Hello and welcome to the second Aztec mythological profile. This time its Mictlantechutli and his relation to the creation of mortal races. Enjoy.
Mictlantechutli
Mictlantechutli is the Aztec king of the underworld (and attributed to being a god due to him being the most powerful being in the underworld). He ruled over Mictlan , the Aztec land of the dead which was set far in the north , it had nine levels and according to legend it took four years for one to pass through them all. There were many challenges the dead had to pass such as a field where wind constantly blew razor sharp knives or a jungle with blood rivers and ponds where jaguars would attack them. His wife Mictecacihuatl presided with him over the dead.
Mictlantechutli was depicted as a huge skeleton with blood dripping over him constantly , even though he was a skeleton he still had eyes in his sockets. He wore jewelry made out of human eyes , noses and ears. He was the only deity that governed all types of souls , which were known as Mortal deaths (old age , disease ) , Heroic deaths (deaths during sacrifices or battles) and Normal deaths (murder , accidents , rockfalls and such).
During the creation of the new world after the defeat of Tezcatlipoca at the hands of Quetzalcoatl , the feathered serpent (Quetzalcoatl) went into the underworld with his brother Xolotl to retrieve the bones of ancient gods. Once he arrived at the lords throne , he asked I come for the precious bones , bones of jade . Mictlantechutli replied You can take away my sacred burden on one condition , walk around my throne while blowing this horn. He then handed Quetzalcoatl a conch shell. Quetzalcoatl decided that he had to outsmart the lord of Mictlan (Since blowing his horn while walking around a throne was a sign of obedience and weakness) , he told his brother Xolotl to tell Mictlantechutli that he would leave the bones , and in a moment Quetzalcoatl grabbed the bones and started to run , but Mictlantechutli was prepared , he had a great whole dug into Quetzalcoatls only escape route. Quetzalcoatl fell into the hole and the bones shattered (they believed that the reason why we all came in differnet sizes , shapes and colours was because of the bones shattering in innumerable ways). He then grabbed the remnants of the bones and escaped Mictlan , once on the surface he and the other gods bled onto the bones and then ground them up , from that dust they birthed the humans into the world.
I hope you enjoyed this Mythological Profile , as always feel free to suggest what youd like to read about (even if its just a specific mythology rather than a specific being/legend).
Hello welcome to another Mythological Profile , this time its the Navi of Slavic mythology. Enjoy.
Navi (Babice)
The navi are said to be extremely evil beings , they are the souls of children that were born dead. They are the personification of death and are always called in plural (Navi) because they roam in packs.They are invisible to all but those whom were born at the same moment as they , they stalk the night until dawn and make child noises which attract their most favoured prey , children and pregnant women.
They are said to often creep into the rooms of newborn children or pregnant women , through chimneys or open windows.They are said to either strangle their prey or well bite and claw on the breasts of the women until they bleed to death (Yes its a very gruesome picture). In Bulgaria they are seen as grotesque birds that fly and shreek during the night around houses. In Poliand and Ukraine they have a a human and animal segment of their bodies. In Russia they are the souls of dead children that enter birds. In Serbia , Croatia and Bosnia they are also called Nevidncici , nevidmici or nekrstenici because they are thought to attack unbaptized children and are described as birds with childrens heads.
In Serbia and Bosnia there is also another counterpart of theirs , the Babice (the grannies is the crudest and only translation possible) , they are women who died while giving child birth. They are described as women in black often shriveled in appearance and in some descriptions with a mouth on their stomach. To protect from these beings the pregnant women tied a red band on their right ear , and tied a red wrist band onto the child for fourty days. It is thought that after those fourty days pass the child will laught for the first time , to signify its freedom from the terror of those who died while giving life. The Navi are ancient so states the Primary Chroincle (In Serbian Povest minulih leta Confessions of past summers) an ancient text (12th century is quite ancient by todays standards) which states that the Navi (besovi) were spreading plagues in 1092.
Well I hope you enjoyed this Myth. Profile , feel free to suggest anything to write about in the future.
Hello , welcome to another Aztec myth. Profile , this time its Tlaloc. Enjoy.
Tlaloc
Tlaloc is the Aztec god of Rain , Storms , Mist and Water. He was the consort of Ichpochtli the Aztec goddess of beauty , but she was kidnapped by Tezcatlipoca , afterwards he took for his consort the Chalchiuhtlicue the goddess of seas and rivers. He was depicted as either a frog like man with fangs or a man with huge eyes and fangs. He ruled over one of the many heavens whicwas called Tlalocan which was a paradise where those who drowned or died of diseases related to water died. It is a paradise of endless summer , with huge plants and constant tranquil rain.
He was a very important deity to the Aztecs , due to him being the one who brings rain. Unlike for most cultures in the world , rain was a common thing and they did not do sacrifices or rites to call it forth , rather they did them to stop rainstorms and reduce the amount of rain overall by getting on Tlalocs good side. For this he demanded that young children (toddlers) be drowned in his name. One could guess the terror the Aztecs felt when they needed to sacrifice their children to stop the god from obliterating them with floods and storms. In truth he was something they feared as much as they praised , the sheer amount of rain they received all the time made them sacrifice many , many children.
I hope you enjoyed this Mythological Profile. Feel free to suggest any future beings/myths to review.
