Quetzalcoatl's Journey to Mictlan

After the creation of the Fifth Sun through the sacrifice of the gods at Teotihuacan, the world remained empty. The previous humanity had been transformed into fish during the flood of the Fourth Sun. The gods needed to create new humans to inhabit the earth and provide the sacrifices necessary to keep the sun moving.

But how to create humans? The gods debated. Finally, they agreed: the bones of previous humanity lay in Mictlan, the underworld, guarded by Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of the Dead. Someone must descend and retrieve them.

Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, volunteered for this dangerous mission.

Quetzalcoatl traveled to the edge of the earth where the sun sets and descended into darkness. He passed through the nine levels of Mictlan, each more terrible than the last:

First, the crossing of a swift river, aided by a red dog. Then between two mountains that clash together. Past a mountain of obsidian knives. Through a place of freezing wind. Where banners whip like blades. Where arrows fly without cease. Where jaguars devour hearts. Through the lake of dark water. Finally reaching the throne of Mictlantecuhtli.

Mictlantecuhtli sat on his throne of human bones, skeletal and terrible. Beside him was Mictecacihuatl, Lady of the Dead. The death lord listened to Quetzalcoatl's request and seemed to agree.

"You may take the bones," Mictlantecuhtli said, "if you perform a simple task. Take this conch shell and sound it as you circle my realm four times."

But the conch shell had no holes. It could make no sound. Quetzalcoatl called upon worms to bore holes through the shell and bees to enter and create buzzing music. He completed the circuits, and the shell sang throughout Mictlan.

Reluctantly, Mictlantecuhtli told him where the bones lay. But as Quetzalcoatl gathered the precious bones of men and women, the death lord schemed.

"Let him take the bones," Mictlantecuhtli told his servants, "but dig a pit in his path."

Quetzalcoatl bundled the bones and began his ascent. But suddenly, quail flew up around him, startling him. He stumbled into the pit, dropping the bundle. The bones scattered and broke, and the quail pecked at them.

This is why humans come in different sizes: because the bones were broken and scattered. Had they remained whole, all humans would be the same height.

Quetzalcoatl gathered the broken bones and continued his journey, eventually reaching the surface world.

Quetzalcoatl brought the bones to Tamoanchan, the paradise where the gods dwelt. The goddess Cihuacoatl (Serpent Woman) ground the bones into powder and placed them in a precious jade vessel.

The gods gathered around. Quetzalcoatl drew blood from his own body, piercing his flesh with maguey spines. The divine blood dripped onto the bone meal. Other gods contributed their blood as well.

From this mixture of ancestral bones and divine blood, the new humans were formed: the people of the Fifth Sun, the Aztecs and all humanity. They were called macehualli, "those who were merited by penance," for they were created through the gods' painful sacrifice.

This story established the fundamental relationship between gods and humans. The gods gave their blood to create humanity; therefore, humanity must give blood to sustain the gods and the cosmos.

We are made of divine blood mixed with ancestral bone. The blood we offer in sacrifice returns what was given to create us. This is not cruelty but reciprocity, the sacred contract that keeps the universe in motion.

Quetzalcoatl's journey to Mictlan is not merely a creation myth but a charter for the ritual life of Aztec civilization.