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[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.
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'."
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]
The Aztec feathered serpent deity known as Quetzalcoatl is known from several Aztec codices, such as the Florentine codex, as well as from the records of the Spanish conquistadors. Quetzalcoatl was known as the deity of wind and rain, bringer of knowledge, the inventor of books, and associated with the planet Venus.
Statue of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, in the Brooklyn Museum (New York City) Since the wind blows in all directions, Ehecatl was associated with all the cardinal directions. His temple was built as a cylinder in order to reduce the air resistance, and was sometimes portrayed with two protruding masks through which the wind blew.
Originally, he was of little importance to the Nahuas, but after the rise of the Aztecs, Tlacaelel reformed their religion and put Huitzilopochtli at the same level as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Tezcatlipoca, making him a solar god. Through this, Huitzilopochtli replaced Nanahuatzin, the solar god from the Nahua legend.
Quetzalcoatl, god of life, the light and wisdom, lord of the winds and daytime, ruler of the West. Huitzilopochtli, god of war and sacrifice, lord of the sun and fire, ruler of the South. Xolotl, god of lightning, death, and fire, associated with Venus as the Evening Star (Twin of Quetzalcoatl) Ehecatl, god of wind (a form of Quetzalcoatl)
Cē Ācatl Topiltzin Quetzalcōātl [seː ˈaːkat͡ɬ toˈpilt͡sin ket͡salˈkoːʷaːt͡ɬ] (Our Prince One-Reed Precious Serpent) (c. 895–947) is a mythologised figure appearing in 16th-century accounts of Nahua historical traditions, [5] where he is identified as a ruler in the 10th century of the Toltecs— by Aztec tradition their predecessors who had political control of the Valley ...