After Topiltzin's exile, Toltec power began to decline. "9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl." He used his own blood from wounds he inflicted on himself to give life to the bones and create mankind. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322. [19] The most important center was Cholula, where the world's largest pyramid was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl-worship. Quetzalcoatl was not only one of the most important deities in pre-Columbian Mexico, he was also one of the oldest. Others said that he had invented the calendar and books. Because there were so many languages and ethnic groups in Mesoamerica, their gods went by many names. In another, they worked together to tear apart a monster called Tlaltcuhtli and create the land and its features from her body. Have you ever eaten blue, white, black, or red corn? . In fact, he wanted to tempt him to come out into the light. Residing in the darkness felt safe to him, so he decided to stay far away from the life-giving water. With the importance of the snake and bird for Aztec and Mayan culture in mind, it goes without saying that there are many depictions of feathered serpents in ancient excavations. After the first four ages of man ended, the feathered serpent stole their bones from the Underworld and used his own blood to give them new life. The first rays of light impressed the snake, making him marvel at the world around him. In general, he is considered the god of wisdom, the god of the Aztec ritual calendar, the god of corn and maize, and oftentimes a symbol of death and resurrection.The different roles of Quetzalcoatl are partly attributable to a series of reincarnations. Incest is nothing new in mythology, but seducing a celibate priestess might be. The Nahuatl nouns compounded into the proper name "Quetzalcoatl" are: (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, "All You Need To Know About The Ancient Aztec Gods and Goddesses", "Readings in Classical Nahuatl: The Death of Quetzalcoatl", "Gift of the Gods: Chocolate in the Aztec Empire", "The Complete New York City Horror Movie Marathon! Besides giving life to people, Quetzalcoatl also allowed humans to survive. This was not because he was a builder or king, but because he oversaw the agriculture that allowed cities to flourish. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. At the end of the fourth cycle, when mankind had perished again according to the mythology, Quetzalcoatl created a new people with his blood. And, it wasnt so bad after all. One legend claimed that the star was Quetzalcoatls heart, placed in the sky after he burned himself alive out of shame for neglecting his duties. https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322 (accessed March 2, 2023). He also encouraged them to worship a different god, Quetzalcoatl (kehtsahlkoh AHT uhl), or the Feathered Serpent. Hernan Cortes, who led the Spaniards, was first invited into the city by Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II. However, later sources uncover that already a year before him a similar figure dwelled in the lands of the Aztec territory. What did Quetzalcoatl teach? The worship of Quetzalcoatl is wide-reaching, has a rich history, and exemplifies the complex world of Aztec mythology. Aztec ceremonies often lasted several days . 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 story of how the ordinary Quetzalcoatl became one of the heavenly brothers goes as followed. Quetzalcoatl was a jack of many trades, a truth also reflected in the stories surrounding his birth. His job was to protect the sun from the dangers of the underworld. The east is represented by Xipe Totec who is the Red Tezcatlipoca and the god of gold and farming. In this period the deity is known to have been named Quetzalchutl by his Nahua followers. Ruler of the, Nicholson 2001, Carrasco 1982, Gillespie 1989, Florescano 2002, Lafaye 1987, Townsend 2003, Martnez 1980, Phelan 1970. 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. The title of the twin Aztec high priests wasnt just 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". 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. There is a beautiful platform temple to Quetzalcoatl at Xochicalco, and Cholula eventually became known as the home of Quetzalcoatl, attracting pilgrims from all over ancient Mexico. In yet another version, Quetzalcoatl is said to be one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. In Tenochtitlan, Quezelcoatls name was used as a priestly title. The attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied in different cultures of Mesoamerica during different eras. It starts with Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain. 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. The floods, too, caused great disaster to the earth in general. Mictlanteuctli and Mictlancihuatl, the two gods that ruled that realm, gave him a puzzle he was expected to complete before he could take the bones. Indeed, it turned out that this was the only viable option since the snake wasnt planning on moving for other reasons. Two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Tlaloc (ally and the god of rain) and Xolotl (psychopomp and its twin). Table of Contents [ hide] Etymology and Archaeology [47], In 1971 Tony Shearer published a book called Lord of the Dawn: Quetzalcoatl and the Tree of Life, inspiring New Age followers to visit Chichen Itza at the summer solstice when dragon-shaped shadows are cast by the Kulkulcan pyramid.[48]. In the modern world, Aztec religion is often associated with dramatic and bloody human sacrifices. Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and springtime. Later, Xavier and the Aztecs summon Quetzalcoatl in his mortal form and wind up angering him after cutting him open. In the iconography of the classic period, Maya serpent imagery is also prevalent: a snake often appears as the embodiment of the sky itself, and a vision serpent is a shamanic helper presenting Maya kings with visions of the 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. Because of this, the ways in which he was worshipped varied widely. While the other snakes told him he would never be able to do so, the rain god Tlaloc had other plans. 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. This, too, meant the end of the god Quetzalcoatl. The Aztec confederacy was opposed by other Nahua groups to the east. In fact, the then-current king himself, Moteuhzoma II, prophesied the return of Quetzalcoatl as a white-bearded person even if it would mean that hed have to give up his place on the throne. 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". 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. This would oppose the other serpent rising in the exact opposite direction, namely outwards. 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. Accessed March 1, 2023. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Gods of Death Cholula had been captured by pro-Aztec forces. Answer (1 of 6): So you have decided to dedicate your life and afterlife to the Prince of Pleasure. Occasionally, he is accompanied by his namesake quetzal bird. As a god, its only logical that such reincarnations would be for the betterment of the earth and its people. 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). What are the facts associated with this mysterious god? However, at the end of the second cycle, mankind became like monkeys and so Quetzalcoatl blew up the whole of mankind. [12] In the Postclassic period (9001519AD), the worship of the feathered-serpent deity centered in the primary Mexican religious center of Cholula. Indeed, the same as the one from the Great Pyramid. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests. The Aztecs, however, were only a small segment of the regions people. Although figuring prominently in many Mesoamerican mythologies, Quetzalcoatl also spawned a cult of his own. He figures most prominently in the Aztec mythology but it was in the city of Cholula that the cult of Quetzalcoatl enjoyed influence and prominence during the Classic Period of Mesoamerica. He was a creator deity having contributed essentially to the creation of mankind. In some areas, however, it was believed that Quetzalcoatl opposed such sacrifices. The major worship of this god as Quetzalcoatl began in 700 . This is evident in the iconography recovered from these sites. Ultimately, Quetzalcoatl was forced into exile. Throughout Mesoamerican culture, they practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism to placate this god. After the eclipse of the fourth sun, Quetzalcoatl would go on a trip to the underworld. He is also a god of learning, reading, and books. There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. They kept the same gods but believed in a new story. 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. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca may have been worshiped as early as 10,000 BC. The temple of Quetzalcatl at Tenochtitln, the Aztec capital, was a round building, a shape that fitted the god's personality as Ehcatl. 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/. [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). 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. His appearance can change drastically, however, depending on the region, era, and context. The worship of Quetzalcoatl sometimes included animal sacrifices, and in other traditions Quetzalcoatl was said to oppose human sacrifice. 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. In fact, it is a deep cultural symbol that is intrinsic to daily life. And when their march inland took them to the Aztec emperor's doorstep . ThoughtCo. The invaders looked an awful lot like these late depictions. Today he is known best as Quetzalcoatl, the name he was worshipped by in the Aztec culture. READ MORE: Sun Gods: Ancient Solar Deities From Around the World. This confederacy engaged in almost seventy-five years of nearly continuous conflict with the Aztec Empire of the Triple Alliance until the arrival of Corts. [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. This made crops grow and brought water for drinking. . This didnt help a lot to overcome their cruel intentions, however. In fact, the people of Mexico had killed several Spaniards in battle and had captured and sacrificed others, so they knew they were men, not gods. To create humans, Quetzalcoatl had to go into the Underworld and collect some bones. Among the Aztecs, it was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. Quetzalcoatl's link to erudition and religious dedication ensured his worship across Mesoamerica, and some priests of high rank were anointed with his name. Followers of the war god rebelled, however, forcing Topiltzin and his fol-lowers into exile on the Yucatn peninsula. 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. Manage Settings 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. Quetzalcoatl was many things: (1) a historical personage - a great priest-king and religious reformer who lived in approximately the tenth century A.D. The Toltecs and Nahuas worshiped the god before he was eventually adopted by the Aztecs. Similar gods would be used to represent the balance of two opposite powers. Looking at the iconography and retold myths of Mesoamerica, some historians have theories that Quetzalcoatl came to be associated with culture and urban civilization. By adding a bit of his own blood, he allowed a new civilization to emerge. Quetzalcoatl is but one of the Aztec gods and goddesses that has animal-like characteristics. In the era following the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, a number of records conflated Quetzalcoatl with Ce Acatl Topiltzin, a ruler of the mythico-historic city of Tollan. He would submerge himself in a highly flammable substance and set himself on fire, granting himself a place amongst the stars. After only a couple of years, the Aztec empire ended due to a combination of foreign diseases and diplomacy. Because the feathered serpent was such a widespread and long-lasting archetype, he was known by many names throughout Mexico and Central America. Indeed, Quetzalcoatl was born. 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. The legend of Quetzalcoatl is spoofed in the Adult Swim CGI series Xavier: Renegade Angel. [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. Quetzalcoatl stands out from the Mesoamerican pantheon as being relatively less bloodthirsty than others like Huitzilopochtli or Tezcatlipoca, making him as good a candidate as any for Jesus visiting the New World. Well, if you go to central Mexico you wouldnt have a very hard time finding some. Different versions of the birth of god are prevalent in Mesoamerican mythology. 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. Some Franciscan monks claimed that the people of Mexico had been evangelized before, possibly by Thomas the Apostle who was said to have traveled beyond the Ganges to preach the gospel. Aztec God Quetzalcoatl According to Aztec mythology, Earth had been through four cycles of Sun, each of which resulted in the destruction of mankind. My name is Mike and for as long as I can remember (too long!) He was so important that the worlds largest pyramid was just one of many places dedicated to his cult. In the Mesoamerican Epiclassic Period (900-1200 A.D.), worship of Quetzalcoatl took off. Whether Quetzalcoatl would return was out of the question. On the basis of the iconography of the feathered-serpent deity at sites such as Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Chichn Itz, 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 as the patron deity of the urban center - a god of culture and civilization. Montezuma king of the aztecs during the era had even confirmed that Cortes was Quetzalcoatl or a reincarnation of their deity. As the story goes, the Aztec believed in a white, bearded god named Quetzalcoatl, who, long ago, had disappeared into the east. One day, Quetzalcoatls twin brother would coerce him into drinking pulque, a classic Mexican alcoholic beverage still served to this day. These, then, are the people that still inhabit the world. With her arms bent and pulled up against her sides as if to strike, she is . [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. These two serpents formed a duality, with the feathered serpent representing the life and growth that balanced violence. Some said that before this he had helped to create the world itself. It is not a coincidence that Quetzalcoatl is just as often referred to as the Feathered Serpent by his worshipers and historians. While in his own story, this was not all too literal, his actions that followed were actually the literal interpretation of his promise. Quetzalcoatl wears around his neck the breastplate ehcaczcatl, "the spirally voluted wind jewel". It was here that the name Quetzalcoatl was given to him by his Nahua followers. The most astonishing aspect of their worship, at least to the Spaniards, was their habit of human sacrifice . This constitutes the Late Pre-Classic Period of the Mayan civilization. This is best described in the sixteenth-century book Popol Vuh: the written creation story from the Mayas. Quetzalcoatl, or "Feathered Serpent," was an important god to the ancient people of Mesoamerica. 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. A Walking Tour of the Maya Capital of Chichn Itz, The Chac Mool Sculptures of Ancient Mexico, Influence of the Olmec Civilization on Mesoamerica. Dated to around 900 BC, it depicts a serpent rising up behind a person probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. The temple can be found at Teotihuacan and was erected in the third century. The story of the life of the Mexican divinity, Quetzalcoatl, closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are the same being. While other gods had relied on brute force for reaching the other side, Quetzalcoatl relied on intelligence in order to reach the maize. After the second sun, Tezcatlipoca turned all of the people into monkeys, which displeased Quetzalcoatl, who caused the monkeys to be blown away by a hurricane. Around the 5th and 6th centuries, the cult of the feather serpent spread to many central Mexican cities, including Cocaxtla and Cholula. Over the West presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, justice, mercy and wind. In their mythology, the world was periodically destroyed and rebuilt by the gods. Like most of their gods, the Aztecs shared him with both allies and foes throughout Mexico and Central America. 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 . "9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl." 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. 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