As discussed above, Aztec folklore is rife with parallels, much of the time depicted in deities such as Tezcatlipoca. Members of this confederacy from Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Oaxaca provided the Spaniards with the army that first reclaimed the city of Cholula from its pro-Aztec ruling faction, and ultimately defeated the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). Background. Everyone, including commoners, high priests, and the king, were involved in some aspect of the Toxcatl ceremonies.[23]. [34] Some Franciscans at this time held millennarian beliefs[35] and some of them believed that Cortés' coming to the New World ushered in the final era of evangelization before the coming of the millennium. As the morning and evening star, Quetzalcóatl was the symbol of death and resurrection. For a summary of Tezcatlipoca's epithets and their significance see Olivier (2003) Chapter 1. Feb 19, 2018 - Explore Diego Alvarez's board "Tezcatlipoca", followed by 103 people on Pinterest. [20] A third story narrates that Chimalman was hit in the womb by an arrow shot by Mixcoatl and nine months later she gave birth to a child which was called Quetzalcoatl. Colonial documentary sources from the Maya area frequently speak of the arrival of foreigners from the central Mexican plateau, often led by a man whose name translates as "Feathered Serpent". Apart from being a creator deity, he also ruled over the modern age. During the epi-classic period, a dramatic spread of feathered serpent iconography is evidenced throughout Mesoamerica, and during this period begins to figure prominently at sites such as Chichén Itzá, El Tajín, and throughout the Maya area. Tezcatlipoca was sometimes cast as the supernatural antagonist of Quetzalcoatl, the deity associated with cultural creativity, urban order, and priestly wisdom. His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli).[27]. info)), in honorific form: Quetzalcōātzin) is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent". Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of wind, air, and learning, wears around his neck the "wind breastplate" ehēcacōzcatl, "the spirally voluted wind jewel" made of a conch shell. The gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca brought the earth goddess Tlalteuctli down … Often our current time was considered the fifth sun,[citation needed] the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. [16] Another common practice was to cover themselves in black soot or ground charcoal while they were involved in priestly activities at the temple or during rituals. Historian Matthew Restall concludes that: The legend of the returning lords, originated during the Spanish-Mexica war in Cortés' reworking of Moctezuma's welcome speech, had by the 1550s merged with the Cortés-as-Quetzalcoatl legend that the Franciscans had started spreading in the 1530s. In Aztec culture, depictions of Quetzalcoatl were fully anthropomorphic. As the morning star, he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". Tezcatlipoca turned himself into a jaguar and ripped the world apart. It is the black Tezcatlipoca that most Aztec myths refer to. Some legends describe him as opposed to human sacrifice[24] while others describe him practicing it.[25][26]. [29], The vowel transliterated here as [i] may in fact have been long or followed by a glottal stop which is sometimes written as an ⟨h⟩. While not usually feathered, classic Maya serpent iconography seems related to the belief in a sky-, Venus-, creator-, war- and fertility-related serpent deity. There were many gods in the Aztec religion but some of the most prominent included: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, Mictlāntēcutli, Tlaloc, and Chicomecōātl. [20] There were several smaller temples dedicated to Tezcatlipoca in the city, among them the ones called "Tlacochcalco" and "Huitznahuatl". Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Franciscans then equated the original Quetzalcoatl with Thomas and imagined that the Indians had long-awaited his return to take part once again in God's kingdom. (Restall 2001 p. 114)[full citation needed]. Quetzalcoatl became the ruler of the subsequent creation "Sun of Water", and Tezcatlipoca destroyed the third creation "The Sun of Wind" by striking down Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was defeated by Tezcatlipoca… In one particular hymn, he is mentioned as being both the creator and destroyer of the world, and both as a poet and a scribe. In the Aztec ritual calendar, different deities were associated with the cycle-of-year names: Quetzalcoatl was tied to the year Ce Acatl (One Reed), which correlates to the year 1519. "He had been a warrior who was captured, and he ended his life as a warrior. Tezcatlipoca is a divine sorcerer. Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include resplendent quetzals, rattlesnakes (coatl meaning "serpent" in Nahuatl), crows, and macaws. [9] Furthermore, early Spanish sources written by clerics tend to identify the god-ruler Quetzalcoatl of these narratives with either Hernán Cortés or Thomas the Apostle—identifications which have also become sources of a diversity of opinions about the nature of Quetzalcoatl.[10]. Most were sung to praise the highest deities, including Tezcatlipoca, who was often addressed as the "Giver of Life." After that, they created the people, and people had to offer sacrifices to comfort Cipactli for her sufferings. The Nahuatl nouns compounded into the proper name "Quetzalcoatl" are: Nicholson 2001, Carrasco 1982, Gillespie 1989, Florescano 2002, Lafaye 1987, Townsend 2003, Martínez 1980, Phelan 1970, (in English, Spanish, and Nahuatl languages), Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, "Evidence of Mushroom Worship in Mesoamerica", "New Taxonomical and Ethnomycological Observations on, "Readings in Classical Nahuatl: The Death of Quetzalcoatl", "The Complete New York City Horror Movie Marathon! He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of maize (corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. [17] They would also cover the sick and newly appointed king in a similar manner with a black ointment to encourage an association with the god. Tezcatlipoca's nagual, his animal counterpart, was the jaguar and his jaguar aspect was the deity Tepeyollotl ("Mountainheart"). On the basis of the iconography of the feathered serpent deity at sites such as Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Chichén Itzá, Tula and Tenochtitlan combined with certain ethnohistorical sources, historian David Carrasco has argued that the preeminent function of the feathered serpent deity throughout Mesoamerican history was the patron deity of the Urban center, a god of culture and civilization. In his form as Ehecatl he is the wind, and is represented by spider monkeys, ducks, and the wind itself. After a slapstick-style chase scene, Xavier winds up as the Sun God and commits "sacricide" (sacrificial suicide), ending the skit. [33] This speech, which has been widely referred to, has been a factor in the widespread belief that Moctezuma was addressing Cortés as the returning god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl has been worshiped by all the major Mesoamerican cultures including the Mayans and the Aztecs. Like Sphinx, she was one of the “Ancient Gods” – great monsters who existed and had been revered in various region in ancient times, though not actual gods. 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 Cortés (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. Angered in turn, he would not make it rain for several years until, in a fit of rage, he made it rain fire with the few people who survived the assault turning into the birds. The existence of such worship can be seen through studies of the iconography of different Mesoamerican cultures, in which serpent motifs are frequent. [6] Feathered serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites. Tezcatlipoca was also honoured during the ceremony of the 9th month, when the Miccailhuitontli "Little Feast of the Dead" was celebrated to honour the dead, as well as during the Panquetzaliztli "Raising of Banners" ceremony in the 15th month. 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. Auh yn jquac molhuja eheca, mjtoa: teuhtli quaqualaca, ycoioca, tetecujca, tlatlaiooa, tlatlapitza, tlatlatzinj, motlatlaueltia. [26] "For one year he lived a life of honor," the handsome young man "worshipped literally as the embodiment of the deity". Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and springtime. Tezcatlipoca(テスカトリポカ, Tesukatoripoka?) [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. However, ixiptla were usually selected from among captive warriors, and the chosen individual was bathed and ceremoniously cleansed for the role that he was to undertake. [7], When depicted he was usually drawn with a black and a yellow stripe painted across his face. In the Legend of the Suns, their battles saw them topple each other as regents of individual worlds. Quetzalcóatl was the son of the primordial androgynous god Ometeotl. And when the wind rose, when the dust rumbled, and it crack and there was a great din, became it became dark and the wind blew in many directions, and it thundered; then it was said: "[Quetzalcoatl] is wrathful. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war, and strife. A central figure of the Popol Vuh was the god Tohil whose name means "obsidian" and who was associated with sacrifice. The earth herself is the nourisher of life; but she is also the burial ground of the dead. In the complex Mesoamerican creation myths Tezcatlipoca ruled the first world of the Sun but was then overthrown by Quetzalcóatl. In the Codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which, as described in the codex written by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and his Tlatelolcan informants, included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as: You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you. [18] When the ritual called for it, priests would also dress up as Tezcatlipoca himself and accompany other similarly outfitted gods or goddesses. One purpose of this myth is to validate the Aztec custom of sacrificing live human hearts. This marriage, occurring after a full year of abstinence, symbolized a period of fertility which followed the drought. [13] In Mazatec legends the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl.[14]. Since the sixteenth century, it has been widely held that the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Hernán Cortés in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. His older brothers were Xipe Totec and Tezcatlipoca while his younger brother was Huitzilopochtli. Represented as the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl was also manifest in the wind, one of the most powerful forces of nature, and this relationship was captured in a text in the Nahuatl language: Quetzalcoatl; yn ehecatl ynteiacancauh yntlachpancauh in tlaloque, yn aoaque, yn qujqujiauhti. In this legend, Mixcoatl shot at Chimalma for spurning his advances. Quetzalcoatl replaced him and started the second age of the world and it became populated again. [28][29][30][31][32] Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Cortés's letters to Charles V of Spain, in which Cortés goes to great pains to present the naive gullibility of the Aztecs in general as a great aid in his conquest of Mexico. [citation needed] Additionally, at least one major cache of offerings includes knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels. Christian missionaries perceived the tragic Quetzalcoatl as a Christ-figure. "[4], The earliest known documentation of the worship of a Feathered Serpent occurs in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD. The Main temple of Tezcatlipoca in Tenochtitlan was located south of the Great Temple. Historians debate to what degree, or whether at all, these narratives about this legendary Toltec ruler describe historical events. In Aztec times (14th through 16th centuries) Quetzalcóatl was revered as the patron of priests, the inventor of the calendar and of books, and the protector of goldsmiths and other craftsmen; he was also identified with the planet Venus. Quetzalcoatl went to Mictlan, the underworld, and created fifth-world mankind from the bones of the previous races (with the help of Cihuacoatl), using his own blood, from a wound he inflicted on his earlobes, calves, tongue, and penis, to imbue the bones with new life. [21] The king would stand "naked, emphasizing his utter unworthiness," speaking as nothing but a vessel for the god's will. For a discussion of the many interpretations of the meaning of the name Tezcatlipoca see Olivier (2003) pp. [12] In his form as the morning star, Venus, he is also depicted as a harpy eagle. According to Fray Diego Durán it was "lofty and magnificently built. Huitzilopochtli, the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl spider monkeys, ducks, priestly! 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