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82-626: Quetzalcoatl ( / ˌ k ɛ t s əl k oʊ ˈ æ t əl / ) (Nahuatl: " Feathered Serpent ") is a deity in Aztec culture and literature . Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. He was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon , along with the gods Tlaloc , Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli . The two other gods represented by

164-475: A legend for a map. The word symbol derives from the late Middle French masculine noun symbole , which appeared around 1380 in a theological sense signifying a formula used in the Roman Catholic Church as a sort of synonym for 'the credo'; by extension in the early Renaissance it came to mean 'a maxim' or 'the external sign of a sacrament'; these meanings were lost in secular contexts. It

246-407: A "symbol-using, symbol making, and symbol misusing animal" to suggest that a person creates symbols as well as misuses them. One example he uses to indicate what he means by the misuse of the symbol is the story of a man who, when told that a particular food item was whale blubber, could barely keep from throwing it up. Later, his friend discovered it was actually just a dumpling. But the man's reaction

328-501: A background while still being attached to it” and normally combined with tenoned heads, which are large pieces of stone carved but have 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

410-553: A depiction of the same feathered-serpent deity worshipped in classic and post-classic periods, it shows the continuity of symbolism of feathered snakes in Mesoamerica from the formative period and on, for example in comparison to the Maya Vision Serpent shown below. The first culture to use the symbol of a feathered serpent as an important religious and political symbol was that of Teotihuacan . At temples such as

492-512: A dramatic spread of feathered serpent iconography is evidenced throughout Mesoamerica, and during this period images begin to figure prominently at sites such as Chichén Itzá , El Tajín , and throughout the Maya area. Colonial documentary sources from the Maya area frequently speak of the arrival of foreigners from the central Mexican plateau, often led by a man whose name translates as "Feathered Serpent". It has been suggested that these stories recall

574-686: A means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge. Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric . Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's cultural background. As

656-552: A particular symbol's apparent meaning. Consequently, symbols with emotive power carry problems analogous to false etymologies . The context of a symbol may change its meaning. Similar five-pointed stars might signify a law enforcement officer or a member of the armed services , depending upon the uniform . Symbols are used in cartography to communicate geographical information (generally as point, line, or area features). As with other symbols, visual variables such as size, shape, orientation, texture, and pattern provide meaning to

738-420: A red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are symbols for numbers ; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes ; and personal names are symbols representing individuals. The academic study of symbols is called semiotics . In the arts, symbolism is the use of a concrete element to represent a more abstract idea. In cartography , an organized collection of symbols forms

820-481: A result, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned. Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols. Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, and images are; so too are the manners and customs of daily life. Through all of these, a transcendent reality is mirrored. There are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed,

902-484: A special Quetzalcoatl livery. The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus was named after the deity. Feathered Serpent The double symbolism used by 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

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984-713: A speech which, as described in the codex written by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún and his Tlatelolcan informants, included such prostrate declarations of divine or near-divine admiration as: You have graciously come on earth, you have graciously approached your water, your high place of Mexico, you have come down to your mat, your throne, which I have briefly kept for you, I who used to keep it for you. and: You have graciously arrived, you have known pain, you have known weariness, now come on earth, take your rest, enter into your palace, rest your limbs; may our lords come on earth. The exact intent of these words

1066-487: A stone chest, adorn him in turquoise, and then, laying in the chest, set himself on fire . His ashes rose into the sky and then his heart followed, becoming the morning star (see Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli ). He is also attributed with having brought the cacao plant from a sacred mountain to the Toltec people, teaching the women how to make traditional drinking chocolate. Since the sixteenth century, it has been widely held that

1148-438: A symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable and mysterious; symbols open up the "depth dimension of reality itself". Symbols are complex, and their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. When a symbol loses its meaning and power for an individual or culture, it becomes a dead symbol. When a symbol becomes identified with the deeper reality to which it refers, it becomes idolatrous as

1230-431: Is a mark, sign , or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea , object , or relationship . Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise different concepts and experiences. All communication is achieved through the use of symbols: for example, a red octagon is a common symbol for " STOP "; on maps , blue lines often represent rivers; and

1312-401: Is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable. Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own." In the book Signs and Symbols , it is stated that A symbol   ... is a visual image or sign representing an idea – a deeper indicator of universal truth. Semiotics

1394-668: Is known from several Aztec codices , such as the Florentine codex , as well as from 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

1476-597: Is substituted for another in order to change the meaning. In other words, if one person does not understand a certain word or phrase, another person may substitute a synonym or symbol in order to get the meaning across. However, upon learning the new way of interpreting a specific symbol, the person may change his or her already-formed ideas to incorporate the new information. Jean Dalby Clift says that people not only add their own interpretations to symbols, but they also create personal symbols that represent their own understanding of their lives: what she calls "core images" of

1558-443: Is the creator of the cosmos. Along with 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. Symbol A symbol

1640-513: Is the study of signs, symbols, and signification as communicative behavior. Semiotics studies focus on the relationship of the signifier and the signified, also taking into account the interpretation of visual cues, body language, sound, and other contextual clues. Semiotics is linked with linguistics and psychology. Semioticians not only study what a symbol implies but also how it got its meaning and how it functions to make meaning in society. For example, symbols can cause confusion in translation when

1722-435: Is uncertain. The rhetorical style of classic Nahuatl was full of subtle nuances and is still not well understood. Matthew Restall argues that if Moctezuma's politely offered his throne to Cortés, it may have been meant as the exact opposite since politeness in Aztec culture was a way to assert dominance and show superiority. This speech, which has been widely referred to, has been a factor in the widespread belief that Moctezuma

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1804-779: The Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II initially believed the landing of Hernán Cortés in 1519 to be Quetzalcoatl's return. This view has been questioned by ethno-historians who argue that the Quetzalcoatl-Cortés connection is not found in any document that was created independently of post-Conquest Spanish influence, and that there is little proof of a pre-Hispanic belief in Quetzalcoatl's return. Most documents expounding this theory are of entirely Spanish origin, such as Cortés's letters to Charles V of Spain , in which Cortés goes to great pains to present

1886-634: The Book of Mormon , the resurrected Jesus Christ descended from heaven and visited the people of the American continent, shortly after his resurrection. Based on the Book of Mormon account, some followers of the Latter Day Saints movement believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ, but that his name and the details of the event were gradually lost over time. Quetzalcoatl is not a religious symbol in

1968-650: The Late Preclassic to Early Classic period (400 BC – 600 AD) of Mesoamerican chronology ; veneration of the figure appears to have spread throughout Mesoamerica by the Late Classic period (600–900 AD). In the Postclassic period (900–1519 AD), the worship of the feathered-serpent deity centered in the primary Mexican religious center of Cholula . In this period the deity is known to have been named Quetzalcōhuātl by his Nahua followers. In

2050-680: The Maya area he was approximately equivalent to Kukulkan and Gukumatz , names that also roughly translate as "feathered serpent" in different Mayan languages . In the era following the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , a number of records conflated Quetzalcoatl with Ce Acatl Topiltzin , a ruler of the mythico-historic city of Tollan . Historians debate to what degree, or whether at all, these narratives about this legendary Toltec ruler describe historical events. Furthermore, early Spanish sources written by clerics tend to identify

2132-593: The Spanish Conquest , the Native Americans and the Catholic priests who sympathized with them felt pressure to link Native American beliefs with Christianity, thus making the Native Americans seem more human and less savage. Over time, Quetzalcoatl's appearance, clothing, malevolent nature, and status among the gods were reshaped to fit a more Christian framework. Quetzalcoatl was fictionalized in

2214-562: The Toltec , the name was used as a military title and its representation as an emblem. In the post-classic Nahua civilization of central Mexico (Aztec), the worship of Quetzalcoatl was ubiquitous. Cult worship may have involved the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (psilocybes), considered sacred. The most important center was Cholula , where the world's largest pyramid was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl-worship. In Aztec culture, depictions of Quetzalcoatl were fully anthropomorphic. Quetzalcoatl

2296-555: The "Quetzalcoatl/Cortés myth" as one of many myths about the Spanish conquest which have risen in the early post-conquest period. There is no question that the legend of Quetzalcoatl played a significant role in the colonial period. However, this legend likely has a foundation in events that took place immediately prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. A 2012 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and

2378-411: The "symbol is taken for reality." The symbol itself is substituted for the deeper meaning it intends to convey. The unique nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality that are otherwise inaccessible. A symbol's meaning may be modified by various factors including popular usage, history , and contextual intent . The history of a symbol is one of many factors in determining

2460-646: The 1982 film Q as a monster that terrorizes New York City. The deity has been featured as a character in the manga and anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's , Beyblade: Metal Fusion , Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid (the latter two depicting Quetzalcoatl as a female dragon deity); the Megami Tensei video game franchise; the video games Fate/Grand Order , Final Fantasy VIII , Final Fantasy XV , Sanitarium , Smite (as an alternate costume for his Mayan counterpart, Kukulkan), and Indiana Jones and

2542-672: The Dallas Museum of Art, "The Children of the Plumed Serpent: the Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico", demonstrated the existence of a powerful confederacy of Eastern Nahuas, Mixtecs and Zapotecs, along with the peoples they dominated throughout southern Mexico between 1200 and 1600 (Pohl, Fields, and Lyall 2012, Harvey 2012, Pohl 2003). They maintained a major pilgrimage and commercial center at Cholula, Puebla which

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2624-758: 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 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

2706-500: 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 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

2788-503: The Feathered Serpent have been frequently found around the Pyramid of 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

2870-487: The Feathered Serpent was part of a triad of agricultural deities: The feathered serpent was furthermore connected to the planet Venus because of this planet's importance as a sign of the beginning of the rainy season. To both Teotihuacan and Maya cultures , Venus was in turn also symbolically connected with warfare. Classic Maya serpent iconography seems related to the belief in a sky-, Venus-, creator-, war- and fertility-related serpent deity. In an example from Yaxchilan,

2952-758: The Indians had long-awaited his return to take part once again in God's kingdom. Historian Matthew Restall concludes that: The legend of the returning lords, originated during the Spanish-Mexica war in Cortés' reworking of Moctezuma's welcome speech, had by the 1550s merged with the Cortés-as-Quetzalcoatl legend that the Franciscans had started spreading in the 1530s Some scholarship maintains

3034-897: The Infernal Machine ; as the main antagonist in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode " How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth "; and in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel books. Quetzelcoatl also appeared on (Season 3) of the Animal Planet mockumentary Lost Tapes in an episode entitled "Q the Serpent God". In 1971 Tony Shearer published a book called Lord of the Dawn: Quetzalcoatl and

3116-646: The Latter-day Saint faith, and is not taught as such, nor is it in their doctrine that Quetzalcoatl is Jesus. However, in 1892 one president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , John Taylor , wrote: The story of the life of the Mexican divinity, Quetzalcoatl, closely resembles that of the Savior; so closely, indeed, that we can come to no other conclusion than that Quetzalcoatl and Christ are

3198-408: The Maya and frequently occurs in relation to Quetzalcoatl in other Mesoamerican cultures. On the basis of the iconography of the feathered-serpent deity at sites such as Teotihuacan, Xochicalco, Chichén Itzá, Tula and Tenochtitlan combined with certain ethnohistorical sources, historian David Carrasco has argued that the preeminent function of the feathered-serpent deity throughout Mesoamerican history

3280-500: The Nahua people, wrote, "Quetzalcoatl, in its literal sense, means 'serpent of precious feathers' but in the allegorical sense, 'wisest of men'." In Mesoamerican history, many different ethnopolitical groups worshiped a feathered-serpent deity. Evidence of such worship comes from the iconography of different Mesoamerican cultures, in which serpent motifs occur frequently. On the basis of the different symbolic systems used in portrayals of

3362-444: 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 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

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3444-784: The South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli , the god of war. Over the East presides the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec , the god of gold, farming and springtime. And over the North presides the Black Tezcatlipoca, known by no other name than Tezcatlipoca , the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery and the Earth. Quetzalcoatl was often considered the god of the morning star , and his twin brother Xolotl

3526-494: The Spaniards compared to both Rome and Mecca because the cult of the god united its constituents through a field of common social, political, and religious values without dominating them militarily. This confederacy engaged in almost seventy-five years of nearly continuous conflict with the Aztec Empire of the Triple Alliance until the arrival of Cortés. Members of this confederacy from Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Oaxaca provided

3608-485: The Spaniards with the army that first reclaimed the city of Cholula from its pro-Aztec ruling faction, and ultimately defeated the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). The Tlaxcalteca, along with other city-states across the Plain of Puebla, then supplied the auxiliary and logistical support for the conquests of Guatemala and West Mexico while Mixtec and Zapotec caciques (Colonial indigenous rulers) gained monopolies in

3690-730: The Sun God, and during the sacrifice the Aztecs humorously fail to pronounce his name. Later, Xavier and the Aztecs summon Quetzalcoatl in his mortal form and wind up angering him after cutting him open. After a slapstick-style chase scene, Xavier winds up as the Sun God and commits "sacricide" (sacrificial suicide), ending the skit. Quetzalcoatl appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder . He appears seated in Omnipotence City of

3772-575: The Tree of Life , inspiring New Age followers to visit Chichen Itza at the summer solstice when dragon-shaped shadows are cast by the Kulkulcan pyramid. The legend of Quetzalcoatl is spoofed in the Adult Swim CGI series Xavier: Renegade Angel . In the episode "Damnesia Vu," (Season 2 EP 6) Xavier winds up in the Aztec world and is immediately (and unsuccessfully) sacrificed for insulting

3854-539: The Vision Serpent has the human face of the young maize-god, further suggesting a connection to fertility and vegetational renewal; the Maya Young Maize god was also connected to Venus. In Xochicalco, depictions of the feathered serpent accompany the image of a seated, armed ruler and the hieroglyph for the day sign 9 Wind . The date 9 Wind is known to be associated with fertility, Venus and war among

3936-601: The aptly named "Quetzalcoatl temple" in the Ciudadela complex, feathered serpents figure prominently and alternate with a different kind of serpent head. The earliest depictions of the feathered serpent deity were fully zoomorphic, depicting the serpent as an actual snake, but already among the Classic Maya, images of the deity began acquiring human features, such as the beard (see the Borgia codex illustration below) that he

4018-506: The birth of Quetzalcoatl. In a version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl was born by a virgin named Chimalman , to whom the god Ometeotl appeared in a dream. In another story, the virgin Chimalman conceived Quetzalcoatl by swallowing an emerald. A third story narrates that Chimalman was hit in the womb by an arrow shot by Mixcoatl and nine months later she gave birth to a child which was called Quetzalcoatl. A fourth story narrates that Quetzalcoatl

4100-468: The cult of the feathered serpent spread to new religious and political centers in central Mexico, centers such as Xochicalco , Cacaxtla and Cholula . Feathered-serpent iconography is prominent at all of these sites. Cholula remained the most important center of worship of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec/Nahua version of the feathered-serpent deity, in the post-classic period. During the epi-classic period,

4182-436: The feathered-serpent deity in different cultures and periods, scholars have interpreted the religious and symbolic meaning of the feathered-serpent deity in Mesoamerican cultures. The earliest known iconographic depiction of the deity appears on Stela 19 at the Olmec site of La Venta . Dated to around 900 BC, it depicts a serpent rising up behind a person probably engaged in a shamanic ritual. Although probably not exactly

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4264-543: The final era of evangelization before the coming of the millennium . Franciscans such as Toribio de Benavente "Motolinia" saw elements of Christianity in the pre-Columbian religions and therefore believed that Mesoamerica had been evangelized before, possibly by Thomas the Apostle , who, according to legend, had "gone to preach beyond the Ganges". Franciscans then equated the original Quetzalcoatl with Thomas and imagined that

4346-399: The god-ruler Quetzalcoatl of these narratives with either Hernán Cortés or Thomas the Apostle —identifications which have also become sources of a diversity of opinions about the nature of Quetzalcoatl. The name Quetzalcoatl comes from Nahuatl and means "Precious serpent" or " Quetzal -feathered Serpent". In the 17th century, Ixtlilxóchitl , a descendant of Aztec royalty and historian of

4428-471: The gods, where all major deities are located, during an announcement from leader of the gods, Zeus . Quetzalcoatl also features in several songs by The Mountain Goats , an indie folk-rock band, such as Quetzalcoatl eats Plums and Quetzalcoatl is Born, both released as part of the album Zopilote Machine , released in 1994. Mexico's flagship airline Aeroméxico has a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted in

4510-528: The naive gullibility of the Aztecs in general as a great aid in the conquest of the Aztec Empire . Much of the idea of Cortés being seen as a deity can be traced back to the Florentine Codex written down some 50 years after the conquest. In the Codex's description of the first meeting between Moctezuma and Cortés, the Aztec ruler is described as giving a prepared speech in classical oratorial Nahuatl,

4592-476: The neck. Additionally, at least one major cache of offerings includes knives and idols adorned with the symbols of more than one god, some of which were adorned with wind jewels. Animals thought to represent Quetzalcoatl include resplendent quetzals , rattlesnakes ( coatl meaning "serpent" in Nahuatl), crows, and macaws . In his form as Ehecatl he is the wind, and is represented by spider monkeys , ducks, and

4674-486: The neuter noun symbolum refer to "a mark or sign as a means of recognition." The Latin word derives from Ancient Greek : σύμβολον symbolon , from a verb meaning 'put together', 'compare', alluding to the Classical practice of breaking a piece of ceramic in two and giving one half to the person who would receive a future message, and one half to the person who would send it: when the two fit perfectly together,

4756-472: The overland transport of Manila galleon trade through Mexico, and formed highly lucrative relationships with the Dominican order in the new Spanish imperial world economic system that explains so much of the enduring legacy of indigenous life-ways that characterize southern Mexico and explain the popularity of the Quetzalcoatl legends that continued through the colonial period to the present day. According to

4838-569: 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 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

4920-852: The person. Clift argues that symbolic work with these personal symbols or core images can be as useful as working with dream symbols in psychoanalysis or counseling. William Indick suggests that the symbols that are commonly found in myth, legend, and fantasy fulfill psychological functions and hence are why archetypes such as "the hero", "the princess" and "the witch" have remained popular for centuries. Symbols can carry symbolic value in three primary forms: Ideological, comparative, and isomorphic. Ideological symbols such as religious and state symbols convey complex sets of beliefs and ideas that indicate "the right thing to do". Comparative symbols such as prestigious office addresses, fine art, and prominent awards indicate answers to questions of "better or worse" and "superior or inferior". Isomorphic symbols blend in with

5002-669: The planet Venus are Tlaloc (ally and the god of rain) and Xolotl ( psychopomp and its twin). Quetzalcoatl wears around his neck the breastplate ehēcacōzcatl , "the spirally voluted wind jewel". This talisman was a conch shell cut at the cross-section and was likely worn as a necklace by religious rulers, as such objects have been discovered in burials in archaeological sites throughout Mesoamerica, and potentially symbolized patterns witnessed in hurricanes, dust devils, seashells, and whirlpools, which were elemental forces that had significance in Aztec mythology . Codex drawings pictured both Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl wearing an ehēcacōzcatl around

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5084-493: The receiver could be sure that the messenger bearing it did indeed also carry a genuine message from the intended person. A literary or artistic symbol as an "outward sign" of something else is a metaphorical extension of this notion of a message from a sender to a recipient. In English, the meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser 's Faerie Queene . Symbols are

5166-450: The same being. But the history of the former has been handed down to us through an impure Lamanitish source, which has sadly disfigured and perverted the original incidents and teachings of the Savior's life and ministry. Latter-day Saint author Brant Gardner, after investigating the link between Quetzalcoatl and Jesus, concluded that the association amounts to nothing more than folklore. In a 1986 paper for Sunstone , he noted that during

5248-600: The same symbol means different things in the source and target languages. A potential error documented in survey translation is the symbol of "x" used to denote "yes" when marking a response in the English language surveys, but "x" usually means "no" in the Chinese convention. Symbols allow the human brain continuously to create meaning using sensory input and decode symbols through both denotation and connotation . An alternative definition of symbol , distinguishing it from

5330-589: The spread of the feathered-serpent cult in the epi-classic and early post-classic periods. Represented as the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl was also seen as a manifestation of the wind, one of the most powerful forces of nature; a text in the Nahuatl language captures this relationship: Quetzalcoatl; yn ehecatl ynteiacancauh yntlachpancauh in tlaloque, yn aoaque, yn qujqujiauhti. Auh yn jquac molhuja eheca, mjtoa: teuhtli quaqualaca, ycoioca, tetecujca, tlatlaiooa, tlatlapitza, tlatlatzinj, motlatlaueltia. Quetzalcoatl—he

5412-778: The surrounding cultural environment such that they enable individuals and organizations to conform to their surroundings and evade social and political scrutiny. Examples of symbols with isomorphic value include wearing a professional dress during business meetings, shaking hands to greet others in the West, or bowing to greet others in the East. A single symbol can carry multiple distinct meanings such that it provides multiple types of symbolic value. Paul Tillich argued that, while signs are invented and forgotten, symbols are born and die. There are, therefore, dead and living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning and transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich

5494-454: The symbol. According to semiotics , map symbols are "read" by map users when they make a connection between the graphic mark on the map (the sign ), a general concept (the interpretant ), and a particular feature of the real world (the referent ). Map symbols can thus be categorized by how they suggest this connection: A symbolic action is an action that symbolizes or signals what the actor wants or believes. The action conveys meaning to

5576-448: The term sign was proposed by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung . In his studies on what is now called Jungian archetypes , a sign stands for something known, as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted a sign with a symbol : something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or precise. An example of a symbol in this sense is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called self . Kenneth Burke described Homo sapiens as

5658-429: The two most important priests of the Aztec Templo Mayor were called "Quetzalcoatl Tlamacazqui". In the Aztec ritual calendar, different deities were associated with the cycle-of-year names: Quetzalcoatl was tied to the year Ce Acatl (One Reed), which correlates to the year 1519. The exact significance and attributes of Quetzalcoatl varied somewhat between civilizations and through history. There are several stories about

5740-621: The view that the Aztec Empire's fall may be attributed in part to the belief in Cortés as the returning Quetzalcoatl, notably in works by David Carrasco (1982), H. B. Nicholson (2001 (1957)) and John Pohl (2016). Carrasco's work was revised in 2000, and the new edition provides a valuable overview of the controversy about Cortes and Quetzalcoatl. However, a majority of Mesoamericanist scholars, such as Matthew Restall (2003, 2018), James Lockhart (1994), Susan D. Gillespie (1989), Camilla Townsend (2003a, 2003b), Louise Burkhart , Michel Graulich and Michael E. Smith (2003), among others, consider

5822-413: The wind itself. In his form as the morning star, Venus, he is also depicted as a harpy eagle . In Mazatec legends, the astrologer deity Tlahuizcalpanteuctli , who is also represented by Venus, bears a close relationship with Quetzalcoatl. The earliest known documentation of the worship of a Feathered Serpent occurs in Teotihuacan in the first century BC or first century AD. That period lies within

5904-514: Was a direct consequence of the symbol of "blubber" representing something inedible in his mind. In addition, the symbol of "blubber" was created by the man through various kinds of learning . Burke goes on to describe symbols as also being derived from Sigmund Freud 's work on condensation and displacement , further stating that symbols are not just relevant to the theory of dreams but also to "normal symbol systems". He says they are related through "substitution", where one word, phrase, or symbol

5986-479: Was a son of Xochiquetzal and Mixcoatl . In the Codex Chimalpopoca , it is said Quetzalcoatl was coerced by Tezcatlipoca into becoming drunk on pulque , cavorting with his older sister, Quetzalpetlatl, a celibate priestess, and neglecting their religious duties. (Many academics conclude this passage implies incest.) The next morning, Quetzalcoatl, feeling shame and regret, had his servants build him

6068-601: Was addressing Cortés as the returning god Quetzalcoatl. Other parties have also promulgated the idea that the Mesoamericans believed the conquistadors, and in particular Cortés, to be awaited gods: most notably the historians of the Franciscan order such as Fray Gerónimo de Mendieta . Some Franciscans at this time held millennarian beliefs and some of them believed that Cortés' coming to the New World ushered in

6150-400: Was as the patron deity of the urban center - a god of culture and civilization. To the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was, as his name indicates, a feathered serpent. He was a creator deity having contributed essentially to the creation of mankind. He also had anthropomorphic forms, for example in his aspects as Ehecatl the wind god. Among the Aztecs, the name Quetzalcoatl was also a priestly title, as

6232-625: Was associated with the wind-god Ehecatl and is often depicted with his insignia: a beak-like mask. On the basis of the Teotihuacan iconographical depictions of the feathered serpent, archaeologist Karl Taube has argued that the feathered serpent was a symbol of fertility and of internal political structures - contrasting with the War Serpent symbolizing the outwards military expansion of the Teotihuacan empire. Historian Enrique Florescano - also analyzing Teotihuacan iconography - argues that

6314-544: Was born from Coatlicue , who already had four hundred children who formed the stars of the Milky Way . According to another version of the myth, Quetzalcoatl is one of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl , the four Tezcatlipocas, each of whom presided over one of the four cardinal directions. Over the West presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, justice, mercy and wind. Over

6396-404: Was considered the fifth sun, the previous four having been destroyed by flood, fire and the like. Quetzalcoatl went to Mictlan , the underworld, and created fifth-world mankind from the bones of the previous races (with the help of Cihuacoatl ), using his own blood, from a wound he inflicted on his earlobes, calves, tongue, and penis, to imbue the bones with new life. It is also suggested that he

6478-527: Was during the Renaissance in the mid-16th century that the word took on the meaning that is dominant today, that of 'a natural fact or object evoking by its form or its nature an association of ideas with something abstract or absent'; this appears, for example, in François Rabelais , Le Quart Livre , in 1552. This French word derives from Latin, where both the masculine noun symbolus and

6560-494: Was sometimes depicted with. In the iconography of the classic period, Maya serpent imagery is also prevalent: a snake often appears as the embodiment of the sky itself, and a vision serpent is a shamanic helper presenting Maya kings with visions of the underworld . The archaeological record shows that after the fall of Teotihuacan that marked the beginning of the epi-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology around 600 AD,

6642-565: Was the evening star ( Venus ). As the morning star, he was known by the title Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli , meaning "lord of the star of the dawn". He was known as the inventor of books and the calendar , the giver of maize (corn) to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection . Quetzalcoatl was also the patron of the priests and the title of the twin Aztec high priests. Some legends describe him as opposed to human sacrifice while others describe him practicing it. Most Mesoamerican beliefs included cycles of suns. Often our current time

6724-416: Was the wind, the guide and road sweeper of the rain gods, of the masters of the water, of those who brought rain. And when the wind rose, when the dust rumbled, and it crack and there was a great din, became it became dark and the wind blew in many directions, and it thundered; then it was said: "[Quetzalcoatl] is wrathful." Quetzalcoatl also became linked with rulership and priestly office; additionally, among

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