1. AZTEC COSMOGONY (Lectures 32-33)

2. Leyenda de los Soles Primal Duality Creation of Suns 1-4
Creation of 5th world
Descent into Mictlan
Mountain of Sustenance
Creation of pulque
Creation of 5th Sun
(4-Motion)

3. Primal Duality
Ometeotl creates 4 Tezcatlipocas
Creation of Suns 1-4
Creation of 5th world
separation of earth and sky
creation of 13 levels
sacrifice of caiman (Cipactli)
blood-letting by gods
Descent into Mictlan
Quetzalcoatl and nahualli Xolotl descend for bones
retrieval of broken bones
people made from ground bones and divine blood
Mountain of Sustenance
discovery of mountain of maize
Nanahuatzin borrows lightning, splits mountain
tlaloques steal maize
Creation of pulque
Quetzalcoatl elopes with Mayahuel
Mayahuel dismembered by tzitzimimes
transformation into maguey
Creation of 5th Sun
(4-Motion)

4. TEZCATLIPOCA
POINT
ALIAS
COMMENT
Red
East
sunrise
Xipe Totec
Our Lord the Flayed One
sacrifice
renewal
regeneration
Black
North
midnight
Tezcatlipoca
Smoking Mirror
darkness
magic
delusion
White
West
sunset
Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl
Plumed Serpent-Wind
culture-bringer
Yellow
____________
Blue
South
noon
Huitzilopochtli
Southern Humming-bird
_________________
Mictlantecuhtli
Lord of the Dead
Nahuatl warrior
_______________
death

5. Creation of Worlds • Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca compete to create
GOD
RTESULT
4 Jaguar
Tezcatlipoca
eaten by jaguars
4 Wind
Quetzalcoatl
blown away by wind
4 Rain
Tlaloc
fire
4 Water
Chalchiutlicue
flood
4 Motion
Nanahuatzin
earthquake
• Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca compete to create
new world
• Four worlds created result in four failures
• Inner power of each world destroys each one
• Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca cooperate to create
Fifth World

6. Descent into Mictlan
• Quetzalcoatl and nahualli Xolotl descend into Mictlan • after various trials, they recover bones of ancestors • bones break, resulting in different and flawed humans • Quetzalcoatl brings bones back up, where they are ground • bone meal mixed with blood of gods to create new humans

7. Mountain of Sustenance
• Quetzalcoatl discovers Mountain of Sustenance filled with maize. • Quetzalcoatl is unable to move mountain. • Nanahuatzin borrows lightning from Tlaloc at the four quadrants. • Nanahuatzin splits Mountain of Sustenance. • Servants of Tlaloc (tlaloques) steal maize.

8. Origin of Maguey
• Quetzalcoatl elopes with Mayahuel. • Mayahuel’s grandmother, a star-demon, sends tzitzimime in pursuit. • Tzitzimime catch and decapitate Mayahuel. • Quetzalcoatl burns Mayahuel’s body. • Maguey grows from ashes.

9. Creation of the 5th Sun
• Competition between Nanahuatzin and Tecuciztecatl. • Nanahuatzin jumps into bonfire first and becomes 5th Sun. • Tecuciztecatl jumps second, to become Moon. • Rabbit thrown at Moon to dim its brightness • Quetzalcoatl sacrifices gods to provide blood to feed Sun. • Quetzalcoatl sacrifices nahualli Xolotl. • Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl blows wind to put Sun and Moon into motion.