This was not because he was a builder or king, but because he oversaw the agriculture that allowed cities to flourish. . The Aztecs werent a big fan of chronological order and shook up the world of the gods. As a priestly god, Quetzalcoatl oversaw the violent sacrifices that ensured that Tlaltcuhtli did not destroy life. Quetzalcoatls quarrels with his brother Tezcatlipoca sometimes brought about these destructions of the world. . 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. Mexico's flagship airline Aeromxico has a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted in a special Quetzalcoatl livery. Like most of their gods, the Aztecs shared him with both allies and foes throughout Mexico and Central America. The Toltec people, who the Aztecs considered to be their ancestors, used Quetzalcoatl as a title for military and political rulers. Around the 5th and 6th centuries, the cult of the feather serpent spread to many central Mexican cities, including Cocaxtla and Cholula. In mythology, he is a gentle god who loves peace, and it is said that he bestowed many blessings to the humans. The city was known as the center of Quetzalcoatls worship. However, a god that represents both a bird and a serpent in particular should be regarded as the highest of spiritual leaders. For this reason, it is also believed that offers to Quetzalcoatl were one of only a few that should not include human sacrifice. By the 3rd century AD this was recognizable as a god, who had a pyramid dedicated to his honor in the city of Teotihuacn. Aztec Gods Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl occupied a unique position in the Aztec pantheon and was considered one of the most important gods. Cholula remained the most important center of worship of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec/Nahua version of the feathered-serpent deity, in the post-classic period. It is also suggested that he was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl. He drove the winds that brought rain and allowed plants to grow. There is no surviving account of this myth in native sources, however. Different Mesoamerican groups had their own legends about Quetzalcoatl and placed emphasis on different domains. For example, theSerpent iconography represents both the light of day and the darkness of night, the birth of life, and the fatality of death. But, remember, the promise of Quetzalcoatl was to bring heaven to the beings that were living in hell. 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. Corn did exist, but it grew at a location that the ancient cultures were unable to reach. Human worship. As the morning star, he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". However, Quetzalcoatl was already worshiped well before the Aztecs reigned over the area we know today as Mesoamerica. 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. Quetzalcoatl was many things: (1) a historical personage - a great priest-king and religious reformer who lived in approximately the tenth century A.D. However, this legend likely has a foundation in events that took place immediately prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. The Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala provided soldiers to support the Spanish army, first to retake Cholula and then to march against Tenochtitlan. After a slapstick-style chase scene, Xavier winds up as the Sun God and commits "sacricide" (sacrificial suicide), ending the skit. 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. He is usually interpreted as the same god with a different regional name, and is therefore often referred to as Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. [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. [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. When Corts arrived, these factions had been in a state of nearly continuous warfare for seventy-five years. 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. Each of these four sons presides over one of the four cardinal directions. The worship of Quetzalcoatl became widespread with the rise of the Toltec civilization around 900 A.D. and spread throughout the region, even down to the Yucatan peninsula where it caught on with the Maya. Tlaloc we already know. 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. Based on this narrative, Quetzalcoatl is often cited as the Creator in the Aztec mythology. Known as the Ehecailacozcatl, its swirling design represents the wind. He is a former head writer at VIVA Travel Guides. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Different versions of the birth of god are prevalent in Mesoamerican mythology. [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]. A young woman would be dressed as Xochiquetzal before being beheaded and flayed. Some said that before this he had helped to create the world itself. Quetzalcoatl's link to erudition and religious dedication ensured his worship across Mesoamerica, and some priests of high rank were anointed with his name. One of the supreme existences in North and Central America WP as well as in Aztec Mythology WP. It is believed that the Feathered Serpent was responsible for all of it. The first documented worship of Quetzalcoatl is found in Theotihuacan during the first century BC or first century AD.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'aztecsandtenochtitlan_com-box-4','ezslot_7',140,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-aztecsandtenochtitlan_com-box-4-0'); This constitutes the Late Pre-Classic Period of the Mayan civilization.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'aztecsandtenochtitlan_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_9',111,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-aztecsandtenochtitlan_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); By the Late Classic Period (600AD-900AD), it appears that the worship of Quetzalcoatl had spread throughout the Mesoamerican region. In fact, it is a deep cultural symbol that is intrinsic to daily life. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Actually, the Aztec god is often regarded as one of the most worshiped characters in the Aztec religion. To create humans, Quetzalcoatl had to go into the Underworld and collect some bones. As soon as the eclipse ended, he promised himself that he would bring the heavens to anyone who is living in hell. The south is represented by Huitzilopochtli who is the Blue Tezcatlipoca and the god of war. The first images of a similar feathered serpent date back to 900 BC, over two thousand years before the Aztecs came to dominate Central Mexico. At temples such as the aptly named "Quetzalcoatl temple" in the Ciudadela complex, feathered serpents figure prominently and alternate with a different kind of serpent head. Temple of Ehcatl-Quetzalcoatl. Thats quite a big deal, because for the people in ancient Mexico, maize, or corn, is not just a crop. 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. [43] In a 1986 paper for Sunstone, he noted that during the Spanish Conquest, the Native Americans and the Catholic priests who sympathized with them felt pressure to link Native American beliefs with Christianity, thus making the Native Americans seem more human and less savage. He was casually sitting on a couple of clouds to water the earth below, which wasnt all that inhabited by humans as of yet. 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. However, as opposed to earlier depictions of Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan version of the deity had more elaborate features. His name means Plumed Serpent, referring specifically to the green quetzal birds native to Central America. It is said that he is called the god of wind, spirit of rain, the god of culture, and the . When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 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 1200 AD, Quetzalcoatls iconography had become more fixed. The cult even spread down into the Maya lands. For more details, Wikipedia is a good resource. Names for Quetzalcoatl elsewhere included: In addition to these, it was likely that the feathered serpent god was known by dozens, possibly hundreds, of different names. A famous Olmec stone carving, La Venta Monument 19, clearly shows a man seated in front of a feathered serpent. The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus was named after the deity. The legend of Quetzalcoatl is spoofed in the Adult Swim CGI series Xavier: Renegade Angel. He was worshiped among all the major cultures of the Mesoamerican region through history. 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. "9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl." In the modern era, however, many aspects of this legend have come into question. Quetzalcoatl appears in many ancient Mesoamerican codices, sculptures and reliefs. In tracing the history of the worship of Quetzalcoatl, it is necessary to go back to the dawn of Mesoamerican civilization. Because of this, the ways in which he was worshipped varied widely. It was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. They inhabited the top of the Great Pyramid dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc. Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican god whose name literally means 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 worship of Quetzalcoatl became widespread with the rise of the Toltec civilization around 900 A.D. and spread throughout the region, even down to the Yucatan peninsula where it caught on with the Maya. Xolotl Among the Aztecs, this was Quetzalcoatls twin. [need quotation to verify] Codex drawings pictured both Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl wearing an ehcaczcatl around the neck. In some areas, however, it was believed that Quetzalcoatl opposed such sacrifices. Quetzalcoatl, or "Feathered Serpent," was an important god to the ancient people of Mesoamerica. What is often called the Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states, established in the 14th and 15th centuries. 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