Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Quiahuitl 259typically ancient Near Eastern pattern of asacred marriage carried out by her votary priestessesand their priests or kings.QuatCreator god. Polynesian [Banks Islands]. As withmany Polynesian deities, the god is depicted asbeing very inactive, sitting around all day doingnothing.QudsuPersonification of holiness. Western Semitic.Known from inscriptions at Tyre where a humanfigure stands naked on a lion, wearing a spiralheaddress and holding lotus blossoms and serpents.QUETZALCOATL (the feathered serpent)ORIGIN Aztec (classical Mesoamerican) [Mexico].KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa AD 750 toAD 1500 and probably much earlier.SYNONYMS nine-wind; White Tezcatlipoca;TLAHUIZCALPANTECUHTLI.CENTER(S) OF CULT Teotihuacan, Cholula,Xochicalco, Malinalco and others.ART REFERENCES stone sculptures, murals,codex illustrations.LITERARY SOURCES pre-Columbian codices.One of the four suns which are manifestations ofthe sun god TEZCATLIPOCA. He presided over thesecond of the five world ages represented by thesun EHECATL. The heroic creator god of theAztecs, he is also identified as the god of the wind.According to one of many traditions he fashionedmankind from his own blood and provided foodby turning himself into an ant so as to steal a grainof maize which the ants had hidden inside amountain. A titanic struggle between Quetzalcoatland the black Tezcatlipoca resulted in thecreation and destruction of four worlds or sunsprior to the current sun. Conversely, Quetzalcoatland Tezcatlipoca together bore the responsibilityfor restoring the shattered universe andinitiating the fifth sun, Ollin. They are said tohave passed through the body of the earth monsterTLALTECUHTLI and split it in two to formheaven and earth.Later Quetzalcoatl descended to the underworldMictlan to obtain from its rulers the bonesand ashes of generations of mankind to create thehumanity of the fifth sun. He is said to havedropped the bones and broken them, thusaccounting for the differing statures of men.First depicted as a feathered serpent, he wasknown to the Nahua Indians as Quetzalcoatl whoalso revered him for his gift of science and arts.Worshiped at Teotihuacan from circa AD 750 orearlier. Temples of Quetzalcoatl include a sixtieredstep-pyramid at Teotihuacan, and the hugemanmade pyramid of Cholula on the Pueblaplain, the largest ancient structure in the NewWorld. The bearded Spanish conquistadorCortez was believed by the emperor Motecuhzomato be Quetzalcoatl.Represented iconographically as a compositefeathered hybrid, his aspect or avatara Tlahuizcalpantecuhtliwas perceived as the Morning Star.NOTE: Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was also a historicalfigure born circa AD 935.QuiahuitlCreator god. Aztec (classical Mesoamerican)[Mexico]. The sun deity representing the third ofthe five world ages each of which lasted for 2,028heavenly years, each heavenly year being fiftytwoterrestrial years. Assigned to the element fireand presided over by the rain god TLALOC.According to tradition, the age ended in a cataclysmicdestruction caused by a great fiery rain.