Origins of The Universe -
Cosmology
According to the Aztecs, the story of creation is a story of birth, death and rebirth. When The Universe is destroyed it is born afresh, through the sacrifice of one of the gods and this results in the birth of a new sun. But dissimilar from numerous religious cultures, the Aztecs believed that The Universe did not have an actual beginning. In accordance to the Aztecs there was five different suns and this represented that five different worlds had existed. Over the years there has been various different versions of this legend told (sometimes there are a different amount of suns or the order of the worlds is different) but the overall concept remains the same. This concept was that their world was the fifth era of a cycle of creation and destruction, during which different gods first governed the earth through a dominant element, and then destroyed it. These worlds were called suns.
The Aztec creation story goes like this:
In the very beginning, there was ‘Ometechutli’. Ometechutli was both female and male, consequently creating itself from nothingness. Ometechutli was known as the ultimate God, representing opposites, male and female, chaos and order and good and bad.
Ometechutli then created four children. These four children became the four most important Gods of Aztec religion. Each of these children represented a direction and this was very significant to the Aztecs as they believe that they were in the centre of The Universe.
The four children were:
- Quetzalcoatl: representing the East direction. He was known as the God of knowledge and learning.
- Huizilopochtli: representing the South direction. He was known as the God of war and sun.
- Tezcatlipoca: representing the West direction. He was known as the God of evil and power.
- Xipe Totec: representing the North direction. He was known as the God of fertility and agriculture.
The four Gods began to create The Universe, first they created a horrendous creature known as ‘Cipactli’. Cipactli dwelled in the water and was often pictured as a being with the body of a fish and head of a crocodile! Cipactli soon became a menace to the God’s as he was eating everything that fell into the water, so the God’s made the decision to go to war. All four God’s worked together to slay Cipaclti but at the cost of Tezcatlipoca’s foot. From Cipcactli’s body, The Universe was created, the head stretched into the 13 heavens and the tail into the 7 underworlds, as for the body, it became The Earth.
The creation of the sun reoccured 5 times. Firstly, ‘The Jaguar Sun’ was Tezcatlipoca, but Quetzalcoatl was envious so he struck him down and Quetzalacoatl became ‘The Wind Sun’ which was the second sun. Tlaloc ‘the rain God’ then became the third Sun after Quetzalcoatl’s reign had ended, he was the third sun or ‘The Rain Sun’. Tlaloc shortly became evil and placed The Earth under a horrible curse known as drought. Tlaloc became corrupt, so his sister ‘Chalchiuhtlicue’ became the first female sun. She was The Goddess of childbirth and was recognised as the fourth sun or ‘Water Sun’. Her corrupt brother Tlaloc soon teamed up with Tezcatlipoca to throw his sister from her reigning position. This resulted in all of The Gods having to conduct a meeting in order to decide who would be the most suitable sun. For this to occur, the chosen God had to sacrifice themselves in a giant bonfire. Tecuciztecatl who was very wealthy and Nanahuatzin who was very poor were the two God’s that volunteered for this ritual. Surprisingly, both Gods jumped into the fire so this resulted in The Aztecs having two suns. This became a serious problem as the world was too hot and was put into drought, again! The Gods soon became aware of this fault and attempted to strike down Tecuciztecatl for his ignorance, but transformed him into the moon instead. This elaborate and complicated story was how The Aztecs attempted to find true meaning of life and how they believed the world was begun.
Below is an interactive video that tells the creation story of The Aztecs through use of colour, pictures, imagery and voice over. Click the below link to find out more:
Cosmology
According to the Aztecs, the story of creation is a story of birth, death and rebirth. When The Universe is destroyed it is born afresh, through the sacrifice of one of the gods and this results in the birth of a new sun. But dissimilar from numerous religious cultures, the Aztecs believed that The Universe did not have an actual beginning. In accordance to the Aztecs there was five different suns and this represented that five different worlds had existed. Over the years there has been various different versions of this legend told (sometimes there are a different amount of suns or the order of the worlds is different) but the overall concept remains the same. This concept was that their world was the fifth era of a cycle of creation and destruction, during which different gods first governed the earth through a dominant element, and then destroyed it. These worlds were called suns.
The Aztec creation story goes like this:
In the very beginning, there was ‘Ometechutli’. Ometechutli was both female and male, consequently creating itself from nothingness. Ometechutli was known as the ultimate God, representing opposites, male and female, chaos and order and good and bad.
Ometechutli then created four children. These four children became the four most important Gods of Aztec religion. Each of these children represented a direction and this was very significant to the Aztecs as they believe that they were in the centre of The Universe.
The four children were:
- Quetzalcoatl: representing the East direction. He was known as the God of knowledge and learning.
- Huizilopochtli: representing the South direction. He was known as the God of war and sun.
- Tezcatlipoca: representing the West direction. He was known as the God of evil and power.
- Xipe Totec: representing the North direction. He was known as the God of fertility and agriculture.
The four Gods began to create The Universe, first they created a horrendous creature known as ‘Cipactli’. Cipactli dwelled in the water and was often pictured as a being with the body of a fish and head of a crocodile! Cipactli soon became a menace to the God’s as he was eating everything that fell into the water, so the God’s made the decision to go to war. All four God’s worked together to slay Cipaclti but at the cost of Tezcatlipoca’s foot. From Cipcactli’s body, The Universe was created, the head stretched into the 13 heavens and the tail into the 7 underworlds, as for the body, it became The Earth.
The creation of the sun reoccured 5 times. Firstly, ‘The Jaguar Sun’ was Tezcatlipoca, but Quetzalcoatl was envious so he struck him down and Quetzalacoatl became ‘The Wind Sun’ which was the second sun. Tlaloc ‘the rain God’ then became the third Sun after Quetzalcoatl’s reign had ended, he was the third sun or ‘The Rain Sun’. Tlaloc shortly became evil and placed The Earth under a horrible curse known as drought. Tlaloc became corrupt, so his sister ‘Chalchiuhtlicue’ became the first female sun. She was The Goddess of childbirth and was recognised as the fourth sun or ‘Water Sun’. Her corrupt brother Tlaloc soon teamed up with Tezcatlipoca to throw his sister from her reigning position. This resulted in all of The Gods having to conduct a meeting in order to decide who would be the most suitable sun. For this to occur, the chosen God had to sacrifice themselves in a giant bonfire. Tecuciztecatl who was very wealthy and Nanahuatzin who was very poor were the two God’s that volunteered for this ritual. Surprisingly, both Gods jumped into the fire so this resulted in The Aztecs having two suns. This became a serious problem as the world was too hot and was put into drought, again! The Gods soon became aware of this fault and attempted to strike down Tecuciztecatl for his ignorance, but transformed him into the moon instead. This elaborate and complicated story was how The Aztecs attempted to find true meaning of life and how they believed the world was begun.
Below is an interactive video that tells the creation story of The Aztecs through use of colour, pictures, imagery and voice over. Click the below link to find out more: