8/11/2019 Christainization of Quetzalcoatl

1/5

The Christianization of

uetz lco tl History of the Metamorphosis y rant Gardner

8/11/2019 Christainization of Quetzalcoatl

2/5

Aztec religion on the eve of the Conquestwas a vibrant mosaic of interwoven deitiesand practices, yet of the whole pantheononly one native god is well known to theworld: Quetzalcoatl. From the time Cortez

was hailed as the returning Quetzalcoatl, theWestern world has been fascinated with thisenigmatic Aztec deity. The anomaly of a white,

bearded lawgiver who taught culture and kind-ness has been so intriguing that many havethought him to have been a foreigner whobrought a new message to the natives. Withintwo decades of the Conquest, Quetzalcoatl wasidentified with St. Thomas, the wand eringapostle. Since that time Quetzalcoatl has beendescribed as a Viking, a Chinese Explorer, anextraterrestrial, Moses, and Jesus Christ. Similar-ly, most Mormons assume that the legends ofQuetzalcoatl were simply distorted reminiscencesof the visit of Christ to the New World as detailedin the Book of Mormon.

The identification of Quetzalcoatl with Christ

or any other non-Indian figure depends upon aseries of traits which appear in native sources.Quetzalcoatl is said to have been a benevolentlawgiver who provided the moral basis for thesociety; he was a white, bearded man wearing along white robe, and he left with a promise toreturn and rule again. While all of these traitshave roots in the native legend, each one hasbeen altered by the pressures of the Conquest.The most striking aspects of these traits--thosewhich suggest that the legends referred to anappearance of Christ--are all Spanish elabora-tions on native legends. The original tales, as faras I can reconstruct then,, do not support the

identification of Quetzalcoatl with any foreignvisitor.

Marcelino Penuelas has vividly described theprocess which has Christianized Quetzalcoatl: Rather than explain the myth, the more or lesssolid explanations of those who may be calledmythophiles, mythophobes, and mythomaniacsadd fuel to the fire which produces the halo of[his] mystery (Cuadernos Americanos,133:89). Inthis case, the original observations of nativebeliefs were only slightly distorted, but each sub-sequent writer has, in his own way, altered thelegend to suit his particular interests.

The best example of this process in action

comes from the comparison of three texts con-cerning Quetzalcoatl. The Florentine Codex is amajor collection of cultural information takendirectly from native informants. Compiled underthe direction of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, itcontains this indigenous description of Quetzal-coati: There, it is said, he lay; he lay covered; andhe lay with only his face covered. And, it is said,he was monstrous. His face was like a huge,battered stone, a great fallen rock; it [was] notmade like that of men, and his beard was long.Florentine Codex, ed and trans. Arthur J. O.

Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, 3:13)

The second passage is Sahaguns own Spanishversion: And he was always lying down andcovered with blankets, and his face was veryugly, his head large and bearded (Historia Generalde las Cosas de la Nuewl Espana, p. 196). The firstdistortion of the original is very subtle as itcomes from context rather than text. The nativeaccount of Quetzalcoatls appearance comes in a

passage concerning the priest-king of Tula, butSahaguns accoun t follows a description ofQuetzalcoatls temple in Tenochtitlan. This sug-

gests that Sahaguns passage describes the idolrather than the person.

The second slight shift occurs when Quetzal-coatl is described as ugly rather than monstrous.

Ugly is an aesthetic value judgment; monstrous isan essential description of his nonhuman nature.The native text explicitly states that his face wasnot like that of men: Quetzalcoatls monstrouscharacteristics were important signals to thenative mind which classified him as extrahuman,a demigod; but Sahaguns account fails to conveythis message.

This text was further compromised by Juan deTorquemada. He is relatively faithful to theSpanish account, but he includes a further inter-pretation which does not exist in Sahagun:

[Quetzalcoatls] image had a very ugly face, and a largehead, and was very bearded: he was lying down, and notstanding covered with blankets and it is said that they did itin memory that in another time he was to return to rule, andin reverence of his great m ajesty they should keep his figurecovered and lying down, which must signify his absence, asone who sleeps who lies down to sleep and when awakeningfrom that dream of absence, will rise, to rule. (MonarquiaIndiana, 2:52

Torquemada makes explicit Sahaguns infer-ence that the description refers to the idol ratherthan the man. As in Sahaguns version, Quetzal-coati is still ugly, but he is not monstrous. In thispassage, however, Quetzalcoatl undergoes

SUNSTON 7

8/11/2019 Christainization of Quetzalcoatl

3/5

8/11/2019 Christainization of Quetzalcoatl

4/5

.

through which he entered, both he and his people. Also thathis persecutors had entered after him and the waters hadreturned to their place and nothing more was known ofthem. And as I saw that he had read the same as I and Iknew where he was going with the story, I didnt ask himmore so that he would not relate the Exodus to me of which Ifelt he had received notice, yet he went as far as to mentionthe punishment which the children of Israel had with theserpents because of their murmurings against God andMoses. (Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana eislas de la tierra firme, 1:12

Duran is unquestionably correct in assuming-that this tale repeats the Exodus story, but it isalso interestingly parallel to the native legend ofQuetzalcoafl. Quetzalcoatl does take a number

of people with him in some versions, he doescome to a sea, and miraculous things occur.Quetzalcoatl is also linked with serpents. All ofthese points seem to have allowed the informantto correlate that particular biblical story withQuetzalcoatl. The important point is, however,that the natiive related the tale as part of Quetzal-coatls story. The same forces which led Span-iards to select Christianlike aspects from nativecustoms also led the Indians to reshape their ownlore in a more Christian cast.

The benevolent nature of Quetzalcoatls reli-gion is one facet of the myth which was trans-formed as much by the Indians as by the Span-

iards. Sahaguns native informants were menknowledgeable in their own culture, but schooledby the Spanish and well-versed in Catholicism.They emphasize the point that the Toltecs, thepeople of Quetzalcoatl, worshipped only onegod. Few lessons taught by the Spanish weremore strident than their insistence on a one andonly god. Native idols had been obliterated andthe force of Spanish culture pressed home thetremendous importance of this Christian princi-ple. Even so, the native assertion of a formerworship of one god might not be so suspect if itdid not follow a list of the gods worshipped by theToltecs, a list compiled by those same informants.

Another early native text, the Anales deCuauhtitlan, is more explicit about the relationshipof Quetzalcoatl to other gods. Speaking of Quet-zalcoatl himself, it is told that, idolatrizing, heprayed in the heavens and that he invokedCitlalyncue, Citlallatonac, Tonacacihuatl,Tonacatecutli, Tecolliquenqui, Yeztlaquenqui,Tlallamanac, and Tlallichcatl (Codice Chimalpopoca,p. 8).

Of even greater importance is the claim thatQuetzalcoatl never participated in human sacri-fice. Andres de Olmos was one of the originaltwelve priests sent to Mexico, and one of the

great early ethnographers. A passage ascribed tohim contains this description of Quetzalcoatlsreligion:

He never admitted sacrifices of the blood of humans nor ofanimals, but rather only of bread and roses, flowers andperfumes, and of odors. [Also] he watched and prohibited "[hewith much efficacy wars, thefts, murders, and other harms

Christian-hich they did to each other. Whenever wars were men-tioned before him, or other evils concerning the wrongs of [z[ng O|nativemen, he would turn his fac, e and cover his ears so that he legends becamwould neither see nor hear them. (Bartolome de lasCasas, Apologetica Historia Sumaria, 1:644.)

Such a Christian man could never permit humansacrifice, and the na~tive writers of the Anales

indicate that it was a conflict over that practicewhich led to Quetzalcogtls exodus from Tula.In spite of these early and important sources, it

appears that this part of the legend also under-went a cosmetic shift which eliminated the asso-ciation with human sacrifice.

Two very early and important sources are theHistoyre du Mechiqueand the Leyend de los Soles.Eachof them gives different accounts of an episode inthe life of Quetzalcoatl. In the Histoyres accountQuetzalcoatls brothe~:s ...

a two-waystreetwith the

Spaniards andnatives bothcontributingto theprocess.

returned to look for QuetzaIcoatl and they made him believethat his father had been changed into a rock, persuading himalso that he sacrifice and offer something to this rock, such aslions, tigers, eagles, little animals, butterflies, for he wouldnot be able to find these anl m als. And as he did not wish toobey them, they wanted to kill him, but he escaped fromamong them and climbed a tree, or something like it, on topof that same rock and shot arrows at them and killed themall. Having done this, others came seeking him with honorsand they took the heads of hlis brothers and emptied the skullsto make drinking cups.(Pp. 113-14.)

This is a far cry from the Quetzalcoatl of thefriars who covered hi.,; eyes and ears so as not tobe reminded of death. Even more important isthe account of the Leyenda:His uncles were greatly angered, and shortly they left, goingbefore Apanecatl who came out quickly. Ce Acatl [anothername for Quetzalcoatl] rose and split open [Apanecatls]head with a smooth and deep cut, from which blow he fell tothe ground below. Immediately [Quetzalcoatl] caught holdof Solton and Cu iltron. The beasts blew on the fire and hekilled them quickly. They gathered them together, cut a littleof their flesh, and.., they cut open their chests. (Teogonia eHistoria de los Mexicanos, p. 125.)

While human sacrifice is not explicitly stated,the indications are overwhelming. Not only werethe chests opened, presumably to remove thehearts, but the fire is also reminiscent of a form

SUNSTONE 9

8/11/2019 Christainization of Quetzalcoatl

5/5

Manyfactors

encouragedsome Spaniards

to see biblicalInfluences

in nativecustoms.

of Aztec human sacrifice. Against the backdropof these tales, it is not surprising to find that thequintessential city of Quetzalcoatl among theMaya, Chichen Itza, is permeated with the icono-graphy of human sacrifice.

The best hypothesis to explain the early ac-counts of Quetzalcoatls abhorrence of humansacrifice is that the native legends were con-sciously shaped by the Indians to improve their

standing with the Spanish overlords. In CentralMexico this influence took the form of Christian-izing the religion of Quetzalcoatl. The samepattern was repeated outside of the CentralMexican region, but with an interesting twist.Among the Maya Quetzalcoatl becomes thescapegoat rather than the hero. According to anative informant in Merida, Yucatan in 1581:It is said of the first inhabitants of Chichen Itza that theywere not idolaters until Kukulcan [the Maya name forQuetzalcoatl] the Mexican captain entered these parts. Thisone taught them idolatry .... [Before] they had heard of acreator of all things, of the creation of the heave, and of the

earth, and of the fall of Lucifer, of the immortality of thesoul, of heaven and of hell and of the universal flood.(Cristoba[ Sanchez inColeccion de documentos ineditosrelativos al descubrimiento conquista y organization de lasantiguas posesiones Espanoles de Ultramar, series 2,11:121.)

Leaving out the names, the tale is parallel tomany from Central Mexico. The earlier peopleknew of the Christian religion and were exactlythe kind of people the priests were looking for.Sadly, some devil came and forced them tochange. It is clear that this is a tale told under thepainful dictates of the Conquest, and that theactors in the drama were changed to accommo-

date regional interests.Perhaps the most confusing aspect of the myth

is the reference to a white Quetzalcoatl. The idolof the god was always painted black, and I knowof no native or even early Spanish text whichspecifically mentions a white skin. I have beenunable to find the point at which this conceptenters the legend, but it is clearly not a part of theimportant information which described Quetzal-coatl at the time of the Conquest.

I can offer only one possible source for thetheme. Quetzalcoatl is associated with the west,which in the Aztec symbol system was white.

Thus Quetzalcoatl is white as an indication of thewest, just as other deities were red, blue, andblack when associated with other ,compassdirections.

It could be argued that the elevation of Cortezto the status of the returning Quetzak:oatl was

based on the color of Cortezs skin, but the. earli-est evidence does not support this conclusion.The Spaniards were revered as gods, but accord-ing to Sahagun the black slaves which shippedwith them were also specifically called gods.Clearly a white skin was not a requisite of deifi-cation. The Spanish were gods by virtue of theirmiraculous ships which appeared to be floatingtemples and their sticks which spit thunder andfire and caused trees to fall down. It was themiracle of who they were rather than their colorwhich fired the native imagination.

In Visions de los Vencidos,Miguel Leon-Portilreports one of the rare Aztec comments on theSpanish skin color, which simply states, Theirskin is very white, more so than ours (p. 12). Allof the references to Quetzalcoatl as the white-skinned god seern to be traceable to our owncultural inclinations to link white with skin color.

Stripping away the influence of the Spanish,Quetzalcoatl becomes once again a very Aztec;god, complete with the duality of good and badwhich characterizes the Aztec pantheon. Themoral and political[ climate of the Conquest gen-erated pressures which selected certain facets ofthe native tradition and so presented them as toappear Christian.. The early Spanish fathersfound such evidences behind every tree, but nobough was more fruitful than Quetzalcoatl.

The centuries which have passed have expanthose themes to the point that our popular con-ceptions of the deity have replaced the nativeunderstanding of their own god. Personally, I amsatisfied that a reconstruction of the nativeQuetzalcoatl leaves rio room for an identificationwith any of the popular suggestions.

On the other hand, it would be erroneous toassume that the disqualification of the Quetzal-coatl legends as recollections of Christs appear-ance in the Americas in any way impinges on thehistoricity of that appearance. It merely stands asa further caution against our lack of caution andsophistication in relating pre-Columbian legendsor artifacts to the Book of Mormon.

While I mourn the passing of a popular figureof Western folklore, I find the native Q~letzal-coati to be equally fascinating and challenging.The Christianization of Quetzalcoatl is merelythe closing chapter in the ver b, long story of oneof the most important native religious traditions

of the Western hemisphere. When we no longerask him to be who he is not,. perhaps his ownstory can be told.

BRANT GARDN ER is reeking a Ph.D. in anthropologythe State University of New York at Alban y.

1 SUNSTONE