Mictlantecuhtli

Mictlantecuhtli (Nahuatl pronunciation: miktɬaːnˈtekʷtɬi, meaning "Lord of Mictlan"), in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple.Smith et al. 2003, p.245.
Two life-size clay statues of Mictlantecuhtli were found marking the entrances to the House of Eagles to the north of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.60, 458.
==Attributes==
Mictlantecuhtli was depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton or a person wearing a toothy skull.Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. Although his head was typically a skull, his eye sockets contained eyeballs.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.206. His headdress was shown decorated with owl feathers and paper banners, and he wore a necklace of human eyeballs,Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. while his earspools were made from human bones.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142. He was not the only Aztec god to be depicted in this fashion, as numerous other deities had skulls for heads or else wore clothing or decorations that incorporated bones and skulls. In the Aztec world, skeletal imagery was a symbol of fertility, health and abundance, alluding to the close symbolic links between death and life.Smith 1996, 2003, p.206. He was often depicted wearing sandals as a symbol of his high rank as Lord of Mictlan.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.434. His arms were frequently depicted raised in an aggressive gesture, showing that he was ready to tear apart the dead as they entered his presence.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.434. In the Aztec codices Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142.
His wife was Mictecacihuatl,Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with spiders,Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142. owls,Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142. bats,Fernández 1992, 1996, p.142. the eleventh hour, and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, pp.54, 458. He was one of only a few deities held to govern over all three types of souls identified by the Aztecs, who distinguished between the souls of people who died normal deaths (of old age, disease, etc.), heroic deaths (e.g. in battle, sacrifice or during childbirth), or non-heroic deaths. Mictlantecuhtli and his wife were the opposites and compliments of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the givers of life.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.458.
Mictlanteculhtli was the god of the day sign Itzcuintli (dog),Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. one of the twenty such signs recognised in the Aztec calendar, and was regarded as supplying the souls of those who were born on that day. He was seen as the source of souls for those born on the sixth day of the 13-day week and was the fifth of the nine Night Gods of the Aztecs. He was also the secondary Week God for the tenth week of the twenty-week cycle of the calendar, joining the sun god Tonatiuh to symbolise the dichotomy of light and darkness.
In the Colonial Codex Vaticanus 3738, Mictlantecuhtli is labelled in Spanish as "the lord of the underworld, Tzitzimitl, the same as Lucifer".Klein 2000, pp.3-4.
==Myths==
In Aztec mythology, after Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca created the world, they put their creation in order and placed Mictlantecuhtli and his wife in the underworld.Read & González 2000, pp.193, 223.
According to Aztec legend, the twin gods Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were sent by the other gods to steal the bones of the previous generation of gods from Mictlantecuhtli. The god of the underworld sought to block Quetzalcoatl's escape with the bones and, although he failed, he forced Quetzalcoatl to drop the bones, which were scattered and broken by the fall. The shattered bones were collected by Quetzalcoatl and carried back to the land of the living, where the gods transformed them into the various races of mortals.Miller & Taube 1993, 2003, p.113. Read & González 2000, p.224.
When a person died, they were interred with grave goods, which they carried with them on the long and dangerous journey to the underworld. Upon arrival in Mictlan these goods were offered to Mictlantecuhtli and his wife.Matos Moctezuma & Solis Olguín 2002, p.206.
==See also==
* Maya Death Gods
==Notes==
==References==
 
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== External links ==
Category:Aztec gods