Aztec Theology and Mythology I. Creator/Creation Lords of the ...

Aztec Theology and Mythology
I. Creator/Creation Lords of the Turquoise World (sky/day) and the Obsidian World
(underworld/night)
A. High God/ess: Ometeotl “Lord of Duality,” “Lord of the Near and the Close,” “Father and
Mother of the Gods,” “Father and Mother of us all.”
original being, sexually dual (Ometeotl, male and Omecihuatl, female)
Resides in Omeyocan, 13 th (highest) heaven “the place of duality”
Not “manifest,” i.e., not a being, but “Being Itself”; all things are manifestations of this
B. Manifest as Tonacatecutli/Tonacacihuatl, “Lord and Lady of our sustenance,” “Lord and
Lady of our flesh” active beings who perform acts of creation; represent duality of day/night
C. “The Four Sons of Ometeotl”
1. Xipe Totec: red, dawn, east, corn/vegetation (water)
2. Tezcatlipoca: black, nadir/midnight, north, conflict and change, “Lord of the Smoking
(obsidian) Mirror” (earth)
3. Huitzilopochtli: blue, zenith/noon, south, patron of Aztec state, lord of war and Sun God (fire)
4. Quetzalcoatl: white, sunset, west, wind, invisible and intangible, creates humans and gives
them culture, knowledge, balance, harmony, and wisdom (high priests are named for him); the
Plumed Serpent (air/wind)
II. Myth of the Five Suns
Each of the four sons takes a turn as “Sun,” i.e., creator/ruler of epoch, sun of earth, sun
wind/air, sun of fire, sun of water/rain (Tlaloc, rain god replaces Xipe Totec). Each world is
destroyed.
III. The Fifth Sun, “the Sun of Movement”
The present era, “the Fifth Sun” is ushered in when a lowly god, Nanahuatzin sacrifices
himself in fire and becomes Tonatiuh, the Fifth Sun. In his new position of power he refuses to
go into motion until the gods make sacrifice to him. In an elaborate ceremony, Quetzalcoatl cuts
the hearts out of each of the gods and offers it to Tonatiuh (and the moon). All of this occurs in
the ancient and sacred, pre-Aztec city of Teotihuacan. It is predicted that eventually, like the
previous epochs, this one will come to a cataclysmic end.
IV. Creation of Earth
Quetzalcoatl and/or Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca “slay” Tlaltecuhtli, “Earth
Monster/Mother,” a ravenous crocodile. In order for her to live, she must constantly be fed flesh.

V. Land of the Dead/Afterlife
The postmortem fate of a human depends entirely upon the way in which they die.
A. Mictlan, “place of the fleshless.” Ruled by Mictlantecuhtli (and his consort, Mictlancihuatl).
The “soul” of persons who die natural deaths wanders through the eight lower realms for four
years. When it reaches the final point, it is annihilated by Mictlantecuhtli, i.e., there is no
concept (here) of personal immortality.
B. Tlalocan. Ruled by Tlaloc, the rain god, the place where people who die from drowning,
lightning, or certain diseases go. They seem to live forever with the Tlaloques, rain gods, in a
kind of paradise.
C. Tonatiuhilhuicac, dwelling place of the Sun. Warriors who died in combat, sacrificed
slaves/captives, and women and children who die in childbirth are cremated, become birds, and
ascend to the sky to journey forever with the Sun (Tonatiuh). This is the most glorious form of
afterlife, one which warriors strove to achieve. Aztecs were ambivalent about rulers, indicating
both that they came here and that they went to Mictlan.
D. Chichihuacuauhco, “in the wet-nurse tree.” Something of a cosmic nursery, the place where
infant children go when they die.