![]() ![]() Tezcatlipoca stole Tlaloc's wife (Xochiquetzal), and Tlaloc was grief-stricken. ![]() Once again, Tezcatlipoca was the instigator. But his personal problems became his downfall. Tlaloc was one of the early creations of the gods, the god of rain and water. The third sun - Rain Sun (Nahui Quiahuitl) Furious, Quetzalcoatl sent a hurricane to blow the monkeys away. But the people became corrupt, and perhaps out of revenge Tezcatlipoca turned them into monkeys. They lived on piñon nuts, and for a while things were fine. Humans were created as they are now (normal size). The second sun - Wind Sun (Nahui Ehecatl)Īt this point Quetzalcoatl took over for his brother as the sun. In the end, the sun was knocked from the sky, and in anger Tezcatlipoca sent jaguars to destroy the giants. A fight began, however, between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. During the first age, the gods created giants from ashes, and gave them acorns to eat. Tezcatlipoca only managed to become half a sun, however, making this first creation incomplete. It can only come into being through the sacrifice of a god. But the sun is so powerful, it can't just be created. This is the key to the cycles in the Aztec creation story. To complete the world, the great source of energy had to be created - the sun. The first sun - Jaguar Sun (Nahui Ocelotl) Here's another perspective on the Aztec creation beliefs. You could say that in the Aztec creation story the world is on the back of this sea monster, floating in the water of space (reminiscent of the Iroquois belief that the world rests on the back of a turtle). The earth was created in the middle, and her tail reaches down to the underworld (Mictlán) (nine underworlds, to be exact). All the 13 heavens stretch into her head. From this enormous creature the universe was created (in some traditions this happened between the last two suns). She fought back, biting Tezcatlipoca and tearing off his foot. So it was time for war - the four gods attacked the sea monster, pulling her in four directions. As the gods continued to create, they had a problem - their creations would fall into the water and be eaten by the dreadful Cipactli. Cipactli was to become the source of the cosmos in a strange way. This was a consuming monster, a jaw at every joint. Cipactli was part fish and part crocodile, a massive creature as big as all things that now are. They created water, and other gods, and the sea monster Cipactli. ![]() The directions were very important to the Aztecs, since their great empire was believed to be at the very centre of the universe (remember what I mentioned about the Aztec creation story being political?). The gods were Huizilopochtli (south), Quetzalcoatl (east), Tezcatlipoca (west), and Xipe Totec (north). It had four, which came to represent the four directions of north, south, east and west. Being male and female, it was able to have children. (Looking back, of course, the Aztecs believed that the many opposites that they saw in the world would have to somehow unite in the origin of the world.) This god was good and bad, chaos and order, male and female. It was at some ancient time in the Aztec creation story that the dual god, Ometecuhtli/Omecihuatl, created itself. For the Aztecs, the universe did have an actual beginning. But it's not a story of endless cycles, as you may see in other cultures. ![]() When the story is told, the order of the worlds is sometimes different, sometimes there are even less that five suns, but the general idea remains the same. Five suns, and so five different worlds, have existed. So you'll often hear of the legend of the five suns - the five births of the world. When the world is destroyed, it's born again through the sacrifice of one of the gods, and so through the birth of a new sun. The story of creation, according to the Aztecs, is actually a story of birth, death, and rebirth. But basic components of the story had evolved over centuries and centuries, so we do see similarities between the Aztec's stories and the beliefs of earlier cultures. It was likely adapted by the Aztecs for their own political purposes, though even within the Aztec empire there were variations of the story. The story of creation in ancient Mexico and surrounding areas actually changed as time went by. The five suns were the key to the rebirths of the world. How did the world begin? The Aztec creation story has its own answer - or you could say, answers, to that question. ![]()
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