HIS-2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Xochipilli, Ahuitzotl, Nanahuatzin
Document Summary
Aztec mythology associated dogs with death: xolotl, the aztec psych pomp, was represented das a crippled dog-headed human. The dead would be buried with a dog to serve as a guide on journey to the afterlife. Quetzalcoatl only god to outright condemn human sacrifice to him. Cipactli, a crocodilian animalistic abomination god with mouths on every joint. Night axe, a wandering monster resembling a large corpse with its chest and belly slit open and no head. The split would open and close with a sound like an axe hitting would: come across a night axe at night, you can approach it fearlessly and stick your had into the wound to rip out its heart. If you did this, it would grant you a wish: run away, die miserably. Tzitzimeme, many star goddesses: would harrow the world during a solar eclipse. Took forms of beautiful women with skeletal faces and rattlesnakes for their penises.
