The gods of Mexico

by Lewis Spence

In my view the physical phenomena which occur in connection with the courses of the winds typical of the Mexican plateau provide by far the most simple and natural explanation of the nature of the god Quetzalcoatl. From April or May to the beginning of October the trade-wind blows from the east coast over the Plateau of Anahuac, bringing with it abundance of rain, and accelerating vegetable growth, thus actually “sweeping the ways for the rain-gods.” Its advance is comparatively slow, the rains beginning three or four weeks earlier in Vera Cruz than in Puebla and Mexico. At the beginning of October, however, it is invariably modified by the local monsoon, which interrupts it over wide areas, or in certain districts invades it in violent cyclonic storms, dissipating its energies and altering its course. Quetzalcoatl represents the gentle trade-wind, which ushers in the growth-making rains. His reign of peace, plenty, and fertility over, he comes into opposition with Tezcatlipocâ, who represents the monsoon and who chases his rival “from city to city,” ravening at him like a tiger, says Mendieta, and at last hustling him out of the country. That Tezcatlipocâ is also a god of wind is certain, as is proved by one of his names, Yoalli Ehecatl, “Wind of Night,” and that he is the monsoon or hurricane is proved beyond all doubt by the circumstance that he is said to have rushed along the highways at night at extraordinary speed, and that Hurakan, his Quiche name, is still employed for the very wind he represented, and has [[139]]become a generic name for a tempestuous wind in practically all European languages, which have without question adopted it from the American word.[90]

If this simple elucidation of the original myth be accepted, it will be seen how naturally its later modifications arise out of it or adapt themselves to it. But before we examine the manner in which they crystallized around it, it becomes necessary to disentangle from the whole mass that portion of it which alludes to the advent of a civilizing agency upon the Mexican plateau.

This speaks of the advance of a body of men from the neighbourhood of Vera Cruz to the Mexican plateau, and precisely in the direction whence the trade-wind comes—that is, from the east, the direction of the land of the Huaxtecs, a people of proto-Maya stock.

Quetzalcoatl is dressed in Huaxtec garb, and wears the truncated sugar-loaf hat and shell-ornaments of this people. This may signify nothing more than that he was so attired because he represented a wind which blew from the direction of the land of the Huaxtecs. Yet, it is certain that several of the deities adopted by the Mexicans had undoubtedly a Huaxtec origin, and this is markedly the case with Tlazoltcotl. There seems to be some ground, then, for the hypothesis that Quetzalcoatl was a god of Huaxtec origin. But the acceptance of such a theory will entail the acknowledgment of certain hypotheses which are among the most controverted questions in Mexican archæology. In the first place, it makes Quetzalcoatl the deity of a people of Maya stock, and secondly it would seem to imply a Huaxtec or Maya origin for the much-debated Toltec culture.

A discussion of these points must begin with the question, “Has the myth of Quetzalcoatl’s civilizing mission to the Mexican plateau any historical justification?” Regarding the reality of the civilization known as Toltec there is now no question, although I fully admit that it took me a long time to realize this, thanks principally to my acceptance of Brinton’s well-known theory on the subject, to which I [[140]]attached far too much weight. But admitting Toltec reality, what proof do we possess that such a civilizing agency as that of Quetzalcoatl gave an impetus to the “prehistoric” culture of Tollan? But little—that is if we are to regard Quetzalcoatl as a man. But in his guise as the gentle trade-wind that ushers in the rains, we have every reason to see in him the founder of the Toltec civilization. Such a culture as the Toltec must undoubtedly have had its origin in agricultural efficiency. Only through agricultural efficiency can the corvée system arise and extensive building become possible. The god whose bountiful patronage of growth assisted the arts in this manner seems in time to have been ‘humanized.’[91] Legends of his civilizing prowess clustered around his supposititious memory, he was thought to have been a culture-hero who actually moved and had his being among the people. Kings or rulers were called by his name—a lucky name of happy associations—and the illusion that he actually existed was thereby heightened. These rulers seem to have flourished in Mexico ere yet the offices of king and priest had become separate, so that it is not surprising that Quetzalcoatl was regarded as having been the priest of his own cult, or that the Mexican pontiffs of historical times bore his name. From this point of view, then, Quetzalcoatl was certainly the “founder” of the Toltec civilization. If this theory be accepted, I do not see how the myth of Quetzalcoatl can be regarded as having any basis in actual fact, unless one can find in the rather vague statements of certain early writers on Mexico a further basis for discussion as to his reality. To me the meaning of the myth seems very plain. It may be that Huaxtec influence was brought to bear upon Toltec civilization, but my hypothesis does not seem to me to require assistance from such an admission.

CRITICISM OF THE LATER ELEMENTS OF QUETZALCOATL’S MYTH

In short, the myth of Quetzalcoatl as recorded by Sahagun is obviously developed from a much older one which referred [[141]]to a season of plenteous rain—the period of the rule of the gentle and beneficent god representing the trade-wind. As it was connected with prosperous conditions in agriculture, it was naturally brought into connection with the Toltec time, the “good old times of long ago,” when conditions were greatly better, and no mouth knew want. Such a concept was obviously of later origin. The revised myth took on a cultural complexion. In terms of allegory, it tells how the powers of the rain-making priest-god fail him; he becomes sick, and is beguiled and defeated by Tezcatlipocâ, the rival wind-god, who tells him that “another old man” awaits him in Tlapallan. And here we seem to find interpolated a reference to the guardian genius of the fountain of perpetual youth, the reservoir of rain and all refreshment, which Quetzalcoatl must visit if he would be cured of the ills of old age, and he is counselled to speak with its keeper if he would return to Mexico “as a boy.” The destruction of his treasure by the banished god seems to point to a reminiscence of the downfall of the Toltec state, and the concealment of his gold and gems by burial to analogous Toltec practice on the defeat or decline of that civilized folk. With his departure the reign of plenty ceases, the trees wither, the birds migrate, the season of the trade-wind rains has come to an end. History and myth are perhaps combined in this story of the latter days of the Toltec régime and those of the revivifying rains. The priest-god withdraws eastwards to the “flute-playing” of the retreating trade-winds. Nahua sorcerers detain him in order to learn the Toltec arts, perhaps a mythical manner of showing how the Nahua barbarians forced captive Toltecs to teach them the mysteries of stone- and metal-craft. He is given the draught of the dead, “that none of the living can drink,” a mythical episode common in all parts of the world. His dwarfish followers (the rain-gods, the Tlaloque, with whom Sahagun associates him elsewhere) are frozen to death in the cold of the mountains, otherwise the rain is congealed into snow.

Torquemada’s version of Quetzalcoatl’s myth is eloquent of the pre-eminence of his cult at Cholula. The priest-god’s [[142]]prophecy of his return bears an extraordinary resemblance to that given in the Books of Chilan Balam, a Guatemalan native production, regarding the coming of white men to Central America.[92]

Motolinia’s story of the fixing of the strap on Quetzalcoatl’s arm is merely a grotesque explanation of the name Acolhua, which in reality signifies “the folk of the great shoulder,” “the pushers,” “the hustling invaders.”

Mendieta, in dwelling upon Quetzalcoatl’s dislike of war, merely retains for us a characteristic of the effeminate people of Cholula. The appearance of Tezcatlipocâ as a spider is typical of the god of the dry season, or of the dry-rot prevalent in that period of the year. As a tiger he symbolizes the fierceness of the hurricane, and the tlachtli game which he and Quetzalcoatl engage in is undoubtedly symbolic of the seasonal strife between the wind-gods.