The Aztecs
Page 24
Many gods had special roles as patrons of particular social or ethnic groups. Just as Huitzilopochtli was the patron of the Mexica people, many cities and calpolli had their own patron gods. Occupational groups also had their own gods: Tezcatlipoca was the patron of kings, Quetzalcoatl of priests, Teteoinnan of midwives, and Xipe Totec of goldsmiths.
Written sources contain names for as many as 200 distinct gods and goddesses, several of whom were closely related to one another, sometimes as transformations of a single deity. One such common transformation involved the concept of duality. Ometeotl (god of duality, literally “Two-Deity”), for example, contained male and female transformations, Ometecuhtli (“Two-Lord”) and Omecihuatl (“Two-Lady”). Sometimes Quetzalcoatl was a priestly creator god, but at other times he donned special insignia to become Ehecatl, god of wind.
It is difficult to keep track of Aztec deities with all of their transformations and blending. Ethnohistorian H. B. Nicholson has created a degree of order in this pantheon by classifying the gods into 14 complexes of closely related deities. He groups these complexes into three overarching themes: celestial creativity and divine paternalism; rain, moisture, and agricultural fertility; and war, sacrifice, blood, and death (table 9.1). Each of the deities in the table is at the head of a complex or group of gods and goddesses who are related in their themes and roles. These 14 complexes encompass 129 deities as listed by Nicholson. An example of a deity complex, the Tezcatlipoca complex, is shown in table 9.2. Tezcatlipoca (“Smoking Mirror”), was the most powerful god in terms of influence on people's lives. Four gods in this complex – Moyocoyani, Telpochtli, Titlacahuan, and Yaotl – are versions of Tezcatlipoca himself, and the others are deities closely related to the smoking mirror. I have used Nicholson's system to structure the following descriptions of the gods.10
Table 9.1 The principal Aztec deities.
Deity Meaning Themes and roles
Deities of celestial creativity and divine paternalism
Ometeotl Two-god Original creator of the gods
Tezcatlipoca Smoking mirror Omnipotent power, patron of kings
Xiuhtecuhtli Turquoise lord Hearth and fire
Deities of rain, moisture, and agricultural fertility
Tlaloc (uncertain) Rain, water, agricultural fertility
Centeotl Maize god Maize
Ometochtli Two rabbit Pulque, maguey, fertility
Teteoinnan Mother of gods Earth and fertility; patroness of curers and midwives
Xipe Totec Our lord with the flayed skin Agricultural fertility; patron goldsmiths
Deities of war, sacrifice, blood, and death
Tonatiuh He goes forth shining Sun
Huitzilopochtli Hummingbird of the left or south War, sacrifice, sun; patron of the Mexica
Mixcoatl Cloud-serpent War, sacrifice, hunting
Mictlantecuhtli Lord of the place of death Death, underworld, darkness
Other deities
Quetzalcoatl Quetzal-feathered serpent Creation, fertility, Venus, wind; patron of priesthood
Yacatecuhtli Nose-lord Commerce; patron of merchants
Each of these deities heads a deity complex of closely related gods and goddesses.
Data from: Nicholson 1971:table 3
Table 9.2 Gods of the Tezcatlipoca complex.
Deity Meaning Themes and roles
Tezcatlipoca Smoking mirror Omnipotent universal power
Chalchiuhtotolin Jade turkey Penitence
Itztli Obsidian blade Justice, punishment
Ixquimilli Eye-bundle Justice, punishment
Metztli Moon Moon
Moyocoyani Maker of himself Universal power
Omacatl Two reed Feasting, revelry
Tecciztecatl Person from the place of conch-shells Moon
Telpochtli Male youth Patron of telpochcalli school
Tepeyollotl Heart of the hill Caves, darkness, jaguars
Titlacahuan We his slaves Universal power
Yaotl Enemy Universal power
It is not clear whether all of these were separate deities or alternative names for Tezcatlipoca.
Data from: Nicholson 1971:table 3
Deities of Celestial Creativity and Divine Paternalism
Nicholson's first theme, celestial creativity and divine paternalism, covers the original creation of the world and the ultimate source of life.
Ometeotl. In his guise as the couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, Ometeotl was the original creator of the gods and the world. These abstract celestial deities were invoked in sacred poetry and philosophical works, but had no formal cult dedicated to their worship.
Tezcatlipoca. Tezcatlipoca is often described as the Aztec high god (figure 9.3). In his obsidian mirror, “Tezcatlipoca could see all that took place in the world,”11 and obsidian mirrors were used in various Aztec ceremonies. In many depictions, one of Tezcatlipoca's feet is a smoking obsidian mirror (figure 9.4) and the god also carried arrows to inflict punishment on wrongdoers. People were filled with fear and dread before the awesome power of Tezcatlipoca:
Thus I fall before thee, I throw myself before thee; I cast myself into the place whence none rise, whence none leave, the place of terror, of fear. May I not have aroused thy annoyance; may I not have walked upon thy fury. O master, O precious nobleman, O our lord, perform thy office, do thy work!12
Figure 9.3 Five Aztec gods: Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca (Codex Borbonicus 1974:22); Mictlantecuhtli (Codex Borbonicus 1974:10); Xochiquetzal (Codex Telleriano-Remensis Quiñones Keber 1995:f.22v); Tlaloc (Codex Borgia 1976:pl.20) (drawing by Ellen Cesarski)
Figure 9.4 Obsidian mirrors associated with Tezcatlipoca. (A) Obsidian mirror in the Museo Román Piña Chán at the site of Teotenango, State of Mexico (diameter 28 cm) (reproduction authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia). (B) Tezcatlipoca's smoking mirror foot, from the Codex Borgia (modified after Seler 1963:f.21)
It is fitting that this most powerful god was the patron of kings.
Xiuhtecuhtli. Xiuhtecuhtli was associated with fire and life. Fire figured prominently in many rituals and a sacred fire was always kept burning at the temples. In his manifestations as Huehueteotl (“Old God”), this god presided over the domestic hearth fire, where household rituals were performed. Two goddesses in this complex were Chantico (“In the House”) and Coyolxauhqui (“Painted with Bells”), the unlucky rebellious sister of Huitzilopochtli (figure 9.1).
Deities of Rain, Moisture, and Agricultural Fertility
The gods of rain, moisture, and agricultural fertility were among the most worshiped of Aztec deities, by both priests and lay persons. Nicholson groups the many fertility gods into five complexes.13
Tlaloc. The ancient storm god of Teotihuacan (figure 9.2) is a possible ancestor of Tlaloc, the principal rain god among the Aztecs. One of the major earth deities, Tlaloc's main purpose was to send rain to nourish maize and other crops. In figure 9.3 he is shown using a digging stick to cultivate maize in an irrigated field. Tlaloc had four or five versions or transformations, the Tlaloque, who assisted him. They brewed the rain in huge vats in caves on mountaintops, from whence they also sent out thunder and lightning.
Centeotl. The cult of the maize god Centeotl overlapped the cult of the Tlaloc complex. The cult included various deities of solar warmth, flowers, feasting, and pleasure, such as Xochipilli (“Flower Prince”) and Macuilxochitl (“Five Flower”), the patron of the game patolli.
Ometochtli. Ometochtli was one of a group of 400 rabbits, the Centzon totochtin, who were deities of the alcoholic beverage pulque. The goddess Mayahuel was a fertility figure who personified the maguey plant itself.
Teteoinnan. Teteoinnan represented a complex of many female earth deities that were associated with agricultural and sexual fertility. An important member of this group was Xochiquetzal (“Flower-Quetzal Feather”; see figure 9.3), a young and attractive goddess of sexual desire, flowers, feasting, and pleasure. She was the female counterpart of Xochipilli and Macuilx
ochitl and had jurisdiction over pregnancy and childbirth. Xochiquetzal was also the patroness of spinning and weaving. Tlazolteotl (“Filth Goddess”), another earth mother figure, was associated with sexual excess and childbirth. Just as the earth was the place of birth, it was also the place of death. Several goddesses in this complex have affiliations with death, among them Cihuacoatl (“Serpent Woman”), Coatlicue (“Serpent Skirt,” the mother of Huitzilopochtli) and the Tzitzimime, poorly understood female spirits or deities.
Xipe Totec. Xipe Totec was a powerful fertility god and the object of a gruesome ritual of sacrifice. After the victim was killed, his skin was removed to be worn by a priest or by a deity impersonator who symbolically became the god. Carved and painted images of Xipe Totec can be identified by the flayed skin that covers the wearer inside; the sculpture in figure 9.5 is a particularly graphic example.
Figure 9.5 The god Xipe Totec. The deity wears the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim, tied across his back (height 77 cm) (photograph courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 16/3261)
Deities of War, Sacrifice, Blood, and Death
Deities of war, sacrifice, blood, and death required human blood in order to maintain the earth, the sun, and life itself. This blood was provided through either autosacrifice – personal bloodletting as a form of worship – or human sacrifice. Because most sacrificial victims were obtained in battle, these deities encouraged warfare and, hence, imperial expansion.
Tonatiuh. Tonatiuh, the sun god, overlapped considerably with Ometeotl and represented a kind of high creator god. Whereas the benign, fertility related aspects of the sun were represented in the Centeotl complex, Tonatiuh was more involved in the militaristic and sacrificial aspects of the sun. He was the patron god of warriors, who fulfilled their duty to the sun by capturing prisoners to sacrifice on the pyramid.14
Huitzilopochtli. With strong solar associations, the powerful war god Huitzilopochtli required a constant supply of sacrificial victims.
Mixcoatl. Mixcoatl and the closely related Camaxtli were gods of warfare and hunting. Originally associated with northern Chichimec groups, these deities became patrons of the Tlaxcalteca, Huexotzinca, and other enemy Aztec groups east of the Valley of Mexico. Another god in this complex was Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, a god of stars and the sky closely connected to the planet Venus.
Mictlantecuhtli. There were many gods and goddesses of death and the underworld, of whom Mictlantecuhtli (figure 9.3) was the most prominent. Tlaltecuhtli (“Earth Lord”), who was torn in half to form the earth and the sky, also belonged to this complex. These and other death deities had strong symbolic links to health and fertility (see below).
Other Deities
Two major deities do not fit easily into the three themes described above: Quetzalcoatl and Yacatecuhtli.15
Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent (figure 9.3), was one of the most important gods of ancient Mesoamerica. His attributes cut across all of the above themes. As a prime creator, he was associated with Ometeotl and Tezcatlipoca, and in his guise as Ehecatl, god of the wind, he belonged with Tlaloc. Temples dedicated to Ehecatl were circular in shape so that the wind could blow easily around them (see chapter 10). The patron of the calmecac school and of the priesthood, Quetzalcoatl was a god of learning and knowledge. The high priests of Tenochtitlan were given the title “Quetzalcoatl.”
Yacatecuhtli. Yacatecuhtli was the patron god of the pochteca merchants.
Death, Burial, and the Afterlife
The prominence of sacrifice, blood, death and the underworld in Aztec mythology was matched by an abundance of death symbols in everyday life. Mictlantecuhtli (figures 10.13) was not the only deity with skeletal attributes; numerous other gods and goddesses had skulls for their heads, or else wore clothing decorated with skulls or crossed long bones. The motif of a skull with crossed bones was a common theme in Aztec iconography. It occurred on ceramic vessels used in royal feasts and rituals (figure 9.6) and was carved or painted on low stone ceremonial platforms or altars at numerous Aztec cities. To our modern, western way of thinking this looks like a gruesome symbol of death and terror; indeed, the skull and crossbones was the element of the “Jolly Roger” flag of the feared Caribbean pirates.16 But in the Aztec world skeletal imagery, particularly the skull and crossbones motif, were symbols of fertility, health, and abundance. There was a close symbolic link between death and fertility, between the bones of the dead and the health of the living. The gods and goddesses of death were in fact deities of fertility with powers to help the living.17
Figure 9.6 Serving bowl decorated with skull and crossbones (diameter 15.5 cm) (photograph courtesy of the Milwaukee Public Museum; catalog no. 54467)
Aztec attitudes toward death were quite complex and multifaceted. Important aspects of these beliefs were expressed in funerals, burial practices, and myths about the underworld. The Aztecs believed in several distinct afterworlds, and one's fate depended upon one's status in life and upon the manner of one's death.18 Soldiers who died in battle and sacrificial victims went to an eastern solar realm to accompany the sun during its rise to zenith. Women who died in childbirth went to a western solar realm where they accompanied the sun during its setting. People who died by drowning or other causes related to the rain god (such as lightning or certain diseases) went to the earthly paradise of Tlalocan. Most people, however went to one of the nine levels of Mictlan, the underground realm of death.
Friar Durán gives information on Aztec funerals and burial:
Some people were buried in the fields; others, in the courtyards of their own homes; others were taken to shrines in the wood; others were cremated and their ashes buried in the temples. No one was interred without being dressed in his mantles, loincloths, and fine stones. In sum, none of his possessions were left behind; and if he was cremated, the jar which received his ashes was filled with his jewelry and stones, no matter how costly. Dirges similar to our responses were chanted, and [the dead] were mourned, great ceremonies taking place in their honor. At these funerals [people] ate and drank; and if [the deceased] had been a person of quality, lengths of cloth were presented to those who had attended the funeral. [The dead man] was laid out in a room for four days until [mourners] arrived from the places where he had friends. Gifts were brought to the dead man; and if the deceased was a king or chieftain of a town, slaves were killed in his honor to serve him in the afterlife . . . The funeral rites lasted for ten days filled with sorrowful, tearful chants.19
Some of these practices are evident in the burials of commoners at Aztec sites. All of the skeletons I excavated at Cuexcomate and Capilco were of children or infants. They were buried under the housefloor or in the yard next to the house. Most were placed in an upright sitting position, which coincides with images of mummy bundles in Aztec pictorial sources. Some individuals were buried with ceramic bowls as offerings, whereas others were buried without any goods (figure 9.7). At Yautepec and Xaltocan, excacations uncovered both infant burials and adults (figures 6.7). The placement of burials in and around the house gives clues to Aztec attitudes toward death. The dead were still considered part of the family, and they took their place within the domestic compound. It is likely that families conducted rituals or made offerings to their deceased members, much as modern Mesoamerican peoples do in the Day of the Dead ceremonies on November 2.20
Figure 9.7 Remains of a commoner child buried next to his family's house at Capilco (photograph by Michael E. Smith)
Figure 9.8 Remains of commoner adults buried next to House 4 at Yautepec (photograph by Lisa Montiel)
Burials of kings and nobles were much richer and more elaborate than the simple commoner burials I have excavated. Apart from two funerary urns recovered at the Templo Mayor – which may contain the ashes of Mexica kings – no true royal burials have been excavated at Aztec sites. An image from the Códice (Codex) Tudela (figure 9.9) shows the funeral of a king. The body is being presented with food and
cotton capes by servants who are both chanting and crying. The cremated burial of a noble or important warrior was excavated at the Eagle Warrior Hall near the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, and this gives an idea of the nature of noble burials. The remains were accompanied by decorated textiles, gold jewelry, bronze objects, jaguar claws, and fancy heirloom ceramic vessels from Classic-period Teotihuacan and Toltec-period Tula.21
Figure 9.9 Burial of a king. The corpse is wrapped in a shroud and wears a necklace and feather headdress. The man and woman with offerings (including a cup of cacao, a tripod bowl with meat, and tamales in a basket) are servants who will be buried alive with the king “in order to prepare food, for it was not known where they were going” (modified after Códice Tudela 1980:f.58r)
At Calixtlahuaca, José García Payón excavated a series of secondary burials in ceremonial locations that may pertain to nobles or other important persons (figure 9.10). Secondary burials result from a two-stage process of interment. First the body is left to decay naturally, perhaps in a tomb. Then the bones are gathered and reburied in their final resting place, often with offerings. The Calixtlahuaca burials were interred adjacent to and in front of temples, and had rich offerings of ceramic vessels, bronze objects, jewelry, and other items. They are unusual in that the femurs and other long bones were cut with parallel notches prior to final burial (figure 9.10). These cut bones (figure 9.11) are not uncommon at Aztec sites and are another example of the prevalence of death and skeletal imagery in Aztec society.22 There may have been a specific symbolic association between the cut bones and the practice of human sacrifice; in many cases a femur from a sacrificed victim was preserved and displayed by the person who sponsored a sacrificial ceremony. It is to the practice and significance of Aztec human sacrifice that we now turn.