The Forbidden Tree

One of the most curious things about the myths and legends of the past is how strikingly similar they can be, even when arising in total isolation from others. When all other traditions of culture seem alien, our stories unite us all. One such story from Aztec lore holds this particularly true. For on first reckoning there seems never to have been two more unlikely faiths to have common ground as Christianity and the religion of the Aztecs, but common ground there is aplenty.

Xochiquetzal
Image taken from the Codex Rios

" Hail to our Mother, from whose hand
  the yellow flowers blossomed,
  the seeds of the maguey were scattered,
  as she came forth from Paradise...

  Hail to the goddess,
  radiant as the bright butterfly
  in the bush of thorns.... "
        - HYMN TO THE ALL MOTHER

Long ago in the most ancient times, when the gods were at constant war with one another, each yearning for mastery over the cosmos, there lived a fair goddess in a fair land. Xochiquetzal, as she was called, was a youthful deity, and a sight of wonder to behold. With flowers in her hair, and a soothing, songlike voice, she reigned in a lost age of innocence, an age of dance and laughter. The land within which she dwelled was a Paradise worthy of her beauty. For this was Tamoanchán, the fairest of all the Thirteen Heavens. Vast, sweeping fields rolled away for eternity, towering peaks soared into the sky, topped with a snow which did not melt. The boughs of the trees bowed under the abundance of fruits and blossoms, as the eternal rays of the sun shone through to the soft grass below. One tree above all others stood in the very centre of this land, towering above all others in stature and in splendour. When the golden rays of the radiant sun fell upon its leaves, the Tree released the most alluring perfume into the air, which the breeze would soon carry to the four corners of this idyllic land. It was said that the birds which roosted in its branches serenaded Tamoanchán with the most enchanting evensong the Thirteen Heavens ever heard. This was a land of the purest tranquillity. The Great Creator, Ometeotl (for his role in the Creation, please click here), had gifted this land to Xochiquetzal with but one command - that she never eat from the fruit of the Tree.

Mictlantecuhtli
Statue in the National Museum
of Anthropology, Veracruz

Meanwhile in the cosmos, it was the dawn of the fifth age of the Sun. The hopes of an at last peaceful era were high, in the wake of the terrible destruction unleashed in the first four incarnations, the last ending in a cataclysmic flood at the hands of the goddess Chalchiúhtlicue (for the story of these struggles, please click here). Now Quetzalcóatl, the Plumed Serpent, and Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Smoking Mirror, united to build the world anew (two friends who would one day become the most terrible of foes, in a story told here). From the body of the Earth Monster Tlaltecuhtli they wove the new land, and from her skin and bones they fashioned new gods. But the infant world was barren and lifeless, for all had been destroyed in Chalchiúhtlicue's wrath. It was Quetzalcóatl who reasoned that only from the bones of the previous races of man to walk the earth could a new one rise. The gods agreed, and the Plumed Serpent set off in search of the bones, held in the grim world of Mictlán - the Underworld. For while all else on Earth may change, the land of the dead never shows a new face. No less stubborn was the grisly lord of the dead, the god Mictlantecuhtli, who personally tore the souls of men from their mortal forms, and ruled Mictlán with his consort Mictecacíhuatl. No one, not even a god, could enter Mictlán whilst alive. With no other god eager to venture into that dark realm, Quetzalcóatl resolved to embark on the grim quest. Raising a pyre high, and setting in its heart a flame, Quetzalcóatl faced death with valour, and stepped into the roaring conflagration.

Isla Bay - the furthest corner of the Aztec World
Photograph taken by 'Intersofia'

The pain at last subsiding, Quetzalcóatl awoke with a start. The darkness was heavy here, and a ghastly smell of rotting corpses poisoned the air. Turning north, the air grew fouler still, in a world so far away from idyllic Tamoanchán. After a while, when the stench of death choked even the Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcóatl at last found he who no other dares to seek - Mictlantecuhtli. Sitting upon a high throne, skeletal, emaciated and grimacing, Mictlantecuhtli gazed upon the intruder with unblinking, baleful eyes. The Plumed Serpent bowed before Death, and asked for the bones of the extinct animals, fish and men who had once walked the Earth. The dark god, who resented the other gods for residing in the sunlit lands, had no desire to grant Quetzalcóatl's request. Glowing with malice, he agreed to relinquish the bones on the condition that Quetzalcóatl travel four times around Mictlán whilst trumpeting on a holeless conch shell, a feat he deemed impossible, and indeed would at once make a fool of the god. Quetzalcóatl, however, was unfazed. Looking around him, he saw the worms and carrion that feasted upon the decaying corpses of Mictlán, and hatched a plan. Summoning the dark creatures to him, he commanded the worms to burrow through the shell, and the swarm of bees to enter it. The buzzing of the bees, amplified by the shell, became a pleasant music, such that had never been heard in Mictlán before. Mictlantecuhtli, furious that he had been outwitted, caused the very ground to quake and rend asunder in his rage.


Seizing his chance, Quetzalcóatl dived for the bones and made his escape. Just as he neared the mouth of Mictlán, however, he tripped on a fissure the dark god's anger had torn in the ground. Slamming into the bones, with a sickening crunch many of them broke, but the Plumed Serpent recovered and stole away. Coming to Tamoanchán, the gods resolved to create a new human race, to populate this perfect land. Taking blood from each god, Quetzalcóatl prepared the rites necessary to craft a man. Upon opening the pouch which contained the bones, however, the Plumed Serpent saw that they were broken, and knew not how they should be. It is for this reason that mankind has such infinite variety.

Pico de Orizaba
Photograph taken by 'Marte'

For a time, the harmony in Xochiquetzal's domain was absolute, and it seemed that the serenity would endure for all time. But soon, Xochiquetzal, distracted by her new company, began to forget the warning Ometeotl had decreed. One day, when the sun rose, and the perfume of the Forbidden Tree rose hhigh into the sky, Xochiquetzal could resist the temptation no longer. The other gods, and first humans, who had not known of their true nature, encouraged her to seek out the fruits of the Tree. There were so many fruits hanging from its leafy, blossomed boughs, that no one would notice if just one went missing? Tentatively, she edged towards the tree, entranced by its beauty. The Great Creator would not notice if she were to just pick one, she thought. Stretching out her hand, her fingers clasped a ripe, blood red fruit, and gently, she pulled it free. From the moment her fingers touched the fruit, however, a ripple of foreboding thundered through her. Blood dripped from the branch from whence the fruit came. With a scream, she backed away, as the Tree split clean in two, blasted apart by some unseen power. Lightning arced through the sky, and darkness rolled across the land. Spirited away to a lonely mountainside, Xochiquetzal wept, and Ometeotl condemned her for her actions. Since she had disobeyed the Creator's command, she would henceforth be banished from Tamoanchán, never to return. She, along with mankind, would be sent down to the dry, dusty plains of the Earth, and would know suffering. For ever after, Xochiquetzal would never be able to enjoy the beauty of flowers around her, for her eyes would ever stream with tears, tears at her Paradise lost...

The story of Xochiquetzal's exile was a shameful event to the Aztecs, as the reason why they lived in a world of peril. But what must have been equally, if not more, shocking, was the realisation in the minds of the Spanish conquistadores when they heard this tale from their newfound subjects. The parallel between this story and the events in the Garden of Eden are striking, yet the Aztecs had never before known the ways of the Old World. Perhaps the Aztecs were not the aliens they had first appeared after all...

United Kingdom

Aztec Prayers:
Rig Veda Americanus
(A small collection of prayers and hymns to the pagan gods, translated from the Nahuatl language)

Spanish account of the Conquest of Mexico:
The Conquest of New Spain
(A written account of the conquest given by a soldier who actually served under Cortés himself)

Mythology:
Mythology of the Aztec and Maya
(A colourful and nicely presented introduction to Aztec and Mayan Mythology, and an excellent choice for 'getting into it'. The actual cover is different from the one Amazon displays, and the book itself has many high quality photographs in it)

United States

Aztec Prayers:
Rig Veda Americanus
(A small collection of prayers and hymns to the pagan gods, translated from the Nahuatl language)

Spanish account of the Conquest of Mexico:
The Conquest of New Spain
(A written account of the conquest given by a soldier who actually served under Cortés himself)

Mythology:
Mythology of the Aztec and Maya
(A colourful and nicely presented introduction to Aztec and Mayan Mythology, and an excellent choice for 'getting into it'. The actual cover is different from the one Amazon displays, and the book itself has many high quality photographs in it)

  

The Ages of the Sun

Today we once again take up the story of the Aztec Creation tale (for the first episode in this saga, click here). As we saw last time, the earliest days of Creation were governed by the so called ‘Four Tezcatlipocas’, the sons of the primordial Tonacatecuhtli and Tonacacíhuatl, the androgynous forms of the Aztec supreme Creator god – Ometeotl. Each had been assigned a colour and a quarter of the cosmos to rule, and each were charged with the Creation of the world we know today. The White Tezcatlipoca of the West, who later was known by his more famous name – Quetzalcóatl, and the Black Tezcatlipoca of the North, later to be known infamously as Tezcatlipoca, the “Lord of the Smoking Mirror”, joined their power to conquer the mighty Earth Monster Tlaltecuhtli and create the world. However, the world born of the monster’s slain form was not the first world. It was in fact the fifth. The Creation was far from a smooth ride...

Tezcatlipoca - The Jaguar Sun
Images taken from the Codex Rios.

Four worlds had waxed and waned in older times, each victim to the endless struggles of the gods, as each vied for power and ultimate mastery of the cosmos. In the Old Age, of the Four Tezcatlipocas, Black Tezcatlipoca arose to the skies to take his place as the Sun. This was a time before humans, when instead the ethereal plains were home to a race of giants, so mighty in stature that they could tear the trees from their roots and hurl them through the air. Unlike the jötunn of the Norse lands however (for more on this, click here), the giants of the Old Age were not violent by nature, and in fact ate the acorns of the land for sustenance. The age was largely peaceful, and became known as the world of the Jaguar Sun, enduring six hundred and seventy six years. But the envy of gods is not lightly cast aside. White Tezcatlipoca, or Quetzalcóatl, could bear no longer to see Tezcatlipoca at the highest point of the sky. Seizing hold of his great staff, Quetzalcóatl struck down Tezcatlipoca from the Heavens, hurling him into the endless oceans at the farthest extremes of the land. However, by doing so, he had knocked the Sun from its place in the sky, and darkness covered the land. In his rage, Tezcatlipoca rose from the murky depths, assuming the form of a powerful jaguar. Tezcatlipoca wrenched himself onto dry land, and sent forth a plague of jaguars onto the plains of Mesoamerica, thirsty for blood and howling for revenge. The jaguars hunted down and exterminated the giants in an orgy of violence and bloodshed which would spell the doom to each of the first four worlds. His bloodlust temporarily sated, Tezcatlipoca leaped into the night sky where he became the celestial gathering of stars known to us as the constellation of the Great Bear.

Éhecatl - The Lord of the Winds
Image taken from the Codex Magliabechiano.

Quetzalcóatl’s hour had come. Seizing his immortal throne as supreme god, Quetzalcóatl assumed the form of a lord of the winds, known as Éhecatl, and rule over the land. Gone were the giants, yet now a race that resembled what would one day become humans lived under the god’s yoke. They too were peaceful, eating only the seeds of the sacred mesquite tree. The age of the Wind Sun, as it became known, endured three hundred and sixty four years of peace, before divine tensions once again threatened the world. Seething with the injustice of the usurped, Tezcatlipoca enacted a brutal vengeance. Since Quetzalcóatl had taken the form of the wind god, Tezcatlipoca decided to mock his ‘power’. Gathering his dark powers, Tezcatlipoca summoned a mighty hurricane and unleashed it upon Quetzalcóatl’s world. So powerful were the vortex’s winds, the Sun was swept from the sky, as well as the world’s inhabitants, but for a few survivors. These survivors escaped Tezcatlipoca’s wrath by hiding within the leafy boughs of the few trees not uprooted by the fell wind. These survivors would populate future worlds, and their descendants are the monkeys of the world today.

Tláloc
Image taken from the Codex Rios.

Devastated by chaos, the world looked to god of the rains, Tláloc, to guide it. Those under Tláloc’s rule made great leaps forward in human technology, learning from their god how to work the land. Enlightened by the gift of agriculture, the dwellers learned to cultivate the maize crop. Tláloc’s rule, which became known later as the world of the Rain Sun, lived on for three hundred and twelve years before the malice of gods once again seized its chance. Quetzalcóatl, like Tezcatlipoca before him, seethed with injustice and envy for his lost paradise. Quetzalcóatl humiliated Tláloc, the lord of rain, and channeled his powers into a torrent of fire which blasted the land. For a whole day, the fiery inferno engulfed the world, its flames sweeping the Sun from the sky. All life was charred by the conflagration, except for a few survivors, It was from these ancestors that the turkeys, dogs and butterflies of today are descended.

Beaten, battered and broke, Tláloc retreated, and the world passed to Chalchiúhtlicue, Tláloc’s consort. Goddess of lakes, the oceans, streams and rivers, Chalchiúhtlicue created a new Sun and begun her rule. As the most peaceful of all the worlds that had yet been created, the age of the Water Sun endured happily for six hundred and seventy six years. The people of the age lived peacefully on the seeds of wild plants, and this was the first age in which the highest deity decreed Creation to at last be over. As she did so, however, the sky waters broke, crashing down upon the Earth. Water burst from solid rock on the ground, and rose from deep within the land, obliterating most life. The Great Flood lasted for fifty two years, and the surviving people survived by adapting their physical forms to coexist with this water. It is from these peoples that the whales, fish and other creatures of the deep are descended.

Teotihuacán
Image in the Public Domain.

It was then that the fifth and current world was created, by Quetzalcóatl and Tezcatlipoca, from the body of the monster Tlaltecuhtli, who was herself one of the creatures of the deep that lived in the floodwaters (to find out what happened, click here). Yet the world was dark. Seeking to end once and for all the instability that had spelled the doom of so many worlds before it, the gods held council at Teotihuacán. Deciding that the Creation of a Sun and Moon was of the utmost importance, two gods stepped forth to volunteer for the roles. One was Tecuciztécatl – “He of the Sea Stone”, a proud god, the other was Nanahuatzin, a humble god, disfigured by scars, weals and sores. Preparing for their duty for four days, the other gods prepared an enormous pyre upon which offerings were to be laid. Both Tecuciztécatl and Nanahuatzin made offerings; fine gifts of quetzal feathers and incense from Tecuciztécatl , whilst Nanahuatzin could give only cactus thorns that he had used to make offerings of his own blood, and scabs from his injuries. The time came for them to assume their place in the Heavens. Tecuciztécatl approached the fire first, but was repelled by the intense heat. He tried again, and again, but could not summon the courage to enter the flames. Nanahuatzin approached instead. Fearlessly, he strode into the pyre, as the other gods looked on in admiration as his body crackled and burned in the flames. Emboldened, Tecuciztécatl hurried into the fire, and an eagle and a jaguar followed them in.

The sacrifice complete, the gods watched in earnest. Tecuciztécatl rose first as the Moon, but shining brightly. Close behind him followed Nanahuatzin as the Sun. But both Sun and Moon hung in the sky, motionless. The gods worried. How would the seasons pass and time progress? Nanahuatzin called down from the sky, and decreed that he would follow the daily motions, only if the gods would offer their hearts and blood in sacrifice, just as he did in the offer of his own body. Outraged, the gods refused, and one even tried to attack Nanahuatzin, but the new Sun was immovable. Resigned to the inevitable, the gods drove a knife into their chests, and the first blood sacrifice was made. The Sun accepted their offering and begun his passage through the Heavens. Ever since, the Aztec peoples offered their blood and hearts to the Sun, so that it may continue to move through the sky, and delay the day when Tezcatlipoca will fulfill his destiny as the Destroyer of Worlds...

United Kingdom

Aztec Hymns:

Rig Veda Americanus: Sacred Songs of the Ancient Aztecs (Forgotten Books)
(A collection of prayers to the gods, translated from the Nahuatl language)

Spanish account:
The Conquest of New Spain (Classics)
(A written account of the conquest given by a Spanish soldier who actually served under Cortés himself, and therefore a valuable resource)

General reference:
Mythology of the Aztecs and Maya: Myths and Legends of Ancient Mexico and Northern Central America (Mythology Of...)
(A very nice introduction to Aztec and Mayan Mythology, which I found very useful a few years back. Due to the vast nature of the subject, such a book is always helpful in the beginning. The actual front cover is different to the one displayed on Amazon, and the book itself has many high quality photographs in it)

United States

Aztec Hymns:
Rig Veda Americanus (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)
(A collection of prayers to the gods, translated from the Nahuatl language)

Spanish Account:
The Conquest of New Spain (Penguin Classics)
(A written account of the conquest given by a Spanish soldier who actually served under Cortés himself, and therefore a valuable resource)

General reference:
The Mythology of the Aztec and Maya: An illustrated encyclopedia of the gods, myths and legends of the Aztecs, Maya and other peoples of ancient Mexico ... 200 fine art illustrations and photographs
(A very nice introduction to Aztec and Mayan Mythology, which I found very useful a few years back. Due to the vast nature of the subject, such a book is always helpful in the beginning. The actual front cover is different to the one displayed on Amazon, and the book itself has many high quality photographs in it)