Went down to the land of the dead for the bones of an earlier humanity and revived them with his own blood
He drops and shatters them on the way, which is why people are of different heights.
Myth · Around the world
Quetzalcoatl
Aztec and Mesoamerican mythology — the Feathered Serpent
The Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerica: creator, culture hero, god of wind and of the morning star, and patron of priests and learning. He harrows the underworld for the bones of an earlier humanity and brings back maize; disgraced by his rival, he burns himself and rises as Venus, or sails east on a raft of snakes promising to return. The Maya knew him as Kukulkan.
How to spot them
- ▸A serpent covered in the green tail-feathers of a tropical bird
- ▸In his wind form he wears a conical hat and a protruding duck-billed mask, and his temples are round
- ▸God of the morning star, of priests, books and calendars
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Teotihuacan', 'Tula', 'Kukulkan', 'the smoking mirror'
Stories & episodes
Turned himself into an ant to follow ants into a mountain and steal maize for humanity
Tonacatepetl, the Hill of Sustenance.
Tricked by his rival into drunkenness and disgrace, he burned himself on a pyre and rose as the morning star
The mirror Tezcatlipoca shows him his own aged face.
Sailed east on a raft of serpents, promising to come back one day
The promise later read, probably after the fact, as a prophecy of the Spanish arrival.
A Toltec priest-king of Tula bore his name and was driven into exile
Topiltzin Ce Acatl, whose story merged with the god's.
The Maya of Chichen Itza worshipped him under a name meaning the same thing
Kukulkan; the K'iche' called him Gucumatz.
A pyramid at Teotihuacan is faced with alternating serpent and storm-god heads
The Temple of the Feathered Serpent, c. 200 AD.
Quick-fire facts
- •His Nahuatl name combines quetzalli, the quetzal's feather, and coatl, serpent
- •His wind aspect is Ehecatl, worshipped in round temples so the wind can pass
- •He is identified with Venus as the morning star, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli
- •His twin or double is Xolotl, the dog-headed evening star
- •His great rival is Tezcatlipoca, 'smoking mirror'
- •Maya equivalents are Kukulkan at Chichen Itza and Gucumatz in the Popol Vuh
- •The Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan predates the Aztecs by a millennium
- •The story that Moctezuma II took Cortes for the returning god is now generally thought a post-conquest construction
- •The Templo Mayor precinct in Mexico City included a round temple to his wind form
Drill it — 10 cards
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Sources
- David Carrasco — Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire
- Richard F. Townsend — The Aztecs