Talk:Aztecs/Notes

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--Richard 17:55, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

message: note: most of the gods of the list are common to most mesoamerican people (excluding the maya) but i man not shure how to explain this... some gods were tutelar gods of specific people. Like Huitzilopochtli, tutelar god of the mexica and asociated with  coatlicue, and  Coyolxauhqui.
While the nahua had sacred text, like most politeist people those text were not dogma, and there was not problem in having contradictory accounts of the characteristics of their gods. Also the concept of god is diferent from the european concepts, they represent the forces of nature, they had once inahbited the earth, but they give their lives so men could exists, thus becoming spiritual beings that could not interact directly with humans.  The only god that had not been sacrificed was Ehecatl, so he became the linkt between the spiritual beings and the men.  In the paintings and sculptures, sometimes we see the god using a conic hat, and a sectioned shell, indicating the god is impersonating Ehecatl. Usually Quetzalcoatl the god protector of humanity i represented as Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Quetzalcoatl_Ehecatl.jpg
Their main gods were the gods asociated with the creations and maintenance of the world. Those were called Ipalnemohuani, "by whom everything lives". They also could be called by other names o atributes like "The inventor of himself" or The lord of near and far". Because in nahuatl plural is used only for things, Ipalnemohuani  and the other atributes are translated in singular, thus in the eyes of the first spanish priest, this resembled a kind of monoteism. Autors like Leon Portilla and Laurette Sejourne, sugested the nahua religion was evolving to some kind of monoteism. While now most antropologist do not agree, reference to monoteism are still common.
The Ipalneohuani were:
Ometeotl/Omecihualt  The originators of the gods. Literally Lord two/lady two. and translated as lord lady of the duality is an androginous god, there seems to be no cult directly asociated to him, but it was mentioned in nahuatl poetry.
Quetzalcoatl. The protector of the humanity. Originally it was the god of the waters from the sky and subordinated of Tlaloc.
Tezcatlipoca. Along with quetzalcoatl, resposible of the creation of the earth.
Tlaloc, god of the waters of the earth. 
All gods has asociated a female deity, or contrapart, but in some cased this became independent.
After the ipalnemohuani, were the tutelar gods. This would protect certain people, city, handcarft or ocupation, and in a few instances a family.
: Work in progress. Most of this material is taken for "Leon Portilla "  la filosofia nahuatl estudaidad desde sus fuentes. And several autors for the magazien "Arqueologia Mexicana". I will put the sources. Nanahuatzin 09:11, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  aztec mytology