Antithesis and Complementarity Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl in Creation Myths
Antithesis and Complementarity Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl in Creation Myths
Antithesis and Complementarity Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl in Creation Myths
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l. General introduction
It was believed that he alone ruled the world, that [rom him proeeeded
prosperity and riehes and that he alone withdrew these things on a
whim [... ] when he roamed on earth he incited wars, enmities, dsagree
ments, whch led to trouble and perturbaton. They said that he set
men against one another in order to promote war, they also called him
N ecoe Yaotl, wich means sower of discord (Sahagn 1880, 14-15).
o Other sources confirm the view whieh Sahagm gives us of Tezcatlipoca. According to
the Historia de los Mexicanos por SUS Pinturas, for examp1e, Tezcatlipoca was: (...) the greatest
and lhe worst [ofthe four gods of creation] (... ). (PomaJ~ 1941 ; 209)
1 For analyses of the negative sides ofTezcatlipoca, see especially: Brundage, 1979, 82
101; Nicholson, 1971, 412. Tezcatlipoca as a symbol of evil cOlltrasled with the benevolent
Quetzalcad, see Caso, 1962, 25.
2111e Mexieans imagined that, once created, the world passed through a succession of
eras, and lhe gods who presided over them, were called Suns (written with a capital letter).
AccOl'ding to ancient sources, there were four 01' five ol' them.
ANTITHESIS AND COMPLEMENTARIIT: TEZCATLIPOCA 155
The Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas describes to us how, at the
dawn of time, Quetzalcatl and Huitzilopochtli created a half sun, fire,
and the ancestors of men: "Then lhey made a man and a woman: the named
lhe man Uxumuco and woman Cipactonal, ordered lhem lo work lhe land and
lhe woman lo sPin and sew and mm thern were born lhe macehuales, who never
rested bul w01'ked ail the time (...). These men were doubtless intended to
populate the earth (Pomar 1941,210).3
The text goes on to explain that later Tezcatlipoca made himself Sun,
as the half sun created by his brother provided insufficient light to the
world: (. ..) lhe gods saw how lttle light carne fmm lhe half sun which had been
cTealed, and lhey decided that lhey would have lo make another, in arder to light
Ihe whole world; and seeing this, Tzcatlipoca made himself Sun(... ) (Pomar,
1941,212).
After Tezcatlipoca became Sun, the gods created giants : (... ) who
were very lmge men, so slrong that they could tear up trees with their hands,
:\ Huitzilopocbtli, who is mentionned at the same time as tbe Plumed Serpent as the
creator of the first macehuales, has a much less prominent role. He makes no furthelO personal
inteTVemions n the following stages of the crearon, and plays a mnimal part in the following
outlne. Funhennore, in all tbe other creaton mytbs, whether from the Hiltoyre dll Mechique
(t\\'o versions) or Hum the &pol Vuh, onl)' Tezcatlpoca and Quctzalc3tl are named as demiurges
(lJisto:yre dll Mechique 1905, 30-31 and 33; Tedlock, 19f15, 72-83,),
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and they ate nothng but acoros (. ..) (dem, 212). The giants lived until the
end of Tezcatlipoca's Sun. It is almost certain, furthermore, that they
and not the macehuales formed the population at this periodo The Histoyre
du Mechique mentions only the giants when referring to the inhabitants
ofthe first era: (. ..) the men ofthe first world were as great as giants. (Histoyre
du Mechique 1905, 29). It is thus possible that the creation of the
macehuales by Quetzalcatl and Huitzilopochtli was something of a fail
ure, since they do not seem to have constituted the human race of the
first Sun (or, at least, were not the dominant population).
Let us now compare the macehuales of Quetzalcatl with the giants
of the Smoking Mirror's Sun. The men made by the Plumed Serpent
were farmers and laboured constantly in order to survive. They con
fronted the giants of Tezcatlipoca's Sun, who were gatherers. More
over, the ability of these giants to tear up trees with their bare hands,
and thus in sorne manner to destroy the vegetaton, seems to form a
drect contrast with the long and hard labour of the farmers, who de
voted ther lives to the cultivaton of plants. In terms of the myth, there
fore, the giants enjoya Jife of ea se compared wth the farmers, who are
condemned to struggle.
There is more. The size of the giants was perhaps perceived as a threat
to the superiorty of the gods. According to the Histoyre du Mechique,
Ehecatl went to Mictlan to find human bones in order to create mod
ern mano However, whilst fleeing from Mictlantecuhtli, who wanted to
recover the remains, Ehecatl dropped his precious burden, which broke.
As a result :
(... ) man carne out small; for they say the men ofthe firstworld were
large as giants (...) on the fourth day, man and woman were created: but
they were not full-sized at first, allowing nature to talce her course (idem,
28-29).
The text then explains that after the creaton of mankind, Ehecatl
created maguey, so that men should be happy on earth:
l. The text exp1icitly states that men wou1d have been giants, had
Ehecatl not inopportune1y broken the bones;
2. man is described as a creature who is a Priori sad, and who must
be conso1ed.
Let us compare this text with an extract from the Popol Vith. In this
celebrated Mayan text, modern man is shown to be of outstanding in
telligence: "Perfectly they saw, perfectly they knew everythingunder the sky,
whenever they looked. (...) As they looked, their knowledge became intense"
(Ted1ock, 1985, 165). This displeased the gods, for the extraordinary
vision of men made them their equals: "}1t they'll become as great as gods(... )
(dem, 166). Huracan therefore blurred their sight (read as: intelligence)
and: "(.. .) such was the loss 01the means 01understanding, along with the means
01knowing everything(. ..) (dem, 167). The conclusion of this text is particu
larly interesting. According to the myth, mankind was subsequently given
women, and: "Right away they were happy at heart again, because 01 their
wives" (dem, 167). Did they have to be made happy once more to com
pensate for the 10ss of their uncommon wisdom? If so, we can suppose
that the men of the Histoyre du Mechique were unhappy because of their
10ss of stature. The two cases thus present a similar pattern:
4 Women and intoxicating drink are equaJly linked in Indian myth. According to a passage
from the Mahabharata, two groups of gods became involved in a conflicto One of the groups
called on the help of an ascetic who made a gigantic man named Mada (Drunkenness). This
158 MONICA MINNECI
creature threatened to devour the world. The gods, therefore, became reconciled; the ascetic
cut the giant into four pieces, and his spirit was divided among four intoxicating things:
women, drink, gambling and hUllling (Dumzil, 1986, 285-6).
ANTITHESIS AND COMPLEME!\'TARI1Y: TEZCATLIPOCA 159
There s a contrast between the giant and the four hundred young
meno The latter dragged the beam wth difficulty, whereas Zipacna lifted
it with ease. Is this an antithesis comparable to the one which 1 believe
can be drawn between the giants of Tezcatlipoca's Sun and the
macehuales? Perhaps so. The twns, acting in the name of Huracan, la
ment the deaths of the four hundred young meno Their moderate
strength was no doubt regarded as ideal, since the god they served was
precisely the divinity who took care that men should not beco me equal
to the gods. Zipacna, on the other hands, was seen by the twins as an
enemy to be destroyed. This should not surprise us, since the text makes
it clear, through the words of the young men, that his physical strength
was abad thing.
The giants of Popol Hth and those of Tezcatlipoca's Sun are thus
comparable. In consequence, it is possible that the size of the latter, by
analogy with the Mayan example, was a threat to the precedence of the
gods.
To summarise: we know now that Tezcatlipoca remedied the weak
ness of the half-star created by his brother by making himself Sun, thus
leading to the first era: that of the giants. The lattel~ rather dIe and with
an immoderate strength which challenged the superiority of the gods,
contrast with the men created by Quetzalcatl and Huitzilopochtli, who
are not so powerful and who labour unremittingly. There is thus at the
same time contrast (the characteristics of the men and the giants are
antithetical) and complementarity (Tezcatlipoca creates a halfSun which
completes that of Quetzalcatl) between the creations of the two gods.
However, this analysis is incomplete. In order to be sure of the
relevance of the pattern displayed in the episode in which Tezcatlipoca
created the flrst day-star, we must be sure that it appears in the inverse
situaton, .e. when Quetzalcatl made himself Sun. We therefore turn
to the analysis of this new myth in the followng section.
Let us now turn to the creation of the last Sun, which was the star of
Quetzalcatl's son. In sorne respects, the situation which preceded the
birth of this era is similar to that which gave rise to the first (that is, to
the Sun of Tezcathpoca). The Hstoria de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas
explains that the fourth sun carne to an end through floods, which
caused the skies to faH in on the earth (Pomar, 1941, 214). It was thus
necessary to raise the heavens and revive the earth (idem, 214). We then
wtness a re-creaton of the universe (perhaps related t the crearon
160 MONICA MINNECI
(... ) they fashioned aman and a woman (...) and from them were bom
the macehuales( ...). Then they formed Mictantecutli and Mctecacihuatl,
husband and wife, who were the gods of the underworld, and they set
them there (... ); all four [gods] carne together once more to create the
god and goddess ofwater (... ) they constructed the earth from the fish
named Cipactli( ... ) (dem, 214).
Here we seem to have a new starting point. The Sun of this new era
is to be the son of QuetzalcatJ.5 What features must he have, in order
to confirm the pattern established through the analysis of the first Sun?
They are quite straightforward. What we have here is the reverse of the
situation which we found in the first era. In other words, when the son
of Quetzalcatl (who is confused with his father, see note 5) becomes
the last Sun instead of Tezcatlipoca, we may reasonably expect that
their roles will be partIy reversed throughout the myth, thus:
;, According lO the Historia de los Mexicanos par sus Pinturas, Quet7..alcatl asked that his
son should become Sun (Pomar, 1941, 25). However, a comparison with other lexts which
describe the creation 01' lhe sun and the moon suggests that it was Quelzalcatl himself who
bec,'lme lhe day-star. TIlese refer to Nanahuatl as sun, Nanahuatl being an avata ol'Quetzalcatl
(Texts naming Nanahuatl as sun : Cadice CftilOOljlOPOca 1945, 122; Hisloyre du Mechique, 1905,
32; See also. Coe. Michael D., Whittaker, Gordon, Azlec Sorcerers in Sevenleenth Ceniury Mexico.
The Treatise Ol! Superslilion by Hemando Ruiz de Alarcn, Albany, New York, 'Jhe Unversity,
1982, 101.). One may add lhe Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Piruras, which aHudes to the
"son ofQuetzalcatl" as Sun, also statng that the Moon was the "son ofTlaloc", god ofrain
(Pomar, 1941, 216). TIlis certainly means that the Sun shares he essellce ol' Quetzalcatl,
whilst the Moon is equated wilh Tlaloc (the night-starwas associated in Mesoamerican thought
wirh he rain godo The ancient Mexcans imagined that the paradise ofTlaloc n'lalocan), the
destination of those who, for example, mel ther death by drowning, was situated on the
moon (Codex Iitlcanus A pI. 2, 11)..For further details on the subjecl of the links between
the l1loon and Tlalocan see Graulicb, Mchel, M. Mythes et Tituels du Mexique anen prhisjmnique,
Bruxelles, Acadmie royale de Belgique, 1987, 124. )
162 MONICA MINNECI
the knell of the fourth era, Tezcatlipoca advised a roan and a woroan
(called Tata and Nene) to take refuge in the hollowed-out trunk of a
cypress tree (C6dice Chimalpopoca, 1943, 120). Dne must suppose that
the Smoking Mirror intended thus to save them, so that they might
form the nucleus from which the human race could develop during the
fifth Sun. But fate decided othetwise. Seeing the water level decline,
the two human creatures carne out of their refuge and lit a fire in order
to cook a fish (dem, 120). To punish them Tezcatlipoca cut off their
heads and stuck them to their behinds, thus turning them into dogs
(idem, 120). In some interpretations, the lighting of fire is a metaphor
for coupling. To procreate is to assume the right to creation, which is
the prerogative of the supreme couple (Graulich, 1987, 107). Tata and
Nene, by their impious act, had made themselves equal to the gods.
To recapitulate: before the creation of the first Sun, Quetzalcatl and
Huitzipochtli created a half-star which gave out liule light, and the
macehuales who were meant to populate the world during the first era. To
remedy the weakness of the light produced by his brothel~ Tezcatlipoca
made himself Sun, thus beginning the era of the giants, whose size and
strength were perhaps regarded as a threat to the superiority of their
creators. Quetzalcatl was thus faced with a double failure, since neither
the sun nor the roen he created can fill (or only imperfectly) their roles.
A globally inverted pattern appears with the creaton of the last
Sun. It is now rlezcatlipoca who fails to light the world sufficiently with
his great fires, and who tries to found a new human race from two
beings (Tata and Nene) who by their acts come to equal the gods. Sub
sequently Quetzalcatl's son makes himself into the Sun in order to
make up for the insufficient brightness of the fires built by the Smok
ing Mirror. We can thus see that the two deities were not simply con
trasting, as would be the case with two entirely incompatible gods, but
were equally indispensable to the smooth running of the world.
To complete our comparison, there remains only to examine hu
manity living under the Sun ofQuetzalcatl. The Historia de los Mexicanos
por sus Pinturas tells us that these were macehuales (Pomar, 1941, 215),
as we would expect. According to this source, they were created by all
the gods.
The contrast, therefore, is between lezcatlipoca and Quetzalcatl:
a) each in turn suffers a double failure;
b) each puts right the mistakes of the other, at least in the matter
of the illumination of the world.
In the case ofmankind, the situation is more complicated. Accord
ing to the Historia de los Mexicanos, the failure of the god attempting
ANTITHESIS AND COMPLEMENTARI1Y: TEZCATLIPOCA 163
creation (who is always the first to try to people the world) is corrected
by all the gods (who created the giants in the first case and lhe macehuales
in the second). Sorne sources, however, link the macehuales more closely
to Quetzalcatl. In the Leyenda de los Soles and the Histoyre du Mechique
it is Quetzalcatl or his atavar Ehecatl who looked for the bones in
Mictlan in order to create the mankind of the fifth Sun (Cdice
Chimalpopoca, 1945, 120; Histoyre du Mechique 1905,28). This assocation
is implied in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, since the Plumed
Serpent is described as the creator of the macehllales (first creation), or,
through his son, as the Sun which dominates them (last era).
From this we can conclude thal the creations of the Plumed Ser
pent are characterised by their moderation, so that men are inferior to
gods. By contrast, Tezcatlipoca stands out as the creator and ruler of
immoderation, which threatens, in various ways, the superiority of the gods.
However, despite the excessive natures of the creatures most closely
assocated with him, Tezcatlipoca plays as large a part as his brother in
maintaining the world in a dynamism indispensable to its survival.
Through their different creations, the brothers each correct th/: mis
takes of the other, suggesting that they were in tended as part of a single
plan, and are fundamentally complementary. Neither can do without
lhe other. In such a perspective, there is little place for positive and
negative extremes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BRUNDAGE, Burr Cartwright, The Fifth Sun : Aztec Gods, Aztec World, Austin,
London, University ofTexas Press, 1979.
CASO, Alfonso, El Pueblo del Sol, Mxico, Fondo de Cultura Econmica,
1962.
Cdice Chimalpopoca. Anales de Cuauhtitlan y Leyenda de los Soles, [trad. P. F.
Velsquez, with faes. ] Mxico, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de
Mxico, 1945.
Codex Vticanus 3738 der Biblioteca Apostlica Vticana, Graz ,Akademisehe
Druek-u Verlagsanstalt, 1974 [Cdices Seleeti, 65. Farbeproduktion des
codex in Weiklernertr Format] .
COE, WD., Gordon vVhittaker , Aztec Sorcerers in Seventeenth Century Mexico.
The Treatise on Supentitions by Hemando Ruiz de Alarcn, Albany, New
York, The University, 1982.
DUMEZIL, Georges, Mythe et epoPe. ; idologie des tmis fonctions dans les PoPes
des peuples indo-eumpens, Paris , Gallimard, 1986.
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