you need to know about the most famous god of the Aztecs. But the history of the former has been handed down to us through an impure Lamanitish source, which has sadly disfigured and perverted the original incidents and teachings of the Savior's life and ministry. Looking at the iconography and retold myths of Mesoamerica, some historians have theories that Quetzalcoatl came to be associated with culture and urban civilization. They therefore claimed that Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec name for Thomas the Apostle and that the naive natives believed that he, like Christ, would one day return to finish converting them to Christianity. Corts himself claimed in a letter that the gullibility of the Aztec people helped him to conquer them. When Cortes and his crew of Spaniards came ashore in Mexico in 1519, many thought they were gods. In the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period (900-1200 A.D.), worship of Quetzalcoatl took off. [22], To the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was, as his name indicates, a feathered serpent. Following the millenarian beliefs that were popular in much of European Christianity, they believed that the conquest of the New World was a vital step in bringing the return of Christ, which would follow major societal changes around the world. The relation of Quetzalcoatl with just the latest sun is a result of the mingling of his earliest myths and some new perceptions. Quetzalcoatls twin, Xolotl, was a god associated with death. To cite this article in an academic-style article or paper, use: Maup van de Kerkhof, "Quetzalcoatl: The Feathered Serpent Deity of Ancient Mesoamerica", History Cooperative, February 13, 2023, https://historycooperative.org/quetzalcoatl/. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Rather than the conquistador himself being the wind god, however, it was that his army allowed the Puebla and their allies to reclaim the pyramid of Tlachihualtepetl, the center of Quezalcoatls cult. This, too, meant the end of the god Quetzalcoatl. It is believed by the Aztec religion expert that the deity arose from the combination of the historical leader, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, and a Mesoamerican god. ThoughtCo. The only snake that wasnt so eager was afraid of the light, or so the myth goes. 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