Excessive politeness was actually used in Nahuatl rhetoric to express the opposite meaning. The Toltec people, who the Aztecs considered to be their ancestors, used Quetzalcoatl as a title for military and political rulers. Quetzalcoatl (pronounced Keh-tzal-coh-AH-tl) is the feathered serpent god of the Aztecs and Toltecs. https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322 (accessed March 2, 2023). While the temple was dedicated to two other deities, Quetzalcoatl still seems to be the main guest at the party because of his relationship with the inhabitants. Quetzalcoatl became, in fact, the very title of the most important priests: the twin Aztec High Priests. Xolotl was the sinister god of monstrosities who wears the spirally-twisted wind jewel and the ear ornaments of Quetzalcoatl. [9] In Mazatec legends the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl. Although probably not exactly a depiction of the same feathered-serpent deity worshipped in classic and post-classic periods, it shows the continuity of symbolism of feathered snakes in Mesoamerica from the formative period and on, for example in comparison to the Maya Vision Serpent shown below. They also believed that the Aztec gods reflected aspects of their own religion. He was quite a bit bigger than he was before. The gods powers extended beyond the wind, however. 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. It was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. 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. Archaeological sites in Mexico City have street addresses, not GPS coordinates, as sites tend to elsewhere. Besides giving life to people, Quetzalcoatl also allowed humans to survive. Of course, the odd one out sparked the interest of Tlaloc. After all, thats the process that he himself went through: from darkness to light. It is believed that the Feathered Serpent was responsible for all of it. He is a powerful and benevolent dragon-type entity associated with harvests, wild animals, the morning star ( Venus ), wind and rain. By Quetzalcoatl was a god for many ancient . In some stories he created mankind, and in others he worked with his brother to form the earth itself. It was here that the name Quetzalcoatl was given to him by his Nahua followers. A famous Olmec stone carving, La Venta Monument 19, clearly shows a man seated in front of a feathered serpent. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice.Mesoamerican priests and kings would sometimes take the name of a deity they were associated with, so Quetzalcoatl and Kukulcan are also the names of historical persons. The Nahua civilization, which included the central Mexican Aztecs, almost universally worshipped Quetzalcoatl among their gods. Venus, which the god was closely associated with, appeared in the sky at the beginning of the rainy season. Thats quite a big deal, because for the people in ancient Mexico, maize, or corn, is not just a crop. 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. According to the source, the same feathered serpent deity is also referred to as the god of the corn plant. That is, according to the Aztecs. It has been suggested that these stories recall the spread of the feathered-serpent cult in the epi-classic and early post-classic periods.[12]. However, at the end of the second cycle, mankind became like monkeys and so Quetzalcoatl blew up the whole of mankind. Did the Incas worship Quetzalcoatl? There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. The east is represented by Xipe Totec who is the Red Tezcatlipoca and the god of gold and farming. Quetzalcoatl is the most recognizable name among the Aztec gods. The name Quetzalcoatl can directly be linked to the Quetzal bird, a rare bird species found in Mesoamerica. 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. [24] In another story, the virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald. The Aztecs eventually called Quetzalcoatl for help. It is also suggested that he was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl. [22] 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. Carrasco's work was revised in 2000, and the new edition provides a valuable overview of the controversy about Cortes and Quetzalcoatl. From ancient snake gods to Spanish legends, heres everything you need to know about the most famous god of the Aztecs! Around the 5th and 6th centuries, the cult of the feather serpent spread to many central Mexican cities, including Cocaxtla and Cholula. Feathered serpents appear as early as 900 BC in parts of Mexico. Montezuma king of the aztecs during the era had even confirmed that Cortes was Quetzalcoatl or a reincarnation of their deity. 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. Like most Mesoamerican gods, he was shown with a standard set of attributes. Dated to around 900 BC, it depicts a serpent rising up behind a person probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. All but one. 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. He sometimes carries flowers or sacrificial tools. As mentioned before, the god Tlaloc is believed to have helped to create Quetzalcoatl. The temple of Quetzalcatl at Tenochtitln, the Aztec capital, was a round building, a shape that fitted the god's personality as Ehcatl. The earliest Aztec and classic Maya serpent iconography can be found in a six-tiered pyramid specifically dedicated to 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. Quetzalcoatl played many roles in ancient Aztec mythology, so its difficult to pin down just one. His form of reincarnation, more specifically, would be that of a white person with a long beard. Furthermore, he saw the Quetzal birds flying in the sky, which was also something he had never seen before. Franciscans such as Toribio de Benavente "Motolinia" saw elements of Christianity in the pre-Columbian religions and therefore believed that Mesoamerica had been evangelized before, possibly by Thomas the Apostle, who, according to legend, had "gone to preach beyond the Ganges". Please like and share this article if you found it useful. Continue with Recommended Cookies. After Topiltzin's exile, Toltec power began to decline. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. One day, Quetzalcoatls twin brother would coerce him into drinking pulque, a classic Mexican alcoholic beverage still served to this day. In the episode "Damnesia You," Xavier winds up in the Aztec world and is immediately (and unsuccessfully) sacrificed for insulting the Sun God, and during the sacrifice the Aztecs humorously fail to pronounce his name. Quetzalcoatl, or Feathered Serpent, was an important god to the ancient people of Mesoamerica. It may be that the historical Ce Acatl Topiltzn Quetzalcoatl was deified into Quetzalcoatl the god, or he may have assumed the mantle of an already existing divine entity. 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. Some said that before this he had helped to create the world itself. Although early images had shown a serpent, by the classical period of Aztec culture Quetzalcoatl was more often shown with a human body. It starts with Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain. 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. The Aztecs did have their own story surrounding Quetzalcoatl becoming one of the brothers. Several of the peoples of Eastern Mexico united with Corts in the belief that he would help them overthrow the Aztecs. That period lies within the Late Preclassic to Early Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, and veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout . Are you still looking for a being that caused a solar eclipse? The cult even spread down into the Maya lands. His name means Plumed Serpent, referring specifically to the green quetzal birds native to Central America. He appears seated in Omnipotence City of the gods, where all major deities are located, during an announcement from leader of the gods, Zeus. Other than Teotihuacn, large worship places can be found in Xochicalco and Cacaxtla. The first documented worship of Quetzalcoatl is found in Theotihuacan during the first century BC or first century AD. [25] Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star, and his twin brother Xolotl was the evening star (Venus). For example, theSerpent iconography represents both the light of day and the darkness of night, the birth of life, and the fatality of death. At first, the ancient Mesoamerican cultures were actually very welcoming toward the colonizers. However, as opposed to earlier depictions of Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan version of the deity had more elaborate features. 5D's, Beyblade: Metal Fusion, Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (the latter two depicting Quetzalcoatl as a female dragon deity); the Megami Tensei video game franchise; the video games Fate/Grand Order, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV, Sanitarium, Smite (as an alternate costume for his Mayan counterpart, Kukulkan), and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine; as the main antagonist in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"; and in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel books. After the eclipse of the fourth sun, Quetzalcoatl would go on a trip to the underworld. Every reincarnation story seems to come with its proper birth story, but there is one story that stands out. He would sit at a loom and weave, or at least pretend to, while worshippers danced around him. When Cortes and his crew of Spaniards came ashore in Mexico in 1519, many thought they were gods. After months of rain, the snake was forced to come out of the cave. Or rather, arrived again. This, too, meant the end of the god Quetzalcoatl. This is evident in the iconography recovered from these sites. Although some Mesoamericans believed that Quetzalcoatl did not enjoy human sacrifices, others believed that his creation myth demanded them. The most astonishing aspect of their worship, at least to the Spaniards, was their habit of human sacrifice . In fact, it is a deep cultural symbol that is intrinsic to daily life. During the Post-Classic Period (900AD-1519AD), the main center of Quetzalcoatls worship was Cholula. The Toltecs greatly venerated Quetzalcoatl at their capital of Tula, and other major cities at the time also worshiped the feathered serpent. Have you ever eaten blue, white, black, or red corn? While in his own story, this was not all too literal, his actions that followed were actually the literal interpretation of his promise. Auh yn jquac molhuja eheca, mjtoa: teuhtli quaqualaca, ycoioca, tetecujca, tlatlaiooa, tlatlapitza, tlatlatzinj, motlatlaueltia. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. While the Aztecs were still waiting for the returning god Quetzalcoatl, most of their people were killed due to diseases brought by the Spaniards. A lot of cultures such as the Maya, Toltecs, Aztecs, and many polities in Central Mexico used to worship the deity Quetzalcoatl during Postclassic period. Often he is also represented as spider monkeys, ducks, and other animals or beings of nature. This made crops grow and brought water for drinking. The Tlaxcalteca, along with other city-states across the Plain of Puebla, then supplied the auxiliary and logistical support for the conquests of Guatemala and West Mexico while Mixtec and Zapotec caciques (Colonial indigenous rulers) gained monopolies in the overland transport of Manila galleon trade through Mexico, and formed highly lucrative relationships with the Dominican order in the new Spanish imperial world economic system that explains so much of the enduring legacy of indigenous life-ways that characterize southern Mexico and explain the popularity of the Quetzalcoatl legends that continued through the colonial period to the present day. In the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period (900-1200 A.D.), worship of Quetzalcoatl took off. Standing over ten feet tall, the statue towers over onlookers as she leans toward them. He used his own blood from wounds he inflicted on himself to give life to the bones and create mankind. In Aztec culture, depictions of Quetzalcoatl were fully anthropomorphic. 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. My name is Mike and for as long as I can remember (too long!) For example, the Aztecs revered him as the god of the priesthood, knowledge, and trade. In the Maya area he was approximately equivalent to Kukulkan and Gukumatz, names that also roughly translate as "feathered serpent" in different Mayan languages. The city was known as the center of Quetzalcoatls worship. [10], The earliest known documentation of the worship of a Feathered Serpent occurs in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD. The worlds largest pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl, was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl and was built up at the site over a period of a thousand years. The eclipse that was caused by the birth of Quetzalcoatl is believed to be the fifth eclipse to ever happen. The shift in perception had to do with a bigger emphasis on war and human sacrifice in these empires. The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus was named after the deity. The earliest depictions of the feathered serpent deity were fully zoomorphic, depicting the serpent as an actual snake, but already among the Classic Maya, images of the deity began acquiring human features, such as the beard (see the Borgia codex illustration above) that he was sometimes depicted with. [32][33][34][35][36] Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Corts's letters to Charles V of Spain, in which Corts goes to great pains to present the naive gullibility of the Aztecs in general as a great aid in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. Circular temples were believed to please Ehcatl because they offered no sharp obstacles to the wind. This betterment meant something different with every new installment, which explains why many Aztec deities are related to different realms. Among the Aztecs, it was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. Quetzalcoatl appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder. Corn did exist, but it grew at a location that the ancient cultures were unable to reach. Human worship. He used his own blood from wounds he inflicted on himself to give life to the bones and create mankind. 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. Others said that he had invented the calendar and books. [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. Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec version of this plumed snake archetype. Latter-day Saint author Brant Gardner, after investigating the link between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, concluded that the association amounts to nothing more than folklore. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Tlaltcuhtli was so upset at the loss of her own body that she demanded the hearts and blood of humans to appease her wrath. Ruler of the, Nicholson 2001, Carrasco 1982, Gillespie 1989, Florescano 2002, Lafaye 1987, Townsend 2003, Martnez 1980, Phelan 1970. 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 blew up the whole of mankind had more elaborate features, a classic alcoholic... 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