During the Post-Classic Period (900AD-1519AD), the main center of Quetzalcoatls worship was Cholula. Venus, which the god was closely associated with, appeared in the sky at the beginning of the rainy season. This article is about a Mesoamerican deity. There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. By 1200 AD, Quetzalcoatls iconography had become more fixed. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-quetzalcoatl-2136322. 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. As a wind god, he was also responsible for making the rain fall. [9] In Mazatec legends the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl. Instead, these stories were probably the invention of Franciscan monks who followed the initial conquest of Mexico. In Mesoamerican history, many different ethnopolitical groups worshiped a feathered-serpent deity. 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. Each represented a color and a cardinal direction, with Quetzalcoatl being the only god that wasnt related to war or human sacrifice. All but one. Mason-Dixon Line Similar mythology was shared by many of the Aztecs neighbors as well as their ancestors. [12] Feathered-serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites. There was one way that would certainly work, namely by letting it rain so abundantly that the snake simply drifted out of the cave. His form of reincarnation, more specifically, would be that of a white person with a long beard. Auh yn jquac molhuja eheca, mjtoa: teuhtli quaqualaca, ycoioca, tetecujca, tlatlaiooa, tlatlapitza, tlatlatzinj, motlatlaueltia. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. In fact, he wanted to tempt him to come out into the light. It shows the first signs of a feathered serpent cult amongst ancient civilizations of the region. Xolotl Among the Aztecs, this was Quetzalcoatls twin. Often our current time was considered the fifth sun,[29] the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. 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. Dated to around 900 BC, it depicts a serpent rising up behind a person probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. In the extant Mayan sources, it has been revealed that Quetzalcoatl, or the Feathered Serpent, was associated with warfare as well as fertility. A Walking Tour of the Maya Capital of Chichn Itz, The Chac Mool Sculptures of Ancient Mexico, Influence of the Olmec Civilization on Mesoamerica. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests. Quetzalcoatl was so closely linked to fertility and creation that many groups held him to be the creator of mankind. He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar, the giver of maize (corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. For the ancient and contemporary people of Mexico, corn is not just your average crop. In some versions of the ancient Mesoamerican histories, Quetzalcoatl was reborn as Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli after being burned on a funeral pyre. [14], The name Quetzalcoatl comes from the Nahuatl language and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent". The Toltecs and Nahuas worshiped the god before he was eventually adopted by the Aztecs. Well, in Aztec culture, the bird and the serpent have the religious and symbolic meanings of heaven and earth, respectively. The connection between Quetzalcoatl and the fall of the Aztec Empire may also have its roots in political events that predated the arrival of Corts and his army. Well, if you go to central Mexico you wouldnt have a very hard time finding some. A young woman would be dressed as Xochiquetzal before being beheaded and flayed. Tlaloc blew the snake into the air, to a point where he was higher than the birds. While this legend is disputed, it is clear that Quetzalcoatl was an important deity to the Aztecs and other people of Mexico and Central America. In the Codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Corts, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl, a speech which, as described in the codex written by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagn and his Tlatelolcan informants, included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as: You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you. Human worship. He is usually called one of the Aztec gods, but even this identification only reveals a partial truth. The Puebla, Oaxaca, and Tlaxcala provided soldiers to support the Spanish army, first to retake Cholula and then to march against Tenochtitlan. 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. In some stories he created mankind, and in others he worked with his brother to form the earth itself. ; (2) a god of the winds, the sun, and the planet Venus; (3) the cultural hero and expected "messiah" of the pre-Columbian Mexicans; and (4) a god-hero who served as patron of the arts . Subtleties in, and an imperfect scholarly understanding of, high Nahuatl rhetorical style make the exact intent of these comments tricky to ascertain, but Restall argues that Moctezuma's politely offering his throne to Corts (if indeed he did ever give the speech as reported) may well have been meant as the exact opposite of what it was taken to mean: politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. But even things of an extremely mundane nature like s. Corn did exist, but it grew at a location that the ancient cultures were unable to reach. This made crops grow and brought water for drinking. According to the Book of Mormon, the resurrected Jesus Christ descended from heaven and visited the people of the American continent, shortly after his resurrection. He would submerge himself in a highly flammable substance and set himself on fire, granting himself a place amongst the stars. He was worshiped among all the major cultures of the Mesoamerican region through history. Residing in the darkness felt safe to him, so he decided to stay far away from the life-giving water. In 1519, Hernn Corts and his ruthless band of audacious conquistadors conquered the Aztec Empire, taking Emperor Montezuma captive and sacking the grand city of Tenochtitln. 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]. In another, they worked together to tear apart a monster called Tlaltcuhtli and create the land and its features from her body. Often he is also represented as spider monkeys, ducks, and other animals or beings of nature. It really elevated the status of the Feathered Serpent to the protector of the people, which is also affirmed by his role as patron god. But also, his role and what he represented changed during every installment of his being.Divine messengers would talk with the god, asking for assistance in reaching the other side of the mountain: the location of the corn. According to stories, Aztec people only ate animals or roots until Quetzalcoatl arrived. ", "Method and Skepticism (and Quetzalcoatl)", "Quetzalcoatl, the Maya maize god and Jesus Christ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quetzalcoatl&oldid=1141156375, Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints, Articles containing Classical Nahuatl-language text, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from August 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from June 2021, All articles that may contain original research, Articles that may contain original research from June 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2012, Articles with incomplete citations from April 2020, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), Articles with sources in Nahuatl languages (nah), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, White Tecatlipoca, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Feathered Serpent, Precious Twin, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, Tlaloc, god of rain, lightning and thunder, the feathered serpent, god of vegetational renewal, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 17:09. Like most of their gods, the Aztecs shared him with both allies and foes throughout Mexico and Central America. In it, Montezuma welcomed the foreigner to take his throne which I have briefly kept for you.. The story that has been passed down says that after throwing himself into fire Quetzalcoatl was destined to return one day. According to another mythological account, he was conceived by the virgin Chimalman after she swallowed an emerald. 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. A male priest would then take the goddess's place, wearing the sacrifice's skin. He headed east, eventually settling in Chichen Itza. READ MORE: 10 Gods of Death and the Underworld From Around the World. The Origin of Hotdogs, The History of Boracay Island in The Philippines. Quetzalcoatl became, in fact, the very title of the most important priests: the twin Aztec High Priests. [15] In the 17th century, Ixtlilxchitl, a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of the Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers' but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."[16]. Quetzalcoatl is closely associated with the myth of the four cardinal directions. In Xochicalco, depictions of the feathered serpent accompany the image of a seated, armed ruler and the hieroglyph for the day sign 9 Wind. Xolotl was the sinister god of monstrosities who wears the spirally-twisted wind jewel and the ear ornaments of Quetzalcoatl. This, it is believed, explains why he was looking inwards to the city. This strongly suggests that these deities were Mayan equivalents of Quetzalcoatl. Each of these four sons presides over one of the four cardinal directions. By adding a bit of his own blood, he allowed a new civilization to emerge. According to Aztec mythology, Earth had been through four cycles of Sun, each of which resulted in the destruction of mankind. The Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons, teaches that Jesus Christ walked the Earth after his resurrection, spreading the word of Christianity to all corners of the globe. [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. Ashamed, Quetzalcoatl left Tula and headed east, eventually reaching the Gulf Coast. In yet another version, Quetzalcoatl is said to be one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl. 9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl. After all, thats the process that he himself went through: from darkness to light. On the other hand, the snake was considered a vital instrument to help bring visions from the underworld to the Mayan kings. It was not just a populist idea that gained interest in Aztec society. Others said that he had invented the calendar and books. Because of this, the latest reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl would come to earth to do exactly that. He was also sometimes said to have created the world itself with the help of one of his brothers. 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. Quetzalcoatl appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder. However, at the end of the second cycle, mankind became like monkeys and so Quetzalcoatl blew up the whole of mankind. Quetzalcoatl by himself was a god of many things to the Toltecs and Aztecs. As the morning star, he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". likely used for curing rituals and private worship. 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. Quetzelcoatl also appeared on (Season 3) of the Animal Planet mockumentary Lost Tapes in an episode entitled "Q the Serpent God". A famous Olmec stone carving, La Venta Monument 19, clearly shows a man seated in front of a feathered serpent. Alternatively, he left willingly on a raft of snakes, promising to return. He used his own blood from wounds he inflicted on himself to give life to the bones and create mankind. He also encouraged them to worship a different god, Quetzalcoatl (kehtsahlkoh AHT uhl), or the Feathered Serpent. The first culture to use the symbol of a feathered serpent as an important religious and political symbol was that of Teotihuacan. Standing over ten feet tall, the statue towers over onlookers as she leans toward them. In fact, he flew straight into it, leading to a total eclipse. Like many other Mesoamerican deities, the story of our god sees several reincarnations. Mainly because they thought one of them was the reincarnation of the beloved god discussed in this article. Each age of the world was given a new sun, and the world was on its Fifth Sun, having been destroyed four times previously. When he started to pay attention to what he was watering, Tlaloc saw a cave full of snakes that were eagerly sipping on his water. Quetzalcoatl was not only one of the most important deities in pre-Columbian Mexico, he was also one of the oldest. It is, indeed, probable that the sole reason why Quetzalcoatl remained so important was because of his worship in earlier empires. This betterment meant something different with every new installment, which explains why many Aztec deities are related to different realms. Historians debate to what degree, or whether at all, these narratives about this legendary Toltec ruler describe historical events. Mexico's flagship airline Aeromxico has a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted in a special Quetzalcoatl livery. "9 Facts About Quetzalcoatl." In the post-classic Nahua civilization of central Mexico (Aztec), the worship of Quetzalcoatl was ubiquitous. While drunk, Quetzalcoatl seduced his sister, a celibate priestess. [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. Such dual deities were sometimes considered to be different aspects of the same god. During the epi-classic period, a dramatic spread of feathered serpent iconography is evidenced throughout Mesoamerica, and during this period images begin to figure prominently at sites such as Chichn Itz, El Tajn, and throughout the Maya area. . 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