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God of Knowledge and Chocolate: Quetzalcoatl. [1]

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Date: 2022-08-30

Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour.

Last week I talked about the goddess Tlazolteotl, and mentioned a few of the surprising things that lay in store for the Spanish invaders in the New World. This week I will discuss another surprise that awaited the Spanish conquistadors and clergy upon their arrival. The god known to the Mexica as Quetzalcoatl. Further south, the Mayan people knew him as Kukulcan. It's possible that his worship began with the Olmec people who preceded the Maya and Colhua-Mexica by centuries. It's certain that he was revered by the Toltecs.

Quetzalcoatl as envisioned by Diego Rivera. This mosaic was created in Acapulco in 1956.

Growing up in San Diego, and making frequent trips to Tijuana, Tecate, and other cities just across the border, I was enchanted by the many images to be seen of the Feathered Serpent. He's almost as popular as La Virgencita, who is also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. Which is to say, he's just about everywhere. Public art, murals on buildings and vehicles, T shirts and currency, graphic novels and political cartoons bearing his name and image abound.

Detail of a 20 peso Mexican note from 1976. This image is a depiction of one of many stone carvings adorning an ancient Toltec temple.

While he might no longer inspire religious devotion (that has been the province of OL Guadalupe for a few centuries now) Quetzalcoatl remains a beloved symbol of Mexican pride in their history and culture.

In his human form this god is often depicted wearing a red, fanged mask that resembles a duck's bill. A really scary duck.

Quetzalcoatl as depicted in the 16th century Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

Quetzalcoatl was credited with teaching humans all sorts of useful, life-enhancing skills like cultivating maize and vegetables, growing, spinning, and weaving cotton, preparing mole sauces and other dishes, making hot chocolate, the making of paper, the science of astronomy, and more. He's like a kindly superbeing who not only gifted people with basic necessities like fire, water, and food, but went on to show them all sorts of cool stuff to do with them. What's more, Quetzalcoatl took a very dim view of human sacrifice. Flowers, birds, butterflies were acceptable to him. But he would neither condone nor accept any human sacrifice. That in itself makes him very unusual if not unique. (His devotees did however sometimes offer blood from their own living bodies.)

And as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano.

In legends he's described as a wise, holy, stern, benevolent and lordly white, bearded god who came across the waters from the east. Lived among the people, taught them everything he could about how to live justly and well, and was respected and beloved by all. Until one day he left. Apparently he'd gotten very drunk, and committed some sin for which he could not forgive himself. (Some stories claim it was incest. Which was a very serious crime.) And so he resolved to leave the people, sailing away into self-imposed exile back to the east. Promising to return again one day. His cult endured, and spread throughout various nations of Mesoamerica. His name was somewhat altered in different cultures but the basics of his religion remained fairly consistent.

Detail of an illustration from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall showing the drinking of hot chocolate. Traditional Mexican and Mayan hot chocolate is a rich and frothy drink with complex flavors. You can see the frothy top above the lip of the drinking vessel.

When I first read about this as a teenager I was immediately reminded of my childhood playmate Donna. Her family was Mormon, and she'd sometimes entertain me with somewhat garbled stories about how Jesus came to the Americas to share his teachings with the native people. I wondered if there was a connection. Much later I discovered that yes, there was. There's been a lot written by Mormons and non-Mormons about Quetzalcoatl and Jesus in LDS theology.

Anyway. It's perhaps worth mentioning that Quetzalcoatl was not the only Mesoamerican deity to be described as differently colored from the humans that worshipped him. (Blue-green Tlaloc comes immediately to mind) To this very day there are devotees of blue-skinned, green-skinned, and variously colorful gods and goddesses all over the world. What made Quetzalcoatl different was that his seemingly strange coloring was actually pretty commonplace...for people from other parts of the world. People that the Mesoamerican nations hadn't met yet.

Another image from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis. This particular image has inspired a number of modern reimaginings.

Cue the Spanish invasion. Hernan Cortes and company show up right around the time prophesied for the return of Quetzalcoatl. Weird stories about floating houses with wings, and white skinned beings covered in shining metal and wielding invincible weapons start filtering back to Motecuzoma II in Tenochtitlan. (Which was later destroyed, then rebuilt as Mexico City). And despite the appalling behaviors exhibited by the strangers, Motecuzoma apparently is at a loss as to how to respond. As the story goes, he dithers and waffles, appeases the gold-hungry strangers with the entire national treasury, and wrings his hands so ineffectually when even that gift proves inadequate that his own people lose all patience with him. And take him out with a well-aimed stone or two thrown at his head. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Detail of an illustration from the Codex Azcatitlan, showing Cortes and La Malinche at right.

For centuries there's been a theory about Motecuzoma II being intimidated and demoralized before ever setting eyes on Cortes. Because he supposedly believed that Cortes was actually the god Quetzalcoatl returned at last. Never mind the decidedly non-godlike attributes and behaviors of the strangers, or the proven fact that they could be killed despite their superior weapons and apparent lack of dying from the smallpox they brought with them (which absolutely decimated the native populations). Cortes was white, his accompanying soldiers were, too, and they arrived when the god himself said he'd be back. Silly pagans. (Sarcasm here, in case it's not immediately obvious).

I have doubts about that story. I suspect that Motecuzoma II was an ordinary, okay-ish leader who was simply blindsided by the incomprehensible events cascading down on his head. Even if he initially suffered qualms about possibly telling a god to get the hell out of his country, it couldn't have taken too long for Motecuzoma to realize that this wasn't at all the case. (Cortes's massacre of thousands living in Cholula, a holy city and center of the cult of Quetzalcoatl, should have been enough to convince anyone). There's the fact that Cortes had advantages over the Mexica besides horses, cannon, and steel. He was joined by armies of native allies with lots of grievances against the Colhua-Mexica, and had the help of a very shrewd, intelligent and ambitious interpreter/advisor, the native woman known as La Malinche. Who may or may not have always interpreted what was said entirely accurately. (I might have more to say about La Malinche in another diary. She's an interesting person.)

At any rate, Cortes is and always will be an important part of Mexican history, but he's not especially loved there. There's some streets named after him. And a large bronze statue group depicting him, his interpreter-advisor-mistress Dona Marina (La Malinche) and their son Martin. Back in the eighties it was originally intended to be placed near the site of Cortes's home in Coyocan, in Mexico City. It had to be hidden away in an obscure location following widespread and vehement protests. As far as I know there are no other statues of Cortes on display in Mexico.

Quetzalcoatl, however, lives on. Still celebrated, still beloved. Still an integral part of the culture of his people. Cortes and Zumarraga may have brought about the end of the worship of Quetzalcoatl, but the fandom continues to thrive.

One of my favorite images of the Feathered Serpent. Cartoon by Gabriel Tellez jr, 2017.

Thank you for reading. This is an open thread, all topics are welcome.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/30/2118429/-God-of-Knowledge-and-Chocolate-Quetzalcoatl

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