Mictlāntēcutli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mictlāntēcutli |
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| Ruler of the Underworld God of the dead |
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Mictlantecuhtli as depicted in the Codex Borgia
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| Abode | Mictlān (the Underworld) |
| Gender | Male |
| Region | Mesoamerica |
| Ethnic group | Aztec (Nahua) |
| Personal information | |
| Consort | Mictēcacihuātl |
| Children | None |
| Parents | Created by the Tezcatlipocas (Codex Zumarraga) |
| Equivalents | |
| Maya equivalent | Ah Puch |
| Otomi equivalent | Hmüšithü |
Mictlāntēcutli (pronounced Meek-tlan-tay-KOO-tlee) was a very important god in Aztec mythology. He was known as the "Lord of Mictlan," which means "Lord of the Underworld." Mictlan was the lowest and northernmost part of the Aztec underworld, a place where many souls went after death. Mictlantecuhtli was the powerful ruler of this realm and one of the main gods worshipped by the Aztecs. He was seen as the most important of several gods and goddesses connected to death and the underworld. Other names for him included Ixpuztec ("Broken Face") and Tzontemoc ("He Who Lowers His Head").
Two large clay statues of Mictlantecuhtli were found guarding the entrances to the House of Eagles near the Great Temple in Tenochtitlan, the ancient Aztec capital. This shows how significant he was to their culture.
Contents
Mictlantecuhtli: Lord of the Underworld
What Did Mictlantecuhtli Look Like?
Mictlantecuhtli was often imagined as a tall figure, about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height. He was usually shown as a skeleton covered in blood, or as a person wearing a skull mask with teeth. Even though his head was a skull, his eye sockets still held eyeballs!
His special headdress was decorated with owl feathers and paper banners. He wore a necklace made of human eyeballs, and his earspools (earrings) were crafted from human bones. Many Aztec gods were shown with skeletal features or wore items made of bones and skulls. For the Aztecs, skeletal images were not just about death. They also symbolized new life, good health, and plenty, showing how closely life and death were connected in their beliefs.
Mictlantecuhtli often wore sandals, which was a sign of his high rank as the Lord of Mictlan. His arms were frequently shown raised in a strong, ready-to-act way, as if he was prepared to greet the spirits of the dead entering his kingdom. In ancient Aztec books called Aztec codices, Mictlantecuhtli is often drawn with his skeletal jaw wide open. This was to show him receiving the stars that seemed to fall into the underworld during the day.
Mictlantecuhtli's Family and Connections
Mictlantecuhtli's wife was Mictecacihuatl, and they were believed to live together in a house in Mictlan that had no windows. He was linked to many things in the natural world, such as spiders, owls, and bats. He was also connected to the 11th hour of the day and the northern direction, which the Aztecs called Mictlampa, the region of death.
He was one of the few gods believed to rule over all different kinds of souls. The Aztecs thought about souls differently depending on how a person died. Some died of old age or sickness, others in heroic ways like battle or childbirth, and some in other ways. Mictlantecuhtli and his wife were seen as the opposites and partners of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, who were the gods who gave life.
Mictlantecuhtli was also important in the Aztec calendar. He was the god of the day sign Itzcuintli (which means "dog"). This was one of 20 such signs in their calendar system. He was thought to provide the souls for people born on that day. He was also connected to the sixth day of the 13-day week and was the fifth of the nine Night Gods. In the 20-week cycle of the calendar, he was a secondary Week God for the 10th week, joining the sun god Tonatiuh. Together, they represented the balance of light and darkness.
In a historical book from the Colonial era called the Codex Vaticanus 3738, Mictlantecuhtli is also called "the lord of the underworld, Tzitzimitl."
Stories About Mictlantecuhtli
In Aztec stories, after the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca created the world, they organized everything. They then placed Mictlantecuhtli and his wife, Mictecacihuatl, in charge of the underworld.
One famous Aztec legend tells how the twin gods Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl were sent by the other gods on a very important mission. They needed to get the bones of the humans who lived before from Mictlantecuhtli. The god of the underworld tried to stop Quetzalcoatl from escaping with the bones. Even though Mictlantecuhtli didn't completely succeed, he made Quetzalcoatl drop the bones. They scattered and broke when they fell. Quetzalcoatl carefully gathered the broken bones and brought them back to the land of the living. There, the gods used these bones to create the different kinds of people we see today.
When an Aztec person died, they were buried with special items. These items were meant to help them on their long and sometimes dangerous journey to the underworld. Once they arrived in Mictlan, these goods were offered to Mictlantecuhtli and his wife.
In another myth, the clever god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, agreed to give the bones to Quetzalcóatl. But first, Quetzalcóatl had to pass a seemingly simple test. Mictlantecuhtli told Quetzalcóatl that he had to travel through his kingdom four times while a shell sounded like a trumpet. However, Mictlantecuhtli gave Quetzalcóatl a regular shell with no holes!
Not wanting to be tricked, Quetzalcóatl called upon worms to drill holes in the shell. Then, he asked bees to fly inside the shell and make it sound like a trumpet. (Quetzalcóatl is often shown wearing a cut shell over his chest, symbolizing his power over wind and life, just like Ehécatl, the god of the wind).
Hearing the trumpet's sound, Mictlantecuhtli first decided to let Quetzalcóatl take all the bones from the previous creation. But then, he quickly changed his mind! However, Quetzalcóatl was smarter than Mictlantecuhtli and his helpers. He managed to escape with the bones.
Mictlantecuhtli, now very angry, ordered his followers to dig a very deep pit. As Quetzalcóatl was running away with the bones, he was startled by a quail. This caused him to fall into the pit. He seemed to die from the fall and was bothered by the quail, which scattered the bones he was carrying. The quail then began to nibble on the bones.
Despite the fall, Quetzalcóatl eventually came back to life and gathered all the broken bones. This story helps explain why people today come in all different sizes. Once he escaped from the underworld, Quetzalcóatl carried his precious cargo to Tamoanchan, a special place of creation.
See also
In Spanish: Mictlantecuhtli para niños
- Disk of Mictlāntēcutli
- Maya death gods
- Santa Muerte
- Tzitzimitl
