Aztec mythology; Indian mythology -- Mexico; Mexico -- Religion
Quetzalcoatl “three house,” and so on, until the thirteen signs were
completed. [157]
Another form of the Quetzalcoatl myth given by Mendieta is in substance
as follows: Tezcatlipocâ let himself down from the upper regions by
means of a spider’s web, and coming to Tollan engaged in a game of
tlachtli (the native ball game) with Quetzalcoatl, in the midst of
which he transformed himself into a tiger. Those who watched the game
were panic-stricken, and cast themselves pell-mell into a ravine, and
were drowned in a river which flowed therein. Tezcatlipocâ then
harassed Quetzalcoatl from city to city, until he drove him to Cholula,
and latterly to Tlapallan, where he died, and where his followers burnt
his body, thus inaugurating the custom of burning the dead. [158]
The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis says regarding
Quetzalcoatl:
“Quetcalcoatl they say was he who created the world; and they bestowed
upon him the appellation of Lord of the Wind, because they said that
Tonacatecotli when it appeared good to him breathed and begat
Quecalcoatle. They erected round temples to him without any corners.
They said that it was he (who was also lord of these thirteen signs
which are here represented) who formed the first man. They celebrated a
festival on the sign of four earthquakes, to the destroyer with
reference to the fate which again waited the world; for they said that
it had undergone four destructions and would again be destroyed. He
alone had a human body like that of men; the other gods were of an
incorporeal nature.
“After the deluge the custom of sacrificing commenced. Topilcin
Quetcalcoatle was born on the day of seven canes; and they celebrated
on this same day of seven canes a great festival in Cholula, to which
they came from all parts of the country and the cities and brought
great presents to the lords and papas of the temple; and they did the
same on the day on which he disappeared or died, which was the day of
One Cane. These festivals happened at the expiration of every period of
fifty-two years.
“They here fasted the last four days to Quecalcoatl of Tula, who is he
who was named after the first Calcoatle; and now they name him One
Cane, which is the star Venus, of which they tell the fable accredited
amongst them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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