Aztec mythology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Aztec gods)
Jump to: navigation, search

The Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities (over 100) and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.

Contents

[edit] History

Aztec culture is generally grouped with the cultural complex known as the Nahuatl because of the common language they shared. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec.

There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomostoc, "the place of the seven caves," or at Tamoanchan (the legendary origin of all civilizations).

Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, c. c. 1500, of Mixtec-Aztec provenance.

The Mexica/Aztec were said to be guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird" or "Hummingbird from the South." When they arrived at an island in the lake, they saw an eagle which was perched on a nopal cactus full of its fruits (nochtli). (Due to a mistranslation of an account by Tesozomoc, it became popular to say the eagle was devouring a snake, but in the original Aztec accounts, the snake is not mentioned. One states that it was eating a bird, another indicates that it was only perched in the cactus, and a third just says it was eating something.) This vision fulfilled a prophecy telling them that they should found their new home on that spot. The Aztecs built their city of Tenochtitlan on that site, building a great artificial island, which today is in the center of Mexico City. This legendary vision is pictured on the Coat of Arms of Mexico.

According to legend, when the Mexicans arrived in the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all, but the Mexican/Aztec decided to learn, and they took all they could from other people, especially from the ancient Toltec (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan). To the Aztec, the Toltec were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Aztec legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the legendary city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.

[edit] Creation stories

See also: Creation myth
Coatlicue, the earth goddess. The twin snakes represent the blood spouting from her neck after she was butchered by her daughter Coyolxauhqui.

Because the Aztec adopted and combined several traditions with their own earlier traditions, they had several creation myths. One of these, the Five Suns describes four great ages preceding the present world, each of which ended in a catastrophe.

Coatlicue was the mother of Centzon Huitznahua ("Four Hundred Southerners"), her sons, and Coyolxauhqui, her daughter. She found a ball filled with feathers and placed it in her waistband, becoming pregnant with Huitzilpochtli. Her other children became suspicious as to the identity of the father and vowed to kill their mother. She gave birth on Mount Coatepec, pursued by her children, but the newborn Huitzilpochtli defeated most of his brothers, who became the stars. He also killed his half-sister Coyolxauhqui by tearing out her heart using a Xiuhcoatl (a blue snake) and throwing her body down the mountain. This was said to inspire the Aztecs to rip the hearts out of their victims and throw their bodies down the sides of the temple dedicated to Huitzilpochtli, who represents the sun chasing away the stars at dawn.

Our age (Nahui-Ollin), the fifth age, or fifth creation, escaped destruction due to the sacrifice of Nanahuatl (the smallest and humblest of the gods) who transformed himself into the Sun by leaping into a fire. Another god, known as Tecuciztecatl, originally boasted that he would become the sun but was fearful of the pain. Humiliated by Nanahuatl's sacrifice he too leapt into the fire and became the moon. This myth is associated with the ancient city of Teotihuacan, which was abandoned but still extant when the Aztec arrived.

Another myth describes the earth as a creation of the twin gods Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Some sources say Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the process of creating the world and some representations of these gods show him without a foot and with a bone exposed. Others say he had one foot which was the foot of a beast, a representation for his speed. Quetzalcoatl is also called "White Tezcatlipoca."

[edit] Gods

Chalchiutlicue from Codex Ríos.
Huehueteotl, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
Quetzalcoatl in human form, using the symbols of Ehecatl, from the Codex Borgia.
Xochipilli, Lombards Museum
  • Quetzalcoatl (also Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli) (quetzal-feathered serpent) - creator god and patron of rulership, priests and merchants. Associated with Ehecatl as the divine wind
  • Quilaztli (see Ilamatecuhtli)
  • Tecciztecatl (see Mextli)
  • Temazcalteci (also Temaxcaltechi) - goddess of bathing and sweatbaths
  • Teoyaomicqui (also Teoyaomiqui)- the god of dead warriors
  • Tepeyollotl - (The jaguar form of Tezcatlipoca) god of the heart of the mountain, associated with jaguars, echoes, and earthquakes
  • Tepoztecatl (also Tezcatzontecatl) - god of pulque and rabbits
  • Teteoinnan - mother of the gods
  • Tezcatlipoca (also Omacatl, Titlacauan) - omnipotent god of rulers, sorcerers and warriors; night, death, discord, conflict, temptation and change. A sinister rival to Quetzalcoatl. Can appear as a jaguar.
  • Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli - destructive god of the morning star (Venus), dawn, and of the east. One of the skybearers
  • Tlaloc (also Nuhualpilli) - the great and ancient provider and god of rain, fertility and lightning
  • Tlaltecuhtli - goddess of earth, associated with difficult births
  • Tlazolteotl (also Tlaelquani, Tlazolteotli)- the goddess of purification from filth, disease or excess
  • Tloquenahuaque - a creator god or ruler
  • Toci (also Temazcalteci) - grandmother goddess, heart of the earth and mother of the gods. Associated with midwives and war
  • Tonacatecuhtli - the aged creator and provider of food and patron of conceptions
  • Tonacacihuatl - consort of Tonacatecuhtli
  • Tonantzin - a mother goddess
  • Tonatiuh - a sun god and heavenly warrior, associated with eagles and with the Maya
  • Tzitzmitl - aged grandmother goddess
  • Xilonen - the goddess of young maize
  • Xipe Totec - the god of the seasons, seed germination and renewal, considered the patron of goldworkers
  • Xiuhcoatl (fire serpent or turquoise serpent) - embodiment of the sun's rays and emblem of Xiuhtecuhtli
    Xiuhcoatl.
  • Xiuhtecuhtli -(also called Huehueteotl)
  • Xochipilli - the young god of feasting, painting, dancing, games, and writing. Associated with Macuilxochitl and Cinteotl
  • Xochiquetzal - goddess of love, beauty, female sexuality, prostitutes, flowers, pleasure, craft, weaving, and young mothers
  • Xocotl - star god associated with fire
  • Xolotl - canine companion of Quetzalcoatl and god of twins, sickness and deformity. Accompanies the dead to Mictlan
  • Yacatecuhtli (also Yactecuhtli) - the god of merchants and travellers

[edit] Serpent gods

[edit] God groups

  • Ahuiateteo (also Macuiltonaleque) - five gods who personify excess
  • Cihuateteo (also Civatateo) - souls of women who died in childbirth who lead the setting sun in the western sky. Also night demons who steal children, and cause seizures, insanity and sexual transgression. They also accompany warriors to heaven.
  • Centzon Huitznahua - southern stars, children of Coatlicue
  • Centzon Totochtin (400 rabbits) - gods of pulque
  • Skybearers - associated with the four directions, supported the vault of the sky.
  • Tzitzimime - star demons of darkness that attack the sun during eclipses and threaten the earth

[edit] Supernatural creatures

  • Ahuitzotl - a human-eating water-dwelling dog-monkey with a hand on its tail
  • Cipactli - the caiman at the foundations of the earth
  • Cihuateteo - the spirits of women who died in childbirth (mociuaquetzque.)
  • Nagual - a tutelary animal or vegetable spirit
  • Nahual - a shapeshifting sorcerer or witch
  • Tlaltecuhtli - a drunken toad goddess

[edit] Legendary heroes

[edit] Places

[edit] Cultural depictions

Aztec gods are the subject of a composition for string quartet entitled Macuilli Mexihcateteouch - Five Aztec Gods, written in 2005 by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero.

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aztec mythology

[edit] References

[edit] External links
Aztec religion
Aztec calendar.svg
Aztec mythology
Places in Aztec myth

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aztec_mythology&oldid=481113827"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages