2/26/2024 0 Comments Owl glyph ancient![]() ![]() This, of course, came after the death of Moctezuma. The big reason he didn’t lose that many was because of the 50,000+ Mesoamerican fighters he had with him from other hostile tribes to the Aztecs which went in first and followed out last to get killed. It’s true that Cortez didn’t lose that many of his men because he didn’t have that many to begin with and with their 13 horses, armor, and weaponry they were hard to kill. That fact probably accounts for the final battle cry of the warriors defending against Hernán Cortez in the final stages of the battle for the control of what is now Mexico City. The warriors all knew this and subsequently were not afraid to die, even on someone else’s alter as a sacrifice. They came back this way to continue to help the gods create and improve life on earth. They were all reincarnated as butterflies or hummingbirds. ![]() No warrior ended up in the underworld’s realm of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan} as ruled by its king, Michtelantecihuatl. Their forever task after death was to help push the sun across the sky to sunset. First by boat, and then by agonizing trail into increasing darkness.Īnother example, the Aztec afterlife placement was the place held for women who die giving child birth. These poor souls even had a treacherous four-year journey to get down there. Dante’s Inferno was one thing but it didn’t hold a candle of what these Aztec people went through. For them, then, an eternity of cleaning the halls of hell, so to speak, without light or rest. Those that made it all the way down to the lowest layer of Mictlan, or Hades, or hell, were those that died of natural causes. There wasn’t anything that could be done about it unless the station changed. It was decided by the station they held or function they performed. Where each person went after they died wasn’t con-trolled by how they acted during their lives, what they believed or how strong their faith was, or even how well they performed their job in life. The Aztecs had a whole different system in their belief in the afterlife. If you weren’t that bad, then you were judged and sent into purgatory to atone before you were allowed into heaven. He envisioned several layers so your particular punishment would fit your particular sin. I kinda like the representation made by Dante. Good, bad, or somewhere in between is to be decided by God. This is based on each individual’s actions during life, their faith and lifelong moral practices. I am not a biblical scholar and was raised to believe when a per-son dies their soul goes to heaven, hell or purgatory. Some look to the study of Dante and, for them, as with others, there is purgatory as well. In our western world, and its theological studies, we learn that there is heaven and there is hell. For me, it was an education even after four years of writing this article series. That story isn’t mythology, but it did open a plethora of stuff about the owl and its relationship with their god of the underworld, the depth of the belief system the Aztecs had in their gods (as controlled very tightly by the priest class), and an actual in-depth look on how their religion controlled their lives into their deaths. I can’t find a single story about an owl, other than one told about the last battle cry of the Aztec warrior during the invasion by Cortez. I had told our illustrious editor that I would write about an Aztec Owl. There is so much known, and yet so much hidden from us, by a society that existed not so long ago. While away, I have extended my Aztec Mythology reading and reporting because I find it fascinating. ![]() While there, I enjoy telling about local happening of culture and color and I find fulfillment in that. Of late, I have been writing articles about animals and other objects and how each one of them fit into Aztec Mythology. By Kirby Vickery from the December 2017 Edition ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |