Mictlan
Mictlán (from Nahuatl: Mictlān or Miktlan 'place of the dead' 'mikki, dead; -tlan, place of') or Mictlah is the underworld in Mexica mythology and Nahua mythology of the Huasteca. Its creation is due to the four Tezcatlipocas (Xipe Tótec, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcóatl and Huitzilopochtli). It is also known by the names Tlaltzintlan and Yohualcalco. In general, it is a set of Nahua beliefs referring to space and time, structuring a world in parcels or regions determined by living forces.
Name
The term Mictlān comes from the word micqui (dead) and the locative suffix -tlān. To the Mexica, it was also known as Chiucnāuhmictlān, which comes from the same term Mictlān and the number chiucnāhui (nine), referring to the nine regions that comprise it. For the Nahuas of the Huasteca, it is also known as Tlaltsintlan (under the earth) and Yowalkalko (in the house of the night).
Worldview
Only those who died a natural death went to Mictlán, whether they were lords or macehuales, without distinction of rank or wealth, or from diseases that did not have a sacred character. For the Mexicas, the dead person would have to cross nine regions, from which they would symbolically descend as the god Tonatiuh does every night within the jaws of the lord and lady of the earth, Tlaltecuhtli and Tlalcíhuatl.
The regions of the underworld formed the journey into the underworld with specific obstacles that express levels of putrefaction and thanatomorphic torments suffered by the dead in their organic regression after 4 years, and when the dead managed to get through hell, if they did., they could free their soul, their tonalli, thus achieving the desired rest in the presence of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacíhuatl, the lord and lady of death, the rulers of the underworld.
For the Nahuas of the Huasteca, the underworld is not made up of nine regions, but of five layers, which fulfill different functions from those of the Mexica. The function of the first two layers is to support the Tlaltepactli, being the second where the monster Cipactli is found. In the last layer is where Miquiztli and Tlahuelíloc live. In addition to these five regions, below the underworld there is an ultraworld called Tzopilotlacualco, although both worlds are not connected, as it is believed that there is a void between them.
Regions
In Mexica mythology
Through nine levels, a great multitude of deities roam between the regions of Mictlán Mexica. Among these are Miquíztetl (death), Miccapetlacalli (the grave), Nextepehuah (the ashes), Nexoxcho (fear), Xoaltentli (dream), Necoc Yaotl (discord), Tlaltecuhtli (the desert), etc. The lords of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacíhuatl, inhabit the last level.
| The nine levels of the Mexican Mictlán | |||
| Name | Mortar | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| "place where the dogs are" | Region where the xoloitzcuintle existed, the consecrated dogs of Xólotl, who in the past was the custodian of the Tonatiuh god during the daytime hours as the god of the sunset, but for having attacked Tonatiuh during his journey through the celestial vault, he was sent to the Mictlán by the Creator Gods to reconcile the domestic dogs with the dead. In this stop the dead would have to cross the wide river Apanohuacalhuia, where Xochitónal lived, a giant iguana, and whose banks wandered the dead that had not been worthy because in life they had mistreated some dog, since, to go through it, they would require the help of a dog xoloitzcuintle, of which they had the task of discovering if the deceased was not worthy, The Apanohuacalhuia River delimited the border between the living and the dead, in continuity with the xoloitzcuintle, which were tributaries, where the dead were to cross it to follow its descent, and those who could not cross it, were forced to wander, as shadows, around their shores whose cold air was made of deaf ears to the complaints of the natural ones that were constantly suffering by the deafness of a dog It is the residence of Xólotl, god of the sunset, lord of Venus vespertino. |
| 2 |
| "place where the mountains come together" | Region where there were two huge hills that opened and closed each other crashing, continuously, where after crossing the river Apanohuacalhuia, the dead had to look for the right time to cross these hills without being crushed. It is the residence of Tepeyóllotl, god of the mountains and echoes, lord of the jaguars. |
| 3 |
| "Obsidian mountain" | Region where there was a mountain with a path of obsidian pedernals that tear the dead when they had to go through it to fulfill their path. It is the residence of Itztlacoliuhqui, god of the obsidian, lord of punishment, who in the past was the custodian of the Sun god during the morning hours like the god of the aurora, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, who blinded by the jealousy dares to attack the Tonatiuh god, receiving a counterattack that left him blind permanently because of an arrow Then there was an extensive complex called Itzehecayan, divided into two regions with strong winds, indispensable for the dead to arrogate all their belongings as clothes, jewels, weapons and personal spoils, winds so strong that they erected stones and cut the bodies of the dead with multiple tips of pedernal as they walked it, this complex was divided into two different regions called Cehyanuelo and Pancuecue. It is the residence of Itztlacoliuhqui, god of the obsidian, lord of punishment. |
| 4 |
| "place of the obsidian winds" | It is the first region of the extensive Itzehecayan complex, an extensive frozen area with eight hills of abrupt rocks of cutting edges where always snow fell, it is the Mictecayotl or Mictlampaehecatl residence, the northern cold wind god, which brought winter from the Mictlán to the earth, was very strong and of violent character. His brothers were Huitztecayotl or Huitztlampaehecatl, South wind, Cihuatecayotl or Cihuatlampaehecatl, West/West wind and Tlalocayotl or Tlahuiztlampaehecatl, East/East wind. It is the residence of Mictlampaehecatl, the northern wind god. |
| 5 |
| "place where he trembles like a flag" | It is the second region of the extensive Itzehecayan complex, at the foot of the last hill of the Cehueloyan, there began an extensive desert area of difficult movement with eight moors where there was no gravity, and the dead were at the mercy of the winds, which were coming out, they returned or carried them from one side to the other as flags, until they finally managed to leave the path. It is the residence of Mictlampaehecatl, the northern wind god. |
| 6 |
| "place where arrows are thrown at people" | Region where there was an extensive path on whose invisible hands were sending puntiagued arrows to stalk the dead bodies as they crossed it, the arrows lost during battles that the dead should avoid to be shot and to go bleeding. |
| 7 |
| "place where people eat their hearts" | Region where wild beasts lived that opened the breasts of the dead to eat their hearts, so, as they left the path, the dead would meet a jaguar who would eat the heart. Residence of Tepeyóllotl, god of the mountains and echoes, lord of the jaguars |
| 8 |
| "place where you have to cross water" | Region where the mouth of the river Apanohuacalhuia was found, an aquatic mass of black waters where the dead already heartless was debated for a long time in the black waters to leave, but, there would not end their sorrows, because the deceased would have to go through an extensive valley full of nine deep rivers, the nine adjacent rivers of the wide Apanohuacalhuia river, the rivers of the nine states. |
| 9 |
| "place of the nine regions of the dead" | Finally the end of the journey was reached in a fog area where the dead could no longer see around it. His exangüe tiredness would lead to reflection of the decisions and movements of the dead's history, and would connect with everything that happened to him in life, with everything around him. The dead became one with everything. Thus, they stopped suffering and entered the Mictlán, the residence of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacíhuatl.
The last region blinded the dead with greyish fog, of which many were lost, and only their laments were heard as they drowned between nine rivers, the nine tributaries of the Apanohuacalhuia River, the Chiucnahuapan, the nine rivers of the nine states of consciousness. |
In Nahua Huastec mythology
Among the five layers that make up the Huastec Mictlán, different beings and deities inhabit. Among these are the tlaquetzalmeh (horcones), the Cipactli monster, the tlalhuitzocmeh (worms), the tzitzimimeh, etc. In addition, it is the abode of the deities Miquiztli and Tlahuelíloc. Mictlán is generally considered to be a cold and dark place that contains evil waste spewed from the Tlaltepactli.
| The five layers of the Huastecan Mictlán | |||
| Name | Mortar | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| "place of the Horcones" | It is the layer in which about four entities called tlaquetzalmeh (horcones) or tlalmamanih (land chargers) dwell, whose work is to sustain the Earth plane and are standing on the slope of Cipactli. The Tlaquetzallah, now an underworld, was the soil of the fourth humanity. |
| 2 |
| "place of the Cipactli Monster" | In the Cipactlah it is where the ayotl (the turtle) and Cipactli (the monster of the earth), whose function is to support the Tlaquetzallah horcons. It is in a ravine of this layer where Tenantzitzímitl, mother of Tlacatecólotl and Ehécatl was buried. |
| 3 |
| "place of worms" | In the Tlalhuitzoctlah there are horrible worms called tlalhuitzocmeh. |
| 4 |
| "place of the tzitzimimeh" | This is the place where the ghosts live, the entities that cause fear and, in general, the tzitzimimeh. |
| 5 |
| "cap of the dead" | The lower layer of the Mictlan is the house of the gods Miquiztli (the lord of the dead) and Tlacatecolotl Tlahuelíloc (the furious owl man). |
Under Mictlán is an ultraworld called Tzopilotlacualco, a place where the soil particles of the previous humanities were left out of the cosmic sphere and compacted into a small space. The moon, in its journey around the earth, stays to rest every midnight in the ultraworld for 20 days.
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