THE FIVE SUNS, Aztec Legend
Posted: 20.09.2005, 17:52
The five Suns
1. Tezcatlipoca creates first Sun. Becomes big sun; Quetzlcoatl knocks him into darkness. Creates world of giant people eating acorns; Jaguars eat giant first people, only bones remain.
2. Quetzlcoatl creates second Sun, of wind. Tezcatlipoca comes with jaguar to destroy work of windspirit. Houses, trees, all blown away by wind, even sun. People turned into monkeys, nothing left.
3. Tezcatlipoca?€™s turn again. Chose Tlaloc, spirit of rain, to rule. People eating seeds like corn, turn into turkeys. Feathers turn dark from smoke. Quetzl sends rain of fire to destroy brother?€™s work. Wipes out third creation of rain.
4. Quetzlcoatl?€™s turn to create fourth world. Chose spirit of waters to rule, Chalchiuhtlicue. Rained so hard and long that people turn into fish.
5. THE FIVE SUN (Quetzlcoatl and Tezcatlipoca RECONCILIATION):
It is said that by the time that the sun was created again, it was still night, there was no light, there were no days. It is said that the gods Quetzlcoatl and Tezcatlipoca called one another, to come to Teotihuac??n. They asked for volunteers to create the light of day and there was one, Tecucizt?©catl, who said: Oh Gods that will be me!. Since no other volunteer reported, they chose Nanahuantzin to assist him.
The first thing they did was creating a fireplace and lighting the fire. Then for four days they meditated and made offerings. Then on the fifth day it was Tecucizcuatl's time to jump into ther fire, but he became frightened and stepped back. He made four attempts, but still couldn't find the courage to jump into the flames. Now it was Nanahuantzin's turn. Without hesitation he jumped into the flames and became Tonatiuh, the Sun.
Seeying how easy it was, Tecucizt?©catl followed and became Meztli, the Moon, which looked exactly like the Sun. The gods wondered if this should be this way and they agreed that things should be altered a little bit. So one of them, took a rabbit and placed it on the face of the Moon, in order to make it shine less. If you look closely at the moon, you can still see the rabbit on it's surface.
So light was created, but there was one other problem: Both the sun and the moon, stayed at the exact location as where they had come up, they didn't move. This time it was Quetzalco??tl, who set them in motion and in doing so he created night and day.
1. Tezcatlipoca creates first Sun. Becomes big sun; Quetzlcoatl knocks him into darkness. Creates world of giant people eating acorns; Jaguars eat giant first people, only bones remain.
2. Quetzlcoatl creates second Sun, of wind. Tezcatlipoca comes with jaguar to destroy work of windspirit. Houses, trees, all blown away by wind, even sun. People turned into monkeys, nothing left.
3. Tezcatlipoca?€™s turn again. Chose Tlaloc, spirit of rain, to rule. People eating seeds like corn, turn into turkeys. Feathers turn dark from smoke. Quetzl sends rain of fire to destroy brother?€™s work. Wipes out third creation of rain.
4. Quetzlcoatl?€™s turn to create fourth world. Chose spirit of waters to rule, Chalchiuhtlicue. Rained so hard and long that people turn into fish.
5. THE FIVE SUN (Quetzlcoatl and Tezcatlipoca RECONCILIATION):
It is said that by the time that the sun was created again, it was still night, there was no light, there were no days. It is said that the gods Quetzlcoatl and Tezcatlipoca called one another, to come to Teotihuac??n. They asked for volunteers to create the light of day and there was one, Tecucizt?©catl, who said: Oh Gods that will be me!. Since no other volunteer reported, they chose Nanahuantzin to assist him.
The first thing they did was creating a fireplace and lighting the fire. Then for four days they meditated and made offerings. Then on the fifth day it was Tecucizcuatl's time to jump into ther fire, but he became frightened and stepped back. He made four attempts, but still couldn't find the courage to jump into the flames. Now it was Nanahuantzin's turn. Without hesitation he jumped into the flames and became Tonatiuh, the Sun.
Seeying how easy it was, Tecucizt?©catl followed and became Meztli, the Moon, which looked exactly like the Sun. The gods wondered if this should be this way and they agreed that things should be altered a little bit. So one of them, took a rabbit and placed it on the face of the Moon, in order to make it shine less. If you look closely at the moon, you can still see the rabbit on it's surface.
So light was created, but there was one other problem: Both the sun and the moon, stayed at the exact location as where they had come up, they didn't move. This time it was Quetzalco??tl, who set them in motion and in doing so he created night and day.
). The Aztec drawings are very stylised, but this rabbit/squirrel seems to have tiger strips. Maybe it's that thing from 'The Relic'.
