From: borders@ms.uky.edu (Johnny Borders)
Subject: Re: Qeutzcoatl
    <1992Aug21.211459.28241@sobeco.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 03:03:26 GMT
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences

ladislas@sobeco.com (Ladislas A.) writes:

>In <1992Aug20.050928.2548@midway.uchicago.edu> gc14@ellis.uchicago.edu (Grace Putao Chang) writes:

>I remember reading a story concerning Quetzalcoatl's origins, though I can't
>remember where I read it or if the sources were credible or not.  This is it:

>The Toltecs (or Maya or Aztecs or ...) had a prophecy that said a white man 
>would come from the ocean to bring knowledge and stuff.  The people would
>recognise him when he would die and come back to life by himself.  [I don't
>know if his name was known before his arrival - if the prophecy called him
>Quetzalcoatl - I don't remember enough about the story]
>Such a man arrived.  The people recognised him as their messiah [I suppose]
>after he fell into a pit [or was asked to jump in to prove his identity...??]
>and came out again when all who fell in died.  [this is where it gets messy]
>They called him Quetzalcoatl [but according to the story, he was also known
>as Kukulkan (sp?) [this has nothing to do with the KKK tho].
>The author makes a parallel between Kukulkan and Cuchulain, the celtic hero.

>As in the more common legend of Quetzalcoatl, the stranger left promising to
>return.  He sailed east.

>This is what I remember of it.  I may have mixed it up a bit but that's the
>general idea.

>If anyone out there in netland recognises this story or part of it, please 
>correct me and post the story.  Also, is there mention of Cuchulain going on
>a journey across the ocean?

Well, I hate to be the picky type, but.. If you aren't sure, please don't
post if the details are important. :) If you can't even remember what 
civilization believed in the legend, well.. ANYWAY:
First of all, it is an AZTEC legend. It is their biggest legend. The reason
Cortes was so succesful was that not only did he resemble the man of the 
legend, but he arrived on the precise date Quetlcoatl promised to return.
Bearing also in mind that the Aztec calendar was based on solar cycles and
riddled with religion (there were also 365 days in a year, but heh.. :)
Your rehash of it is good enough, I suppose, but probably a falsification,
because none of the surviving Codices give this important legend (to the
Aztecs, that is) much detail. So wherever you heard it from is an unreliable
source, not meant to sound nasty. :)
When Queztlcoatl left, he did go east, but he FLEW east on a pair of serpents,
but some sources differ on the mode of transportation. The cryptographs
aren't very easy to interpret, you understand, since they rely very heavily
on the context (isn't that funny? a language that doesn't make any sense
unless you already know what's it saying :).
But as to the silly Mormon claim, we have a little problem here, regardless
of the details of the legend. The earliest the legend could have surfaced
was five centuries after the death of christ, and does the Book of Mormon
not say that 'jesus' came to the New World 'shortly' after his resurrection?
More importantly, Tenochtitlan was begun around 1350 A.D., so that adds 
almost another millenium to the timeframe.
I donn't know what Joseph Smith was taking, but he must not have been very
smart about it. If he's going to make things up, he should at least get his
dates right.
-- 
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