AZTEC DEITY TEZCATLIPOCA

FOR BALLADEER’S BLOG’S LIST OF THE TOP ELEVEN AZTEC GODS AND GODDESSES CLICK HERE  

TEZCATLIPOCA – The god of sorcery and human sacrifice as well as the patron deity of thieves and other evildoers. Tezcatlipoca was originally also a war god but his martial attributes were later taken over by Huitzilopochtli. Many myths about Tezcatlipoca involve his conflicts with the wind and culture god Quetzelcoatl, conflicts that even caused the destruction of two of the previous worlds.

The First World was peopled by giants and was ruled over by Tezcatlipoca. After centuries of intermittent warfare between the two deities Quetzalcoatl at last succeeded in overthrowing Tezcatlipoca, who chose to destroy the world rather than cede it to his archrival. He did this by creating countless giant jaguars who devoured all of the giants and other life forms and then devouring each other.

The Second World was populated by monkey-type humanoids and was ruled over by Quetzalcoatl. Eventually, Tezcatlipoca overthrew the Big Q, who likewise preferred to destroy the world rather than see it ruled by the Big T. He destroyed that world with a massive global windstorm of unprecedented proportions.

The Third World, populated by “conventional” human beings, was ruled over by the god Tlaloc until Quetzalcoatl destroyed it with a rain of volcanic ash and fire and transformed the survivors into turkeys (?). The Fourth World was similarly populated and was ruled over by the goddess Chalchihuilicue. Tezcatlipoca engineered the destruction of that world by a flood and transformed the submerged people into fish.

The Big T tried to get a head start on ruling over the world that would be created next by saving a man and a woman, Tata and Nene, from the flood by hiding them in a giant, hollow tree. (Sort of a hybrid of the Noah story and the tale of Lif and Lifthrasir in Norse myths) 

Tezcatlipoca ordered the couple to stay hidden and eat only uncooked food until all the waters had receded and they could repopulate the world with a race that would worship only him. Tata and Nene disobeyed, cooking some fish they caught. The smoke drew the attention of the other gods, who caught on to the Big T’s plan, prompting him to angrily transform the couple into the first dogs.

Tezcatlipoca introduced the concept of human sacrifice into our world, the Fifth World. If you’re wondering, it was foretold that our  world will be destroyed by famine and earthquakes.

For other pantheons I’ve addressed see these links:

KOREAN MYTH – https://glitternight.com/2011/03/24/the-top-11-deities-in-korean-mythology/ 

SHINTO MYTH – https://glitternight.com/shinto-myth/

HAWAIIAN MYTH – https://glitternight.com/2011/02/20/the-top-eleven-deities-in-hawaiian-mythology/

HAWAIIAN MYTH PART 2 – https://glitternight.com/2011/03/02/eleven-more-deities-from-hawaiian-mythology-2/

NORSE MYTHS – https://glitternight.com/2011/04/10/the-eleven-most-neglected-deities-in-teutono-norse-mythology/

INUIT MYTHS –  – https://glitternight.com/2011/06/06/the-top-12-deities-from-inuit-mythology-2/

Plus see my pages on Navajo, Vietnamese and Bunyoro myth.

© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.