Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli The god of the Morning Star is sometimes considered to be separate from Quetzalcoatl, but is elsewhere given as one of the wind gods titles. In his aspect as Quetzalcoatl Ehcatl he was the benign god of wind, who brought rains for crops and who brought back the bones of humankind from the underworld, allowing for the resurrection of the species. They maintained a major pilgrimage and commercial center at Cholula, Puebla which the Spaniards compared to both Rome and Mecca because the cult of the god united its constituents through a field of common social, political, and religious values without dominating them militarily. Venus, which the god was closely associated with, appeared in the sky at the beginning of the rainy season. Please like and share this article if you found it useful. Xolotl was the sinister god of monstrosities who wears the spirally-twisted wind jewel and the ear ornaments of Quetzalcoatl. Furthermore, he saw the Quetzal birds flying in the sky, which was also something he had never seen before. On the other hand, the snake was considered a vital instrument to help bring visions from the underworld to the Mayan kings. What did Quetzalcoatl teach? 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. Quetzalcoatl is thus not only an Aztec god. One of the most often-repeated stories involving Quetzalcoatl was one that spread after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Ququmatz Also written as Gukumatz, this name belonged to the Kiche Maya. That period lies within the Late Preclassic to Early Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, and veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout . [24], According to another version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl is one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the four Tezcatlipocas, each of whom presided over one of the four cardinal directions. In another legend, still told in Mexico, Quetzalcoatl was feeling ill. His brother Tezcatlipoca, who wanted to be rid of Quetzalcoatl, came up with a clever plan. Quetzalcoatl wasnt all that happy with it, however. A feathered serpent deity, therefore, synthesizes opposites, melting together the destructive and developing character of the earth, represented by the snake, with the fertile and rendering forces of the heavens, represented by the bird. The widespread worship of Quetzalcoatl may have even played a factor in the belief that the natives of Mexico identified him with the Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. Quetzalcoatl's opposite was Tezcatlipoca, who supposedly sent Quetzalcoatl into exile. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322. ", "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. Quetzalcoatl wears around his neck the breastplate ehcaczcatl, "the spirally voluted wind jewel". The archaeological record shows that after the fall of Teotihuacan that marked the beginning of the epi-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology around 600 AD, the cult of the feathered serpent spread to new religious and political centers in central Mexico, centers such as Xochicalco, Cacaxtla and Cholula. Because of this, the ways in which he was worshipped varied widely. In the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period (900-1200 A.D.), worship of Quetzalcoatl took off. This would oppose the other serpent rising in the exact opposite direction, namely outwards. READ MORE: 10 Gods of Death and the Underworld From Around the World. Cult worship may have involved the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (psilocybes), considered sacred. Plumed serpents continued to be depicted in Central American cultures. Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec version of this plumed snake archetype. In the underworld, Quetzalcoatl went all the way to Mictln; the lowest region of the Aztec underworld. 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. Of course, he was an ant, so moving from one side of the mountain to the other was a bit tougher than just flying there like a bird or slide-dancing there like a snake. While the inhabitants of Teotihuacan were the first ones to worship Quetzalcoatl, the Aztecs reinterpreted him over time. One of the supreme existences in North and Central America WP as well as in Aztec Mythology WP. The feathered serpent was a deity who was widely worshiped and persisted for a long period of time. He sometimes carries flowers or sacrificial tools. Well, look no further, because Quetzalcoatl is your guy. Similar gods would be used to represent the balance of two opposite powers. Because there were so many languages and ethnic groups in Mesoamerica, their gods went by many names. Indeed, Quetzalcoatl was born. His appearance can change drastically, however, depending on the region, era, and context. Among the Aztecs, the name Quetzalcoatl was also a priestly title, as the two most important priests of the Aztec Templo Mayor were called "Quetzalcoatl Tlamacazqui". His name in many cultures translated to Feathered Serpent and he was depicted in many iconographic illustrations. In this period the deity is known to have been named Quetzalchutl by his Nahua followers. Because of this, the latest reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl would come to earth to do exactly that. 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., -Bernadino de Sahagn, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain. To both Teotihuacan and Maya cultures, Venus was in turn also symbolically connected with warfare.[21]. Mayans had deities with feathered serpent as their names. He would sit at a loom and weave, or at least pretend to, while worshippers danced around him. In the extant Mayan sources, it has been revealed that Quetzalcoatl, or the Feathered Serpent, was associated with warfare as well as fertility. These sources further claimed that it was because of this superstition that Moctezuma II invited Cortes as a guest and didnt harm him or his soldiers. Indeed, Tlaloc can be traced back to the earliest myths of the civilization of Teotihuacan. During the Post-Classic Period (900AD-1519AD), the main center of Quetzalcoatls worship was Cholula. The temple can be found at Teotihuacan and was erected in the third century. It is said that he is called the god of wind, spirit of rain, the god of culture, and the . In Tenochtitlan, Quezelcoatls name was used as a priestly title. On the basis of the different symbolic systems used in portrayals of the feathered-serpent deity in different cultures and periods, scholars have interpreted the religious and symbolic meaning of the feathered-serpent deity in Mesoamerican cultures. Because, if they did include human sacrifice, basically a part of Quetzalcoatl himself would be killed in order to honor him. Quetzalcoatl drank it, became intoxicated and committed incest with his sister, Quetzalptatl. Quetzelcoatl also appeared on (Season 3) of the Animal Planet mockumentary Lost Tapes in an episode entitled "Q the Serpent God". The two priests came to their position after living an exemplary life, with pure and compassionate hearts. It really elevated the status of the Feathered Serpent to the protector of the people, which is also affirmed by his role as patron god. At the end of the fourth cycle, when mankind had perished again according to the mythology, Quetzalcoatl created a new people with his blood. At this particular address, behind the green door, next . Evidence of such worship comes from the iconography of different Mesoamerican cultures, in which serpent motifs occur frequently. Like many other Mesoamerican deities, the story of our god sees several reincarnations. 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. Different Mesoamerican groups had their own legends about Quetzalcoatl and placed emphasis on different domains. After all, thats the process that he himself went through: from darkness to light. From ancient snake gods to Spanish legends, heres everything you need to know about the most famous god of the Aztecs! Or rather, arrived again. READ MORE: Water Gods and Sea Gods From Around the World. [7] Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include resplendent quetzals, rattlesnakes (coatl meaning "serpent" in Nahuatl), crows, and macaws. Different versions of the birth of god are prevalent in Mesoamerican mythology. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and springtime. Historian Matthew Restall concludes that: The legend of the returning lords, originated during the Spanish-Mexica war in Corts' reworking of Moctezuma's welcome speech, had by the 1550s merged with the Corts-as-Quetzalcoatl legend that the Franciscans had started spreading in the 1530s. In his aspect as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, he was the fearsome god of Venus and the morning star. 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. Mexico's flagship airline Aeromxico has a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted in a special Quetzalcoatl livery. Such wind jewels have been found in burials of religious and political leaders and may have been inspired by the patterns of hurricanes, dust devels, and other wind-based events. Aztec God Quetzalcoatl According to one myth, Quetzalcoatl was born to a virgin called Chimalman to whom god Onteol appeared in a dream. Indeed, it turned out that this was the only viable option since the snake wasnt planning on moving for other reasons. The gods powers extended beyond the wind, however. 9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl. Montezuma's failure to act has been attributed to his belief that Cortes was none other than Quetzalcoatl, who had once gone away to the east, promising to return. 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. The city was known as the center of Quetzalcoatls worship. Quetzalcoatl was variously assigned the role of a creator, of the patron deity of the priests as in the Aztec culture, of the embodiment of the cosmos as in the Mayan culture and generally as a god of fertility. Some said that before this he had helped to create the world itself. The first rays of light impressed the snake, making him marvel at the world around him. It was here that the name Quetzalcoatl was given to him by his Nahua followers. His representation of heaven and hell is also interpreted in different realms. For this reason, it is also believed that offers to Quetzalcoatl were one of only a few that should not include human sacrifice. He is also a god of learning, reading, and books. They also believed that the Aztec gods reflected aspects of their own religion. Drunkenness was forbidden, so Tezcatlipoca disguised himself as a medicine man and offered Quetzalcoatl alcohol disguised as a medicinal potion. But still, how could that ever be the case? Christopher Minster, Ph.D., is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. [23], The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. This, too, can be seen in the birth of Quetzalcoatl. Tlaloc blew the snake into the air, to a point where he was higher than the birds. To this day, new depictions of the creator deity can be found in Mexico. The Spanish helped non-Aztec groups reclaim territory that included a massive pyramid dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. Feathered serpents appear as early as 900 BC in parts of Mexico. The ancient Olmec civilization lasted roughly from 1200 to 400 B.C. 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. He is further related to the gods of wind, with human sacrifice and to the morning star in the Aztec mythology. 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