Table of Contents
History of Tezcatlipoca
A creator god, Tezcatlipoca ruled over Ocelotonatiuh (Jaguar-Sun), the first of the four worlds that were created and destroyed before the present universe. Tezcatlipoca was generally represented with a stripe of black paint across his face and an obsidian mirror in place of one of his feet.
How was Tezcatlipoca created?
Creation histories
To attract her, Tezcatlipoca used his foot as bait, and Cipactli ate it. The two gods then captured her, and distorted her to make the land from her body. After that, they created the people, and people had to offer sacrifices to comfort Cipactli for her sufferings.
Why did the Aztecs worship Tezcatlipoca?
For the different aspects he embodied, Tezcatlipoca was also known as the Red Tezcatlipoca of the West, and the Black Tezcatlipoca of the North, associated with death and cold. According to Aztec mythology, Tezcatlipoca was a vengeful god, who could see and punish any evil behavior or action happening on earth.
Who was Tezcatlipoca wife?
Wife of the water god, Tlaloc, and consort to the creator deity, Tezcatlipoca, Xochiquetzal lived in the Aztec paradise of Tamoanchan. She was widely worshipped and many great rituals were made in her honour; from incredible acts of sacrifice to sombre confessions.
How did Tezcatlipoca lose his foot?
Tezcatlipoca (pronounced teska-tli-pooka) was the Aztec god of creation and revenge. In certain drawings, he is depicted with his right foot gone and a prosthesis of obsidian (black volcanic glass) or a bone. The story goes that Tezcatlipoca lost his foot while battling the Earth Monster during creation.
What did Tezcatlipoca look like?
Tezcatlipoca was generally represented with a stripe of black paint across his face and an obsidian mirror in place of one of his feet. The post-Classic (after ad 900) Maya-Quich people of Guatemala revered him as a lightning god under the name Hurakan (One Foot).
How strong is Tezcatlipoca?
Tezcatlipoca possessess the conventional superhuman physical attributes of an Aztec god, but with an enhanced strength enabling him to press about 100 tons.
What are Tezcatlipoca powers?
Aztec deity
| Tezcatlipoca | |
|---|---|
| Alter ego | Tezcatlipoca |
| Team affiliations | Aztec gods |
| Abilities | Various godlike powers, including magical mirrors revealing inner fears and desires, superhuman strength and enhanced senses, jaguar form, power to hurl lightning, and power to possess a human host. |
What did Tezcatlipoca do?
TEZCATLIPOCA (“the smoking mirror”) was one of the four Aztec creator gods who arranged the universe and set the cosmic ages in motion through periodic celestial battles.
What was Huitzilopochtli known for?
However, Huitzilopochtli was known as the primary god of war in ancient Mexico. Since he was the patron god of the Mexica, he was credited with both the victories and defeats that the Mexica people had on the battlefield. The people had to make sacrifices to him to protect the Aztec from infinite night.
What did Tezcatlipoca wear?
Tezcatlipoca is often represented wearing a turquoise mask with a black eye band. Indeed, one of the most famous art objects of the god is the decorated skull now in the British Museum in London. The skull is covered in turquoise and black lignite mosaic with red thorny oyster shell in the nasal cavity.
Who is the Mayan goddess of beauty?
Xochiquetzal, (Nahuatl: Precious Feather Flower) Aztec goddess of beauty, sexual love, and household arts, who is also associated with flowers and plants.
What happened during the Toxcatl festival?
The Toxcatl Massacre, a turning point in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, occurred when the Spaniards who were tolerated as guests in Tenochtitlan attacked and massacred the unprepared Aztecs during the celebration of Toxcatl.
Who was Huitzilopochtli?
Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli, also called Xiuhpilli (Turquoise Prince) and Totec (Our Lord), Aztec sun and war god, one of the two principal deities of Aztec religion, often represented in art as either a hummingbird or an eagle.
Who is Xipe Totec?
Xipe Totec, the Aztec god of spring and regeneration, appears in many Mesoamerican cults. A fertility deity, Xipe Totec vividly conveys the concept of death and rebirth by wearing the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim.
What does Tlaloc mean?
Tlaloc, (Nahuatl: He Who Makes Things Sprout) Aztec rain god. Representations of a rain god wearing a peculiar mask, with large round eyes and long fangs, date at least to the Teotihuacn culture of the highlands (3rd to 8th century ad).
Did the Aztecs worship the jaguar?
To the ancient civilisations of Mexico; the Olmecs, the Mayans and the Aztecs, the jaguar was worshipped as a deity. Because of its ability to see in the night, they believed that jaguars were able to move between worlds. The jaguar was a being of the stars and the earth.
Why was Huitzilopochtli important to the Aztecs?
Huitzilopochtli was one of the most important Aztec gods. He was the sun god as well as the god of war. His name means Hummingbird of the Left. The Aztecs believed that warriors who were killed in battle returned to life as hummingbirds. They also thought that lands in the south made up the left side of the world.
What did the Aztecs call themselves?
From Mexica came the name for the city that superseded the Aztec capital and for the surrounding valley, which was applied later to the whole Mexican nation. The Aztecs referred to themselves as Culhua-Mexica, to link themselves with Colhuacn, the centre of the most-civilized people of the Valley of Mexico.
Who are Xochiquetzal parents?
X?chiquetzal
| Xochiquetzal | |
|---|---|
| Parents | Xochitlicue (Codex Ramrez) |
| Siblings | Xochipilli |
| Consort | Tlaloc (Codex Ros) Tezcatlipoca (Codex Ros) Piltzintecuhtli (Codex Zumarraga) Cinteotl (Codex Le Tellier) Xiuhtecuhtli (Codex Florentine) |
| Children | With Piltzintecuhtli: Cinteotl (Codex Zumarraga) |
Are the Aztec gods immortal?
T?teoh (Aztec Gods) Powers/Abilities/Traits: The T?teoh all possess certain superhuman physical attributes. They are true immortals who cease to age upon reaching adulthood, and they cannot die by conventional means.
Who are the 4 Tezcatlipocas?
In Aztec mythology, Creator-gods are the only four Tezcatlipocas, the children of the creator couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl “Lord and Lady of Duality”, “Lord and Lady of the Near and the Close”, “Father and Mother of the Gods”, “Father and Mother of us all”, who received the gift of the ability to create other …
Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice?
Politically, human sacrifice was important in Aztec culture as a way to represent a social hierarchy between their own culture and the enemies surrounding their city. Additionally, it was a way to structure the society of the Aztec culture itself.
What did the Toltecs believe?
Toltec theology and mythology were based on polytheism, centered on the deity Quetzalcoatl, the feathered-serpent, which later became the central figure of the Aztec pantheon. Their religious ceremonies included human sacrifices.
How did the Aztecs maintain control over their empire?
The Aztecs built alliances, or partnerships, to build their empire. The Aztecs made the people they conquered pay tribute, or give them cotton, gold, or food. The Aztecs controlled a huge trade network. Markets drew buyers and sellers from all over the Aztec Empire.
What buildings did the Toltecs have?
The Toltec capital city was Tula, called Tollan by the Aztecs who greatly revered the earlier Toltecs. Architecture at Tula included pyramids, palaces, urban housing, colonnades and ceremonial ball courts clustered around a central plaza.
Did Huitzilopochtli have a wife?
THE TRANSLATION
The year 13 Reed, 1323 C.E. By then, the Mexica had spent 25 years in the T?za?pan region of the kingdom of C?lhuahc?n. Huitzilopochtli then spoke to the elders, saying, O Fathers, another will arrive. Her name is Yaocihuatl [War Woman].
How was Huitzilopochtli born?
Birth of Huitzilopochtli
According to the origin myth, when Coatlicue’s daughter Coyolxauhqui (goddess of the moon) and Coyolxauhqui’s four hundred brothers (Centzon Huitznahua, the gods of the stars) discovered she was pregnant, they plotted to kill their mother.
What was Huitzilopochtli personality?
He is also loyal and loving towards those He considers His, as shown by His spirited defense of His mother and the Mexica this characteristic earned Him the title of Protector of Men. Often described as the Portentous One who’s always rushing about, He’s full of wild energy and exuberance.
Why did the Aztecs wear masks?
The Importance of the Mask
During human sacrifices, the masks would symbolize death, and they were the main component of the Aztec religion. Some of the gods that the Aztec natives prayed to are Tlaloc (The Rain God), Huitzilopochtli, (The patron God of the Aztecs), Xipe Totec, (the Flayed Lord), and hundreds more.
What was the turquoise mosaic studded skull used for?
This material was used by pre-Hispanic peoples to make mirrors, which were used for rituals and prophecies. This mosaic has been identified as Tezcatlipoca due to his characteristic black stripes, here made of lignite (coal).
Who is Ix Chel husband?
Her husband was the benevolent moon god Itzamna. Ix Chel had a kinder side and was worshipped as the protector of weavers and women in childbirth.
What did Ix Chel look like?
Goddess O is depicted with a red body, and sometimes with feline aspects such as jaguar claws and fangs; sometimes she wears a skirt marked with crossed bones and other death symbols. She is closely identified with the Mayan rain god Chaac (God B) and often seen illustrated with pouring water or flood images.
How do you say moon in Mayan?
Yucatec is a Mayan language, related to other languages like Itza and Mopan Maya.
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Maya Word Set.
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Maya Word Set.
| English (Franais) | Yucatec Maya words |
|---|---|
| Moon (Lune) | Uh |
| Water (Eau) | Ha’ |
| White (Blanc) | Sak |
| Yellow (Jaune) | K’an |
What was the fiesta of Huitzilopochtli?
This long festival was dedicated to the most important of the Aztec gods, Huitzilopochtli. The purpose of the festival was to ask for the rains which would water the Aztec crops for another year, and it involved dancing, prayers, and human sacrifice.
What were the bad omens that the Aztec received?
The 8 Aztec omens
The first story told is: A fire comet. Ten years before the arrival of the Spaniards, a spike of fire appeared in the sky. For many, it marked the beginning of bad news, such as times of war, famine, disease or the end of an empire. The second omen was the fire that did not go out.
How many Aztecs killed Cortes?
| Fall of Tenochtitlan | |
|---|---|
| Casualties and losses | |
| 450860 Spanish 20,000 Tlaxcaltecs | 100,000 killed in action 300 war canoes sunk At least 40,000 Aztecs civilians killed and captured, other sources claim 100,000 to 240,000 were killed in the campaign overall including warriors and civilians |
What did the Aztecs do to worship Huitzilopochtli?
Worship of Huitzilopochtli
The focal point of worship to Huitzilopochtli was at the Aztec capital where he had a wooden statue and shrine alongside that of Tlloc atop the Temple Mayor pyramid or Hueteocalli.
When was Huitzilopochtli born?
The winter solstice is also the birthday of Huitzilopochtli, chief god of the Mexica (and important to all Aztecs).
What was Huitzilopochtli powers?
Powers: According to Sahagn, Huitzilopochtli was robust, strong, warlike and a great destroyer of towns and men. In wars he was like live fire, and fearsome to his adversaries. His emblem was of a dragon’s head that spewed fire from its mouth (xiuhcoatl).
Why is Xipe Totec flayed?
Xipe Totec connected agricultural renewal with warfare. He flayed himself to give food to humanity, symbolic of the way maize seeds lose their outer layer before germination and of snakes shedding their skin. Without his skin, he was depicted as a golden god.
When was Tenochtitlan founded?
Who is kukulkan?
Kukulkan, also spelled K’uk’ulkan, /ku?k?l?k??n/ (“Plumed Serpent”, “amazing Serpent”) is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatn Peninsula before the Spanish Conquest of the Yucatn.
Why was the Tlaloc vessel painted blue?
Worship & Ritual
The monumental steps leading to Tlloc’s temple were painted blue and white, the former colour representing water, the element so strongly associated with the god. The god’s temple was on the north side of the pyramid and marked the summer solstice and wet season.
How is Tlaloc pronounced?
What did the Aztecs believe about cannibalism?
In addition to slicing out the hearts of victims and spilling their blood on the temple altar, it’s believed that the Aztecs also practiced a form of ritual cannibalism. The victim’s bodies, after being relieved of their heads, were likely gifted to nobleman and other distinguished community members.
