210 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



creation of the universe, to outline the powers of the 

 gods and to trace the development of nature. The cos- 

 mogonic myths of Mexico and Central America are 

 characterized by multiple creations. The Aztecan 

 belief in five suns each standing for a world epoch is 

 paralleled in fragments of Mayan mythology. Creation 

 is not emphasized so much as destruction. The 

 sequence of the suns is figured on the Calendar Stone, 

 and in one of the codices, besides being explained in 

 some of the early writings of Spanish priests and edu- 

 cated natives. The first sun was devoured by a jaguar 

 and in the resulting darkness the inhabitants of the 

 earth were devoured by jaguars. The second sun 

 was destroyed by a hurricane, the third by a rain of fire, 

 and the fourth by a flood. One human pair escaped 

 each cataclysm and lived to repopulate the world. 

 The fifth or present sun w ill be destroyed by an earth- 

 quake. 



Notions of the shape and character of the universe 

 are pretty well defined in Aztecan lore. The wide- 

 spread belief that the universe consists of three super- 

 imposed worlds, the upper or sky world, the middle 

 world of living men and the under world of the dead, is 

 found in a developed form. The upper world is divided 

 into thirteen levels. The uppermost four levels are 

 called Teteocan, the abode of the gods, and are con- 

 sidered to be invisible. The creator of all, Ometeuctli, 

 Lord of Duality, dwells with his spouse in the highest 

 heaven and under him in order are the Place of the Red 

 God of Fire, the Place of the Yellow Sun God and 

 the Place of the White Evening Star God. The inferior 

 heavens, called Ilhuicatl, are given over to the visible 

 celestial activities. There is one heaven for the storms, 

 another for the blue sky of the day, the dark sky of the 

 night, the comets, the evening star, the sun, the stars, etc. 



