March 30, 2005

• Tezcatlipoca
  
  
  The god whose name means Smoking Mirror came down to the Aztecs and
  Mixtecs from the Toltec culture which preceded them.  In Aztec
  myth, he was the dark, sinister counterpart and rival of
  Quetzalcoatl.  They were co-creators of the world.

  In one creation myth, there was only the sea and the Earth-Monster
  Cipactli, a crocodile.  Before the god brothers could form the
  land, they had to catch it, so to speak.  Tezcatlipoca dangled his
  foot as bait for Cipactli and she ate it. 

   He replaced the foot with a weapon, a mirror that smoked and brought
  confusion and destruction to his enemies.  Confusion and
  destruction are this god’s domain.  He is the patron of royalty,
  sorcerers, and warriors.  He tempts people to evil acts and
  incites wars.

  Creator
  and Trickster, Seducer and Destroyer, there’s the Black Tezcatlipoca
  and the White one.  Some myths identify White Tezcatlipoca with
  Quetzalcoatl.  This is what happens when deities get passed down
  through a series of cultures, especially when those deities specialize
  in baffling and confusing their creatures. 

  Tezcatlipoca is a shape-shifter, often appearing as a jaguar. 
  He’s also known as Mixcoatl, god of hunting and war, and as Omacatl
  “two reeds”, god of joy and feasting.  Mixcoatl invented fire by
  twisting the heavens as a fire-drill.  Omacatl invented parties
  and hospitality.  Chocolate is sacred to Tezcatlipoca, as it is to
  the rain god Tlaloc.

  Tezcatlipoca seduced (or kidnapped) Tlaloc’s wife Xochiquetzal, the
  goddess of flowers.  His own wife, Xilonen, AKA Chicomecoatl, is
  the goddess of food and agriculture, particularly maize.  The
  storytelling potential there:  the practical provider-wife at
  home,  the stolen flower-girl fertility goddess and her angry
  rain-god husband, is practically endless.

  
  The ceremonial mask of Tezcatlipoca above, made from a human skull
  lined with leather and inlaid with turquoise, lignite coal, and iron
  pyrite, is in the British Museum in London.  Mexico City’s Museo
  del Templo Mayor holds the funerary urn pictured below. 

  

  In this beautiful funerary urn, he can be seen with his principal
  attribute: a mirror emitting smoke in place of one of his feet. Framed
  by a feathered serpent, the god is armed for war with his spearthrower
  or atlatl in one hand and darts in the other. He wears a headdress with
  long feathers, a pectoral, and bracelets at the wrists and anklets. In
  addition to incinerated bone remains, the urn contained a necklace made
  of obsidian beads fashioned into duck heads , which is exhibited around
  the urn. Obsidian is one of the materials related to Tezcatlipoca, therefore
  it is not unusual that the collar is made precisely of this material. Furthermore,
  this type of necklace is typically associated with urns containing cremated
  human remains.
  Museo
  del Templo Mayor

  About this entry:  Don’t ask why.  I don’t know. 
  Maybe it has something to do with the Jaguar cult or with
  chocolate.  Maybe it’s just because I love the Nahuatl language
  and the feel of “tl” rolling off my tongue.  Maybe it’s because I
  happened to stumble upon that funerary urn yesterday.

  PS — lupa suggested I post a link to help with pronunciation.  Here’s a wav file pronouncing Tezcatlipoca:
  http://members.aol.com/cabrakan/tezcat.wav
  …and here’s a bigger one, on the Nahuatl language:   http://talkbank.talkbank.org/media/Exploration/Nahuatl/

  • 2:27 pm
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