Transcript The Return of Quetzalcoátl and the Fall of Man

"Man is alone everywhere. But the
solitude of the Mexican, under the
great stone night of the high plateau
that is still inhabited by insatiable
gods, is very different from that of
the North American, who wanders
in an abstract world of machines,
fellow citizens and moral precepts.
In the Valley of Mexico man feels
himself suspended between heaven
and earth, and he oscillates between
contrary powers and forces, and
petrified eyes and devouring
mouths. Reality -- that is, the world
that surrounds us -- exists by itself
here, has a life of its own, and was
not invented by man as it was in the
United States."
Octavio Paz, joven
Octavio Paz, viejo
The Return of Quetzalcoátl and
the Fall of Man
Click on icon for the Myth of Quetzalcoátl
Click on icon for text of lecture
Bandera de Mexico con águila y serpiente
Detalle de águila y serpiente
Templo Mayor
El Museo Nacional de Antropología cuenta
con esta reconstrucción del Templo Mayor,
el recinto sagrado de la capital
mexica, donde se puede apreciar la magnitud
del conjunto ceremonial.
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Serpientes: Templo Mayor, México, D.F.
Templo Mayor: Tenochtitlán (Mexico City)
Click on head for Aztec Cosmogony
Click on Aztec Sunstone for Aztec Links
Coatlicue: The Lady of the Skirt of Snakes
The Náhuatl Language of the Aztecs
Aztecs spoke a language called Náhuatl (pronounced NAH waht l). It
belongs to a large group of Indian languages which also include the
languages spoken by the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other tribes of
western North America. The Aztec used pictographs to communicate
through writing. Some of the pictures symbolized ideas and other
represented the sounds of the syllables.
The
Haced
Click en la
imagen
Historia de
La Conquista
J.C. Orozco,
Hospicio
Cabañas
El Hombre de Hierro;
J.C. Orozco,
Hospicio Cabañas
Cortés y
La Malinche
J.C. Orozco,
Hospicio Cabañas
Xochicalco, Centro Ceremonial, Morelos, México
Cancha de Pelota, Xochicalco
Xochicalco, Centro Ceremonial, Morelos,
México
Tepozlán (Morelos, México)
Teotihuacán: Avenue of the Dead and Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacán: Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacán: Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacán: Temple of Quetzalcoátl
Cabeza de Quetzalcoátl, Templo Teotihuacán
Quetzalcoátl = Feathered Serpent
Quetzal = Green Parrot (The Good in Man)
Coátl = Serpent (The Evil in Man)
Quetzalcoátl
José Clemente Orozco: The Prophecy
Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: The Departure of Quetzalcoátl
Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: Aztec Warriors
Baker Library, Dartmouth College
Aztec Human Sacrifice
Skull rack altar (tzompantli) of Templo Mayor, Mexico City
Since the Toltecs' era, the chac-mool served as a vessel from man to the
gods. It was believed to deliver the sacrificial heart to the gods in the
heavens. While the Aztecs used such large bowls like the aforementioned
eagle and jaguar bowls, they also employed the more traditional chacmool for the same purpose. One of the oldest constructions of the Great
Temple shows a very early chac-mool in the Aztec empire.
José Clemente Orozco: Ancient Human Sacrifice
Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: Modern Human Sacrifice
Baker Library, Dartmouth College
Hombre en Llamas (Man Aflame) Hospicio Cabañas
José Clemente
Orozco
José Guadalupe Posada
"History has the cruel reality of a
nightmare, and the grandeur of man
consists in his making beautiful and
lasting works out of the real
substance of that nightmare. Or, to
put it another way,it consists in
transforming the nightmare into
vision; in freeing ourselves from
the shapeless horror of reality--if
only for a moment -- by means of
creation."
Octavio Paz
Epitafio para un poeta
Quiso cantar, cantar
para olvidar
su vida verdadera de mentiras
y recordar
su mentirosa vida de verdades.
Bajo tu clara sombra …
Donde vibra el instante,
La frenética música;
La cima de los besos
La plenitud del mundo y de sus formas.