Tepoztecatl
Tepoztecatl (also Tezcatzontecatl , straw-covered mirror ) was the god of pulque , drunkenness and fertility in Aztec mythology .
mythology
Tepoztecatl was considered one of the four hundred sons of Mayahuels , who embodied the agave plant from which the alcohol-containing pulque was made. Pantecatl is named as his father . According to reports, the chief of the four hundred pulque gods, Ome Tochtli ( Two Rabbits ) has been considered synonymous with Tepoztecatl. Elsewhere, a distinction is made between the two. The pulque gods assigned the rabbit, which in turn was associated with the moon. The various degrees of drunkenness were named after the names of pulque gods. For example, “four hundred rabbits” was considered to be completely drunk, “fifteen to twenty rabbits” meant a slight flip. As a pulque god, Tepoztecatl was also associated with fertility rites and the moon. He was depicted with his nose pointing upwards and a face with one half colored red and the other half black. In Tepoztlan (today in the Mexican state of Morelos ) Tepoztecatl was worshiped as a tribal god.
archeology
In Tepoztlan is the pyramid of Tepozteco, also called El Tepozteco . It was built around 1250 in the tribal area of the Xochimilca , a Nahua tribe that had settled in the Tepoztlan valley since around 1200 AD. The pyramid and the temple built on it were dedicated to Tepoztecatl. After the region was conquered by the Aztecs, the pyramid was expanded, last in 1452, and the cult of the Pulque god continued. In the living areas near the temple lived priests who performed the rituals in honor of the god. His statue was destroyed in the 16th century by the Dominican Domingo de la Anunciacion. Until it was destroyed, the place was the destination of pilgrims, some of whom came from far away, even from Chiapas and Guatemala .
literature
- George C. Vaillant: The Aztecs . M. Dumont Schaumberg, Cologne 1957
Web links
- About Tepozteco in the state of Morelos ( Memento from July 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Image of the pyramid of Tepozteco ( Memento from July 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive )