Leyenda de los Soles
© 1995-2002 Untangle Incorporated
Last Updated: Friday, January 04, 2002
Ometecuhtli, creative duality, unfolded four forces that would be the four creator suns
and representatives of the four elements: earth (represented by the tiger), air, fire and water. These forces established a tenacious struggle for supremacy of the eras, of time and suns, giving rise to cataclysms and human and plant evolution.
There were four suns, each marking a creation and ending to the world before the present world came into being. Each creation ended in a cataclysm. The first was destroyed by earth, the second by wind, the third by fire, and the fourth by water. Our era is the fifth.
In the heavenly constellations, Tezcatlipoca was the (European) Great Bear, the form of which the Mexicans thought appeared to be the ocelot or tiger. Then he transformed himself into the first sun to light the world. As he had done this without consulting the other gods and he was creating wizards to ursurp the other gods they were not happy about this and they created a race of giants in order to destroy Tezcatlipoca. The giants lived like nomads and neither tilled the soil nor planted. They ate wild things like acorns, roots, and berries. The humans of this time lived by animal instinct alone, void of reason.
However, one of the gods, Quetzalcoatl, was a benevolent god, a good god, and the founder of agriculture, industry, and the arts. Tezcatlipoca was the patron of evil and sorcerers, god of the night, omnipotent and multiform. Quetzalcoatl struck his enemy Tezcatlipoca down into the waters with a staff and Tezcatlipoca assumed the form of the tiger. In the darkness that followed, the tiger devoured all the giants and humans. This sun is known as by the name "Four Ocelot", the way it appears on the calendar name of the day.
Quentzalcoatl, as god of the wind, became the second sun. This was the time of Air, spirits, and transparent beings. He ruled until one day, when Tezcatlipoca reach up with his tiger paw and pulled him down to earth. His fall caused a great hurricane, which uprooted all growing things and destroyed man. A few humans survived and were turned into monkeys,as they could not understand their gods. This happened on the day called, "Four winds".
The Procreators then banished the two quarreling gods from the sky and made Tlaloc, god of rain and heavenly fire, the third sun. But Quetzalcoatl caused a rain of fire to devastate the earth, drying up all the rivers. Those who did not perish were transformed into birds. This was known as the day of the "Four Rain".
Quetzalcoatl then made Chalchiutlicue, "She of the Jade-Green Skirts" and made her the fourth sun. But jealous Tezcatlipoca sent a great deluge to destroy the sun and the earth. Those who survived became fish. The flood so submerged the earth that it could not appear again until the two gods lifted it from the water laden sky. But the sun had been destroyed and there was no light. All the gods assembled in Teotihuacan to do penance so they might have light. Two offered to sacrifice themselves...Tecuhciztecatl was rich and powerful, and Nanahuantl was poor and ill.
The rich made gifts of precious things to the Father of All gods, Onteotl. The poor one gave moss and maguey thorns wet with his blood. During four days, the two gods fasted and made sacrifices. On the fifth day, a brazier was heaped with coals so the gods could be purified and might illuminate the world. The turn of the rich god came first to jump into the fire.
He made three attempts but each time stopped short of the brim. The poor god closed his eyes and leaped straight into the heart of the fire. A great flame shot up to the heavens and the poor god became the sun of our world today. The rich god, shamed by this example, hurled himself into the dying coals and was slowly consumed. From this a brilliant moon appeared. The gods, angered at the moon's audacity, threw a rabbit at it, which explains the dark spots on the moon, and why Mexicans see a "rabbit in the moon" rather than a "man in the moon".
This sun and moon are the animal energy, air, fire, and water combined in balance. Each of the prior suns were destroyed when the gods were ignored, and this one will only exist as long as we follow the 'ladder of redemption' contained in the Aztec calendar.
The Legend of the Suns is a myth of Nahua origin, recovered from oral tradition and preserved, together with the myth of the Creation of the Fifth Sun, in the Codex Chimalpopoca.
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