The pure human form of this god, as it appears in the fable, as well as in the image, is not the original, but the youngest. His oldest concrete forms are taken from nature, to which he originally belongs, and have maintained themselves in many attributes. All these symbolize him as the god of fertility, chiefly, as it is made apparent, by means of the beneficial influence of the air. All Mexican and European statements make him appear as the god of the air and of the wind; even the euhemeristic idea deifies the man Quetzalcoatl into a god of the air. All the Mexican tribes adored him at the time of the conquest as god of the air, and all accounts, however much they may differ on the particular points of his poetical life, agree, without exception, in this one respect, as the essential and chief point. Besides the symbols, which are merely attached to the image, there are three attributes, which represent as many original visible forms and exteriors of the god, in which he is represented and worshiped: the sparrow, the flint (Feuerstein), and the snake.
According to Herrera, the image of Quetzalcoatl had the body of a man, but the head of a bird, a sparrow with a red bill, a large comb, and with the tongue hanging far out of the mouth. The air-god of these northern people, parallel to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec Huitzilopochtli, was represented with devices connected with the humming-bird, in remembrance of his former humming-bird nature. This is the northern element. The great spirit of the northern redskins also appear in his most esteemed form as a bird. The Latin Picus was originally a woodpecker (Specht), afterward anthropomorphized and even euhemerized, but he has ever the woodpecker by his side, in his capacity of human seer. Several Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads, especially heads of birds. Birds are not alone symbols of particular godlike attributes, as used in the anthropomorphic times, not mere messengers and transmitters of the orders of the gods, but they have originally been considered as gods themselves, with forms of godlike powers, especially in North America; and the exterior of the god of the air, the fructifying air, is naturally that of a bird, a singing-bird. The hieroglyphic sign among the Mexicans for the air is, therefore, the head of a bird with three tongues. Wherever Quetzalcoatl stayed and ruled, there birds filled the air, and song-birds gave indication of their presence; when he departed, he took them with him, and was entertained during the journey by their singing.
QUETZALCOATL AND THE FLINT.
A second form of Quetzalcoatl was the flint, which we have already learned to know as a symbol and hieroglyphic sign for the air. He was either represented as a black stone, or several small green ones, supposed to have fallen from heaven, most likely ærolites, which were adored by the Cholulans in the service of Quetzalcoatl. Bétancourt even explains the meaning of the name Quetzalcoatl, contrary to the usual definition, as "twin of a precious stone." The fable of Quauhtitlan is also connected with this stone-worship; how Quetzalcoatl had overthrown a tree by means of stones which remained fixed in it. These stones were later on adored as holy stones of Quetzalcoatl. The stone at Tlalnepantla, into which he pressed his hand, must also have represented the god himself. Similar ancient stone-worships, of greater nature deities as well as fetiches, were found, in many instances, in Peru, in the pre-Inca times. In ancient Central America we meet with the worship of such green stones called chalchihuites. Votan was worshiped in the form of such a green stone, connected with the other two attributes. This attribute of Quetzalcoatl most likely belongs to the south.
The third form of Quetzalcoatl, which also belongs to the south, is the snake; he is a snake-god, or, at least, merged into an ancient snake-god. The snake is not, as far as I know, a direct symbol of the air, and this attribute is, therefore, not the one pertaining to him from the beginning; but the snake represents the season which, in conjunction with heat and rain, contains the fructifying influence of the atmosphere, spring, the rejuvenating year. However, the very name of the god signifies, according to the usual explanation given to it, "the feathered snake, the snake covered with feathers, the green feathered-snake, the wood-snake with rich feathers." A snake has consequently been added to the human figure of this god. The other name, under which he is adored in Yucatan, is Cuculcan, a snake covered with godlike feathers. The entrance to his round temple in Mexico represented the jaw and fangs of a tremendous snake. Quetzalcoatl disappeared in Goatzacoalco, the Snake-corner (or nook), and a ship of snakes brought him to Tlapalla. His followers in Yucatan were called snakes, Cocome (plural of Coatl), while he himself bore the name of Cocolcan in this country as well as in Chiapas. The snake attribute signifies, in connection with Huitzilopochtli, also the beneficial influence of the atmosphere, the yearly renewed course of nature, the continual rejuvenation of nature in germs and blossoms. The northern celestial god, Odin, is in many ways connected with snakes, he transformed himself into a snake, and bore the by-name of Snake.
The relationship of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, as given in the fable, may be touched upon here. The driving away of the latter by Tezcatlipoca does not, as may be supposed, signify a contest between the Aztec religion and the preceding Toltecan. In such a case Huitzilopochtli, the chief of the Aztec gods, by whose adoration the contrast is painted in the deepest colors, would have been a much better representant.
Quetzalcoatl no doubt preached against human sacrifices, brought into such unprecedented swing by the Aztecs, yet the worshipers of this god adopted the sacrifice of human beings in an extensive way during the Aztec rule, to which period this part of the Quetzalcoatl fable necessarily owes its origin. At this time the contrast was so slight that Quetzalcoatl partook of the highest adoration of Aztecs, not only in Cholula, but in Mexico and everywhere. His priest enjoyed the highest esteem and his temple in Mexico stood by the side of that of Huitzilopochtli. Montezuma not only calls the Toltec hero a leader of his forefathers, but the Aztecs actually consider him as a son of Huitzilopochtli. The opposition of the two gods, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, has another reason: the difference lies not in their worship, but in their nature and being, in the natural phenomena which they represent. If the god of the beneficial atmosphere, the manifested god-power of the atmosphere of the fructifying seasons, is adored in Quetzalcoatl; then Tezcatlipoca is his opposite, the god of the gloomy lower regions destitute of life and germ, the god of drought, of withering, of death.
QUETZALCOATL AND THE SNAKE.
Wherever, therefore, Quetzalcoatl rules, there are riches and abundance, the air is filled with fragrance and song-birds—an actual golden era; but when he goes southward with his song-birds, he is expelled by Tezcatlipoca, drought sets in, and the palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones, symbols of wealth, are destroyed. He promises, however, everywhere to return. A representation mentioned and copied by Humboldt, shows Tezcatlipoca in the act of cutting up the snake. This has not the meaning of the acts of Hercules, of Tonatiuh, of the great spirit of the Chippewas, of the German Siegfried, of the Celtic dragon-killers Tristan and Iwein, or of the other sun-gods, spring-gods, and culture-heroes, who fight and subdue the snake of the unfertile moisture; such an interpretation would be opposed to the nature of this god. On the contrary, the god of death and drought here fights the snake as the symbol of moisture, of the fertilization of the plant-life.
The question now arises: if Quetzalcoatl only received his snake attribute in the south, and this his name, what was his original northern and Toltecan name? We answer, coinciding with the views expressed by Ixtlilxochitl and others, who affirm that Quetzalcoatl and his worldly companion, Huemac, were one and the same person. The opposed opinion of Ternaux-Compans, who states that Quetzalcoatl must have been an Olmec, while Huemac was a Toltec, actually gives the key to the solution of the question. Both are right, Ixtlilxochitl and Ternaux, Huemac is the original Toltec name of the Toltec national god, ruler, and author of the holy books, the ancient name used by the Toltecs. As this people succumbed more and more to southern influences, and their ancient air-god in his sparrow form received in addition the snake attribute, on account of his rejuvenating influence upon nature, then, the new name of the more cultivated people soon appeared. The name may, therefore, be Olmec, but not the god; we may sooner suppose that the attributes of the Maya god, Votan, have been transferred to the Toltec god. Both names having thus a double origin; the legend which found two names, made also two persons of them, and placed them side by side. It is, however, easy to see that they are naturally one: Huemac has just as much a religious signification as Quetzalcoatl; as Huematzin, he wrote the divine book, containing all the earthly and heavenly wisdom of the Toltecs. Quetzalcoatl has, in the same degree, besides his religious position, the worldly one of ruler and founder of a civilization. As Quetzalcoatl possesses a divine nature, so does Huemac, to whom also are ascribed the three hundred years of life, and the impression of the hand in the rock.