233S16 FINAL REVIEW

MESOAMERICAN MATERIAL

TIME PERIODS CULTURES 2000-100 BCE FORMATIVE Olmec ___________ Zapotec Earliest Mesoamerican high civilization: monumental scultures, jaguar shamans, ball game, human sacrifice ________________ Early Mesoamerican civilization : astronomical observatories 100 BCE – 900 CE CLASSIC Mayan Teotihuacan Popol Vuh City "Where Gods Were Made"; pan-Mesoamerican shrine 900-1519 CE POSTCLASSIC Aztec Leyenda de los Soles 1521... POST-CONQUEST Cortés and defeat of Motecuhzoma II

Mesoamerican Themes • astronomical observation • pyramidal architecture • shamanistic animal cults • oppositional structures • ball game • blood-letting and human sacrifice • agricultural symbolism (maize) • regeneration

Emergence Myths Chicomoztoc : Mesoamerican Cave of Origins Tree of Origin : example of axis mundi

Mayan Cosmogony: Popol Vuh ANIMAL noise - praise wilderness eaten STAGES DETAILS Plumed Serpent + Heart of Sky earth created by power of word animals animals of forests, animals of mountains assigned habitats and habits (failure) humans 1 mud creature (failure) humans 2 wood people (failure) humans 3 maize people MAIZE speech awareness mobile gendered wet full memory respectful MUD -speech - awareness immobile sexless WOOD + speech - awareness mobile gendered dry

Aztec Cosmogony: Leyenda de los Soles Primal Duality Ometeotl : God of Duality Creation of 4 Tezcatlipocas Xipe Totec, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli OR Mictlantecuhtli (Death) Creation of Suns 1-4 each destroyed by excess of own power Creation of 5th world cooperation between Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl sacrifice of caiman (Cipactli) blood-letting by gods to feed earth Descent into Mictlan Quetzalcoatl and spirit-double (nahualli) Xolotl retrieve bones Mountain of Sustenance contains maize Quetzalcoatl fails to retrieve it Nanahuatzin (Lame Pimply God) splits mountain with lightning servants of Tlaloc (Rain God) steal maize human beings made from ground maize + divine blood at Tamoanchan (blood tree) Creation of pulque Quetzalcoatl elopes with Mayahuel to Tamoanchan (blood tree) star-demons (tzitzimime) murder Mayahuel maguey grows from corpse; sap used to make medicinal beverage pulque Creation of 5th Sun Tecuciztecatl (Rich God) and Nanahuatzin (Poor God) compete at Teotihuacan Nanahuatzin sacrifices himself to become Sun; Tecuciztecatl  Moon Quetzalcoatl sacrifices other gods and himself to feed and move Sun and Moon

Quetzalcoatl (Plumed Serpent) • quetzal serpent • rain and wind (Quetzalcoatl + Ehecatl [Wind God]) • daytime (Day Sun) • creator and culture-bringer (bones, maize, maguey) • nahualli dog (Xolotl) • as Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl, priest of Tula, corrupted by Titlacauan(-Tezcatlipoca) with pulque • Topiltzin disappears; Motecuhzoma suspects Cortés may be return of god

Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror) • original (Black) created god • cooperates with Quetzalcoatl to create world • associations: night (Night Sun), earth, death, jaguar (nahualli), obsidian (divination), smoke, mirrors (divination), magic, drunkenness, sexual debauchery (lameness, fire, lightning), war, kingship • Tezcatlipoca (as Titlacauan) corrupts Quetzalcoatl-Topiltzin with pulque, causing fall of city of Tula

Huitzilopochtli and Aztec Migration • Migration as “external motivation”: fated, destined, divinely supported. • Migration charts genealogical, physical, topographical ancestry. • Migration establishes itinerary of significant places, sacralizing space. • Migration establishes political history of relations, legitimizing wars and alliances. • Route of migration provides map for ritual reenactment.

Huitzilopochtli and Aztec Migration • Aztecs leave Aztlan led by bodiless Huitzilopochtli • group splits into two tribes • Coatlicue (Snake Skirt Woman) impregnated by feather • Huitzilopochtli born and attacked by 400 step-brothers and Coyolxauhqui (She Whose Face is Adorned with Bells) • death of Coyolxauhqui ~ defeat of moon by sun • sculptured slab of dismembered Coyolxauhqui at Templo Mayor • Aztecs arrive at Lake Texcoco, are enslaved by neighbors • Aztecs defeat masters, found Tenochtitlan (1345) where eagle perches in cactus

Sacrificial Themes compensation/justice shed blood of Cipactli debt-payment blood sacrificed by gods for humans nourishment blood feeds earth, Sun, Moon order blood sacrifice prevents destruction by tzitzimime (star demons) regeneration blood feeds dead, irrigates earth, ensures growth social functions of sacrifice • group identity and cohesion • ritualized entertainment: sacrifice as theatre • participation in maintenance of universe • state terrorism

Festival of Flayed Men • 20-day festival celebrated before spring planting season • festival in honor of Xipe Totec • captives in xochiyaoyotl (flower war) dressed as ixiptla (god-impersonators) • ixiptla treated like gods, subjected to mock battles, sacrificed to Xipe Totec, heart put in cuauhxicalli (bowl), skull put in tzompantli (skull-rack) • skin of ixiptla flayed and worn by Eagle Warriors, flesh cooked and eaten • skins shed on last day of festival, buried in fields to promote fertility

Eagle Warrior Cihuatateo • participates in xochiyaoyotl • souls of women dead in childbirth • mock combat with ixiptla • causes mental illness, theft of children • distributes meat of victims • drags sun down from sky each night • wears flayed pelt of victims • after death, lifts sun into sky

Xipe Totec (Our Lord the Flayed One) outer/inner dry/ green, wet husk/maize seed/flower skin/heart human/god dead/living death/regeneration • gold-working • jewelry • writing • poetry • fertility • rebirth • regeneration

Summary of Popol Vuh 1 Cosmogony; creation of animals and first two (mud, wood) humans 2 Hero Twins Hunahpu (Hunter) and Xbalanque (Jaguar Deer) defeat Vucub Caquix, the False Sun. 3 Descent into Xibalba of Hun Hunahpu (1 Hunter) and Vucub Hunahpu (7 Hunter), father and uncle of Hero Twins; their defeat. Birth of Hero Twins. Childhood of Twins. Descent of Twins into Xibalba; their victory. 4 Creation of maize people.

First Generation Hun Hunahpu (1 Hunter) & Vucub Hunahpu (7 Hunter) •Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu descend into Xibalba to play ball. •Hun and Vucub fail in Xibalba: cannot keep cigars lit •Head of Hun Hunahpu put in calabash tree. •Head impregnates Xquic (Little Blood). •Xquic ascends to Upperworld with twins in her womb.

Second Generation Hunahpu (Hunter) & Xbalanque (Jaguar Deer) •Twins descend into Xibalba to play ball. •On the way, Twins defeat Vucub Caquix , the False Sun. •Twins succeed in Xibalba: use fireflies to keep cigars lit •Twins overcome trials in House of Knives, Cold House, Jaguar House, Fire House •Hunahpu decapitated in Bat House; head replaced by gourd. •Xibalbans use head of Hunahpu in ball game. •Twins substitute gourd for head, and win game. •Twins sacrifice themselves in fire. •Twins reappear as entertainers, perform resurrection shows in Xibalba. •Twins trick Lords of Xibalba into participating; they are sacrificed. •Twins rescue Hun Hunahpu, who becomes God of Maize. •Twins rise from Xibalba to become Sun and Moon.

Substitutions in Popol Vuh head of Hunahpu  skull  gourd  ball  head  Sun

Ball Game • ball game mimics passage of Sun through underworld • ball game ensures that Sun survives passage through underworld • identification of Sun with human being : ball game helps turn linear trajectory of human life into cyclical pattern, as in astronomy and agriculture

CUMULATIVE MATERIAL

Characteristics of Myth Narrative Oral Traditional Anonymous Multiform Homeostatic Authoritative “True”

• anthropogony : myth of human creation • autochthony : claim that ancestors emerge from earth • axis mundi : world axis; spatial, temporal, ritual center of world • emergence myth : claim that ancestors emerge from trees, caves, mountains etc. • etiological myth : myth that accounts for natural feature or cultural practice • regeneration myth : myth that represents life as circular (not linear) process

Myth, Legend, Folktale sacred myth legend folktale OPENING In the beginning... Sing, Muse... Once upon a time... ENDING confirmation of way things are death wedding OCCASION sacred high secular low secular BELIEF VALUE fact fact/fiction fiction TIME remote historical anytime PLACE primeval world battlefield anyplace CHARACTERS divine (god) superior in kind divine human (hero) superior in degree human/animal same or inferior in degree

Myth, Legend, Folktale SACRED MYTH LEGEND FOLKTALE WORLD inflexible somewhat flexible, generally hostile highly flexible CAUSALITY hard determinism rigid laws, fateful determinism, some room for human choice chance and luck; in the extreme, fairytale wish-fulfillment STANCE absolute resignation acquiescence and endurance optimism and opportunism MORALITY irrelevant: good = divine will irrelevant: moral character NOT = quality of experience relevant: moral character = quality of experience

Cosmogonic Types TYPE NATURE DEITY MYTH created world inert matter transcendent Genesis evolved world dynamic matter immanent Enuma Elish

Cosmogonic Pattern 1. Primal Unity 2. Separation 3. Proliferation of Beings 4. Destabilization 5. Plot (Regret) 6. Confrontation 7. Resolution 8. Stability

Combat Myth VICTOR ENEMY male female youngest offspring oldest parent anthropomorph theriomorph alliance of gods alliance of monsters temple abyss form/structure/organization raw matter civilization nature

Hero Pattern BIRTH Mixed Status divine + human parents CHILDHOOD Signs of Election Separation Education superior abilities as child/teen removal from home due to threat mysterious teacher DEPARTURE Call Sidekick Journey Exploits Encounters desire for glory / urgent mission double unexplored terrain monsters (cosmogonic) young woman/old woman/old man RETURN / DEATH Failure Reconciliation Death death of sidekick bond with others heroic funeral MEMORIALIZATION Myth & Ritual center of community

Regeneration Pattern 1. Descent 2. Failure/Limitation 3. Ascent Repeat 1-3