Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [225]
Ometecuhtli (Ometeotl) The supreme creator god of the Aztecs, Ometecuhtli lives in the highest part of heaven and is known as the “dual lord” or “two-god.” His name is fitting, since the “dual lord” takes a variety of forms, including a dual incarnation as a divine couple who are the parents of the four great Aztec gods: Huitzilopochtli, Xipe Totec (“the flayed lord”), Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl.
Quetzalcoatl The dying and rising god, Quetzalcoatl is the great king and bringer of civilization. Known as the “plumed serpent,” Quetzalcoatl is depicted as a combination of a snake with the feathers of the quetzal, a brilliantly colored bird whose feathers signal authority among the Maya (it is still the national bird of Guatemala). A semilegendary ruler with roots in the older Toltec and Mayan myths, he may have been based on a Toltec priest-king, although one of the Mayan Creation gods, Gucumatz (or Kukulkán), is also called “plumed serpent” in the Popol Vuh.
His wife or sister, Chalchiuhtlicue, is goddess of running water. She protects newborn children, marriage, and innocent love.
In the complex Aztec-calendar religion, which includes four eras of varying length from hundreds to thousands of years called “suns,” Quetzalcoatl rules the second sun, which ends with hurricanes, and men being transformed into monkeys—a vestige of Mayan myth. The first sun is ruled by Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl’s brother, and comes to an end when beasts consume the world. The third sun is ruled by Tlaloc, god of rain and fertility, and ends in fire. The fourth sun is ruled by Tlaloc’s wife, Chalchiuhtlicue, and ends in the flood in which men are changed to fish. After the fourth sun, Quetzalcoatl makes his trip to the underworld to repopulate the earth. Humanity at present is in the fifth sun, ruled by the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli, which will end with earthquakes. This highly apocalyptic view of the world squared neatly with Catholic teachings.
Quetzalcoatl figures in an important myth, in which he argues with his brother Tezcatlipoca. There are two accounts of what happens next. Quetzalcoatl either sails away in a raft or immolates himself, in either case promising to return someday. This is the myth Cortés supposedly exploited in his conquest of the Aztecs, although the jury is now out on that one.
Tezcatlipoca The brother and sometimes adversary of Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca (“lord of the smoking mirror”) is god of the summer sun and the harvest as well as drought, darkness, war, and death. His name derives from the mirrors made from obsidian, which sorcerers used to predict the future. A black stone, obsidian was also employed to make spear points, war axes, and, most important, sacrificial knives.
Tezcatlipoca is a fickle deity with a split personality, who can be cruel or kind. Taking pleasure in battle, he is thought to die each night and return to the world in the morning.
In Tenochtitlán, custom held that handsome young men were sometimes selected to impersonate Tezcatlipoca for a year, after which they were killed with an obsidian knife, their hearts removed and offered as sacrifices.
Tlaloc An ancient rain-and-fertility god adapted from the earlier Toltec people, Tlaloc is portrayed as a black man with tusklike jaguar’s teeth, rings around his eyes, and a scroll emerging from his mouth. He controls rain, lightning, and wind, as well as afflictions such as leprosy. According to the grim accounts of Tlaloc, his ritual sacrifices in Tenochtitl