Mesoamerican mythos

[seattlegal]

Anyone want to talk about Mesoamerican mythos, specifically the group of Huitzilopochtli/Tlaloc, Xipe Totec/Tonatiuh, Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzelcoatl?

Here's a thumbnail of each: Direction, color, etc. (Yellow was the color of sacrifice in Mesoamerica.)

Huitzilopochtli/Tlaloc
blue
west or south
(sun, war, hunting, nobility, unvanquishable by the night gods, also controls rain and thunder, floods, frosts, lightening.)

Xipe Totec/Tonatiuh
red
east
(goldsmiths, jewelers, pulque, springtime and renewal, 'he who drinks at night,' dresses up in flayed skins)

Tezcatlipoca
black
north
('Smoking Mirror,' night god, omnipotent and omnipresent, can assume any shape. Patron of hiwaymen, sorcerers, and mysterious goings-on. Avenger of secret sin, punisher of crime, can bring good or evil, but often takes offence and becomes destuctive as a result. Enemy of Quetzelcoatl and Huitzilopochtli.)

Quetzelcoatl
white
west
(inventor/teacher, among other things)

The Mesoamerican ball game symbolized the struggle between Quetzelcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.

More here.

[I, Brian]

Um...more here as well:
http://www.comparative-religion.com/...t/mesoamerica/

[flowperson]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

Anyone want to talk about Mesoamerican mythos, specifically the group of Huitzilopochtli/Tlaloc, Xipe Totec/Tonatiuh, Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzelcoatl?


Tezcatlipoca
black
north
('Smoking Mirror,' night god, omnipotent and omnipresent, can assume any shape. Patron of hiwaymen, sorcerers, and mysterious goings-on. Avenger of secret sin, punisher of crime, can bring good or evil, but often takes offence and becomes destuctive as a result. Enemy of Quetzelcoatl and Huitzilopochtli.)

Quetzelcoatl
white
west
(inventor/teacher, among other things)

The Mesoamerican ball game symbolized the struggle between Quetzelcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.

More here.

Hi SG...excellent stuff. There is a set of parallels in Judeo-Christian thinking expressed in the writings of the dead sea scrolls wherein it is repeatedly stated that the primary struggle on Earth, as well as in the cosmos, was/is between "the sons of light, and the sons of darkness".

Also. I always thought that Quetzelcoatl was popularly known as "the rainbow serpent" Of course white light is a "rainbow" of colors when it is broken down and projected under prismatic conditions.

And now we know where the term "smoke and mirrors" comes from. Holy Politicos !

flow....

[Pathless]

I'm also interested in how the Mesoamerican societies were organized. What was the human face of these civilizations, and what was everyday life like?

Incas

[flowperson]

Hi Pathless...Most of my reading and study over the years has been centered on the Olmec/Toltec/Mayan 3,000 year story.

There is a similar history being uncovered in the Chilean/Ecuadorian/Peruvian area with roots going back 4,000 years or so. This would include Incan history. In fact a Temple complex was just announced recently which had vivid 4,000 year old murals on its walls. This region also bears some similarities to the Egyptian civillization in that the Andean tribes used mummification rites, although it varied in the ways it was instituted and practiced over the centuries.

The Mayans, as you'll discover in this article, led their collective lives much as we do. Over consumption practiced and promoted by the elite classes, intersocietal warfare, sacrificial offering of captured hostages, and the destruction of the local environments seemed to all contribute to their eventual disappearance about the same time that Europe was much of the way through the Dark Ages.

Interesting stuff ! Back to the future ?

flow....

http://uk.reuters.com/article/enviro...48947920071112