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Quetzalcoatl: Aztecs
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[K]nown as the "Feathered Serpent," Quetzalcoatl is the ancient cultural hero among the Aztec, the Toltec and other Middle American peoples. Legends attribute him with being the son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and is often described as having light hair and skin. As the father of culture, Quetzalcoatl introduced agriculture (ie. the growing of maize), the calendar, monotheism, music and dance, arts and crafts. Varying stories show him to be a gentle deity who requested the end of human sacrifice, accepting butterflies and serpents instead. In his dragon form he ruled the wind, the rain and the fertility of the Earth, the cycles of human sustenance.
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Quetzalcoatl was an extremely powerful being that visited Earth several hundred years earlier. During his time on Earth, Quetzalcoatl interacted with a Native American tribe in what would later become Mexico. This tribe, the Aztecs, would come to worship Quetzalcoatl as a god following his departure. While Quetzalcoatl had originally preached a message of peace to the tribe, the Aztecs used Quetzalcoatl to justify sacrificing a large number of humans over the years.
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As was previously mentioned, many Pre-columbian manuscripts and inscriptions of the god Quetzalcoatl portray him literally as the feathered serpent that figured in the actual creation of the universe of humanity. Most of these primary sources ... associate him with the planet Venus and its special number, five (Venus cycles five times for every eight solar years-see below). Other names that were used interchangeably with Quetzalcoatl, including 1-Reed and 9-Wind, link him with the astrological calendar of Mesoamerica. He was said to have been born in the year named 1-Reed and to have departed for parts unknown the next time this year came up - 52 years later. The Aztecs believed that he would return in the year 1-Reed and they were constantly looking for signs that this might happen every 52 years. Wouldn't you know it, Cortes arrived at the Mexican coast in 1519, the Aztec year 1-Reed!
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One of many Mesoamerican feathered serpent deities, Quetzacoatl or Quetzalcoatl began as a rain god and gradually came to be one of the most important deities and culture heroes in Aztec society. Quetzacoatl and Tezcatlipoca are the sons of the creator-god Ometecuhtli or Tonacatecutli; his mother is usually listed as Coatlicue. Alternate sources list Quetzacoatl as the son of Tonacatecutli and his consort Tonacacihuatl, or as the son of the heavenly deity Mixcoatl and the moon and love goddess Xochiquetzal. [1] Quetzacoatl was associated with the morning star, while his twin brother Xolotl was thought to represent the evening star.
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It was said by the Aztec priests that after leaving the world of the living, Quetzalcoatl would reappear from the east as the morning star, preceding the sun. Therefore, when the Conquistadors landed at Veracruz, from the east, in the year 1519, Montezuma was sure that Cortez was Quetzalcoatl, returning to take possession of his kingdom. Because of this mistaken belief, Cortez, with a small force, conquered an empire. Archaeologists uncovered the Temple of Quetzalcoatl early in this century at the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. The Toltecs may have been the builders of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan, about ten thousand years ago, where the pyramids of the moon and sun rival those of ancient Egypt.
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[One] manifestation of Quetzalcoatl is that of the wind. The wind that blows before the storm is traditionally associated with this complex deity. The wind is a powerful force of nature; it can be playful or be one of nature's most destructive forces. Quetzalcoatl as the wind is called nine wind. In this guise he is associated often with the air in general not so much as a helpful or harmful force. The Aztec name for a tornado or thunderstorm wind was ehecacoatl or roughly translated "wind snake" (Brundage 106).
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