There are many myths and legends present in Mexican culture, and probably one of the most famous is the Quetzalcoatl Myth, the feathered snake. And it is with this publication that we will take you to learn about that myth and other information of interest about this ancient Mexican deity.
Quetzalcoatl Myth: Origin
Quetzalcóatl (pronounced Quet-zal-có-at) was the Aztec variation of the Feathered Serpent god that permeated Mesoamerican mythologies. Although he originated as a vegetation god, Quetzalcoatl's role in Aztec stories expanded over time. So when the Spanish arrived in the New World, Quetzalcoatl was considered the god of the wind, patron of priests, and inventor of calendars and books. He was also occasionally used as a symbol of death and resurrection.
Quetzalcoatl's name which is conceptualized as "feathered serpent", is derived from the Nahuatl words for the quetzal bird and "coatl", which symbolizes serpent. Unlike the newer gods of the Aztec pantheon, Quetzalcoatl shared his namesake with the feathered serpent deities of the K'iche Maya and the Yucatec Maya.
The name of the Maya K'iche deity Gucumatz meant "Quetzal Serpent," while the Yucatec Mayan god Kukulkan translated to the less specific "Feathered Serpent." This deity was also known as Ehecatl, by the Huasteca of the Gulf Coast.
Representations
The Feathered Serpent deity common to much of Central America first appeared in images, statues, and carvings beginning in 100 BC. These carvings also included a conch shell, which was a symbol of the wind. From 1200 AD the way Quetzalcoatl was represented began to change. From that time on, he was usually portrayed as a man wearing a conical hat, a conch shell pectoral brooch, shell jewelry, and a red duck-billed face mask.
Family bond
The deity Quetzalcóatl was the third son of the dual creator god Ometéotl (Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl). His older brothers were Xipe Tótec and Tezcatlipoca, while his younger brother was Huitzilopochtli. Other legends postulated that Quetzalcóatl was the son of the goddess Chimalma. While these stories vary, some said that Mixcoatl (the Aztec god of hunting) impregnated the goddess Chimalma by shooting an arrow from her bow.
In this legend, Mixcóatl shot Chimalma for rejecting his advances. However, Chimalma took the arrows in his hand, which is how she got his name (meaning "Shield Hand") from him. Chimalma later married Mixcóatl, but the two were unable to conceive. After praying at an altar to Quetzalcóatl and swallowing a precious stone (emerald or jade, depending on the version of the story), Chimalma became pregnant with Topiltzin-Quetzalcóatl, who would be the founder of a dynasty that would last until 1070 AD.
Legend of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl's role in Mexica or Aztec cosmology was complex and multifaceted. While he was responsible for creating humanity and providing them with their staple crops, it was his brother Tezcatlipoca who ultimately ruled the modern age. Like many of his companions, Quetzalcoatl's role has been revised throughout history and altered to better suit the sensibilities of contemporary Spanish writers, who were trying to understand an entirely different way of thinking.
So Quetzalcoatl was sometimes portrayed as a trickster god, and while his schemes didn't always work out as expected, they consistently benefited mankind.
The creation of the world
As one of the four sons of the Aztec creator deities Ometecuhtli and Omecíhuatl, Quetzalcoatl played an integral role in the creation of the universe. After his birth, he and his family waited 600 years for his younger brother Huitzilopochtli (who was born without meat), to join them in the process of cosmic construction.
Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli or Tezcatlipoca (according to the myth) were responsible for the creation of the cosmos. After creating fire, they shaped a partial sun and gave birth to the first man and woman. In many versions of the Quetzalcoatl myth, he worked in opposition to his brother Tezcatlipoca. This rivalry was a recurring theme in Aztec mythology, with the flying serpent (Quetzalcoatl) frequently pitted against the black jaguar (Tezcatlipoca).
Each match ended one of the four epochs of Aztec history, ultimately ending with Tezcatlipoca in control of the fifth (and current) age. During this time, it was conceivable that Quetzalcoatl could defeat his brother once more and regain power. This possibility would gain mythological importance when the Spanish conquerors arrived in the XNUMXth century.
Stealing bones from the underworld
The god Quetzalcóatl played a decisive role in the creation of people to populate the fifth age. To do this, according to the Quetzalcóatl myth, he had to sneak into the Mictlan underworld and trick Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl (the Lord and Lady of Death); in order to give him the bones they guarded.
Mictlantecuhtli would only give Quetzalcoatl the bones if he could create a sound by blowing into a conch shell with no holes. Quetzalcoatl managed to complete this challenge through clever tricks. He had the worms drill a hole in the conch and then fill the shell with bees. Quetzalcoatl's actions succeeded in tricking Mictlantecuhtli into giving him the bones, but this was not enough for Quetzalcoatl. In an effort to further deceive Mictlantecuhtli, Quetzalcoatl told him that he would leave Mictlan without the bones.
However, before Quetzalcóatl could escape from Mictlan, Mictlanecuhtli discovered his deception. A deep well appeared before Quetzalcatl, preventing him from escaping. Upon falling into the well, Quetzalcoatl was rendered unconscious and mixed up the bones he was carrying. After the eventual escape from him, Quetzalcoatl combined the now slightly scrambled bones with his blood and corn to create the first fifth age humans. The Aztecs used this allegory to explain why people came at all different heights.
The discovery of corn
According to this Quetzalcoatl myth, the Aztec people initially only had access to roots and game. At that time, corn was located on the other side of a mountain range that surrounded the Aztec homeland. Other gods had already tried to retrieve the corn by moving the mountains, but all their efforts had been fruitless.
Where others had approached this problem with their brute force, Quetzalcoatl chose to rely on his sharp mind and proceeded to turn himself into a black ant, where he subsequently followed the other ants into the mountains. After a long and difficult journey, Quetzalcoatl reached the corn and brought a grain back to the Aztec people.
Other versions of the myth showed Quetzalcoatl discovering a large mountain of seeds that he could not move on his own. Instead, he requested the help of Nanahuatzin, who destroyed the mountain with lightning. With the seeds exposed, Tlaloc, a rain god often associated with Quetzalcoatl, proceeded to snatch them up and scatter them across the land.
The fall of Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl
The ruler Topiltzin-Quetzalcóatl (also known as «uour honorable god does not reed») was famous for his wise rule. Under his guidance, the capital city of Tula became incredibly prosperous. Topiltzin-Quetzalcóatl maintained order in all of his domains and even avoided the practice of human sacrifice.
While many were happy with Quetzalcoatl's reign, his rival Tezcatlipoca was not and conspired to bring him down. One night, Tezcatlipoca bathed Topilitzin-Quetzalcóatl with pulque (an alcohol made from agave); afterward, the drunken ruler slept with his celibate priestess sister. Ashamed of what he had done, Topilitzin-Quetzalcoatl left Tula and headed for the sea.
It is unknown what happened next. Some versions held that Quetzalcoatl went east, so when he reached the coast he boarded a raft of serpents and sailed off into the sunset where he practically incinerated himself; others stated that he spent eight days in the underworld before rising as Venus or the morning star.
Yet another version of this tale had Quetzalcoatl parting the sea and leading his followers on a march across the ocean floor. The blatant reflection of this version of the Moses story was almost certainly a product of later Spanish influence.
The appearance of Cortés: the second coming of Quetzalcóatl?
The Aztecs believed that Tezcatlipoca ruled from the fifth age, and although they thought that the fifth sun was the last sun, it was not a foregone conclusion that Tezcatlipoca would remain in charge. However, if Quetzalcoatl did return, how would they know him? This question was probably on the mind of Emperor Moctezuma II when he received the news in 1519 that the Spanish had arrived from the eastern coast.
The return of Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl, who had set out east by sea, certainly seemed like a possibility to the Aztec nobility as they considered the arrival of these seafaring newcomers. Montezuma sent a gift of food and the ceremonial clothing of four gods (one of which belonged to Quetzalcoatl) to the newcomers, presumably to determine their true intentions.
Cortés may have seemed the part of a god, wearing the conical helmets of the day and arriving on wind-driven sailboats, but his actions soon revealed that he was not the morally upright Quetzalcoatl. Ultimately, the legend that Montezuma and the Aztecs believed Cortes to be Quetzalcoatl was just that: a legend retroactively turned into historical "fact" by Spanish writers.
These writers may have misunderstood a speech Moctezuma gave to Cortés, or simply made up the idea because it fit their historical expectations. The wandering apostle Quetzalcoatl remained a powerful figure long after the Spanish conquered the New World.
Friar Diego de Durán suggested that Quetzalcóatl may actually have been the apostle Saint Thomas. The saint had left the Roman Empire after the death of Christ, and Duran believed that his sea voyages might explain elements of Aztec religion that reflected Christianity. This link to Europe was adopted by Mexican nationalists in the XNUMXth century because it meant that their cultural heritage predated Spanish influence.
Quetzalcoatl and Venus
Quetzalcoatl's transformation into Venus seems to be a central element in different accounts linking him to the legendary ruler of Tula. Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl was driven from the city by his arch-rival, Tezcatlipoca ("smoking mirror"), and was forced to travel east to the sea, where he became the morning star.
In some accounts, his heart was taken up to heaven to become both the morning and evening stars, but more often than not it transforms into the morning star. In the Annals of Cuauhtitlán Chimalpopoca Codex, it is mentioned that Quetzalcoatl caught fire when he reached the ocean and his heart rose to heaven like the morning star.
Before emerging as the morning star, Quetzalcoatl descended into the underworld for 8 days, evoking a link to the average number of days that Venus is invisible in inferior union. Some researchers on these cultures point out that this myth shows that Quetzalcoatl played the role of the evening star, but also finds evidence of an association with the morning star, as in the Codex-Telleriano Remensis.
While the narrative of Venus in the Codex Borgia suggests that Quetzalcoatl represents Venus during the entire orbital period.
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