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The name Quetzalcoatl comes from Nahuatl and means "Precious serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent". [15] In the 17th century, Ixtlilxóchitl, a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of the Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers' but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'."
He is most usually interpreted as the aspect of the Feathered Serpent deity (Quetzalcoatl in Aztec and other Nahua cultures) as a god of wind, and is therefore also known as Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. [1] Ehecatl also figures prominently as one of the creator gods and culture heroes in the mythical creation accounts documented for pre-Columbian ...
Angered, Tezcatlipoca turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world. Quetzalcoatl, then, replaced him as the sun and started the second age of the world, and it became populated again. [24] Tezcatlipoca overthrew Quetzalcoatl, forcing him to send a great wind that devastated the world, and the people who survived were turned into monkeys.
The word entered English through Spanish. The quetzal plays a central role in Mesoamerican mythology and is associated with the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl . The word quetzal was originally used for just the resplendent quetzal , the long-tailed quetzal of Guatemala , (more specifically the area of Northern Guatemala known as the Petén) which is ...
Austin (et al.) goes into detail explaining the mythical significance of the Quetzalcoatl’s headdress for which the following interpretation is based: the Quetzalcoatl was regarded as the “extractor-bearer” of the forces of time and is being depicted as “transporting time-destiny in the abstract to the surface of the earth”. [12]
Mexican mask-folk art refers to the making and use of masks for various traditional dances and ceremony in Mexico. Evidence of mask making in the region extends for thousands of years and was a well-established part of ritual life in the pre-Hispanic territories that are now Mexico well before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire occurred.
[14] [15] His association with Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent deity, imbues the headdress with a layer of religious and cultural symbolism. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] The headdress, crafted with the feathers of sacred birds is a powerful emblem of this connection.
In the Yucatec Maya language, the name is spelt Kʼukʼulkan (/kʼuː kʼuːlˈkän/) and in Tzotzil it is Kʼukʼul-chon (/kʼuːˈkʼuːl tʃʰon/). [4] The Yucatec form of the name is formed from the word kuk "feather" with the adjectival suffix -ul, giving kukul "feathered", [5] combined with kan "snake" (Tzotzil chon), [6] giving a literal meaning of "feathered snake".