Mictlāntēcutli

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For the comic book character, see
Mictlantecuhtli (comics)
.
Mictlāntēcutli
Ruler of the Underworld
God of the dead
Ah Puch
OtomiHmüšithü

Mictlāntēcutli or Mictlantecuhtli (Nahuatl pronunciation:

Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He is one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and is the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple.[2] Other names given to Mictlantecuhtli include Ixpuztec (“Broken Face”), Nextepehua (“Scatterer of Ashes”), and Tzontemoc (“He Who Lowers His Head”).[3]

Two life-size clay statues of Mictlantecuhtli were found marking the entrances to the House of Eagles to the north of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.[4]

Attributes

Mictlantecutli in the Codex Borgia.
Mictlantecutli in the Codex Borgia.
Mictlantecutli

Mictlantecuhtli was considered 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull.

earspools were made from human bones.[7]

He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between life and death.

Aztec codices, Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.[7]

His wife was

Omecihuatl, the givers of life.[11]

Mictlantecuhtli was the god of the day sign Itzcuintli (

Tonatiuh to symbolise the dichotomy of light and darkness.[citation needed
]

In the Colonial

Codex Vaticanus 3738, Mictlantecuhtli is labelled in Spanish as "the lord of the underworld, Tzitzimitl.[12]

Myths

Mictlantecuhtli (left), god of death, the lord of the underworld and Quetzalcoatl (right), god of wisdom, life, knowledge, morning star, patron of the winds and light, the lord of the West. Together they symbolize life and death.

In Aztec mythology, after

Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca created the world, they put their creation in order and placed Mictlantecuhtli and his wife, Mictecacihuatl, in the underworld.[13]

According to Aztec legend, the twin gods Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were sent by the other gods to steal the bones of the previous generation of gods from Mictlantecuhtli. The god of the underworld sought to block Quetzalcoatl's escape with the bones and, although he failed, he forced Quetzalcoatl to drop the bones, which were scattered and broken by the fall. The shattered bones were collected by Quetzalcoatl and carried back to the land of the living, where the gods transformed them into the various races of mortals.[14]

When a person died, they were interred with grave goods, which they carried with them on the long and dangerous journey to the underworld. Upon arrival in Mictlan these goods were offered to Mictlantecuhtli and his wife.[6]

In another myth, the shrewd god of death agrees to give the bones to

Ehécatl, the god of the wind, wears).[16]

Statuette of Mictlantecuhtli in the Xalapa Museum of Anthropology, Mexico, 2001

Whilst listening to the roar of the trumpet, Mictlantecuhtl, at first, decides to allow Quetzalcóatl to take all of the bones from the last creation, but then quickly changes his mind. Nevertheless, Quetzalcóatl is more astute than Mictlantecuhtl and his minions and escapes with the bones. Mictlantecuhtli, now very angry, orders his followers to create a very deep pit. While Quetzalcóatl is running away with the bones he is startled by a quail, which causes him to fall into the pit. He falls into the pit and dies (or so it would appear), and is subsequently tormented by the animal (the quail), and the bones he is carrying are scattered. The quail then begins to gnaw on the bones.

Despite the fall, Quetzalcóatl is eventually revived and gathers all of the broken bones. It is for this reason that people today come in all different sizes. Once he has escaped from the underworld, Quetzalcóatl carries the precious cargo to Tamoanchan,[17] a place of miraculous origin.

Mictlantecuhtli has appeared in the animated movie of La leyenda de las Momias by Anima Estudios. In the movie the deity is responsible for bringing the dead back to life in the city of Guanajuato.

He also appeared towards the end of the short film "God of Death", the second segment in the 2023 horror anthology film V/H/S/85. In the segment, a Mexican news station faces an earthquake, and while evacuating survivors from the wreckage, find an underground temple to Mictlantecuhtli, who rises and possesses or kills most of the main characters in the short.

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 970-07-3149-9. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help
    )
  2. ^ Smith et al. 2003, p.245.
  3. ^ Luján, Leonardo López, and Scott Sessions. "Death Deities." In David Carrasco (ed). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001
  4. ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.60, 458.
  5. ^ a b c d Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113.
  6. ^ a b Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.206.
  7. ^ a b c d e Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142.
  8. ^ Smith 1996, 2003, p.206.
  9. ^ a b Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.434.
  10. ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.54, 458.
  11. ^ Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.458.
  12. ^ Klein 2000, pp.3–4.
  13. ^ Read & González 2000, pp.193, 223.
  14. ^ Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. Read & González 2000, p.224.
  15. ^ Alfredo López, Olivier, Davidson, Austin, Guilhem, Russ (2015). The Myth of Quetzalcoatl: Religion, Rulership, and History in the Nahua World. Colorado: U Presso of Colorado.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Leeming, David Adams (2005). The Oxford companion to world mythology. New York: Oxford U Press.
  17. ^ Alfredo López, Austin (1997). Tamoanchan, Tlalocan: places of mist. Niwot, CO: U Pr. of Colorado.

References

Leeming, David Adams (2005).The Oxford companion to world mythology. New York: Oxford U Press. Print.

Austin, Alfredo López, Guilhem Olivier, and Russ Davidson (2015).The Myth of Quetzalcoatl: Religion, Rulership, and History in the Nahua World. Boulder: U Press of Colorado. Print.

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