Jesus Christ and Lucifer in the Aztec Americas

Surprisingly, the shape-shifting ancient Aztec gods lived on long after the conquistadors destroyed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and imposed Catholic Christian culture and doctrines. 

Lucifer in the Americas

Whereas Quetzalcoatl,  known s the Plumed Serpent, was a civilizing cultural hero who introduced mankind to maize, Tezcatlipoca was a god of war who brought men into a cycle of destruction and new creation.

Tezcatlipoca, the god of fate and bringer of dissent and vice, was likened to Lucifer in the Christian tradition by the Spanish conquistadors and priests who destroyed the Aztec empire. 

To the Aztecs, Tezcatlipoca was a creator Supreme Being and shared the credit with Quetzalcoatl for the creation of the world from the body of the Earth Monster.

Tezcatlipoca’s cult goes back at least as far as the Toltecs (c. 950 CE).  They told a tale of a mirror of dark obsidian glass that could predict famine.  At a time of great need, when people were starving in the land, Tezcatlipoca found and hid this mirror in order to sustain the people’s suffering.

Known as the Lord of the Smoking Mirror, Tezcatlipoca was believed to wear a mirror of the volcanic glass obsidian in the back of his head and was frequently portrayed in Aztec pottery and Aztec masks.  Sometimes he was also said to have a mirror in place of one of his feet.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Plumed Aztec Serpent 

In an improbable marriage of faiths, the Plumed Aztec Serpent became closely associated with Jesus Christ.

To their surprise, Spanish monks found that the conquered Aztecs were quick to take to the new Christian faith.  The Aztecs appear to have seen in the worship of Jesus Christ a similarity to the worship of the Plumed Aztec Serpent, Quetzalcoatl.  They also saw that Jesus’ teachings on brotherly love were in harmony with the ancient god Quetzalcoatl’s pious and peaceful views on how government should function.  And, the Christian idea of the second coming of Christ clearly resonated with the ancient Aztec myth of Quetzalcoatl’s departure and promised return.  In an unlikely marriage of faiths, the Plumed Aztec Serpent became closely associated with Jesus Christ.  

The Aztecs also adapted Roman Catholic Christian practices to the old faiths and continued to follow aspects of the old religion by smartly disguising their meaning from the Christian monks.  Old Aztec gods were coupled to Christian saints, Tlaloc the Aztec god of rain was revered under the guise of St. John the Baptist.  Traditional practices were also aligned with Christian festivals; the yearly visit to the graves of the ancestors was carried out on All Souls’ Day.  This holiday now known as the “Day of the Dead” is thus far practiced throughout Mexican Aztec lands. 

View Aztec masks and Mexico crafts at www.AncientMexico.biz