The Fifth Sun

The Title

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Ometeuctli, the Creator,   gave birth to four creator-gods, who  created five suns.
The Fifth Sun

The first sun was created by Tezcatlipoca, the God of Earth.

He mistakenly created men as giants and carelessly created only half a sun. The human giants were forced to live on acorns and pine nuts, and as a result were feeble and slow.

Jaguars came and ate the half-sun. As it was now dark they were able to kill the giants.

Jaguar

The Fifth Sun The second sun was created by Quetzalcoatl, the God of Wind.

Now man ate seeds from the mesquite tree. The seeds did not give enough energy to survive the harsh winds. Hurricanes eventually blew the humans away.

However, some people were able to survive by transforming into monkeys.

Monkey

The Fifth Sun The third sun was created by Tlaloc, the God of Fire .

Men harvested grain for food. But huge volcanoes erupted and cinders rained down from the sky to burn the world.

However, a few men were able to change in to birds to escape the scalding heat.

Vulture

The Fifth Sun Chalchiuhtlicue, the Goddess of Water, created the fourth sun.

Men attempted to survive on a seed called acicintli, but it was not enough food for the humans who must fight the great floods. Water sprang from the center of the earth causing the sky to collapse. Most men drowned, but some were turned into fish.

The Fifth Sun And then there was a fifth and final Sun ...

The Aztec universe has three levels--the heavens, earth, and underworlds.

Whether you will live in the heavens or underworlds when you die depends on your life on earth.

All through time man lived on earth, which was a huge disc sitting in the center of the universe. Surrounding earth was a large ring of water, which joined the earth to the heavens.

Above the earth were heavens that were homes to gods.

The first four levels, known as Teteocan, were occupied by the storms, sun, sky, stars, moon, etc.
The next levels of the heavens are called Ilhuicatl. Here lived
The Red God of Fire,
The Yellow Sun God
The White Evening Star God
At the very top level lived Omecteuctli, the supreme creator of all.

Below the earth were nine underworlds.

These underworlds were called Mictlan, place of the dead.

In the lowest level lived Mictlanteuctli, the God of Death.

The dead had to struggle through the nine underworlds to reach peace.

The struggle through the underworlds was extremely hard until the ninth underworld, where the dead rest eternally with Mictlanteuctli.

However, if someone died for a good cause, they went to the heavens. For example, if a woman died in childbirth or a warrior was killed in battle, or you were sacrificed you they may to Tlalocan, the first level of the heavens.

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