Quetzalcoatl
© Linda Casselman
Like the god Viracocha, the myths collected and chronicled by the Spanish conquerors tell us that Quetzalcoatl was a tall, powerful man with pale skin and a beard, and wearing a long white robe. He too came in a time of darkness and disorder from across the sea in a boat, it was said, that moved without paddles.
Quetzalcoatl taught the ancients all the necessary skills to advance their civilization, from mathematics and science to agriculture and astronomy, as well as the famous Mayan calendrical formulae which predicts the end of the world to be December 21st 2012. He taught the people to live in peace and then moved on disappearing across the sea, but he promised he would someday return. Unfortunately for the ancient inhabitants of Mexico they mistook the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors and Cortez in 1519 as Quetzalcaotl's return, bringing about their tragic doom. Accepting them with open arms and treating them with utmost reverence the ancient people expected their newly arrived god to bestow great benevolence upon them. Instead the Spanish invaders brought nothing but greed and brutality for their trusting hosts.
The name Quetzalcoatl (ket-tsul'kwot-ul) means "plumed or feathered serpent". We must certainly then mention the great ancient city of Chichen Itza on Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. There, twice a year, an amazing spectacle related to the feathered serpent god takes place:
"The Temple of Kukulkan (the Feathered Serpent God, also known as Quetzalcoatl) is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza. This ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries directly upon the multiple foundations of previous temples. The pyramid is a store-house of information on the Mayan calendar. ... The northern stairway was the principal sacred path leading to the summit. At sunset on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, an interplay between the sun's light and the edges of the stepped terraces on the pyramid creates a fascinating - and very brief - shadow display upon the sides of the northern stairway. A serrated line of seven interlocking triangles gives the impression of a long tail leading downward to the stone head of the serpent Kukulkan, at the base of the stairway." (*)
So then, on these two very important dates, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, it appears that Quetzalcoatl is indeed present among his people as the shadow of the serpent moves along the steps of the Pyramid of Kulkulkan.
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