Aztec

**Creation of the World**
In the beginning, there was emptiness. In this time long before man was made, the dual god Ometecuhtli (Lord of Duality)/Omecituatl (Lady of Duality) created itself. Since it was a dual god, it was where the opposites united (for instance, it was good as well as evil, male and female). Being male in addition to being female, it was capable of having children and had four.

They were Xipe Totec, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Huitzilopochtli. Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli were in charge of expanding life. During this period, they created the first man and woman (Oxomoco and Cipactonal—although which one is male and which is female varies), bodies of water, other gods (e.g., gods of the underworld and the rain god) and the crocodilian sea monster Cipactli (which is a female).

The gods continued their creation, but they were all destroyed as they would drop into the water and be eaten by Cipactli. Therefore, they gods attacked and eventually destroyed Cipactli, and divided her into three parts. The head was where the heavens were stretched, her body was where the earth was formed, and her tail extends to the underworld. However, some gods were upset with the splitting of Cipactli that they decided that from then on that the necessities of human life would come from her. It is said that “From her hair they made trees, flowers, and herbs; from her skin comes grass and small flowers; from her eyes come wells, springs, and small caverns; from her mouth, rivers and large caves; from her nose, mountain valleys; and from her shoulders, mountains.” media type="file" key="Aztec Excerpt.mp3" width="240" height="20" (A retelling of the Creation of the World)



The Five Suns
To complete the world, there needed to be a sun. However, since the sun is a powerful object, it cannot simply be fabricated into existence—it can only be created through the sacrifice of a god. The god chosen for the first sun was Tezcatlipoca. (Cóttrill, Aztec-History.com)

Tezcatlipoca however, failed to become a whole sun, and thus was only a “half-sun”. In this age, giants were the dominant living things on earth, created from ashes. However, a fight between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca caused the sun to be knocked out of the sky. In his anger, Tezcatlipoca summoned jaguars to annihilate the giants. Now, Quetzalcoatl took over as the sun. The world became populated with humans of normal size. However, the humans later on became corrupt and Tezcatlipoca transformed them into monkeys. Quetzalcoatl, angry, directed a hurricane to send the monkeys away. In the age of the third sun, the god Tlaloc was sacrificed to be the sun. In his time, he refused to send rain on the earth, while still shining as the sun, therefore a drought ended up spanning the world. Finally, in a fit of anger, Tlaloc sent down a rain of fire, which burnt the world and ended the third age.

The next sun was Chalchiuhtlicue, who was—depending on the version of the myth—either the spouse or sister of Tlaloc. But, this age was terminated with great flooding, turning the living population into fish. It was after this age that Quetzalcoatl went down to the underworld to retrieve the bones of the fallen. The bones are grinded then placed in a special vessel. The gods then permitted their blood to drip profusely into the vessel. Four days later a male child appears, and after another four days, a female infant emerges as well.

In the creation of the fifth sun, two gods—Tecuciztecatl and Nanahuatzin—jumped into the fire to sacrifice themselves. However, two suns were too bright so the other gods threw a rabbit at Tecuciztecatl to dim his brightness. He would become the moon. But another problem soon arose; Nanahuatzin was weak and did not move in the sky. Consequently, the gods had to give their blood to give him the energy to travel across the sky. For this reason, war was created to shed blood and obtain victims for sacrifice to try and satisfy the craving of blood of the sun and earth. It is also why the Aztecs would periodically sacrifice people. (Stross, utexas.edu)

=Motif= The motif that best fits the Aztec creation myth would be creation ex nihilo--creation out of nothing. This is constantly seen throughout their story of creation. Since it began in the void, the dual god had to create itself. Soon after, other gods start creating living things, as well as necessities for harboring life. Looking at the Aztec myth, everything had to be fabricated into existence, or be made from an existing object or entity.