Secrets of Mesoamerica

From Aztec Kings

to
Mayan Mythology

Written by
Windsor Lopez

Narrated
by
Jamie Hoskin
BACKGROUND OF THE MAYAS AND AZTECS

Numerous individuals identify folklore and legends just like the Greeks and Romans. Those two civic
establishments have provided the most renowned fantasies and divine beings ever told.
Notwithstanding, nearly all societies in all areas of the world have their exceptional legends. This
holds on an epic scale for the elegant Mayan and Aztec human elevations created in Mesoamerica.

Mesoamerica is a geological territory that covers most of what is currently Mexico, Guatemala,
Belize, and different pieces of Central America. Although the early Mesoamerican societies from
which the Mayas and Aztecs arose were diverse from various perspectives, they experienced each
other regularly in light of exchange, movement, and success. Therefore, they share a portion of
similar qualities, and their religions and fantasies share a portion of similar topics. For instance, most
Mesoamerican societies were exceptionally keen on monitoring time, so they created confounded
schedules to anticipate significant occasions, like changing the seasons and eclipses of the Sun or
moon. They accepted that they had to know when these occasions would occur to make societal
contributions and penances to the divine beings; the powers of pleasing and abhorrent actions well
document controlled their lives.

The incredible human advancements that rose out of the early Mesoamerican societies shared
numerous different attributes too. Their strict practices included human offerings, which they
accepted were essential to give their divinity back that sustained the role of the divine being. They
created hieroglyphic compositions, which depended on pictures. We know how they lived and
thought through the hieroglyphics; they cut in stone or wrote vast scientific knowledge in books
called codices made of fig-bark paper or deerskin that was then collapsed like artistic screens.

Both the Mayas and the Aztecs created complex government structures, developed incredible urban
areas that included sanctuaries and landmarks, utilized highly refined farming techniques, and held
colossal business sectors at which a wide range of food merchandise was sold. Their social orders
included various classes, or gatherings, of individuals. Individuals at the top, like the honorability,
had the best riches, while most standard individuals, like workers and engineers, were impoverished.
Mesoamerican social orders additionally included champions, ministers, talented craftsmen (like
woodworkers), vendors, designers, stargazers, astrologers, and a whole host of unusual specialists.
There were additionally proficient artists, craftsmen, and architects who frequently took part in the
numerous strict festivals.

Among fascinating highlights that archeologists found when they started uncovering antiquated
Meso-American urban communities were ball courts made of stone. These courts were utilized for
playing an exceptionally harsh game in which two groups of individuals would attempt to pass a
hefty elastic ball through a ring. They needed to keep the ball moving by hitting it with their hips,
shoulders, other pieces of their middle, and maybe their head. They could not utilize their hands or
feet. From what we know, this game was brutal and regularly part of a strict custom. Players were
regularly harmed, and some of the time, in the losing group became conciliatory casualties offered
to the gods. As you will see, ball games were essential to the point that they show up in
Mesoamerican folklore.

Mesoamerican civilizations flourished until the appearance of the Spanish during the 1500s. The
Spanish conquistadores (European conquerors) and the Catholic clerics who went with or followed
them brought tremendous changes, the majority of them dangerous. Like smallpox, flu, and measles,
the pandemic illnesses they conveyed were dangerous to the local populaces. They gathered
individuals into Spanish-style towns and towns so they would be simpler to control.
Regardless of the intricacy and refinement of the Mayan and Aztec developments they found, the
Spanish felt that their religion, Christianity, made them ethically unrivaled. They accepted that their
Christian convictions were better than the local Mesoamericans' stringent teachings. For the sake of
religion, the intruders obliterated numerous structures, books, and astrologers.

However, the Spanish likewise assisted with protecting data about Mesoamerican civilizations,
religions, and folklore. Their letters, books, and records enlighten us regarding the way of life they
found. All the more critically, they trained aristocrats and others in the civic establishments they
vanquished to utilize the Roman letter set to compose their own set of experiences and folklore in
their language.

The Mayas

While the Aztec progress was created in the piece of Mexico that is currently Mexico City, the Mayan
advancements in culture grew farther south, in what is presently northern Guatemala and Belize.
Today, there are around 6,000,000 Mayas, generally in Guatemala, where Mayas are a considerable
portion of the populace. The Mayas have a more drawn-out history than the Aztecs.

Scientists accept that by 1800 B.C.– 1500 B.C., the earliest Mayas were developing maize (corn),
beans, squash, and building perpetual towns. These towns comprised most of the one-room houses
made of mud, with covered rooftops. However, they also included constructions intended for legal
purposes and astronomy with exceptional roofs adapted.

Mayan culture and progress arrived at its top during the Classic Period, from 300 A.D.– 900 A.D.
During that period, the Mayas constructed incredible urban communities with pyramids,
sanctuaries, landmarks, castles, and ball courts. However, in a solitary century, from 800 A.D. to 900
A.D., Mayan civilization declined for reasons nobody has had the opportunity to determine with
precision. The Mayas deserted one city after another, occasionally so rapidly that structures and
landmarks were left incompletely built. The wilderness recovered the sanctuaries, patios, and castles
throughout the long term, changing them back into jungle-covered territories, later found by
archeologists after centuries passed.

The Mayas did not vanish, notwithstanding. Many of them traverse north into the Yucatan
Peninsula, some portion of what is currently Mexico. One of the gatherings that stayed in what is
presently Guatemala got known as the Quiche (kee-CHAY) Maya, one of maybe twelve significant
Mayan clans who lived well until the Spanish subdued them. On account of the Mayas' capacity to
leave a written account, they have given quite possibly the most detailed legends of any gathered so
far. Archeologists have discovered composed records of their set of experiences, ceremonies, and
fantasies in hieroglyphics cut into stone columns, entryways, and flights of stairs. Four unique Mayan
codices endure, albeit one is minimal more than completed like the others. The complete codex is
presently in Dresden, Germany. The others are in Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; and New York City.
The first original copy of their incredible epic, the Popol Vuh (POH-POL- VOO), has never been found;
however, instructed Mayans interpreted it into the Quiche language during the 1550s.

The Mayas had two different ways of figuring time. Their holy schedule, for reasons nobody knows,
determined a time of 260 days. Some associate this with the human gestation period of 9 months.
This schedule was utilized for strict purposes.

For instance, the day on which an infant was brought into the world, as indicated by the sacrosanct
schedule, figure out which god would be that patron holy person overseeing the infant.
The Mayas likewise had a standard schedule that was like our own. This schedule, which was utilized
for traditional designs, depended on a sun-powered year of 360 standard days and five unfortunate
days toward the end.

Notwithstanding their different achievements, the Mayas truly examined the planets and stars.
Indeed, they were so learned in the field of space science that they could precisely foresee eclipses
of the Sun and moon. Hundreds of years before the innovation of current galactic instruments, the
Mayas had effectively graphed Mercury, Venus, and Mars's courses.

Not exclusively were the Maya's complex stargazers, yet they likewise built up a framework for
science that incorporated the idea of zero. The utilization of the zero required for making any
perplexing estimations was created in just two Old World societies—by the Hindus and the
Sumerians.

The cunning Mayan architects fabricated incredible urban areas hacked out of the wild wilderness
without the advantage of mechanized machinery or developed vehicles. Mayan engineers built
boulevards and raised walkways from stone. They created gigantic pyramids, some of which were
200 feet high, from stone, Earth, and rubble. These pyramids ruled the incomparable Mayan urban
areas, which had names like Chichen Itza (chee-CHEN eet-SAH), Tikal (tee-KAL), Uxmal (oosh-MAHL),
and Palenque (pah-LENK-ay).

These astronomically aligned pyramids were the essential issues of wide, open squares, and they
were generally encircled by sanctuaries, ball courts, and different structures. The courts were the
place for the ball game the Mayas called pohkatok (POHK-uh-tohk), which assumed such an essential
part in Mayan life that it figured in their legends. Remains of Mayan urban communities in spots,
such as the Yucatan promontory of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, are visited each year
by many individuals, from travelers to proficient archeologists and anthropologists.

The pyramids were strict designs compared to houses of worship, temples, and ceremonial cult
centers. Individuals from the divine pantheon were covered in them, and human penances of both
Mayan aristocrats and detainees of the war were placed on top of them. The possibility of human
penance may sound frightful or crude; however, to the Mayas, it was the ideal approach to satisfy
the divine beings. These divine beings, the Mayas accepted unequivocally, controlled both the sky,
particularly the Pleiades Constellation, and the exercises of individuals on Earth. They accepted that
they did not play out these proper penances on the off chance that there would be a disturbance on
the planet.

Albeit the Mayas some of the time forfeited creatures, the incomparable penance was human
existence. Some Mayan casualties, including detainees of war, had a brutal end to their life. Others
had their hearts removed while they were as yet alive. Still, others had portions of their bodies
mutilated so they would drain plentifully. This blood was then dripped on paper made of tree rind
and applied to various rituals. The smoke from the blood was accepted to convey messages to
significant Mayan divine beings, including Itzamna (its-ahm-NAH) and Ix Chel (ISH chel), the parents
of any remaining divine beings.

Notwithstanding their achievements in design and stargazing, the Mayas had predominant
information on celestials cycles, particularly Precession, the 25960-year wobble in the Earth. By and
large, they lived on a careful nutritional plan of maize. Mayan ranchers developed maize in tiny
nursery plots called milpas (MIHL-pahs), which they developed in a wild wilderness landscape. Be
that as it may, the Mayas did not live on maize alone. They additionally developed stew peppers,
squash, and beans for food, just as cotton for texture.
The Mayas were adequately shrewd to realize not to exhaust the dirt, an error numerous pilgrims of
European foundations and their relatives made years after the fact when they settled the New
World. Mayan laborers deliberately quit cultivating each milpa after working it for a couple of years.
This preservation strategy kept the dirt from being exhausted, which would have made it infertile
and pointless for the future development of plants.

When the Spanish conquistadores attacked the Mayan lands during the 1500s, most of the Mayas
had migrated to the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. The Spanish found the remaining
parts of a human advancement that arrived at its most prominent statures a few centuries sooner.
However, the development they found was still generally more considerable, cleaner, and more
effectively run than the urban communities they had given up in Spain.

The Spanish did not make some simple overwhelming the Mayas. Throughout 180 years, the Mayas
crushed three Spanish militaries. However, the last Mayan city tumbled to the Spanish in 1697,
albeit some little, secluded towns kept away from giving up to the Spanish for quite a long time a
short time later.

However, the Aztecs, who built up an incredible, however brief human societal advancement in
Mexico, are descended from a warlike clan known as the Toltecs. In the 10th century A.D., the
Toltecs assembled a wonderful city called Tula toward the north of what is presently Mexico City.
However, just more than two centuries later, in the center of the twelfth Century, the Toltecs were
vanquished by a nomadic clan called the Chichimeca. The Toltecs scattered every which way, leaving
a tradition of legends and strict practices that would become significant components of Aztec
culture.

As indicated by the Aztecs, their unique country was an island in a lake called Aztlan, which signifies
"White Land." Researchers are not entirely sure where Aztlan was or even whether it existed. The
word may essentially allude to an overall zone northwest of present-day Mexico City. It might have
been just about as close as sixty miles to Mexico City, or it might have been as far off from Mexico
City as the provinces of Arizona and New Mexico.

When the Spanish showed up during the 1500s, the Aztecs had become leaders of a vast realm. In
any case, that domain started modestly when a little nomadic clan took asylum from antagonistic
neighbors on a damp island close to the western shore of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico.

In 1325 A.D., the Aztecs established the city of Tenochtitlan (tay-NOTCH-tee-TLAHN) on this island in
the lake, not a long way from the current site of Mexico City. Legends say that their ancestral conflict
god and image of the Sun, Huitzilopochtli (Wee-tsee-loh-POHCH-tlee), had driven them to the island,
where they saw a falcon with a snake in its snout. The hawk advised them to fabricate sanctuaries in
this place and support the Sun with people's offerings. The image of the hawk with the snake in its
nose appeared on the Mexican emblem today.

Tenochtitlan, which translates as "the place where we become the gods," turned into the Aztec
capital, and by the mid-1400s, it had become a wonderful, flourishing city because of its high-level
designing experiments and incredible military strength. Like the Mayas, the Aztecs utilized their
insight and ability to construct boulevards and streets into their pyramid complexes.

They thought that it was essential to develop highways to associate their island city with the
territory. Furthermore, they burrowed channels and water passages to ship cargo and individuals. To
get their spot in the locale and extend their realm, Aztec rulers battled and made unions with
different clans in the district.
THE AZTECA

Like the Mayas, the Aztecas constructed strict sanctuaries as pyramids all through their capital. The
most prominent was the Great Temple, a colossal design adorned with twin stone flights of stairs
next. On top of the Great Temple were holy places to two unique divine beings: Huitzilopochtli, and
Tlaloc (TLAH-lohk), the lord of the downpour. It was at the altar to Tlaloc that human penances were
done. More modest sanctuaries found close to the Great Temple included one with a stage
comprised of more than 200 astronomy predictions, still valid today. Specialists accept that
astronomy is comparable to some of the things we do today.

Two other vital Aztec divine beings were Quetzalcoatl (ket-SAHL-koh-AHTL) and Tezcatlipoca (tes-
CAHT-li-PO-kah). Quetzalcoatl, whose name signifies "feathered snake," was seen as the divine force
of wind and life. Tezcatlipoca, or "smoking mirror," was distinguished as the lord of night and
witchcraft. The Aztec lords asserted that they were Tezcatlipoca's agents on Earth.

Aztec society was separated into three principal classes: aristocrats, ordinary people, and
astronomers. Generally, the honorability was comprised of individuals who had been naturally
introduced to this class, ministers, and the individuals who had procured their respectable position,
like military pioneers. As on social orders, individuals in the higher classes had the most abundant
and delighted in unique advantages.

A few average citizens were allowed to claim land on which they could assemble a home.
Nonetheless, different peoples were helpless workers or attendants who worked for others and
could live on their property exclusively by authorization. In some cases, the male offspring of helpers
were permitted to go to exceptional schools to examine interpretations of war and religion.

Astronomers were like obligated workers. Many were individuals who had offered themselves into
servitude to take care of their obligations, and others were individuals who had been singled out for
their intelligence. Imaginative, sharp astronomers could escape from lifelong incarceration of hard
work. The individuals who fled from their proprietors and figured out how to arrive at the imperial
royal residence securely were granted their opportunity.

The Aztecs assembled gliding gardens called chinampas (chee-NAHM-pahs), which were among the
most fertile agrarian grounds in the New World to take care of themselves. The chinampas did not
glide. Made of layers of residue and reeds, they were held set up by tree roots. On the chinampas,
Aztec ranchers developed squash, corn, grains, and beans, and for strict services, blossoms. They
utilized kayaks to convey products from the nurseries to business sectors in the city. Some
chinampas still survive today at Xochimilico and Mixquic.

The Aztec diet included all sorts of creatures and plants numerous individuals in the United States
today would think about nauseating, like grasshoppers and iguanas. They likewise feasted on food
varieties ordinarily eaten in Mexico and elsewhere, like maize, yams, and tomatoes. As it was for the
Mayas, corn was the Aztecs' staple food. They ate it in porridge, tortillas, and hotcakes, which they
frequently loaded down with treats, for example, prickly plant worms and fledglings. The Aztec diet
additionally remembered meat from the giant creatures for their district, like ducks and deer.

The Aztecs cherished eating huge dinners, particularly during strict functions, which were frequently
a combination of rapture and seriousness. These functions generally incorporated a strict custom,
trailed by moving and an enormous gala.
Probably the greatest ceremonial was called hueytecuilhuitl, which signifies "extraordinary dining
experience of the rulers." For a time of ten days, festivities started each evening and endured the
entire evening. The custom closed with the astronomical ceremony as an image of the goddess of
the youthful corn.

At times, Aztec's strict customs incorporated a ball game called tlachtli (T'LAHCH-tlee), like the
Mayans' down of pohatok.

The Aztecs' civilization flourished into the 1400s when they shaped triple collision with two other
local people groups, the Texcoco and Tlacopan (T'LAH-coh-dish). Thus, the triple union subdued two
other local people groups in 1487 and stayed a significant power for over 30 years. The inauguration
of the end came in 1519 when the principal Europeans came from Spain under the initiative of
conquistador Hernando Cortez. The Aztec ruler, Montezuma II, do whatever it takes not to enter
Tenochtitlan. Nonetheless, Montezuma's supplications were disregarded by Cortez, who attacked
the Aztec capital.

Indeed, numerous Aztecs invited Cortez, whom they thought to be the god Quetzalcoatl because the
feathered snake god had consistently been expected to have a light complexion and a facial hair
growth. Cortez and his military exploited this alleged similarity to the Aztecs' significant god, taking
the Aztecs' gold and other material wealth.

Despite his gladly received, Cortez dreaded Montezuma and figured the ruler might turn on him. So
Cortez took practical military action. He caught Montezuma and held him prisoner. In 1520, a
gathering of Aztecs defied Cortez and his Spanish armed force. In the revolt, Montezuma was
assassinated, and Cortez and his men were constrained out of Tenochtitlan. The following year,
Cortez returned, and following a three-month-long attack of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital tumbled
to the Spanish. The date was August 13, 1521. The Aztec domain had been annihilated.

LEGENDS AND LIFESTYLES

Many the Mayan and Aztec divine beings relate unequivocally to the ways of life of individuals. Since
the two groups depended intensely on cultivating their endurance, they put stock in divine beings
who controlled the components like a monsoon or over harvests like maize. These were warlike
societies, so there were champion divine beings to manage them in the fight and give them mental
fortitude. Moreover, since they had a similar fundamental life pattern worldwide, they put stock in
divine forces of labor and the hidden world.

You will likewise find there are numerous likenesses among Mayan and Aztec legends. Does that
propose the two gatherings fell from similar origins? It seems evident that Mayan and Aztec
societies originated from similar predecessors. Maybe the Mayas and Aztecs' regular qualities
developed because they had a comparable piece of the world to carve their niche on it; they saw
similar creatures around them? Furthermore, ate a similar food to survive?. Many proponents of an
original common ancestor of all mesoamerican cultures point to the Olmec.

Sacred works are one component that numerous religions share for all intents and purposes. These
writings frequently depict everything about a specific culture, from its strict laws to how it sees the
making of the universe. The strict writings of Hebrews and Christians are known as the Bible; for
Muslims, the Koran's strict content. For the Quiche Maya, the main strict content was their holy epic,
the Popol Vuh.
The first original copy of the Popol Vuh, which a few analysts call the "Board Book," and others call
"the Book of the Community," has never been found. In any case, in the center of the sixteenth
Century, a Quiche Maya utilized Roman characters to work it out in his language, and in the mid-
1700s, a Dominican cleric named Francisco Ximenez replicated it. History specialists have considered
it specialists on religion, and intellectuals, the ultimate go-to source on Mesoamerican culture.

Notwithstanding legends and fantasies given over for ages, the Popol Vuh is loaded with logical
information, particularly insights about the stars and planets. Like an advanced chronological
registry, it included realities, like the rising and setting dates of specific planets. However, it likewise
contains data about and pictograms of every planet and how they are going to become divine
beings. Mayan rulers genuinely thought about all parts of this data when settling on the chance to
hold a service, start a fight, or get ready for war or starvation.

Like the Bible, the Popol Vuh was told in various formats. Furthermore, similar to the Bible, the
Popol Vuh's variants were genuinely like each other. In one form of the Popol Vuh, its journalists
clarified why Mayan rulers discovered these works so significant.

The Creation of Individuals According to the Popol Vuh

"They realized whether war would happen; all that they saw was obvious to them. Regardless of
whether there would be passing, or whether there would be starvation, or whether fights would
happen, they knew it for sure, since there was a spot to see it, there was a book. 'The Committee
Book' was their name for it."

The folklores of all societies depend on tales about the world's most exciting secret: How the
universe and its human populace were made. The accompanying legend clarifies how creation
occurred, as indicated by the Quiche Maya sacred book, the Popol Vuh.

Before people, creatures, grass, trees, and shakes were made, there was the only sky above and sea
beneath. There was not even any light or sound. There were, nonetheless, divine beings, called
Creators, who lived covered up under layers of green and blue quills somewhere down in the sea.

The Creators were burnt out on living in the depressing haziness under such countless layers, so one
day, they got together and intended to make up for the enormous shortfalls of the universe. They
called out, "Let creation start! Leave the void alone filled! Allow the ocean to retreat, uncovering the
outside of the Earth! Earth, emerge! Leave it alone, let it be done!"

Thus the Earth, with its slopes and streams and lakes and trees, ascended from the ocean. The
Creators were excited with their moving slopes, surging streams, and attractive cypress trees from
the start. Nonetheless, albeit the new world was delightful, it was likewise agonizingly peaceful. So
the Creators utilized their abilities to make creatures, like deer and birds.

At that point, the divine beings said, "You, the deer: Sleep along the streams, in the gorge. Be here in
the knolls, in the bushes, in the backwoods. Duplicate yourselves. You will stand and stroll down on
the ground.

"You, valuable birds: Your homes, your homes are in the trees, in the shrubs. Increase there,
dissipate there, in the parts of trees, the parts of shrubberies."
The Creators were delighted with the creatures. However, there was as yet an issue. The divine
beings needed to be commended for their phenomenal endeavors and venerated by their
manifestations. Creatures could cackle and screech and make other unskilled sounds. However, they
could not do verbal equity in applauding their creators. It is worth noting that all the Mayan
pyramids and some Aztec have weird intention acoustic properties intricately woven into their
design.

The Creators got discouraged with the impediments of their work. So they requested, "We won't
take from you that which we have given you. Nonetheless, in light of the fact that you can't adulate
us and love us, we will make different creatures who will. These new animals will be better than you
and will lead you. It is your predetermination that they will destroy and eat your substance. Leave it
alone done!"

The Creators, at that point, attempted to make a class of animals better than creatures. These
beings, the Maya society, would have the option to express words. However, it was anything but a
simple task to complete.

In the first place, the Creators utilized mud to make individuals. A common theme amongst world
mythologies was that we came from Earth, clay, or mud; however, the clay individuals were not
creatures the Creators had as a primary concern. They were delicate and limp and experienced
difficulty standing upright. Much more terrible, after it down-poured, they got wet and spongy and
could not bear elevating by any stretch of the imagination. Likewise, they could not see and had no
minds. They could talk, yet without a mind to direct their reasoning, individuals' sounds were drivel.
This sounds somewhat like Darwin's evolution.

Without burning through any additional time, the Creators obliterated these mud individuals not
long after they had been made.

The Creators attempted once more. This time they utilized wood to make individuals. The stick
individuals were an improvement over the mud individuals. The solid wood permitted them to stand
up and walk. Like the mud individuals, the wood individuals had the option to talk. Thus they lived
and increased.

However, soon the Creators understood that similar to the mud individuals, the wood individuals
had no personalities, so their words had neither rhyme nor reason. They did not have blood coursing
through their bodies, so their skin was dry and dry instead of new and firm. They had no hearts, so
their appearances had no articulations. Much more significant, they had no spirits, so they did not
have the foggiest idea about the distinction between good and evil. These oblivious creatures
consumed the bottoms of their cooking pots and tortilla frying pans. Finally, the Creators
acknowledged they would need to obliterate the stick individuals and attempt a third ideal
opportunity to make more finished creatures.

In annihilating the stick individuals, the divine beings embarrassed them. First, the Creators released
a surge of a tacky sap-like substance. The wooden people attempted to getaway. However, their
canines, their previous casualties, would not allow them to do as such. The canines and the wooden
individuals had once starved so viciously now acquired retribution by utilizing their sharp teeth to
nibble individuals and slice their appearances.
A couple of stick individuals figured out how to break liberated from the assailants they had once
abused and attempted to get away from the surge of sticky sap. They climbed trees and covered up
on the tops of houses. However, even the trees and houses requested retaliation. The trees shook
their branches until individuals tumbled to the ground. The houses imploded as opposed to ensuring
these wooden people. What is more, when the wooden race of individuals attempted to cover up
inside caverns, the caverns quit for the day.

A large portion of individuals suffocated in the sap. The rare sorts of people who endure had their
countenances curved until they did not look like people. They turned into another sort of creature,
called monkeys.

For a third time, the Creators met to concentrate. They required another approach to rejuvenate the
race of people they had imagined. Similarly, as the Creators' gathering started, four creatures
dropped by a mountain feline, a coyote, a crow, and a parrot. The creatures educated the Creators
concerning an excellent food called maize, or corn, filled nearby in a Broken Place zone. The Creators
were extremely inquisitive about this new food and wished to see it for themselves. So the creature
group of four drove the Creators to Broken, where they discovered corn filling in wealth. The
Creators acknowledged on the double that this was the critical fixing that had been missing. It was
by and large what they expected to make the sort of animals they had would have liked to put on
Earth.

The Creators moved occupied immediately. They pounded corn into dinner and utilized it to make
four attractive men who got known as the Four Fathers. At that point, they ground more corn into a
fluid. The Creators offered the new elixir to the men they had quite recently made. The men drank it,
and abruptly they had muscles and energy. While the men rested, the Creators made everyone a
spouse as delightful as the men were attractive.

The Four Fathers appreciatively expressed gratitude toward the Creators for carrying them into the
world and having been given an insight so prevalent that they knew about all information on the
planet. Quite a bit of their insight was helped by the men's extraordinary visual perception. The Four
Fathers told their Creators, "We can see, we can hear, we can move and think and talk. We feel and
know it all; we can see everything in the Earth and in the sky. Much thanks to you for having made
us . . ."

That unexpectedly prompted another issue. As they watched this new race of individuals, the
Creators understood that by making people excessively awesome, they had committed an error. If
these individuals proceeded to see and know it all, they would not be people however divine beings,
actually such as themselves. Unmistakably the Creators would need to plan something to limit the
knowledge and force of their craftsmanship.

So the Creators blew a fog into the Four Fathers' eyes. The fog had a similar impact on the men's
eyes as an individual's breath on a mirror. The men could, in any case, see, yet not as far. They could,
in any case, think, yet now their omniscient insight was decreased to a more unassuming scope of
information.

Before long, the Four Fathers and their spouses had offspring. At that point, their children had
offspring, and after a short time, there were numerous people on the Earth.
The Mythology of Mesoamerica may seem primitive, but let us not forget the advanced astronomer
these people were; we must look at the allegory and look for symbolism. The significance of
debilitating the recently made Mayan individuals' vision lets compare this story to Oedipus's Greek
legend (ED-uh-puhs).

Oedipus was the child of the lord and sovereign of Thebes. As a child, he was deserted and left for
dead by his dad, yet was saved and developed to adulthood. As a grown-up, he met his regular dad,
whom he confused with a looter and killed. He, at that point, wedded his mom, not knowing what
her identity was. Afterward, after acknowledging what she and Oedipus had done, his mom offed
herself, and Oedipus cut out his eyes.

"Like the Greek legend Oedipus, man would live with just restricted vision and 'could just see [what
was] nearby.'" Being restricted to seeing what is "close by" is a similitude, or a correlation, to having
their view "of the secret universe of the soul," [or the functions of their gods] additionally restricted
at the equivalent time.

Then the actual nature of Mayas may have affected this account of creation.

Nature additionally recommends solidarity, and the thought may have existed that all components
of life are a mind-boggling part of the entirety. The bug on the leaf and the passing cloud are siblings,
in this sense, part of the principal substance. This view is near the pantheistic view that the world is
god. The variety of later religions would propose that this is an early view, and it is all around
outlined in the account of the stickmen in the Popol Vuh. The stickmen, after dropping out of
heavenly courtesy, discover past the point of no return that all things (regardless of whether stone . .
. or on the other hand the cooking pot) lead lives like their own, lives that they had been abusing.

SEVEN MACAW AND HIS SONS

The primary significant bit of the Popol Vuh manages the creation story. A piece of this story
concerns the gallant deeds of two arrangements of twins. About whom you will learn in the
following section, one bunch of twins was baited to the Underworld, where they were killed. Those
twins were the dad and uncle of the twins you will find out about in this section: Hunahpu (hoo-Nah-
POOH) and Xbalanque (sh-bah-LAHN-kay), who came to be referred to among the Mayas as the Hero
Twins.

Twins are frequently found in Mesoamerican creation fantasies. The Mesoamerican societies
dreaded twins since they thought of them as unusual. They accepted that twins had strict
importance and that they foreshadowed significant occasions. They are regularly depicted as beast
executioners and saints who make a request. However, they likewise address struggle and change.

The Hero Twins' stories occur in the creation story of the Popol Vuh, after the stick individuals are
annihilated yet before the divine beings meet with the four creatures who propose making
individuals from corn. This story possibly bodes well if the appropriate time span is remembered.
What's more, notwithstanding the way that the Hero Twins' undertakings happen in the creation
legend, specialists believe the accompanying story to be a different fantasy by its own doing.

In the Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins go down to the hidden world to vindicate their dad and uncle's
death. On the whole, they challenge a proud bird named Seven Macaw, who professes to be the
Sun. A macaw iSun huge, flashy kind of parrot with a bent bill and the long tail is found all through
Central America. The Macaw's quills are a rainbow of clear tones.
The twins realize that Seven Macaw is not the Sun, and they Sunnk is their predetermination to
battle and annihilate this bird so the genuine Sun can assumeSuns legitimate position in the sky.
They additionally take on Seven Macaw's two children, who cause their difficult situation.

Between the time that the Earth had risen out of the ocean, and the Sun had ascendSunin the sky,
there carried on a macaw whose name was Itzam-Yeh (its-am-YEH), deciphered as Seven Macaw.
Seven Macaw had a high assessment of himself. Since his eyes were gemstones and his teeth shone
like the actual Sun, he was persuaded that, indeed, he was the Sun. He was so Self-contained that he
declared that sometimes he would be the moon, too.

The Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, felt that Seven Macaw was excessively pretentious and
gave bogus impressions to individuals. Unmistakably, he was not the Sun. The twins proposed he
should have been rebuffed.

So the twins made arrangements to shoot Seven Macaw when they could occupy the vivid bird. At
last, they figured out the ideal chance to do as such. Seven Macaw was having lunch in a nance tree.
(The nance tree fills in the wilds of present-day Yucatan and is known for creating a delectable
natural product.)

Hunahpu utilized an empty line called a blowgun to fire Seven Macaw with a pellet. The weapon's
pellet tore through the bird's mouth, breaking his jaw and harming his valuable eyes. The gems in his
mouth and eyes were seriously harmed. The effect of the shot constrained Seven Macaw to tumble
from the nance tree. Notwithstanding, Seven Macaw was as yet perilous. At the point when
Hunahpu moved toward Seven Macaw, the bombastic bird gnawed off the twin's arm and gotten
away with it. When he got back to his home, Seven Macaw balanced the arm over a fire.

Hunahpu and his sibling made a decent attempt to think about an approach to get the arm back. At
long last, in the wake of meeting with an older man and lady who were wrinkled, dim, and strolled
slanted, the twins concocted an arrangement. The old couple consented to imagine they were the
twins' grandparents, and the foursome set out to discover Seven Macaw. When they showed up at
Seven Macaw's home, the older adult told the bird that the twins were their grandsons. The older
adult added that he was a specialist in fixing broken jaws and relieving harmed eyes. As the twins
had trusted, Seven Macaw at that point requested that the granddad assist him with reestablishing
his harmed jeweled highlights.

In the first place, the older person hauled the gemstones out of Seven Macaw's mouth and eyes and
supplanted them with portions of white corn. At the point when the older person was done, and the
sparkly gems had been taken out from the bird's face, Seven Macaw could presently do not
guarantee he resembled the Sun.

Sun just resembled a regular bird. Ransacked of his wellspring of pride and vanity, Seven Macaw not,
at this point, had any motivation to live, and he fell over and passed from this existence. Hunahpu
recovered his arm from over the chimney when he was dead and put it back on his body. It
reattached itself impeccably.

Seven Macaw was created fittingly by two children. One was named Zipacna (zip-ak-NAH), or
Alligator. The difference was called Two-his-leg and called Earthquake. Like his dad, Alligator likewise
made bombastic cases. He gloated that he was the creator of the mountains.
One day croc was resting by the water's edge when he saw a gathering of 400 children conveying a
tree to use as a post for a house they were building. Croc inquired as to whether he could help them.
They happily acknowledged his offer, and they let croc pull the tree to the entryway of the 400
young men's home. The young men were dazzled by croc's solidarity. However, they likewise felt
compromised by it, and trusted croc might utilize his solidarity to hurt them. This solid monster
should be executed, they thought.

The 400 young men set out to focus and thought of what they thought about a secure method to
lead Alligator to his demise. First, they would request that Alligators help them out and dive a
profound opening in the Earth. At the point when it was done, they would request that Alligator
creeps inside it. At that point, the young men would toss a wooden shaft into the opening. They
anticipated that the weight of the beam should arrive on their caught casualty and pound him to
death.

However, Alligator was keen. He realized the young men needed to murder him. So while he was
burrowing the opening, he additionally uncovered a getaway passage to a side of the opening. Gator
moved into the opening, at that point, wrapped himself up the security burrow. He shouted to the
young men, reporting in an uproarious voice that their opening was finished. The young men at that
point dropped the pillar in the opening, unconscious that croc sat securely aside.

Persuaded that croc was dead, the 400 children held a festival. They celebrated so hard and drank
such a lot that they got inebriated. Indeed, they were tanked to such an extent that they never at
any point saw when croc slithered out of his security burrow. Croc got the young men's home and
overturned it on their heads. The entirety of the 400 young men passed on under the heaviness of
their home, and it was said that they turned into the stars in the sky.

The Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, were disheartened by the passing of the 400 children.
They considered crocs as misleading as the young men had. So the twins wanted to slaughter croc
similarly as they had executed his dad, Seven Macaw.

The twins wanted to get croc by offering him his number one food, crabs. They created a superb fake
crab produced using grassland grass, bamboo, and stone. At that point, they set it in a ravine at the
base of a mountain called Meavan (mee-VAN).

The twins discovered crocs in the water and asked him what he was doing. Similarly, as they had
trusted, croc answered that he was searching for food. He said that he could not discover any crabs
or fish and had not eaten for two days. Energetically, the twins educated croc regarding the giant
crab they said they had pretty recently found in the ravine at the foot of Meavan. Crocodile
slobbered at the prospect of such a treat and asked the twins to take him to it. So the three
ventured to Meavan with croc developing more energized with each progression. Be that as it may,
similarly as he entered the gorge and saw the monstrous crab, the large mountain imploded on the
croc's chest. Croc could not move and went to stone.

As it ended up, Seven Macaw's other child, Two-his-leg, was no less proud than his dad and sibling,
croc. Two-his-leg unequivocally expressed that he was the destroyer of mountains. All he needed to
do, he gloated, was stamp his feet to make mountains tumble. At some point, Hunahpu and
Xbalanque stood up to Two-his-leg and revealed to him that as of late, they had found the most
elevated mountain they had at any point found in their lives. They asked Two-his-leg on the off
chance that he figured he could thump down even this mammoth mountain.
With his typical vanity, Two-his-leg guaranteed the twins that he could. To demonstrate his gloat, he
requested that the twins take him to this mountain. On their way to the mountain regions, the Hero
Twins got eager. Similar to their custom, they pulled out their blowguns and executed a couple of
birds, which they at that point cooked for supper. Two-his-leg had no clue that the bird supper was
significant for an arrangement to execute him.

The twins took one bird and cooked it along with a substantial piece of the Earth. Generous, they
welcomed Two-his-leg to go along with them for a flavorful blowout. They offered Two-his-leg a cut
of the earth-loaded bird, and he ate it and the piece of Earth excitedly. When they completed their
banquet, every one of the three got up and strolled toward the gigantic mountain.

However, the heaviness of the dinner he had pretty recently eaten caused Two-his-leg to feel
extraordinarily feeble. Out of nowhere, he could barely remain on his legs. In that condition, he
certainly could not make a mountain collide with the ground. The Hero Twins tied Two-his-
advantage effortlessly, wrecked him, and murdered him. Two-his-leg, also called Earthquake, has
been for all time covered in the ground from that point onward. Furthermore, ever after, at
whatever point he moves in his grave, he shakes the world.

Commentary:

The tale of these saint twins who rout Seven Macaw makes an exciting experience story regardless
of whether it remains solitary. However, consider that it is a fragment of a more extraordinary story
of the heavens.

This story addresses a contention between material forces, addressed by Seven Macaw and his gems
and excellence, and profound force. All in all, Seven Macaw "lit up a dim world with his beauty."
However, he did not have love and magnificence in his heart. Without these temperances, he was a
bogus god. When the Hero Twins free the universe of evil creatures like Seven Macaw, they make
ready to form reasoning, feeling individuals.

As indicated, "When a Mayan lord stood up . . . he wore in his hood the astonishing plumage of
birds, as a general rule those of Itzam-Yeh [Seven Macaw] himself." These stunning quills were a
suggestion to the lord that force could be utilized or mishandled. It depended upon him to beg the
divine beings for his kin to keep a legitimate equilibrium on the Earth. "Appropriately utilized, this
force saved universe and country. Inappropriately utilized, as Itzam-Yeh's self-importance, it became
void strength and a risk to for what it's worth."

THE ORIGIN OF THE SUN AND THE MOON

Regardless of how obsessive the present avid supporters are, their power is gently contrasted with
that of the antiquated Mayas.

The accompanying legend happens late in the creative adventure. It concerns the brave activities of
the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and their dad and uncle, Hun Hunahpu (HOON hoo-Nah-
POOH) and Vucub (voo-KOOB) Hunahpu. It is such a long fantasy that we must isolate it.
In this story, Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu partake in a representative skirmish of the sort that
is basic in the legends and religions of numerous societies: A battle among great and wickedness, or
murkiness and light. In the Christian practice, this thought is frequently introduced as far as a
contention among God and Satan. In this Mayan legend, the battle is between individuals of the
Earth and those of the hidden world, otherwise called the underworld, which is the universe of the
dead. As the living universe, the hidden world was home to plants, creatures, and individuals. The
Mayas accepted that the hidden world turned over the Earth to turn into dusk's night sky.

From various perspectives, this story is a continuation of the fantastic legends already told. The
genuine Sun has not yet shown up on the Earth, and the twins appear to realize they will have
something to do with its appearance. Simultaneously, the last group of individuals will not be made
until the light of the Sun is up in the sky.

There are numerous references in the Popol Vuh to the ball game which happens in this legend.
Something other than playing around, pohatok was fundamental to the Mayan religion. It was
played on a court molded like a capital I that was around 100–150 feet in length and 25–50 feet
wide. The court had a level playing surface and slanting or vertical dividers on different sides. Ball
courts were regularly connected with sanctuaries, and the games were essential for expanded
ceremonies.

Numerous individuals watched the ball games. Aristocrats may have watched from the sanctuaries,
while conventional individuals watched from on top of the dividers close by the court. Individuals
bet vigorously on the games, betting jade, gold, houses, and even slaves. In any event, watching the
games could be dangerous. Not exclusively could onlookers lose if they bet in some unacceptable
group, yet the triumphant group may be permitted to take their attire and adornments. Individuals
watching the game retreated as fast as possible.

The punishment for losing at pohatok was extreme. As in the Aztec round of tlachtli, the losing
players, or if nothing else the skipper of the losing group, gambled losing his head, as demonstrated
on carvings at the Mayan site of Chichen Itza. The little miracle that the Mayan word for ball court
was hom. Hom is additionally the Mayan word for the cemetery.

In the place that is known for the old Quiche Maya, there was a bunch of kid twins named Hun
Hunahpu and Vucub (voo-KUB) Hunahpu. Their names alluded to dates on the Mayan schedule,
Hun's being "One Hunahpu," and Vucub addresses "Seven Hunahpu." The young men cherished
playing pohatok on a ball court that turned out to be situated on the way to the underworld or place
where there is the dead. This underworld was called Xibalba (shee-Bahl-BAH), which signifies a "spot
of dread."

The young men delighted in standing for being the most challenging pohatok rivals in the land. They
had the best-made arm-and-leg-monitors and the most grounded caps, so they never harmed
themselves. The twins were so gifted at making the most challenging hip shots that they never lost a
game.

Be that as it may, their steady playing upset the Lords of Death, who lived in Xibalba and had names
like One Death, Bone Scepter, Blood Gatherer, and Pus Master.
The masters were so irritated by the continually reverberating bangs of the bobbing balls that they
chose the twins should be rebuffed by death. To draw in the twins, the rulers sent four owl couriers,
provoking the twins to a round of pohatok in Xibalba. Even though their mom beseeched them to
say no, the twins acknowledged the demand and were before long driven by the owls down to
Xibalba.

Making the excursion to the hidden world was no simple accomplishment. The street prompting the
place that is known for the dead was a hindrance course loaded up with perilous risks. Soon after
they set out on their excursion, the twins happened upon a precipice with a lofty face they needed
to downsize. When they arrived at the base of this bluff, they saw the first of three sickening and
unsafe streams they would need to cross.

The mainstream was loaded with gliding sharp spikes. In one way or another, the young men made it
across without being cut. Then, they effectively crossed a waterway of blood. At last, they needed to
portage a surge of streaming discharge. Once more, they were effective. However, in the wake of
intersection this last rotten stream, the twins before long found that their experience was simply
beginning.

Proceeding with their excursion, they went to a four-way crossing point. One street, called the Black
Road, addressed the twins, convincing them to follow it. Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu did as
the street advised them. At last, they went to the royal chamber of Xibalba where they saw sitting
figures whom, they thought, should be the Lords of Death. The twins welcomed these monumental
figures, yet the figures did not reply. At that point, the twins understood the figures were just life-
sized wooden models or sculptures costumed to resemble the Lords of Death. The Lords of Death
had deceived the twins into making them look stupid.

At the point when the masters at long last quit giggling at their trick, they offered the twins a seat
where they could sit and rest. No sooner had they plunked down than Hun Hunahpu and Vucub
Hunahpu understood that they had been deceived once more. The seat was a piece of blazing hot
stone utilized for cooking. In torment, the two young men hopped off the seat and moved around;
however, nothing they could do made a difference. The Xibalbans started to yell with laughing as
unequivocally as they had at any point giggled previously.

At the point when they at long last quieted down, the Lords of Death advised the young men to go in
the house where light would be brought to every one of them. Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu
did not understand it, yet these things were to have a significant influence in their next test. This test
necessitated that the young men keep their lights lit the entire evening. However, there was
insufficient fuel to save either lit for long. They could not finish the task they were allocated, so the
twins were condemned by the Lords of Death to be destroyed.

The following day, the rulers removed the twins' heads and covered their bodies under the ball court
in Xibalba. To flaunt their triumph, the passing rulers took the head of Hun Hunahpu and stuck it in
an old, dead tree as a prize.

Out of nowhere, a supernatural occurrence occurred. The forsaken tree started proving to be
fruitful. It started to grow calabash gourds, a natural product like squash. Indeed, even the head of
Hun Hunahpu changed into a calabash gourd. A youthful hidden world lady named Xquic (sh-KIHK),
or Blood Woman, known about this otherworldly tree and ventured to see it. Taken in by the tree's
appeal, Xquic connected her hand to pick a gourd. When she did, the head of Hun Hunahpu, masked
as a gourd, spit into it. The spit was Hun Hunahpu's salivation, which made Xquic pregnant.
At the point when Xquic's dad saw that his little girl was pregnant, he demanded knowing the name
of the child's dad. Nevertheless, Xquic could not name anybody. Accordingly, her dad reported that
she had disgraced him, and he requested that she be killed. Quickly, Xquic's dad requested courier
owls to remove her from being forfeited. The owls were advised to bring back the young lady's heart
in a bowl as verification that she was dead.

Xquic was frantic. She concluded there was nothing to lose by coming clean with the owls—that she
had gotten pregnant by the salivation that shot out of a gourd she had picked. The owls trusted her
and, as a result of her guiltlessness, set her free. Having saved Xquic, the owls currently thought
about how to save their own lives. Xquic's dad anticipated his little girl's heart in a bowl and would
undoubtedly rebuff them if they neglected to submit to his orders.

So the owls thought and thought and concluded they could deceive Xquic's dad by subbing a glob of
tree sap for the heart. At the point when they got back to Xquic's dad with the heart-formed hill of
tree sap in a bowl, the occupants of Xibalba, thinking it was Xquic's heart, settled to consume it. At
the point when they did, the gums produced a peculiar aroma the Xibalbans were inexperienced
with. Interested in the inebriating smell, they remained around looking at the consuming mass. They
were so diverted, indeed, that they did not see the courier owls driving Xquic to opportunity through
an opening that drove from the hidden world to the Earth. Xquic had circumvented, tricking all the
Xibalbans simultaneously.

Xquic did the main thing in the wake of arriving at the Earth was to visit Xmucane (sh-MOO-stick),
the mother of the dead twins. Xquic persuaded Xmucane that she was the widow of Hun Hunahpu
and was conveying his youngster. Before long, nonetheless, Xquic acknowledged she was conveying
two youngsters. Xquic brought forth the Hero Twins, whom she named Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

As they developed, these new twin young men needed to be extraordinary groundskeepers. There
was one significant issue; they were not genuinely adept at planting. Each time they cleaned up
weeds and brush, wild creatures brought more back. The young men continued attempting to get
the responsible creatures absent much karma. At last, they got a rodent and attempted to gag and
consume it to death. In any case, the rodent begged the young men to be delivered. If they did, the
rodent said, he would disclose to them an exceptional mystery. The young men concurred that
meeting this mystery merited the existence of the rodent.

The rat prompted the young men they were burning through their time planting. He disclosed to
them the tale of their dad and uncle, who were likewise twins, and who had been sublime
ballplayers. Like their dad and uncle, Hunahpu and Xbalanque were bound to be incredible
ballplayers. So the twins accepted the rodent's recommendation, and in time got two of the best
ballplayers around.

Analysis

One captivating likeness between present-day religions and old legends is that the ethics and ideals
are regularly settled in fields of war and during seasons of profound struggle. Here and there, the
term war is something strict. The Old Testament is loaded up with fights, including the Hebrews and
their adversaries, like the Philistines or Sumerians. The New Testament narratives conflicts between
early Christians and the Romans.
For the antiquated Greeks, their legends and messages were worked out during the battles and
conflicts of the Trojan War. For antiquated Romans, such contentions comprised of mortal battle set
up among combatants and wild creatures in amphitheaters. Furthermore, the Mayas? Their
accounts of death, rout, fiendishness, and goodness become clear on another combat zone: the
games court. Similarly, as numerous sportswriters today consider the football field a sort of front
line, the antiquated Mayas' ball court was likewise a setting for war play. The punishment for losing
the Mayan round of pohatok was undeniably more severe than losing the Super Bowl or a Rugby
match today. By the present norms, it would likewise be viewed as harsh.

The ballgame was the analogy of eternal demise, the field where players worked out destiny and
defied possibility. It was now and then played for the delight of the game, likewise with the Twins
before the Xibalbans called them. The ballgame was additionally an illustration for battle, in which
great states and legends made progress toward triumph against foes. In particular, the Hero Twins
played the ballgame as an important herald to Creation and the Creation of humankind. The
ballcourt, without a doubt, was a hole driving into the Otherworld. At the point when the Maya
played their game, they changed Creation over and over.

THE HERO TWINS

Memorial services possess consistently been energy for strict reflection, and all religions have their
passing ceremonies. Individuals in a wide range of societies accept that when people pass on, they
are reawakened, go through endlessness with their god, or are rebuffed until the end of time.

Even though they accepted that individuals who had carried on with tough lives would go to Heaven,
the Mayas dreaded passing. They also accepted that conciliatory casualties and individuals who
ended it all thought about the best demonstration of penance—just as the individuals who passed
on in labor or war would live perpetually in Heaven. In any case, abhorrent individuals would
languish forever in the underworld Xibalba.

The Mayas polished funerary articles or things straightforwardly cataloging with a dedicatory service,
with scenes from their fantasies or other strict stories, by contemplating those funerary items that
numerous archeologists and anthropologists have found out about Mayan folklore, religion, and
other fundamental pieces of everyday Mayan life.

Representations of the bats of Xibalba, creatures which have a fundamental impact on the
remainder of this fantasy, were painted on various funerary jars. Many of these compositions are
seen on containers found in regions inside the Mayan realm, where rumors have spread vastly
suggesting that the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, entered the dull underworld of Xibalba.
On certain occasions, bats' eyes are portrayed on their wings and collar. This might be because bats
have for some time been believed to be visually impaired. They are not, although they do utilize
their hearing and not their sight to situate themselves.

Researchers have revealed other funerary jars with artistic creations portraying the passing rulers of
Xibalba. Some wear burdens, and hardware is worn when playing pohatok on their hips. Others have
been depicted smoking a cigar or sitting on a puma skin. Others show Hunahpu and Xbalanque
forfeiting themselves, which assumes a fundamental part in this legend.
Like their dad and uncle, Hunahpu and Xbalanque made much commotion when they played
pohatok. Like their dad and uncle, they also upset the Lords of Death down in Xibalba one day. As in
the past, the rulers approached the owl couriers to carry the new arrangement of twins to their
home in the hidden world.

On their approach to Xibalba, the young men needed to go over a similar course their dad and uncle
had taken. They dropped themselves down the precipice and passed across the waterways of spikes,
blood, and discharge. Notwithstanding, when they went to the four-way convergence, they tried not
to commit a similar error as their precursors.

These twins had an arrangement. Hunahpu extracted a hair from his skin and transformed it into a
mosquito. They advised the mosquito to fly ahead and nibble every one of the Lords of Death. The
mosquito got in line. To begin with, he chomped the life-sized wooden models that were dressed as
the Lords of Death. When the life-sized models did not respond, the mosquito realized they were
not genuine individuals. So the mosquito looked further until he found the genuine passing rulers. At
that point, he nibbled in a steady progression.

As every demise ruler was nibbled, he called out in torment. The Lord of Death standing nearest to
the person who had been chomped would get down on the nibbled ruler's name and ask him what
the matter was. For instance, soon after Pus Master was nibbled, Blood Gatherer reacted, "What is
it, Pus Master?" Then, after Blood Gatherer was chomped, the passing ruler close to him asked,
"What is it, Blood Gatherer?" This cycle proceeded all through the whole line of the Lords of Death.
The twins gave careful consideration to this custom, and soon they knew the name of every Lord of
Death.

Hence, when the young men showed up in the hidden world royal chamber, they welcomed each
ruler by name. They tried to tell the masters that they could never welcome life-sized wooden
models. The Lords of Death were intrigued by the twins' information. At the point when Hunahpu
and Xbalanque were told to sit down on the hot stone section that had consumed their family
members, the twins knew better and declined. The Lords of Death were flabbergasted that the twins
knew every one of their stunts.

Presently the Lords of Death started the most troublesome difficulties. The twins were given a
progression of perilous tests. Each occurred in an alternate room called a "house." In the House of
Gloom, Hunahpu and Xbalanque were given the very cigar and light their precursors had gotten and
were advised to keep the two articles lit the entire evening. The twins outmaneuvered the Lords of
Death by setting a macaw's red tail quills on the light and fireflies on the finishes of the stogies.
Toward the beginning of the day, when the masters checked the twins' advancement, they were
staggered. The light and cigars appeared as though they were all the while consuming. The twins had
passed the principal challenge.

Then, they were shipped off the House of Razors, which was loaded up with sharp blades. The blades
should cut the young men into pieces, yet the twins persuaded them that their work was to cut just
creatures. The following test was the House of Jaguars, where they confronted a room brimming
with savage wild felines. Hunahpu and Xbalanque occupied the panthers by taking care of their
bones. Then, they endure the House of Cold and the House of Fire, where they were scrutinized for
extreme temperatures.
One more test stayed: The House of Bats. These flying rodents had cuts rather than noses. To get
away from the bats, the twins covered up inside a couple of empty blowguns. Throughout the
evening, they remained inside their places of refuge and heard the bats flying surrounding them. By
and by, as the haziness blurred, Hunahpu could presently do not avoid the compulsion to look out to
check whether the first light was breaking. Similarly, as he stuck his head out of his blowgun, an
awful bat cut it off, and it went moving onto the hidden world's ball court. The Lords of Death
cheered and celebrated what appeared to triumph more than one of the twins.

Presently, Xbalanque had a thought. As daybreak was drawing nearer, he approached every creature
to present their favorite food varieties to him. The coati (KOH-ah-tee), like a raccoon, presented to
Xbalanque a round squash, which he set on his sibling's neck. With extraordinary ability, Xbalanque
at that point cut the squash, so it took after Hunahpu's head and face. Marvelously, the squash
turned into a functioning head for Hunahpu. At that point, the twins strolled over to the underworld
ball court, where the death kings provoked them to a round of pohatok.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque requested that a rabbit take cover in some close by trees before the game
started. When the game began, the twins saw that one of the Lords of Death was utilizing Hunahpu's
genuine head as the ball. As Hunahpu's head was skipping around the court, Xbalanque batted it
toward the trees where the rabbit was stowing away. The bunny jumped from the trees and started
bouncing across the ball court. The death masters confused the bunny with the bobbing ball and
pursued it. While they were gone, Xbalanque snatched his sibling's typical head and set it back on his
sibling's body. At that point, he took the squash and threw it into play-ready court.

When the Lords of Death got back from pursuing the rabbit, they had a go at kicking the squash,
thinking it was Hunahpu's head. The squash splattered open, its seeds spilling every which way. With
no ball, the Lords of Death needed to surrender defeat. Hunahpu and Xbalanque had won.

Notwithstanding, the story did not end there. The twins approached two prophets named Xulu
(SHOO-loo) and Pacam (pah-KAM) to ask what they ought to do straight away. The prophets told the
young men that although they had figured out how to endure every one of the stunts and games
presented by the Lords of Death, they were as yet bound to die. The prophets uncovered that this
result was all essential for a phenomenal arrangement.

The Lords of Death concocted one more test. They constructed a red hot stove this time and moved
the young men to bounce over it securely multiple times. At this point, Hunahpu and Xbalanque
understood what they should do. They bounced heedlessly into the fire, consuming themselves to
death. The Xibalbans cheerfully took the young men's bones from the fire, ground them into a fine
powder, and dispersed the residue in a waterway.

Indeed, even in death, the Hero Twins were not out of marvels. Rather than skimming ceaselessly,
their delicate bones sank to the waterway base. In five days, the young men returned to life as
catfish. On the 6th day, they took on their past human structures, yet now they were dressed as
transients who moved and performed sorcery stunts professionally.

Expression of these two obscure drifters' exhibitions arrived at the Lords of Death, who reported
that they needed an extraordinary show only for them.
So the Hero Twins moved and performed enchanted stunts in the palace of the Lords of Death. One
passing master requested that the twins offer a canine and resurrect it. They achieved that stunt
rapidly. A subsequent passing ruler requested that they do the same thing with a human. Xbalanque
removes Hunahpu's head, uncovered his heart, at that point directed him to hold up. He did so
rapidly, and the Xibalbans were astonished. At that point, the Death Lords required a much seriously
trying stunt. They asked to be forfeited.

So Hunahpu and Xbalanque got in line. They forfeited the two passing masters. It was a similar stunt
they had performed with the canine and with Hunahpu. Nonetheless, this time they did not
resurrect their casualties. The Lords of Death remained dead. The remaining Lords of Death were
irate and requested to know why this time the stunt had not worked.

At that point, Hunahpu and Xbalanque ventured out of their masks and tended to the rulers: "We
have vindicated our dad, One Hunahpu, and his sibling, Seven Hunahpu, and now we will destroy
you."

The remainder of the Xibalbans asked for their lives. The twins made an arrangement. If the
occupants of Xibalba revealed to them where their dad and uncle were covered, there would be no
more destruction. The Xibalbans consented to the proposition, and they were saved. In any case,
they could never be that incredible again. With the data provided by the Xibalbans, the Hero Twins
found their dad and uncle and resurrected them. Hunahpu and Xbalanque guaranteed their older
folks that they would consistently be regarded and appealed to.

The twins had one final excursion to make. They rose to the sky, where they are accepting their
places as the Sun and the moon, illuminating the world forever. From that point on, at whatever
point individuals gazed toward the sky, they would recollect the courage and cunning of the Hero
Twins.

Analysis and Astronomical Symbolism

Three main topics of conventional Mayan religion show up in this fantasy. They concern knowledge,
ability, and the giving of one's self.

Timetable and Freidel compose that the Hero Twins did not overcome the Lords of Death with their
muscles. All things being equal, they utilized their brains to outfox them. The young men discovered
shrewd approaches to keep their cigars and light lit and deceived the passing masters into forfeiting
themselves.

Furthermore, restoration and resurrection came through penance—particularly demise by

execution. The legend twins were imagined by astronomers long ago, in the time of the Olmec's
astronomers, and filtered down through symbolism and storytelling to all Mesoamerican cultures.

"The best of their stunts was to submit purposely to overcome and forfeit to dominate the bigger
match." The "bigger game" was, obviously, eternal life as the Sun and moon.

The Maya express that the passing and restoration of the Hero Twins illustrate a fundamental piece
of the Mayan lifestyle, cultivating, and their staff of life, maize.
The correspondence with the horticultural cycle is apparent in this fantasy. When the rancher plants
his milpa, he sends the maize into the Underworld down the opening he has made with his
burrowing stick; at that point, with the happening to the downpours, the maize is 'restored' as a
young sprout.

THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

Since the Aztecs had various clans and lived in different districts, they gathered numerous vivid
creation legends. Some differentiated just marginally from each other; others showed incredible
inconsistencies. In any case, one component normal to most Aztec creation legends was the divine
beings' longing for human divinity. Similar to the Mayas, the Aztecs requested humans just as
creation sacraments.

Despite a piece of unrivaled information on space science, the Aztecs accepted that the Sun spun
around the Earth. Perhaps the most grounded dread was that the Sun might some time, or another,
quit turning and freeze entirely still in the sky. On the off chance that that occurred, they
contemplated that the Sun's continuous beams would consume everything on Earth, in this way
making it unthinkable for the planet to help life. They accepted that the best way to hold the Sun
back from halting in its place was to give the sun god, Huitzilopochtli, human emotions and divinity.

A considerable lot of the conciliatory casualties were detainees of war, and as the force of the Aztecs
developed, they caught and forfeited expanding quantities of individuals. Nonetheless, when a year,
the Aztecs picked individuals to be forfeited. For an entire year before he was forfeited, this young
fellow imitated the extraordinary god Tezcatlipoca. He was offered workers to take care of all his
desires. He wore the best garments and was prepared in music and religion.

The world we live in today is not the solitary world that always existed. In any event, that is valid, as
per the antiquated Aztecs.

The Aztecs accepted that before our present world was made, there were four universes called suns.
Albeit the four universes were made, none was outstanding.

The primary world started when the amazing god, Tezcatlipoca (tes-CAHT-li-PO-Kah), transformed
himself into the Sun. Individuals of this first Sun were goliaths who endure the warmth of their
natural surroundings by living in the shade of giant trees and eating a veggie lover diet of corn,
berries, and oak seeds, with which Tezcatlipoca and different divine beings had given them. The
freak residents of this first world were so incredible, it was said, that they could lift trees out of the
ground with their bare hands. Giants appear in all sorts of world mythologies.

Another incredible god, Quetzalcoatl (ket-SAHL-Koh-AHTL), a desirous opponent of Tezcatlipoca, was

irate that Tezcatlipoca was administering the world. Quetzalcoatl took numerous structures however
was frequently depicted as having a light appearance and a facial hair growth. Quetzalcoatl stirred
up some dust with Tezcatlipoca and kept on engaging him until he took Tezcatlipoca out of the sky.
Tezcatlipoca was angry for being deposed. Accordingly, Tezcatlipoca changed himself into a puma
and wrecked the whole world, including every one of the goliath individuals and the Sun.

By and by, Tezcatlipoca's forces were not sufficiently able to annihilate Quetzalcoatl, and he endured
the termination of the primary Sun. He, at that point, made a second world with a race of individuals
who lived on a tight eating routine of pine nuts. This time, Tezcatlipoca acquired retribution against
Quetzalcoatl by, in a real sense showing him out of the sky.
Tezcatlipoca at that point made an epic breeze that cleared away the Sun, which had appeared so
splendidly. The Wind additionally executed the vast majority of individuals, and the individuals who
endure were transformed into monkeys. Their progenitors can be seen today swinging from trees in
the wild backwoods.

The third world started with the lord of Rain, Tlaloc, who had enormous, protruding eyes and goliath
teeth. Tlaloc changed himself into the Sun and became the leader of the world. Once more,
Quetzalcoatl was despondent and sent a progression of floods to wash away the Earth. Again flood
myths appear regularly in world mythologies. Individuals who survived the awful floods were
transformed into birds. The fourth world resulted from Tlaloc's significant other, Chalchiuhtlicue
(chal-CHEE-ooh-tlee-quay), who turned into the Sun in her better half's place. By and by, another
flood annihilated this world and those individuals who endure became fish.

For a fourth time, there was completed murkiness. Now, the divine beings had a gathering and
concluded that one god needed to forfeit himself to turn into the new Sun. An unattractive and
unassuming god named Nanautzin (Nah-Nah-WAH-tsin) elected to do the work. The terrible
Nanautzin, whose body was distorted and whose skin was covered with nauseating wounds, was
astonished to be acknowledged. Different divine beings had consistently dealt with him like an
untouchable. Nonetheless, Nanautzin admitted he would be glad to utilize and forfeit himself on the
off chance that it implied that a fifth world could be brought into reality.

The Creation of the World

The divine beings thoroughly considered Nanautzin's offer. However, they concurred that the work
was too enormous for only one god to achieve. An attractive, well-off god elected to join Nanautzin
in the selflessness. The remainder of the divine beings acknowledged his offer.

The divine beings constructed a stone pyramid with a massive fire on its top throughout the
following few days. The attractive god was approached to hop into the fire. He attempted multiple
times. However, he lost his nerve each time and moved in an opposite direction from the burning
blazes. At long last, he told different divine beings he would not have the option to stay faithful to
his commitment.

At that point, the divine beings requested that Nanautzin jump into the enormous furious fire.
Nanautzin gathered up all the mental fortitude he could and sprang into the singing flares. As his
body consumed, the Sun started to illuminate the sky. Seeing the influence Nanautzin had shown,
the rich god concluded that he should figure out how to emulate Nanautzin's valiance in one way or
another. So he, as well, hopped into the burst. In any case, Nanautzin got the vast majority of the
other divine beings' brilliance since he never acted fearful during the whole scene. It might seem
bizarre, but Aztec astronomers secretly worshipped this god.

Although there was presently a nurturing sun in the sky, the Earth did not exist as far as we might be
concerned today. Between the sky and the water beneath, all that existed was a colossal beast
goddess named Tlaltecuhtli (Ta-lal-TECK-oot-lee). She was a horrible monster with several mouths
everywhere on her body, loaded with sharp teeth. Tlaltecuhtli ate anything in her way.

The two mightiest divine beings, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, concurred they could not make the
Earth with this terrible beast around. They disclosed that they should discover some approach to
prevent that goddess from obliterating all that they made.
At that point, they concocted an arrangement. They transformed themselves into goliath winds and
folded themselves over Tlaltecuhtli. Together they pulled, extending Tlaltecuhtli until her body broke
in two. The top portion of her body, including her head, turned into the Earth. The power of the
break threw her base half into the air, and it turned into the sky.

To express gratitude toward Tlaltecuhtli for her penance, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca chose to
give her an extraordinary blessing. From that point on, she would furnish individuals with every one
of the ordinary miracles they would have to live. Her hair became trees, spices, and blossoms. Her
skin was changed into grass and blossoms. Her eyes were transformed into little caverns, wells, and
wellsprings, while enormous caverns and waterways were made from her numerous mouths. From
her shoulders, mountains were made, and her nose was changed into more modest slopes and
valleys.

Be that as it may, Tlaltecuhtli stayed troubled. Regularly she could be heard shouting in the evening,
desiring human divinity. When human lives were offered up to her, would she keep on delivering
nature's requirements for other living people?

So now, the sky existed, and the Earth resembled the one we live on today. In any case, there were
no individuals. At some point, the incredible god Quetzalcoatl ventured to the hidden world, the
place that is known for the dead, to bring back the bones of individuals who had lived in the fourth
Sun. Notwithstanding, the hidden world, known as Mictlan (MICK-t'lan) and administered by an evil
skeleton god named Mictlantecuhtli (MICK-t'lan-tee-coot'lee), was a risky spot. When he entered
Mictlan, Quetzalcoatl found his dad's bones, which he needed to return to the Earth.

The elusive Mictlantecuhtli was not going to make this simple. As Quetzalcoatl was going to leave
Mictlan with his dad's bones, Mictlantecuhtlui's workers halted him and requested him to leave the
bones where they were. Quetzalcoatl did not have the foggiest idea of what to do, so he asked his
creature's soul structure, called a nahual, to exhort him. The nahual advised Quetzalcoatl to claim to
leave the bones. At that point, when the workers got back to their lord, he was to pack the bones
and take them with him.

Quetzalcoatl adhered to his nahual's guidelines. Cautiously, he wrapped up the bones and set out for
the Earth. Mictlantecuhtl was not finished at this point with his opponent. He requested that his
workers create an opportunity to catch Quetzalcoatl. As he made a hastened break, Quetzalcoatl
stumbled and fell into the opening. A group of awful birds showed up, terrifying him and making him
drop the bones. The birds at that point arrived on Quetzalcoatl's prized bundle and savagely pecked
at it until the wrapping was destroyed and the bones were broken into fine pieces.

In trouble, Quetzalcoatl shouted to his nahual once more. His nahual encouraged him to proceed on
his journey. This time, Quetzalcoatl was effective. Quetzalcoatl carried the powdered issues that
remain to be worked out, the goddess of labor, who ground them into the flour. Quetzalcoatl's
divinity was added to the recently made flour, and the combination of divine essence and bones
became animated as another group of people.

In any case, Quetzalcoatl cautioned his recently made individuals that the current world probably
would not be lasting. On the off chance that individuals became devilish, this world would one day
be obliterated.
Analysis

The nahual, or nagual, is an individual watchman soul that a few Mesoamericans accept lives in
creatures like deer, puma, or birds. The nahual, which has an indispensable influence in the making
of individuals, is an entrancing idea. Be that as it may, it is not just found in Aztec writing.
Comparable ideas are found in the folklore of local North Americans. Likewise, Hindus trust in a
firmly related idea called a symbol. To the Hindus, a symbol is a natural type of a divine being, taking
an individual or a creature.

The nahual took various structures. Some Aztec legends could appear as their nahual and travel
masked, starting with one area then onto the next to perform what could seem like enchantment.
Undoubtedly, a nahual could even interpret the type of a nonliving demonstration of nature, like
rain, mists, or lightning. Still, to most figures, like Quetzalcoatl in this creation fantasy, the nahual
was an uncommon partner that guided living creatures in their grieved times. At the point when an
individual passed from this realm, his nahual passed on, as well.

Similarly, as the nagual passed on with the person to which it was appended, the Sun of a given time
was thought to die with the degeneration of animal groups. Consequently, the current Sun was the
fifth, brought into the world of each of the four components, its archetypes having sprung
independently from Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.

Particles further clarify that individuals should keep on doing practical for the Sun to keep gleaming
on Earth. They should attempt to acquire intelligence and opportunity and should forfeit both as a
general rule and supplication. She noticed that this "was shown too in the proceeded with
exploration of the divine beings for animal varieties equipped for appreciating and commending
their maker, and hence feed and support their divine beings."

Nanautzin's gutsy demonstration summarizes the Aztecs' commitment to religion and penance. In
the first place, Nanahuatzin firmly offered himself on the fire to turn into the Sun; at that point, the
wide range of various divinities gave their own lives to set it proceeding onward its course. Similarly,
as the divine beings had given up their souls to the sharp conciliatory edge, the Aztecs accepted
people should give their hearts to keep the Sun and moon moving. It turned into their central goal as
a picked individual to invigorate the sun battle its way across the sky every day, and fight its way
across the hidden world every evening. It was their primary goal, as well, to fulfill the Earth's crave
human hearts and along these lines invigorate her the prove to be fruitful. This feeling of the divine
mission was at the center of Aztec strict zeal.

THE AZTEC PEOPLE

Enter a Mexican café today, and you will track down that many of the things on the menu are
produced using one food staple: corn called maize in Spanish. Maize fills in abundance in Mexico
today, as it has for quite a long time. Perhaps the most well-known bread item eaten in Mexico
today is the corn tortilla.

Corn dust grains millennia-old have been discovered filling in rocks beneath Mexico City. In the
province of New Mexico, only north of the nation of Mexico, corncobs were found in a cavern that is
believed to be 5,600 years old.
As it was to the Mayas, maize was the existing power of the Aztecs. It was their essential wellspring
of food, and without it, they could not have endured. Although the Aztecs might not have known it,
corn likewise kept them sound. It is an essential wellspring of B nutrients, potassium, fiber, and
nutrients C and A. The more yellow the corn, the more nutrient it has. White corn has different
supplements; however, it needs nutrient A.

Thinking about its significance, it was expected that the Aztecs would look at corn as a blessing from
the divine beings. The accompanying table recounts the narrative of how the incredible god
Quetzalcoatl carried corn to the Aztec public. Besides, this story additionally tells how Quetzalcoatl
carried another whole plant to the Aztecs. That plant is called maguey (mag-WAY).

Maguey was nearly as imperative to the Aztecs as corn. Whenever it is pruned, the maguey plant
produces unlimited shoots, and the Aztecs utilized it from various perspectives. They made needles
from its thistles and fabric from its filaments. From its leaves, they made roofing material for homes,
paper, and even food. In any case, one of the maguey's most effective uses was to give a cocktail
called pulque (POOL-kay). It was rather potent too.

Produced using the maguey plant's aged sap, pulque was a fundamental piece of Aztecs' strict
functions. It was tanked during customs; on different occasions, it was forfeited to the divine beings.

As indicated by legend, Quetzalcoatl offered maguey to the Aztecs since he thought they required
more joy in their lives. Since the pulque produced using the maguey plant was matured, the
individuals who drank it regularly got inebriated. Notwithstanding, this did not imply that anyone
could get wrecked freely. Among the Aztecs, getting wrecked out in the open was extreme
wrongdoing, which conveyed hardened punishments. An individual from the respectability who was
washed out in the open regularly confronted capital punishment. Just seniors who were very much
regarded by Aztec society were allowed to enjoy pulque openly.

Since people had been made for the fifth new world, they would have to eat to endure. So
Quetzalcoatl and different divine beings went investigating to discover some approach to take care
of this new group of individuals.

One day Quetzalcoatl detected an insect conveying a critical part of maize. Immediately, he realized
that this strange food would be ideal for taking care of people. Quetzalcoatl needed to know where
the subterranean insect got the corn. From the outset, he just asked the subterranean insect, yet the
insect would not reply.

In any case, after continued addressing, the subterranean insect consented to take the god to where
the corn developed, Mount Tonacatepetl (ton-ah-cah-TAPE-etel), or the "pile of food." Quetzalcoatl,
at that point, transformed himself into a subterranean insect. That way, he could follow the other
insect into small places to where the maize may be covered up.

The insect drove the god into the openings of Mount Tonacatepetl, where maize was filling in
wealth. Quetzalcoatl likewise found beans, peppers, and a wide range of different food varieties that
humanity could eat.

Quetzalcoatl snatched a piece of corn as an insect and returned it to the people to plant in any case.
At that point, he educated different divine beings regarding his great revelation and happily
disclosed to them that he had also seen numerous different food varieties on Mount Tonacatepetl
that could support individuals.
Be that as it may, there would one say one was a huge issue: How could this food filling in bounty
somewhere inside a monster mountain be brought to individuals? Just an animal as little as an insect
would have the option to arrive at the enticing inventory of food. Regardless, Quetzalcoatl left on an
arrangement. He circled a monster rope around all of Mount Tonacatepetl and attempted to pull the
mountain to where individuals resided. Since the mountain was so large, it would not move,
notwithstanding the god's extraordinary forces. So he asked different divine beings for ideas. An
astute old pair of divine beings named Oxomoco (gracious shoh-MOH-ko) and Cipactonal (si-pak-
TOH-nal) gave the issue much thought. They concluded that the appropriate response was to tear
open the mountain, permitting people to have simple admittance to the food inside. So with all their
joined force, the divine beings split open the stone that made up Mount Tonacatepetl, and the
enormous abundance of food presently showed up reachable for individuals.

In any case, there was one more issue. Opening the stone had infuriated the lord of rain, Tlaloc. With
extraordinary speed, Tlaloc and his offspring got all the corn and other food from within the
mountain and took it with them before any individuals could get to it. Right up 'til today, Tlaloc, the
rain god, offers back the food to individuals just in sums he wants to permit. A few years, when there
is the perfect measure of downpour, he is liberal. On different occasions, when there are many
downpours, he prods individuals with an excess of food, spoiling before their eyes. When there is
too little downpour, Tlaloc acts egotistically by causing a deficiency of individuals' staple food.

Although individuals currently had food to keep them alive, the divine beings felt something was
absent. Individuals worked and endure, and however, nothing appeared to carry extraordinary
satisfaction to their lives. What should be possible?

Quetzalcoatl felt they required something more generous in their eating regimens. He chose to
contact excellent youthful Mayahuel, the goddess of the maguey. Mayahuel lived in the sky with her
insidious grandma, a tzitzimitl, a female devil who takes the position of stars, particularly the
Pleiades constellation, and addresses evil on the planet. Each day, Mayahuel's grandma and her
sister tzitzimime take steps to obliterate the world by fighting against the Sun.

Mayahuel and her grandma were dozing when Quetzalcoatl showed up in their sky-house. He woke
Mayahuel and persuaded her to accompany him to Earth. After arriving at Earth together, they
appeared as an enormous, two-limbed tree, each turning into a branch.

When the grandma arose, she found that her valuable Mayahuel was missing. Furiously, the
grandma requested the rest from the tzitzimime to lead her to Earth to discover her granddaughter.
The malevolent star evil spirits zoomed to Earth and promptly discovered the tree where Mayahuel
and Quetzalcoatl were stowing away. Similarly, as the evil presences showed up, the tree broke into
equal parts, and the branches blasted on the hard ground.

Insulted at her granddaughter for fleeing, Mayahuel's grandma violently assaulted the branch,
breaking it into pieces. At that point, she permitted the other tzitzimime to crush the branch before
eating portions of Mayahuel additionally. At the point when completed, the tzitzimime got back to
their home in the sky. Quetzalcoatl, who was never moved by the tzitzimime, changed over himself
into his typical god-like structure. Quetzalcoatl simplified a grave for Mayahuel by covering her in a
spot on the Earth. From her internment site, the main maguey plant developed. Also, from that
maguey plant, the principal pulque was made.
Analysis

In the Encyclopedia of World Religions, it is clarified how corn, or maize, went past being an essential
food to turn into a piece of the profound mentalities of the Aztecs.

The practically latent focus of the ranchers' religion was the maize plant . . . maize was life, and the
musicality of planting and procuring molded the entire idea of the significance of the progression of
time in Mexico.

When the green ears of corn initially started to show up in spring, it was cause for festivity. Maize
was depicted in female terms, and three divinities were huge. Xilonen, "youthful maize," was
depicted as a young adult young lady with the principal delicate corn of the blustery season reap
worn on her crown. Chicomecoatl, "seven snake," was the title given to dried seed corn, which was
gathered and saved for the following year; priestesses bearing ears of this seed corn showed up at
the beginning of the planting season. Cinteotl (Sin-tay-otl), "hallowed maize-ear," was the more
broad term for corn eaten after the primary gather season.

Ears of maize were packaged up to address Cinteotl and were put away in spots of high standing—
exceptional storage facilities where they would be kept until the planting of the seeds the
accompanying spring. At the reap festival, young ladies wore headbands and pieces of jewelry of
popcorn colored in bubbly tones. In the interim, clerics played out a sort of strict wizardry with the
goal that the maize would be shielded from bugs, infections, and other characteristic adversaries
every year.

Aztecs adored maize as though it were the most magnificent of blossoms, and in fact so it was.

THE CREATION OF MUSIC

Through humankind's set of experiences, individuals have celebrated, engaged, and supported each
other with music. The Aztecs were no particular case. Music was so essential to the Aztecs that they
asserted the divine beings had a critical part in carrying it to individuals. As indicated by the
accompanying Aztec legend, it took two divine beings who were regularly at chances with one
another, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, to cooperate to take music from its home in the sky carry it
to Earth.

Similarly, the Aztecs utilized music in all aspects of their lives, from strict, severe functions to festive
relaxation occasions. It would have been hard to figure out any time when music was not quieting or
energizing for the Aztec public.

Aztec functions frequently elaborate singing and moving. The Aztecs regarded proficient artists and
artists joined by professional symphonies that played during and after strict occasions. Their
instruments, produced using stone, wood, shells, and squash gourds, included woodwinds, horns,
whistles, and drums.

The artists and artists performed while the ensemble played behind the scenes, and frequently the
actual artists filled in as artists. On their garments, they wore normal noisemakers, similar to clatters
produced using bones and shells. As they moved, these materials seemed like percussion
instruments.
Performers likewise delivered their pleasant sounds at dining experiences and meals, many of which
occurred quickly following strict, severe functions. At times the music was played to engage those
assembled for an event. On different occasions, woodwinds and drums were utilized to give the
foundation to plays and verse readings. Without a doubt, music was cherished to such an extent that
a few aristocrats and other affluent individuals kept hidden ensembles in their homes. Nonetheless,
the Aztec head Montezuma II, the 10th Aztec lord, executed in 1520 A.D. at the point when the
Spanish intruders came, had little persistence for defective artists. He was condemned to jail for any
vocalist who could not adhere to the appropriate key or any artist who avoided a beat.

The accompanying fantasy, "The Creation of Music," was first written in the Aztecs' language as a
sonnet with a rhythmical and expressive rhythm, similar to the words to a tune.

The divine beings concurred that the fifth and present world was a lovely spot. The numerous pieces
of Tlaltecuhtli, the earth beast, had been magnificently changed to make the most beautiful sights.
There were vibrant blossoms, spouting waterways, rich woods, and reviving streams. This new Earth
was additionally home to superb mountains and meandering aimlessly glades. There were genuinely
sufficient regular wonders for everyone individuals of Earth to appreciate.

The divine beings delighted in the sights, as well, until one day when Tezcatlipoca checked out the
Earth and whined that something was absent. Creatures could thunder, and individuals could talk.
However, there was no music. Tezcatlipoca said that music could amuse the spirit like nothing else.

So Tezcatlipoca set out to figure out how to carry music to the world. His first errand was to contact
Quetzalcoatl to check whether the extraordinary god could help him. Around then, the feathered
snake god had appeared as Wind. The sound of blowing leaves and squeaking tree appendages let
Tezcatlipoca realize that Quetzalcoatl was en route to see him as Wind.

When Tezcatlipoca discovered Quetzalcoatl, he requested that he leave on a significant outing to

start at the sea's edge. There, Quetzalcoatl would discover three of Tezcatlipoca's workers: Water
Woman, Water Monster, and a third worker named Cane-and-Conch. Quetzalcoatl would have to
arrange the three workers to make him an extension coming to the Sun, for it was in place of Sun
that gifted performers and vocalists lived. Whenever he had gone into the place of Sun, Quetzalcoatl
would have the option to choose the best performers and vocalists and take them back to their new
home on Earth.

So Quetzalcoatl got in line. At the seashore, he tracked down the three workers Tezcatlipoca had
referenced. The threesome effectively fabricated the extension to the place of Sun, and Quetzalcoatl
continued to climb the scaffold until he arrived at the Sun.

After showing up in this new land, Quetzalcoatl discovered artists, everything being equal, each
wearing an alternate sort of uniform that mirrored his claim to fame. The performers who played
cradlesongs and melodies for little kids wore white apparel. Meandering performers who played as
they wandered among the mists were garbed in a distinctive shade of blue. Music creators washed
in the warm beams of the Sun while playing their woodwinds wearing shining yellow. Other people
who jumped at the chance to play melodic anecdotes about affection wore garments that were red
as a significant, succulent cherry.

One thing Quetzalcoatl saw was that no performers were wearing a dull or discouraging tone. The
fundamental justification: no miserable melodies were being played in place of Sun.
Sun delighted in the entirety of his artists and was not able to release any of them. When he
understood that Quetzalcoatl, as Wind, had made this visit to select his performers and carry them
to Earth, Sun advised his tune producers to be quiet. However long they made no sounds,
Quetzalcoatl, or Wind, would not have the option to find them.

The Wind required the artists to accompany him to Earth, yet they made no solid. He requested
them to follow him repeatedly, yet they did not play even a solitary note. Nor did they move even
one stage.

Back on Earth, Tezcatlipoca was getting so incensed by the performers' noncompliance that he chose
to terrify them into going out of Sun. Tezcatlipoca transformed the skies into a furious mass of dark
mists, lightning, and roar with all his force. Sun was first encircled, at that point gobbled up by the
unfavorable, dim tempest mists. Once more, Wind asked every one of the performers to accompany
him, and this time they flew towards him. The Wind delicately stroked the artists, securing them in
his arms as he conveyed them to Earth. The performers were invited by each living thing—
individuals, the creatures, the blossoms, and the trees.

Once on Earth, the melody crafters showed everybody how to play their alleviating music.
Individuals were not by any means the only ones to become familiar with the artists' privileged
insights, be that as it may. Music was likewise heard worldwide in the trilling of birds, the thunder of
the sea's waves, and the surging waters of a mountain stream. From that point on, music, all things
considered, would rouse, relieve, engage, stimulate, and quiet every one of the creatures on Earth.

Analysis

Was Quetzalcoatl genuine or nonexistent? Besides, exactly how exceptional would he say he was to
the Aztecs? Specialists on Aztec folklore believe that the god Quetzalcoatl outgrew a blend of legend
and actuality. He was presumably a genuine pioneer, for example, a minister or lord who gave the
Aztecs laws and life-affirming guidelines. It is realized that the Aztecs' predecessors, the Toltecs, took
the name Quetzalcoatl in the 10th century.

Researchers may contend whether Quetzalcoatl was one man or many, regardless of whether he
was local to the Americas or an outsider, whether he lived in some century. Nonetheless, they all
concur that his legend left an extraordinary, enduring impact on the essential societies of Central
America.

Quetzalcoatl's significance is reflected by his great name, which he gets from the brilliantly
wonderful quetzal bird. All quills were energetically esteemed [by the Aztecs]; however, the quetzal
crest held a unique spot in the Mexica creative mind. The modest male bird that developed the two
long bending tail quills living somewhere down in the far off tropical jungles toward the South was
uncommon. The quill fibers are light, long, and reflexive, so the minor development sets them
gleaming. Additionally, the tone, a plated emerald frequented by a profound singing violet-blue, is
exceptional: one of those visual encounters challenging to remember, so that each sees its minor
marvel . . .

Not many Mexica might have seen the fantastic bannered trip of this phenomenal bird undulating
across the sky, the following quetzal crest hazardous to each move and development noticeable all
around, yet even in quietness, their import was clear . . . The Mexica called their most esteemed
plumes and featherwork "the Shadows of the Sacred Ones," the great projections into this darkened
universe of the light, shading, and flawless delicacy of the universe of the gods.
THE BIRTH OF THE WAR GOD

Most societies have urban communities or different spots that are blessed to them. The city of
Jerusalem is sacred to individuals of three unique religions, Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims. The
Muslims' holiest urban areas are Mecca and Medina. Roman Catholics think about Vatican City, an
autonomous state encompassed by Rome, Italy, a sacred spot. Considerably more, as of late, settled
religions have their sacred spots. Individuals from the Mormon Church, established in the United
States in the nineteenth century, have their holiest holy places in Temple Square in Salt Lake City,
Utah.

One of the Aztecs' holiest destinations was a slope called Coatepec (Co-at-EH-pec). That
otherworldly mountain was situated almost an old city known as Tollan, situated around sixty miles
northwest of present-day Mexico City. Consistently, the Aztecs made a journey to Coatepec, where
they ate to pay tribute to their god Huitzilopochtli, whom they accepted had been brought into the
world on the slope.

Huitzilopochtli, who turned into the Aztecs' supporter god, addressed every one of the
characteristics a fighter ought to have: He was gutsy, in the great state of being, and consistently
successful in the fight. His name comes from two Aztec words: huitzilin, which signifies
"hummingbird," and opochtli, which is the word for both "left" and "south." So the god's name
presumably signified "the hummingbird of the south."

As well as being the Aztecs' divine force of war, Huitzilopochtli was a safeguard and defender for his
kin. It depended upon Huitzilopochtli to look after and lead them to their place of fate or guaranteed
land. He guaranteed his kin that they would find limitless food where they would be a strong country
if they followed his bearings. That spot was to turn into the sparkling Aztec city of Tenochtitlan,
based on an island-busy gleaming Lake Texcoco.

When the Aztec progress prospered, the island city's populace was around 250,000 individuals,
equivalent to that of a medium-sized American city today. Guests entered Tenochtitlan either by a
kayak or by foot across one of three broadened highways. The city appropriate was spread out in a
progression of trenches and roads. The presence of the channels made the Spanish intruders allude
to Tenochtitlan as "the Venice of the New World," since it helped them to remember the fantastic
city of Venice, Italy, which is likewise bound with waterways.

In the focal point of Tenochtitlan was the fundamental square. Aztec eminence lived in royal
residences encompassing the square, while everyday citizens made their homes in tiny houses on
the edges of the downtown area. North of the square was the enormous Tlatelolco (t'la-tay-LOH-
Koh) market. Ruling the city horizon was the pyramid-molded Great Temple. Just aristocrats were
permitted to enter the sanctuary.

While the north side of the Great Temple was devoted to Tlaloc, the downpour god, the southern
side was committed to Huitzilopochtli. By the southern strides of the sanctuary, the Aztec detainees
of war were put over a calming stone to have their hearts detached. Their bodies were then thrown
onto the base of the sanctuary steps. To the Aztecs, the principal sanctuary represented the mystical
mountain called Coatepec, where Huitzilopochtli was conceived.
Coatlicue (CO-at-lee-kway) was a legit lady who lived in the shadow of the mountain called
Coatepec. Coatlicue had a girl named Coyolxauhquil (Koh-yohl-SHAU-wa-ki), an insidious girl named
Malinalxochitl (mal-in-al-SHO-tch-it'l), and 400 children, aggregately known as the Centzon
Huitznahua (SENT-zon WEETS-na-wah). Coatlicue worked and performed strict ceremonies in a
gorge close to Coatepec when she saw a baffling chunk of quills on the ground. She was intrigued by
this odd, otherworldly blessing that appeared to have tumbled from the sky. Coatlicue unexpectedly
wanted to keep the bundle of quills, so she got it and tucked it under her garments. The plumes
were held set up near her body.

What Coatlicue did not understand was that the bundle of plumes was mystical and had
impregnated her. In no time, her developed youngsters saw that their mom's paunch was becoming
bigger and bigger. They demanded, knowing who the dad was. At the point when Coatlicue could
not offer them a response, they got irate. They felt that their mom had shamed their family and
ought to be rebuffed by death.

Coatlicue was scared, yet she could feel the infant inside speaking with her. The infant was calming
her, disclosing to her beginning and end would be OK. When the opportunity arrived to conceive an
offspring, Coatlicue moved to the highest point of Coatepec. Still angered, her youngsters followed
her to the mountain's highest point to execute their mom. Notwithstanding, similarly as they arrived
at the highest point of Coatepec, the child was conceived. He was named Huitzilopochtli. He was no
standard child. Huitzilopochtli appeared on the scene, full-grown and dressed in defensive layer and
holding a progression of dangerous weapons. He was prepared to battle any foe of his mom. His
most dangerous weapon was a blade-like device called a xiuhcoatl (shi-wuh-KO-atl), which signifies
"shoot snake."

Huitzilopochtli, at that point, went on the assault against the Centzon Huitznahua. Even though
these 400 children of his mom were his stepbrothers, Huitzilopochtli remembered them as risks. He
slaughtered a few immediately, at that point, pursued the others around the culmination of
Coatepec before destroying a few more. A couple of his relatives got away and endured. However,
Huitzilopochtli and Coatlicue were protected and sound.

The Aztec public acknowledged Huitzilopochtli as their champion god. Thus, he revealed that he
would lead them to a guaranteed land, where they would live and thrive. He said, "Here I will unite
the assorted people groups, and not to no end, for I will overcome them, that I may see the place of
jade, the place of gold, the place of quetzal plumes; the place of emeralds, the place of coral, the
place of amethysts; the various quills—the dazzling cotinga plumes, the roseate spoonbill plumes,
the trogon plumes—every one of the valuable plumes; and the cacao of variegated tones, and the
cotton of variegated tones! I will see this, for in truth it is my work, it was for this that I was sent
here."

At some point, Huitzilopochtli was dozing close to his sister, Malinalxochitl. As she dozed,
Huitzilopochtli arose and left to begin his excursion to lead the Aztec individuals to their new
guaranteed land. Malinalxochitl woke up and saw her sibling had left her. Her heart was loaded up
with outrage towards her sibling. She drove her adherents to a mountain named Texcatepetl (TEKS-
visit eh-pet'l), where she brought forth a child she called Copil (KOH-strip).

In the meantime, Huitzilopochtli drove the Aztec individuals to Coatepec, the mountain where he
was conceived. Individuals accepted this to be their guaranteed land and settled there cheerfully. By
the by, Huitzilopochtli concluded it was not the perfect spot. To constrain individuals to surrender
their new homes at Coatepec, he poked a hole in a close-by dam keeping down a waterway.
When the opening was made, a downpour of water hurried over the land, executing the plants and
creatures furnishing the Aztecs with food. So Huitzilopochtli drove individuals on another excursion,
this opportunity to a spot named Techcatitlan (tetch-Kah-TEE-t'lan).

At Techcatitlan, Huitzilopochtli met his nephew, Copil, who had grown up to be even eviler than his
mom. The uncle and nephew combat until Huitzilopochtli pursued Copil to a spot called Tepetzinco
(the-peh-T'ZIN-koo). Here, Huitzilopochtli caught and slaughtered Copil, removing his head and
detaching his heart. Huitzilopochtli gave his nephew's heart to a worker and requested that he
discard it in a backwoods of reeds.

At that point, Huitzilopochtli approached his own business. For the following forty years,
Huitzilopochtli and the Aztecs meandered through the wild, searching for their specific home. There
were times when they thought they had discovered their guaranteed land, yet Huitzilopochtli was
continually paying extraordinary mind to his kin. If they were in some unacceptable spot, he ensured
they proceeded onward.

For instance, once, they showed up and got comfortable in a weird realm. Huitzilopochtli realized
this was not their guaranteed land. Under his force, the Aztecs executed the girl of the lord. They
cleaned the princess and had one of their ministers wear her skin while they played out a service.
When the ruler saw this fierce custom, he drove the Aztecs away from his territory, similarly as
Huitzilopochtli had arranged. They proceeded on their long trip to track down the specific spot they
would call home.

Finally, their excursion took the Aztecs to the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco. Individuals, conveying
bolts and safeguards, crossed the lake and, when they arrived at an island in the center, one of the
Aztec clerics saw Huitzilopochtli in a dream. In this vision, the extraordinary god advised the cleric to
look for a falcon that would be perched on a desert flora called tenochtli (the-NOTCH-t'li), or "stone
cactus," while holding a snake in its snout. Huitzilopochtli told the minister that the cactus had
developed from the heart of his fiendish sister, Copil. The bird was an actual exemplification of
Huitzilopochtli.

The cleric and his supporters continued forward, looking for the vision. At that point, close to some
swamp grasses, they saw a hawk eating a snake almost a spring. It was sitting on desert flora.

The story proceeds:

Moreover, when the hawk saw the Mexicans, he bowed his head low . . . Its home, its bed, was of
each sort of valuable plume—of dazzling coting quills, roseate spoonbill plumes, quetzal plumes . . .
Furthermore, the god shouted to them, he said to them, 'O Mexicans, it will be there!'

It was on that detect that the Aztecs established what might get Tenochtitlan, their impressive
home.

Specialists decipher the birth and life of Huitzilopochtli differently. Around 100 years prior, a German
researcher named Eduard Seller said that Huitzilopochtli addressed the recently conceived Sun
shooting out copying beams. The dealer proposed that the Centzon Huitznahua, whom
Huitzilopochtli vanquished, addressed the stars that submit to the Sun at the beginning of each new
day.
Huitzilopochtli's introduction to the world represents the Aztecs' predominance over their
neighbors. Taube says, "The introduction of this god gave . . . the Aztecs' entitlement to manage over
their crushed foes."

The significance of the birth and triumphs of Huitzilopochtli and how he was deified when they were
building their home city in their guaranteed land.

At Tenochtitlan, hundreds of years after the fact, the Great Pyramid with Huitzilopochtli's sanctum
would be named Coatepetl, in remembrance of this mythic fight mountain ridge, and at the
pyramid's foot lay a huge dismantled model of Coyolxauhqui.

The Mexica movement story has every one of the components of a groundbreaking entry, whereby
the Mexica are transformed from their past selves and are supplied with the attributes essential for
their supreme achievement. They start as . . . semi-brute individuals who exist by chasing, gathering,
and at times utilizing horticulture and arise as appropriate enemies and partners to the persuasive
individuals in the valley.

It is not difficult to note from this legend that numerous societies have similar stories. For instance,
the introduction of Huitzilopochtli was the aftereffect of a perfect origination, similarly to the
introduction of Jesus, portrayed in the New Testament of the Bible. As a full-grown god,
Huitzilopochtli drives his kin through forty years of meandering through the wild, how Moses drives
the Israelites for a similar measure of time in the Old Testament of the Bible. Plus, the forty years of
looking in both the Aztec and Biblical stories resulted in the landing of their guaranteed land.

This has been an

LEARN ALCHEMICAL PRODUCTION

In association with Boaz Media

Secrets of Mesoamerica
From Aztec Kings

to

Mayan Mythology

Written by

Windsor Lopez

Narrated

by

Jamie Hoskin

The END