Black Sun (mythology)
Encyclopedia
The Black Sun in Mesoamerican mythology has many mystical meanings, among them it is connected to the god Quetzalcoatl
and his penetration in the Underworld through the west door after his diurnal passage on the sky. Amidst the Mexicas there were two suns, the young day sun and the ancient sun, the dark sun. Some scholars regard the mythological black sun as the ancient female origin of all, it is both tomb and womb. This way, it is the oneness that uniformly integrates unawareness, death, and yet an expectation of fecundity.
, the "Obsidian Butterfly", that devoured people during the solar eclipses, while the Aztec underworld was the eternal dwelling place of the souls. According to the Codex Vaticanus A, the underworld was made of nine layers. The first level was the Earth's surface, which also had the entrance, or the face of a gigantic toad that devoured the dead and gave access to the other eight lower levels. The souls of the dead occupied the ninth level known as "Mictlan
Opochcalocan".
The connection with nocturnal elements also it is ascribed to the god Tezcatlipoca
, son of the primordial god Ometeotl
who was a god of dualities such as light and darkness. Black Tezcatlipoca, as was known, was one of the five suns
of the creation myth of some Nahua peoples, he ruled over the north, the Earth, night, sorcery, and judgment. Another study still reports the sun god Uitzilopochtli
, which crossed the underworld during the night bestowing light to the forgotten souls, however he demanded human blood as payment to his tasks. Before his nightly effort, Uitzilopochtli (also Huitzilopochtli) was accompanied, from the zenith to his setting, by the Ciuapipiltrins, the souls of women who had died in childbirth, which then reappeared as vespertine moths on Earth.
At archeological scenes the Plumed Serpent shows a man with a black sun within a yellow sun. In this manner the spinning of the sun and black sun shows a wheel crossing with a obfuscatory motion where four black rays move out of four yellow rays. According to some authors, these sets of four rays relate to the four cardinal points and the four quarters, they represent the governance held by the gods of human race since its infancy, as well as the annual rotation of the heavens, and the universal rulership portrayed in the great dance called "Mitotiliztli", which reproduces the appearance of a wheel.
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
and his penetration in the Underworld through the west door after his diurnal passage on the sky. Amidst the Mexicas there were two suns, the young day sun and the ancient sun, the dark sun. Some scholars regard the mythological black sun as the ancient female origin of all, it is both tomb and womb. This way, it is the oneness that uniformly integrates unawareness, death, and yet an expectation of fecundity.
Other views
The Aztecs associated the passage of the black sun, on its nightly journey through the underworld, with the image of a butterfly. The butterfly, in turn, it is an archetypical symbol of the transcendent soul, transformation and mystical rebirth, whereas also seen in the figure of the frightening earth goddess ItzpapalotlItzpapalotl
In Aztec mythology, Itzpapalotl was a fearsome skeletal warrior goddess, who ruled over the paradise world of Tamoanchan, the paradise of victims of infant mortality and place identified where humans were created. She is the mother of Mixcoatl and is particularly associated with the moth...
, the "Obsidian Butterfly", that devoured people during the solar eclipses, while the Aztec underworld was the eternal dwelling place of the souls. According to the Codex Vaticanus A, the underworld was made of nine layers. The first level was the Earth's surface, which also had the entrance, or the face of a gigantic toad that devoured the dead and gave access to the other eight lower levels. The souls of the dead occupied the ninth level known as "Mictlan
Mictlan
Mictlan was the underworld of Aztec mythology. Most people who died went to Mictlan, although other possibilities existed . Mictlan was located far to the north, and consisted of nine distinct levels....
Opochcalocan".
The connection with nocturnal elements also it is ascribed to the god Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. One of the four sons of Ometeotl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty,...
, son of the primordial god Ometeotl
Ometeotl
Ometeotl is a name sometimes used about the pair of god Ometecuhtli/Omecihuatl in Aztec mythology...
who was a god of dualities such as light and darkness. Black Tezcatlipoca, as was known, was one of the five suns
Five Suns
Five Suns is an album by progressive rock group Guapo released in 2003.- Track listing :#Five Suns, Pt. 1 #Five Suns, Pt. 2 #Five Suns, Pt. 3 #Five Suns, Pt. 4 #Five Suns, Pt...
of the creation myth of some Nahua peoples, he ruled over the north, the Earth, night, sorcery, and judgment. Another study still reports the sun god Uitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli
In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli , was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.- Genealogy :...
, which crossed the underworld during the night bestowing light to the forgotten souls, however he demanded human blood as payment to his tasks. Before his nightly effort, Uitzilopochtli (also Huitzilopochtli) was accompanied, from the zenith to his setting, by the Ciuapipiltrins, the souls of women who had died in childbirth, which then reappeared as vespertine moths on Earth.
At archeological scenes the Plumed Serpent shows a man with a black sun within a yellow sun. In this manner the spinning of the sun and black sun shows a wheel crossing with a obfuscatory motion where four black rays move out of four yellow rays. According to some authors, these sets of four rays relate to the four cardinal points and the four quarters, they represent the governance held by the gods of human race since its infancy, as well as the annual rotation of the heavens, and the universal rulership portrayed in the great dance called "Mitotiliztli", which reproduces the appearance of a wheel.
See also
- Black Sun (alchemy)
- Black Sun (occult symbol)
- Five Suns (mythology)Five SunsFive Suns is an album by progressive rock group Guapo released in 2003.- Track listing :#Five Suns, Pt. 1 #Five Suns, Pt. 2 #Five Suns, Pt. 3 #Five Suns, Pt. 4 #Five Suns, Pt...
- Lords of the Night (mythology)Lords of the NightIn Mesoamerican calendars, the Lords of the Night are a set of nine gods that ruled over a particular night. They were cyclical, so that same god recurred every nine nights.In the Aztec calendar, the Lords of the night are...
- Tzitzimitl (mythology)