Aztec mythology; Indian mythology -- Mexico; Mexico -- Religion
(4) They must be regarded as the direct creators of the spirit of man.
To the Mexican man flesh was merely maize in another form. But apart
from this conception the pair typified the first human couple, and as
such they are represented in all the MSS. lying side by side and
cross-legged under a blanket, in the attitude of procreation. They are,
indeed, the great initiators of life, and must be comprehended as
sending the human soul to occupy the body made by human procreation,
giving warmth and breath to the infant before birth. [173]
(5) They commence the series of twenty day-signs, and this alone
symbolizes their creative and original nature.
(6) They represent the sign cipactli, the animal from which the earth
was made.
(7) They are gods of the Omeyocan, the highest or thirteenth heaven,
which fact further illustrates their supreme character.
CONCLUSIONS
From these facts we may be justified in concluding:
(1) That in the most early times Tonacatecutli and his consort typified
the father-sky and mother-earth respectively, but that this aspect of
them had been forgotten and they came to have a purely abstract
creative significance for both priests and people. That Tonacaciuatl
originally represented the earth there is no doubt, and her
identification with Xochiquetzal and Chicomecoatl alone would show this
to be so. Again, the association with the sign cipactli proves the
connection of one of the divine pair with the earth, and from what has
been said regarding this sign in the introduction, and by the constant
association of goddesses in the Mexican mind with the terrestrial
sphere, it is plain that Tonacatecutli, her male counterpart, is not
likely to have represented it in early times. The suggestion that he
symbolizes the sky is perhaps assisted by the nature of his abode, the
uppermost heaven, and from his close identification with Citlallatonac,
the god of the night heaven, who was supposed to represent the Milky
Way.
(2) That in later times the early concepts of these divinities became
fused almost into one, and that in some measure they had come to be
regarded as androgynous. This view may be traversed by the circumstance
that they are frequently represented separately, but on the other hand
their names appear as one in the form Tonacatecutli-Tonacaciuatl in
many passages. The same may be posited of their counterparts in the
Quiche Popol Vuh, Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. [174]
Tonacatecutli and his spouse are to be regarded as the parents of
Quetzalcoatl, but this is probably a theogonic myth of late origin,
brought about by the constant association of Quetzalcoatl with the
creative gods as deities of the ancient Toltecs, and the frequent
references to him as the founder of their cult.
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