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35-713: The depiction of the Feathered Serpent is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica . Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has its origins among the Maya of the Classic Period . Little is known of the mythology of this Pre-Columbian era deity. In the Yucatec Maya language , the name is spelt Kʼukʼulkan ( /kʼuː kʼuːlˈkän/ ) and in Tzotzil it is Kʼukʼul-chon ( /kʼuːˈkʼuːl tʃʰon/ ). The Yucatec form of

70-509: A peg of sorts to insert them into the wall area, adding more depth and details to the architecture. Other Mesoamerican structures, such as the ones in Tula , the capital of the later Toltecs (950–1150 AD), also featured profiles of feathered serpents. The Aztec feathered serpent deity known as Quetzalcoatl is known from several Aztec codices , such as the Florentine codex , as well as from

105-473: Is about the opening of the mountain in which the maize was hidden. In Tzotzil mythology, the rain deity also figures as the father of nubile women representing maize and vegetables. In some versions of the Qʼeqchiʼ myth of Sun and Moon, the rain deity Choc (or Chocl) 'Cloud' is the brother of Sun; together they defeat their aged adoptive mother and her lover. Later, Chaac commits adultery with his brother's wife and

140-481: Is duly punished; his tears of agony give origin to the rain. Versions of this myth show the rain deity Chac in his war-like fury, pursuing the fleeing Sun and Moon, and attacking them with his lightning bolts. In some mythologies, it is believed that water and clouds are formed within the Earth in caves and cenotes and then carried into the sky by deities such as Chaac. Classic period Maya sources also suggest that Chaac

175-419: Is represented by white, West is represented by black for the sunset, and South is represented by yellow. There is a fifth color which is associate with the center point, and that is green. In 16th-century Yucatán, the directional Chaac of the east was called Chac Xib Chaac 'Red Man Chaac', only the colors being varied for the three other ones. Contemporary Yucatec Maya farmers distinguish many more aspects of

210-519: Is still alive, Kukulkan causes earth tremors every year in July. A modern collection of folklore from Yucatán tells how Kukulkan was a winged serpent that flew to the sun and tried to speak to it but the sun, in its pride, burnt his tongue. The same source relates how Kukulkan always travels ahead of the Yucatec Maya rain god Chaac , helping to predict the rains as his tail moves the winds and sweeps

245-503: Is the name of the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lightning. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among the Aztecs . Like other Maya gods, Chaac is both one and manifold. Four Chaacs are based in the cardinal directions and wear the directional colors. East, where the sunrise is, is red, North, mid-day zenith,

280-457: Is the war-like fury of the rain deity that receives emphasis (as is also the case in the myth mentioned above). The king personifying the rain deity is then shown carrying war implements and making prisoners, while his actions seem to be equated with the violence of a thunderstorm. About Chaahk's role in Classic period mythological narrative, little is known. He is present at the resurrection of

315-718: The Itza state in the northern Yucatán Peninsula , where the religion formed the core of the Territorial religion. Although the worship of Kukulkan had its origins in earlier Maya traditions, the Itza worship of Kukulkan was heavily influenced by the Quetzalcoatl religion of central Mexico. This influence probably arrived via Putún Maya merchants from the Gulf Coast of Mexico . These Chontal merchants probably actively promoted

350-425: The Maya maize god from the carapace of a turtle, possibly representing the earth. The so-called 'confrontation scenes' are of a more legendary nature. They show a young nobleman and his retinue wading through the waters and being approached by warriors. One of these warriors is a man personifying the rain deity. He probably represents an ancestral king, and seems to be referred to as Chak Xib [Chaahk]. Together with

385-409: The 10th century. Although Kukulkan was mentioned as a historical person by Maya writers of the 16th century, the earlier 9th-century texts at Chichen Itza never identified him as human and artistic representations depicted him as a Vision Serpent entwined around the figures of nobles. At Chichen Itza, Kukulkan is also depicted presiding over sacrifice scenes. Kukulkan was a deity closely associated with

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420-407: The 2006 film Apocalypto , the high priest in charge of human sacrifice prays to Kukulkan. Feathered Serpent The Feathered Serpent is a prominent supernatural entity or deity, found in many Mesoamerican religions. It is still called Quetzalcoatl among the Aztecs ; Kukulkan among the Yucatec Maya ; and Q'uq'umatz and Tohil among the K'iche' Maya . The double symbolism used by

455-650: The Central Mexican ( Teotihuacan ) precursor of Tlaloc. A large part of one of the four surviving Maya codices, the Dresden Codex , is dedicated to the Chaacs, their locations, and activities. It illustrates the intimate relationship existing between the Chaacs, the Bacabs , and the aged goddess, Ixchel . The main source on the 16th-century Yucatec Maya, Bishop Diego de Landa , combines the four Chaacs with

490-636: The Feathered Serpent is considered allegoric to the dual nature of the deity: Being feathered represents its divine nature or ability to fly to reach the skies; being a serpent represents its human nature or ability to creep on the ground among other animals of the Earth, a dualism very common in Mesoamerican deities. The earliest representations of feathered serpents appear in the Olmec culture ( c. 1400–400 BC ). The Olmec culture predates

525-514: The Feathered Serpent. While the feathered serpent has been a common theme in different Mesoamerican works, it is frequently and most commonly reflected in the architecture of Mesoamerican culture. Some common techniques used to incorporate imagery of the Feathered Serpent into this architecture is relief carving, which involves “a sculpture with figures that protrude from a background while still being attached to it” and normally combined with tenoned heads, which are large pieces of stone carved but have

560-640: The Maya and the Aztec. This cultural enclave extended from the Gulf of Mexico to Nicaragua. Most surviving representations in Olmec art, such as Monument 19 at La Venta , and a painting in the Juxtlahuaca cave (see below), show the Feathered Serpent as a crested rattlesnake , sometimes with feathers covering the body and legs, and often close to humans. It is believed that Olmec supernatural entities such as

595-606: The War Serpent. It has been identified also as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art . The cult of Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl was the first Mesoamerican religion to transcend the old Classic Period linguistic and ethnic divisions. This cult facilitated communication and peaceful trade among peoples of many different social and ethnic backgrounds. Although the cult was originally centred on

630-514: The ancient city of Chichen Itza in the modern Mexican state of Yucatán , it spread as far as the Guatemalan Highlands and northern Belize . In Yucatán, references to the deity Kukulkan are confused by references to a historical individual who bore the name of the god. Because of this, the distinction between the two has become blurred. This individual appears to have been a ruler or priest at Chichen Itza who first appeared around

665-462: The earth clean. Among the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas , Kukulkan is an evil, monstrous snake that is the pet of the sun god. She destroys much of the world until she tries to herself during the long trip—the trip between the life and death. During the trip, she meets a boy who shares food with her and follows her back to the human world. She returns with him and constructs her own country. In

700-703: The fall of Chichen Itza, the nearby Postclassic city of Mayapan became the centre of the revived Kukulkan worshipers, with temples decorated with feathered serpent columns. At the time of the Spanish colonization , the high priest of Kukulkan was the family patriarch of the Xiu faction and was one of the two most powerful men in the city. The religion of Kukulkan spread as far as the Guatemalan Highlands and northern Belize, where Postclassic feathered serpent sculptures are found with open mouths from which protrude

735-535: The feathered serpent deity, several other serpent gods existed in the pantheon of Mesoamerican gods with similar traits, all of which had an important role in the cultural development of Mesoamerican cultures. The evidence of the importance of these deities to Mesoamerican culture lies in the architecture left from these civilizations and the rituals surrounding them. Chaac Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Mayan , Chaahk [t͡ʃaːhk] )

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770-497: The feathered serpent were the forerunners of many later Mesoamerican deities, although experts disagree on the feathered serpent's religious importance to the Olmec. H.B. Nicholson notes that as early as the Middle Formative (Preclassic) in the Olmec tradition, images of serpents with avian characteristics were often represented in several types of artifacts and monuments. This composite creature, who has been denominated

805-471: The feathered serpent worshipers throughout Mesoamerica . Kukulkan headed a pantheon of deities of mixed Maya and non-Maya provenance, used to promote the Itza political and commercial agenda. It also eased the passage of Itza merchants into central Mexico and other non-Maya areas, promoting the Itza economy. At Chichen Itza, Kukulkan ceased to be the Vision Serpent that served as a messenger between

840-406: The four Bacabs and Pauahtuns into one concept. The Bacabs were aged deities governing the subterranean sphere and its water supplies. In the Classic period, the king often impersonated the rain deity (or an associated rain serpent) while a portrait glyph of the rain deity can accompany the king's other names. This may have given expression to his role as a supreme rain-maker. Typically, however, it

875-435: The heads of human warriors. Stories are still told about Kukulkan among the modern Yucatec Maya. In one tale, Kukulkan is a boy who was born as a snake. As he grew older it became obvious that he was the plumed serpent and his sister cared for him in a cave. He grew to such a size that his sister was unable to continue feeding him, so he flew out of his cave and into the sea, causing an earthquake. To let his sister know that he

910-413: The king and the gods and came instead to symbolise the divinity of the territory. El Castillo, Chichen Itza served as a temple to Kukulkan. During the spring and fall equinoxes the shadow cast by the angle of the sun and edges of the nine steps of the pyramid combined with the northern stairway and the stone serpent head carvings create the illusion of a massive serpent descending the pyramid. After

945-516: The name is formed from the word kuk "feather" with the adjectival suffix -ul , giving kukul "feathered", combined with kan "snake" (Tzotzil chon ), giving a literal meaning of "feathered snake". In the Chol-Ch'orti'-Tzeltal family of languages, Kukulcan is Kukulchon. In Ch'orti' , Kukulchon is kuk k'ur chon. Kukulkan has its origins among the Maya of the Classic Period , when it was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan ( /waʃaklaˈχuːn uːˈɓaχ kän/ ),

980-521: The rain deities, the Yucatec Chʼa Cháak ceremony for asking rain centers on a ceremonial banquet for the rain deities. It includes four boys (one for each cardinal point) acting and chanting as frogs. Asking for rain and crops was also the purpose of 16th-century rituals at the cenotes , of Yucatán. The rain deity is a patron of agriculture. A well-known myth in which the Chaacs (or related Rain and Lightning deities) have an important role to play

1015-401: The rainfall and the clouds and personify them as different, hierarchically-ordered rain deities. The Chorti Maya have preserved important folklore regarding the process of rain-making, which involved rain deities striking rain-carrying snakes with their axes. The rain deities had their human counterparts. In the traditional Maya (and Mesoamerican) community, one of the most important functions

1050-568: The records of the Spanish conquistadors . Quetzalcoatl was known as the deity of wind and rain, bringer of knowledge, the inventor of books, and associated with the planet Venus . The corresponding Mayan god Kukulkan was rare in the Classic era Maya civilization . However, in the Popol Vuh , the K'iche' feathered serpent god Tepeu Q'uq'umatz is the creator of the cosmos. Along with

1085-659: The skeletal Death God ( God A ), Chaahk also appears to preside over an initiate's ritual transformation into a jaguar. Chaac continues to hold importance for Maya groups in Mexico. In 2024, a statue of the Greek god Poseidon located in Progreso, Yucatán , caused controversy for locals who deemed it offensive to their beliefs in Chaac. Many locals organized with the goal of destroying the statue because it supposedly angered Chaac. While

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1120-489: The “Avian Serpent” and “Olmec God VII,” appears to constitute an earlier form of the later full-fledged Feathered Serpent, the rattlesnake covered with feathers, probably with at least some of the same celestial and fertility connotations. The pantheon of the people of Teotihuacan (200 BC – 700 AD) also featured a feathered serpent, shown most prominently on the Temple of the Feathered Serpent (dated 150–200 AD). The pyramid

1155-465: Was built southeast of the intersection of the avenue of the dead and the east-end avenue. Several feathered serpent representations appear on the building, many of them including full-body profiles and feathered serpent heads. The sculptures utilize practices such as relief carving to create complex ornate compositions. Head carvings of the Feathered Serpent have been frequently found around the Pyramid of

1190-401: Was that of rainmaker, which presupposed an intimate acquaintance with (and thus, initiation by) the rain deities, and a knowledge of their places and movements. According to a Late-Postclassic Yucatec tradition, Chac Xib Chaac (the rain deity of the east) was the title of a king of Chichen Itza , and similar titles were bestowed upon Classic rulers as well (see below). Among the rituals for

1225-548: Was the god who opened the mountain containing maize, using his lightning axe, K'awiil . Chaac is usually depicted with a human body showing reptilian or amphibian scales, and with a non-human head evincing fangs and a long, pendulous nose. In the Classic style, a shell serves as his ear ornament. He often carries a shield and a lightning axe, the axe being personified by a closely related deity, K'awiil , called Bolon Dzacab in Yucatec. The Classic Chaac sometimes shows features of

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