Quetzalcōātl
Quetzalcoatl (/ˌkɛtsəlkoʊˈætəl/[3]) [pron 1] (Nahuatl: "Feathered Serpent") is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood.[5] He was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon, along with the gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli. The two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Tlaloc (ally and the god of rain) and Xolotl (psychopomp and its twin).
This article is about a Mesoamerican deity. For the giant pterosaur, see Quetzalcoatlus. For other uses, see Quetzalcoatl (disambiguation).Quetzalcoatl
White Tecatlipoca, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, Feathered Serpent, Precious Twin, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli[2]
- Ilhuicatl-Teteocan (Twelfth Heaven)[1]
- Ilhuicatl-Teoiztac (Ninth Heaven)[1]
- the West[1]
Venus (Morning-star)
- Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl (Codex Zumarraga)[1]
- Mixcoatl and Chimalma (Codex Chimalpopoca)[1]
- Tezcatlipoca, Xipe-Totec, Huitzilopochtli (Codex Zumarraga)[1]
- Xolotl (Codex Chimalpopoca)[1]
None
Kukulkan (God H)
Ñuhu-Tachi
Quetzalcoatl wears around his neck the breastplate ehēcacōzcatl, "the spirally voluted wind jewel". This talisman was a conch shell cut at the cross-section and was likely worn as a necklace by religious rulers, as such objects have been discovered in burials in archaeological sites throughout Mesoamerica,[6] and potentially symbolized patterns witnessed in hurricanes, dust devils, seashells, and whirlpools, which were elemental forces that had significance in Aztec mythology. Codex drawings pictured both Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl wearing an ehēcacōzcatl around the neck. Additionally, at least one major cache of offerings includes knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels.[7] Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include resplendent quetzals, rattlesnakes (coatl meaning "serpent" in Nahuatl), crows, and macaws. In his form as Ehecatl he is the wind, and is represented by spider monkeys, ducks, and the wind itself.[8] In his form as the morning star, Venus, he is also depicted as a harpy eagle.[9] In Mazatec legends, the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl.[10]
The earliest known documentation of the worship of a Feathered Serpent occurs in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD.[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 (600–900 AD).[12] In the Postclassic period (900–1519 AD), the worship of the feathered-serpent deity centered in the primary Mexican religious center of Cholula. In this period the deity is known to have been named Quetzalcōhuātl by his Nahua followers. In the Maya area he was approximately equivalent to Kukulkan and Gukumatz, names that also roughly translate as "feathered serpent" in different Mayan languages. 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. Historians debate to what degree, or whether at all, these narratives about this legendary Toltec ruler describe historical events.[13] Furthermore, early Spanish sources written by clerics tend to identify the god-ruler Quetzalcoatl of these narratives with either Hernán Cortés or Thomas the Apostle—identifications which have also become sources of a diversity of opinions about the nature of Quetzalcoatl.[14]
Etymology[edit]
The name Quetzalcoatl comes from the Nahuatl language and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent".[15] In the 17th century, Ixtlilxóchitl, 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]
Myths[edit]
Attributes[edit]
The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. There are several stories about the birth of Quetzalcoatl. In a version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl was born by a virgin named Chimalman, to whom the god Ometeotl appeared in a dream.[24] In another story, the virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald.[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.[24] A fourth story narrates that Quetzalcoatl was born from Coatlicue, who already had four hundred children who formed the stars of the Milky Way.[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. Over the West presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, justice, mercy and wind. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and springtime. 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.[25] Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star, and his twin brother Xolotl was the evening star (Venus). As the morning star, he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". 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. Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests. Some legends describe him as opposed to human sacrifice[26] while others describe him practicing it.[27][28]
Most Mesoamerican beliefs included cycles of suns. Often our current time was considered the fifth sun,[29] the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. 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.
It is also suggested that he was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl.
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. (Many academics conclude this passage implies incest.) The next morning, Quetzalcoatl, feeling shame and regret, had his servants build him a stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and then, laying in the chest, set himself on fire. His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli).[30]
He is also attributed with having brought the cacao plant from a sacred mountain to the Toltec people, teaching the women how to make traditional drinking chocolate.[31]
