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Represented as the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl was also seen as manifest in the wind, one of the most powerful forces of nature; a text in the Nahuatl language captures this relationship: Quetzalcoatl; yn ehecatl ynteiacancauh yntlachpancauh in tlaloque, yn aoaque, yn qujqujiauhti. Of course, the odd one out sparked the interest of Tlaloc. The famous Pyramid of the Niches at El Tajin is believed by many to be dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, and the many ball courts there also suggest that his cult was important. However, each and every god had failed terribly in doing so. In one version of this story, he and his brother Tezcatlipota warred over the earth, destroying it four times before ending their feud. Quetzalcoatl is not a religious symbol in the Latter-day Saint faith, and is not taught as such, nor is it in their doctrine that Quetzalcoatl is Jesus. Plumed serpents continued to be depicted in Central American cultures. Although this proves that the concept of a divine feathered serpent has been around a long time, most historians agree that the cult of Quetzalcoatl did not come about until the late Classic era, hundreds of years later. Over the West presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, justice, mercy and wind. Quetzalcoatl is the name of a central Mexican deity, closely related to the morning star, Venus. 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. His name in many cultures translated to Feathered Serpent and he was depicted in many iconographic illustrations. Quetzalcoatl is a form of one of Mesoamericas most wide-spread images. According to Toltec and Maya accounts, Ce Acatl Topiltzn Quetzalcoatl lived in Tula for a while before a dispute with the warrior class over human sacrifice led to his departure. The south is represented by Huitzilopochtli who is the Blue Tezcatlipoca and the god of war. These, then, are the people that still inhabit the world. 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. In an example from Yaxchilan, the Vision Serpent has the human face of the young maize-god, further suggesting a connection to fertility and vegetational renewal; the Maya Young Maize god was also connected to Venus. Quetzalcoatl was also associated with Venus, the Morning Star, and thus the dawn. All but one. In Aztec culture, depictions of Quetzalcoatl were fully anthropomorphic. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. Indeed, Tlaloc can be traced back to the earliest myths of the civilization of Teotihuacan. He was also sometimes said to have created the world itself with the help of one of his brothers. So Quetzalcoatl is named after the thing he looks like, a feathered serpent deity. related to the belief in a sky-, Venus-, creator-, war- and fertility-related serpent deity. If this speech was actually given, its likely that ignorance of Aztec customs and Nahuatl speech patterns was to blame for giving the impression that Montezuma was willingly handing over power to a divine being. The other serpent is normally seen as a war god, a war serpent symbolizing the military expansion of the Teotihuacan empire. During the Post-Classic Period (900AD-1519AD), the main center of Quetzalcoatls worship was Cholula. Although some Mesoamericans believed that Quetzalcoatl did not enjoy human sacrifices, others believed that his creation myth demanded them. His emotional bond with the shy snake grew during this period, so he decided to help him realize his dreams. Since the sixteenth century, it has been widely held that the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Hernn Corts in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. Even today, however, Nahuatl is just one of sixty-three native languages recognized in Mexico. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. (Restall 2001 p. 114)[full citation needed]. Legend has it that it made them powerful and strong, enabling them to build cities, palaces, temples, and some of the first pyramids in America. Later, Xavier and the Aztecs summon Quetzalcoatl in his mortal form and wind up angering him after cutting him open. After the eclipse of the fourth sun, Quetzalcoatl would go on a trip to the underworld. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. It has been theorised that the legend was created by mixing Moctezuma IIs welcome speech with a later Franciscan invention that related Cortes with Quetzalcoatl. He was a creator deity having contributed essentially to the creation of mankind. There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. Tlaltcuhtli was so upset at the loss of her own body that she demanded the hearts and blood of humans to appease her wrath. Mayans had deities with feathered serpent as their names. While drunk, Quetzalcoatl seduced his sister, a celibate priestess. The cult even spread down into the Maya lands. 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. Other parties have also promulgated the idea that the Mesoamericans believed the conquistadors, and in particular Corts, to be awaited gods: most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gernimo de Mendieta. But, remember, the promise of Quetzalcoatl was to bring heaven to the beings that were living in hell. He also encouraged them to worship a different god, Quetzalcoatl (kehtsahlkoh AHT uhl), or the Feathered Serpent. Quetzalcoatl was not only one of the most important deities in pre-Columbian Mexico, he was also one of the oldest. As a god of wind, Quetzalcoatl was also an important fertility deity. Based on the birth story of Quetzalcoatl, it seems safe to assume that the fourth sun was destroyed because of the floods caused by Tlaloc. Among the Aztecs, it was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. According to this myth, the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, one of them being Quetzalcoatl, represent the four cardinal directions. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Some scholarship maintains the view that the Aztec Empire's fall may be attributed in part to the belief in Corts as the returning Quetzalcoatl, notably in works by David Carrasco (1982), H. B. Nicholson (2001 (1957)) and John Pohl (2016). In art, he is represented by various animal symbols such as quetzals, rattlesnakes, crows, and macaws. As shown by his spiral jewel, Quetzalcoatl was a god of wind. I am the owner and chief researcher at this site. The city of Cholula, in particular, was known for the importance it laid on the deity of the feathered serpent. 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. It shows the first signs of a feathered serpent cult amongst ancient civilizations of the region. While in his own story, this was not all too literal, his actions that followed were actually the literal interpretation of his promise. The concept of duality, therefore, meant Quetzalcoatl was associated with life. Quetzalcoatl was so closely linked to fertility and creation that many groups held him to be the creator of mankind. His form of reincarnation, more specifically, would be that of a white person with a long beard. Tlaloc we already know. Aztec ceremonies often lasted several days . Well, in Aztec culture, the bird and the serpent have the religious and symbolic meanings of heaven and earth, respectively. The earliest known iconographic depiction of the deity appears on Stela 19 at the Olmec site of La Venta. He also had anthropomorphic forms, for example in his aspects as Ehecatl the wind god. Quetzalcoatl, or "Feathered Serpent," was an important god to the ancient people of Mesoamerica. [20] Historian Enrique Florescano - also analyzing Teotihuacan iconography - argues that the Feathered Serpent was part of a triad of agricultural deities: The feathered serpent was furthermore connected to the planet Venus because of this planet's importance as a sign of the beginning of the rainy season. My work has also been published on Buzzfeed and most recently in Time magazine. As a double of Quetzalcoatl, he carries his conch-like ehecailacacozcatl or wind jewel.Xolotl accompanied Quetzalcoatl to Mictlan, the land of the dead, or the underworld, to retrieve the bones from . By Quetzalcoatl was a god for many ancient . Of these, Quetzalcoatl was the Sun in the second cycle. Although early images had shown a serpent, by the classical period of Aztec culture Quetzalcoatl was more often shown with a human body. Quetzalcoatl's opposite was Tezcatlipoca, who supposedly sent Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to one version, Quetzalcoatl was born to a virgin called Chimalman to whom god Onteol appeared in a dream. In Tenochtitlan, Quezelcoatls name was used as a priestly title. In it, Montezuma welcomed the foreigner to take his throne which I have briefly kept for you.. This strongly suggests that these deities were Mayan equivalents of Quetzalcoatl. 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 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. If your web page requires an HTML link, please insert this code: . Quetzalcoatl became linked with the maize crop thanks to ancient legends. Along with one of his brothers, he was instructed by his parents to create the world six hundred years after his birth. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. Profile [] Identity []. Ashamed, Quetzalcoatl left Tula and headed east, eventually reaching the Gulf Coast. READ MORE: 10 Gods of Death and the Underworld From Around the World. The worlds largest pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl, was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl and was built up at the site over a period of a thousand years. This article is about a Mesoamerican deity. He was quite a bit bigger than he was before. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Quetzalcoatl stole the bones from the Underworld, taking great risks and evading many traps to bring them to the surface. In Xochicalco, depictions of the feathered serpent accompany the image of a seated, armed ruler and the hieroglyph for the day sign 9 Wind. 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. Although figuring prominently in many Mesoamerican mythologies, Quetzalcoatl also spawned a cult of his own. The worship of Miclantecuhtli was ongoing with the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. One day, Quetzalcoatls twin brother would coerce him into drinking pulque, a classic Mexican alcoholic beverage still served to this day. In Mesoamerican history, many different ethnopolitical groups worshiped a feathered-serpent deity. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in colonial traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. In the extant Mayan sources, it has been revealed that Quetzalcoatl, or the Feathered Serpent, was associated with warfare as well as fertility. It starts with Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain. He was also associated with the creation of mankind, so he also possibly occupied the role of creator in the Aztec mythology. However, Quetzalcoatl was already worshiped well before the Aztecs reigned over the area we know today as Mesoamerica. The Name Quetzalcoatl From here, he would be seen as the morning star, while his twin brother would be seen as the evening star; planet Venus. Different cultures associated him with priesthood and kingship, further complicating his mythology in later retellings. 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. Continue with Recommended Cookies. The association of the name with kingship led colonial Spaniards to believe that the Aztecs considered themselves to be descended from the god himself. He used his own blood from wounds he inflicted on himself to give life to the bones and create mankind. 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. 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. Quetzalcoatl (pronounced Keh-tzal-coh-AH-tl) is the feathered serpent god of the Aztecs and Toltecs. READ MORE: Sun Gods: Ancient Solar Deities From Around the World. In some versions of the ancient Mesoamerican histories, Quetzalcoatl was reborn as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli after being burned on a funeral pyre. He is usually interpreted as the same god with a different regional name, and is therefore often referred to as Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. The first keeper of written records, he was patron of the Calmecac, a school for noble children who learned to paint histories and astrology, as well as practice the art of war. He was so important that the worlds largest pyramid was just one of many places dedicated to his cult. [9] In Mazatec legends the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl. A 2012 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Dallas Museum of Art, "The Children of the Plumed Serpent: the Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico", demonstrated the existence of a powerful confederacy of Eastern Nahuas, Mixtecs and Zapotecs, along with the peoples they dominated throughout southern Mexico between 1200 and 1600 (Pohl, Fields, and Lyall 2012, Harvey 2012, Pohl 2003). The ancient Olmec civilization lasted roughly from 1200 to 400 B.C. The west is represented by Quetzalcoatl who is also the White Tezcatlipoca and the god of light, justice, mercy, and wind. In some areas, however, it was believed that Quetzalcoatl opposed such sacrifices. Cholula had been captured by pro-Aztec forces. Often he is also represented as spider monkeys, ducks, and other animals or beings of nature. Similarly, various other birth stories are also associated with Quetzalcoatl. Throughout Mesoamerican culture, they practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism to placate this god. The worship of Quetzalcoatl is wide-reaching, has a rich history, and exemplifies the complex world of Aztec mythology. Because there were so many languages and ethnic groups in Mesoamerica, their gods went by many names. C catl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl [s kat topiltsin ketsalkoat] ( Our Prince One-Reed Precious Serpent) (c. 895-947) is a mythologised figure appearing in 16th-century accounts of Nahua historical traditions, [5] where he is identified as a ruler in the 10th century of the Toltecs by Aztec tradition their . Rise early to appreciate the magnificence of her rising, and try to spend some time soaking up her warmth whenever you can. The god in human form taught them to cultivate corn seeds, to work with jade, gold and obsidian, how to dye cotton, the art of astronomy, he enriched their writing, promoted the worship of the gods and forbade human sacrifices, teaching them self-sacrifice by pricking themselves with maguey thorns instead. Like most Mesoamerican gods, he was shown with a standard set of attributes. [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. This made it an important sign of fertility because it brought with it the rains that renewed the earth. 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. 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Access information on a trip to the beings that were living in how to worship quetzalcoatl 900AD-1519AD,. People of Mesoamerica other birth stories are also associated with life worshiped well before the Aztecs considered to! The White Tezcatlipoca and the Underworld Quetzalcoatl became linked with the arrival of Europeans in the Philippines him drinking!, respectively be descended from the Underworld, taking great risks and evading many traps to bring to.
