Transcript File - Mexican mythology

By: Michael Englese
• El Chupacabra which
means goat sucker. The name
comes from its habbits of biting
and drinking the blood of
livestock especially goats. It is
rumored to inhabit parts of the
americas The name comes
from the animal's reported
habit of attacking and drinking
the blood of livestock
especially goats. The first
reported attacks occurred in
March 1995 in Puerto Rico. In
this attack, eight sheep were
discovered dead, each with
three puncture wounds in the
chest area and completely
drained of blood.
•
There were several theories as to
how the creature came about.
Everything from alien extraterrestrial pets to subterranean
dwelling creatures that were
loosed upon the surface by an
earthquake. However the most
popular theories is that the
monsters were created in a secret
US military base deep in the
jungle, that escaped in the
aftermath of hurricane Hugo.
There is no proof that this creature
actually exist but it is still a
mystery waiting to be solved.
• Centeotl (also Cinteotl), The
Lord of Maize. He is also
known as Xilonen, "The
Harry One“ Centeol is the
son of Tlazolteotl. His female
partner is the maize goddess
Chicomecoatl ("Seven
Snake").
• In Aztec mythology, maize
was brought to this world by
Quetzalcoatl.
• In the tonalpohualli, Centeotl
is the Lord of the Day for
days with number 7
(chicome in Nahuatl). He is
the fourth Lord of the Night.
• Aztec associated owls with death, so
Mictlantecuhtli is often depicted wearing owl
feathers in his headdress. He is also depicted
with a skeletal shape with knives in his
headdress to represent the wind of knives which
souls encounter on their way to the underworld.
Sometimes Mictlantecuhtli may also be depicted
as a skeleton covered with blood wearing a
necklace of eyeballs or wearing clothes of paper,
a common offering to the dead. Human bones
are used as his ear plugs, too.
• Mictlantecuhtli is ruler of Mictlan, the Aztec
underworld, with his wife Mictecacihuatl.
Aztec hoped to have a death good enough
for one of the many paradises they
believed in. Those who failed to gain
admission to a paradise were forced to
endure a four-year journey through the
nine hells of Mictlan. After all the trials,
they reached the abode of Mictlantecuhtli
where they suffered in his Underworld.
• As the god of death and the underworld,
Mictlantecuhtli was naturally feared and
myths portray him in a negative manner.
He often takes pleasure at the suffering
and death of people; in one myth, he tries
to trick Quetzalcoatl into staying in Mictlan
forever. At the same time, he had a
positive side and could grant life as well.
• In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh was the sun god.
The Aztec people considered him the leader of
Tollan, their heaven. He was also known as the
fifth sun, because the Aztecs believed that he
was the sun that took over when the fourth sun
was expelled from the sky. According to their
cosmology, each sun was a god with its own
cosmic era. According to the Aztecs, they were
still in Tonatiuh's era. According to the Aztec
creation myth, the god demanded human
sacrifice as tribute and without it would refuse to
move through the sky.
• It is said that 20,000 people were sacrificed each
year to Tonatiuh and other gods, though this
number is thought to be inflated either by the
Aztecs, who wanted to inspire fear in their
enemies, or the Spaniards, who wanted to vilify
the Aztecs. The Aztecs were fascinated by the
sun and carefully observed it, and had a solar
calendar second only in accuracy to the
Mayans'. Many of today's remaining Aztec
monuments have structures aligned with the
sun.
• He was a sun-god, and heavenly warrior; God of the Sun
represented by the eagle. Poor and ill, Tonatiuh cast
himself into the flames, and being burnt up, was
resurrected. Daily Tonatiuh repeats his passage across
the heavens, down into darkness, and back again into
the sky. With him Tonatiuh carries all brave warriors who
have died in battle and all brave women who have died
in childbirth. The greatest heroes Tonatiuh carries with
him to the greatest heights. to Tonatiuhican.