QUETZACOALTBY: AKATZIN CHAVEZ

QUETZALCOATL’S STORY….

• Quetzalcoatl or 'The Feather Serpent’ , is the name of an important Mesoamerican deity whose origins can be traced back to the city Teotihuacán, and whose worshipping reached its maximum during the Post classic period, when several cultures; the Maya, Toltec's, Aztecs and other polities in Central Mexico, showed evidence in the cult. He was a important deity since he had been the creator of humans, after they were all wiped out in a supposed, flood. Its said that after their was no more human kind he went to the underworld to retrieve the bones of the humans to add his blood which brought them back to life. The people usually described him as a feather serpent or a dragon. The peoples perspective drawing of Quetzalcoatl can be seen in the different carvings and paintings that were left in the Aztec temples.

QUETZALCOATL'S POWERS

• He was the god of wind, dawn, merchants, crafts and knowledge. As the god of wind and rain, Quetzalcoatl holds special dominion over the weather. He was able to travel back and forth from the Heavens to the Underworld. He was also often considered the god of the morning star, while his twin brother Xolotl was the god of the evening star.

QUETZALCOATL'S SIGNIFICANCE

• Quetzalcoatl helped his people by protecting them and serving them. Some myths say that he introduced them to the cultivation of maize, or corn, the main food source in Mexico at the time. He also thought people about astronomy, calendar making, and various crafts and was of course the patron of merchants. In order to be affair with him, the Aztec people had to kill a flower, butterfly or bird as a offering to him.

QUETZALCOATL REPUTATION WITH THE OTHER GODS

• Quetzalcoatl cosmic conflicts with the god Tezcatlipoca brought conflicts and destruction to Earth. Quetzalcoatl left the earth and his people due to the work of his old enemy, Tezcatlipoca, who wanted people to make bloodier and gorier sacrifices than the flowers, jade, and butterflies they offered to Quetzalcoatl. Tezcatlipoca tricked him by making him drink, pulque, which made Quetzalcoatl drunk and then holding up a mirror that showed Tezcatlipoca cruel face. Believing that he was looking at his own imperfect image, Quetzalcoatl decided to leave Earth and decided to throw himself onto a funeral pyre. As his body burned birds flew forth the flames, and his heart

went up into heaven to become Venus, the morning star.

FAMILY TREE

Mixcoatl (Father)

Coatlique (mother)

Quetzalcoatl Xolotl (Twin brother)

Chalchihuitlicue (Wife)

Quetzalpetlatl (Daughter)

Nanauatzin (Son)

WORKS CITIED…

• Google Image Result for http://rahelio.homestead.com/files/plumed_serpent.jpg

• Google Image Result for http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LR037-JaY9E/T2jZjKEYQYI/AAAAAAAAFuA/6_v-NnlEvVA/s1600/Aztec%2BPlumed%2BSerpent%2BQuetzzalcoatl.jpg

• Google Image Result for http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7095/7287389988_127b05fec8_m.jpg

• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/q/quetzalcoatl.html

• Myths Encyclopedia

• Quetzalcoatl: Quetzalcoatl, Feathered Serpent God in Aztec Religion, Mythology