| Ancient Aztec Eschatology |
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DESTRUCTION OF THE FOUR SUNS The first sun was called Nahui-Ocelotl , "Four-Jaguar," a date of the ritual calendar. Humankind was first destroyed by Jaguar s, considered by the Aztec as the Nahualli ("animal disguise") of the Creator god Tezcatlipoca . At the end of the second sun, Nahui-Ehécatl , "Four-Wind," a magical hurricane transformed all people into monkeys. That disaster was caused by Quetzalcóatl ( The Feathered Serpent ) in the form of Ehecatl , the Wind god. A rain of fire had put an end to the third sun, Nahuiquiahuitl , "Four-Rain." Tlaloc as the god of Thunder and Lightning presided over that period. The fourth sun, Nahui-Atl, "Four-Water," ended in a gigantic Flood that lasted for 52 years. Only one man and one woman survived, sheltered in a huge cypress, but they were changed into dogs by Tezcatlipoca, whose orders they had disobeyed. FIFTH SUN Quetzalcóatl created present humanity with the help of Feathered Serpent and his twin Xólotl , the dog-headed god, who succeeded in reviving the dried bones of the dead by sprinkling them with his own blood. The present sun is Nahui-Ollin , "Four-Earthquake," and is doomed to disappear in a tremendous Earthquake . The skeleton-like monsters of the west, the Tzitzimime , will then appear and kill all people. These beliefs reveal that the universe is unstable, that , built a huge fire; two of them, Nanahuatzin , a small Deity covered with Ulcer s, and Tecciztecatl , a richly bejeweled god, threw themselves into the flames, from which the former emerged as the sun and the latter as the moon. Then the sun refused to move unless the other gods gave him their blood; they were compelled to sacrifice themselves to feed the sun. Over these beliefs they incorporated their local god Huitzilopochtli . They replaced Nanahuatzin, the sun god of the legend, with their own god, a fighting god, with a daily battle to keep the shadows and destruction away. |
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