Quetzalcoatl
The god of air, among all the nations of Anahuac, was called Quetzacoatl, that is to say, "serpent decked with feathers."
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From The Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs by Lucien Biart, translated by John Leslie Garner, 1900.
The god of air, among all the nations of Anahuac, was called Quetzacoatl, that is to say, "serpent decked with feathers." It was related that he had been a high-priest of Tollan, and that he was a man with a white skin, a high stature, a broad forehead, large eyes, long, black hair, and a bushy beard. For propriety's sake he always wore ample garments; he was so rich that he possessed palaces of silver and fine stones. Industrious, he had invented the arts of smelting: metals and of working stone. The laws which he had given men proved his knowledge, and his austere life his wisdom. When he wished to promulgate a law he sent a hero whose voice could be heard a hundred leagues away, to proclaim it from the summit of Tzatzitepetl ("mountain of clamors").
In the time of Quetzacoatl (fig. 8), maize attained such enormous dimensions that a single ear was all a man could carry. Gourds measured not less than four feet, and it was no longer necessary to dye cotton, because all colors were produced by nature. The other products of the earth naturally attained dimensions similar to those of Indian corn; singing-birds and birds of brilliant plumage abounded. All men were then rich.
In a word, the Aztecs believed that the reign of Quetzacoatl had been the golden age of the country they inhabited.
Like the Saturn of the Greeks, with whom we may compare him, the god of Toltec origin abandoned his country. When its prosperity was at its height, Tezcatlipoca, for some unknown reason, appeared to him in the form of an old man, and revealed to him that the will of the gods ordained that he should betake himself to the kingdom of Tlapallan. At the same time he offered him a beverage by means of which Quetzacoatl believed he might acquire immortality. But he had scarcely swallowed the draught when he was seized with such an irresistible desire to repair to Tlapallan that he immediately set out, escorted by a number of his followers, singing hymns. Near the village of Cuauhtitlan, Quetzacoatl threw a number of stones against a tree, which adhered to the trunk. Near Tlanepantla he placed his hand on a rock, which preserved the impression of it,—an imprint which the Mexicans showed to the Spaniards after the conquest.
Finally, when Quetzacoatl reached Cholula, the inhabitants of that city conferred the supreme power on him. The integrity of his life, the gentleness of his manners, his repugnance to every species of cruelty, won the hearts of the Cholulans. From him they learned how to smelt metals,—an art which afterwards rendered them celebrated. For a long time they obeyed the laws he gave them. To Quetzacoatl they attribute the rites of their religion and their knowledge of the division of time.
After a sojourn of twenty years at Cholula, Quetzacoatl resolved to continue his journey towards the imaginary city of Tlapallan, taking with him four young nobles. Having arrived in the province of Goatzacoalco, he discharged his followers, and charged them to tell the Cholulans that he would shortly return to them. The Cholulans confided the government of their city to the mandatories of their benefactor, in memory of the friendship he had for them. Gradually the report of the death of Quetzacoatl spread; he was then proclaimed god by the Toltecs of Cholula, and afterwards declared protector of their city, in the centre of which they raised in his honor a high mountain, which they crowned with a temple.
From Cholula, the worship of Quetzacoatl, venerated as the god of air, extended over the whole country. The Cholulans piously preserved for a long time certain small green stones, admirably carved, which they said had belonged to their favorite god. The kings of Yucatan gloried in their descent from Quetzacoatl. Singular devotions!—he it was to whom sterile women prayed for children; and robbers carried his image with them in their nocturnal expeditions. Quetzacoatl was supposed to control the god of the waters,—the wind, in all the countries in which he was worshipped, always preceding rain.
The most contradictory ideas have been current in regard to this divinity, who, now considered of celestial origin, and now regarded as a man who had acquired the immortality of the gods, seems in reality to be a union of several personages. It is an incontestable fact that Quetzacoatl created a new religion, based on fasting, penitence, and virtue. He certainly belonged to a race other than the one he civilized; but what was his country? He died, announcing that he would return at the head of white-faced men; and we have seen that the Indians believed his prophecy fulfilled when the Spaniards landed on their shores.
According to Sahagun, the most usual ornaments of the images of Ouetzacoatl were a mitre spotted like the skin of a tiger, a short embroidered tunic, turquoise ear-rings, and a golden collar supporting fine shells. The legs of these images were encased in gaiters of tiger-skin, and on their feet were black sandals. A shield hung from the left arm, and in the right hand was a sceptre ornamented with precious stones, an emblem which terminated in a crook like a bishop's crosier.
Biart, Lucien. The Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs. Translated by John Leslie Garner, A.C. McClurg & Co, 1900.
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