Mexican Deluge Legends, By C. A. Burland (a summary)

1949- Research Mag.-

The Collection of Mendoza, in Oxford, remains our most important source of Mexican histories, it is not only the one, there are two other painted documents for the Spainards which give historical annals which compare with Mendoza.

One is in Paris- Belonged to Arch. Bishop Teller, or Rheims, and is named Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

The other is in the Vatican Library called, Codex Rios

Telleriano has been annotated in Spanish by three different persons, and Rios a commentary in Italian.

They are copies of an original lost in the 1600's, which the better painted is Telleriano, but is still inferior to Rios because many pages are missing. Particularly important the pages about religion and mythology.

In the field of Mexican belief the Rios is the most important source of information. Like the Migaliabecciano document it gives the description of feasts and gods assigned with them.

The description includes the magical Tonalpohualli 260 day calendar, recording nine major gods of the underworlds which influence the fortunes ascribed each particular day. Rios instead gives the full description between the mumbo jumbo magic and is used to determine the identity of the same system where it appears in more ancient magic books. Example:

God Tezcatlipoca in the form of Chalchiutotolin, Jeweled Turkey, is shown as the loard of the period beginning with Ce Atl. The Italian description mentions a detail missing in the painting, but precisely this missing detail appears in the Codex Vaticanus, 3773, where the same god presiding over the same period of days has been painted on a codex which is older than the Spanish invasion. The parallelism of the text is painted by the copyist of Rios and the ancient Mexican tlacuilos, who painted three surviving magic books, is equally complete over the whole 20 periods of 13 days in a year. It is evidence we are in pretty safe ground accepting the Codex of Rios, especially as it is borne out in many particulars by the writing of that most painstaking of anthropologist, Father Sahagun. Kingsborough published Codex Rios in his volumes 1831 and the Duc De Loubat published it in a fascimile, in 1900. Its official title is Manoscritto Messicano Vaticano, 3738. That it should rest in the Vatican is the most appropriate as it records one of the starngest heathendoms ever tackled by missionaries, and the one with the most remarkable parallel with Christian belief. In it is the Mexican version of the creation it includes a flood story of this amoung the account of the three past and one future destruction's of the world. Here is a brief account:

"In the beginning was God, Ome Teuctli (The Two) living in the highest place: beneath him were thirteen heavens, the earth and the nine places beneath the earth. The first creation was of the four spirit beings who were cast down from the heaven. They were the 'Tzitzimitl', darting arrow demon, a falling star: Izpaztec, lame hopping demon, a kind of Mexican Asmodeus; Nextepehua, the disperser, who would scatter men like ashes, and Tzontemon, the demon who was cast down upon his head."

A later creation brought the first human beings, they were named Cipactonal and Xumio, and from them a powerful race of giants descended. When death overtook the human race the grown ups went into the place below, and , after passing through many torments reached a peaceful resting place in Mictlan: but souls of unweaned children went to a special place for their kind alone, where there was a wonderful tree which nourished them with its milk. There they remained, happy babies waiting to welcome the destruction of the old creation, when they would become the souls of the next race of people. They had to wait 4,008 years until the gods, dissatisfied with the giants, drowned the earth. All the in it people were turned to fishes, except two who escaped by hiding in an ahuehuete tree. This catastrophe happened on the day ten, or Atl (webmaster mentions i.e. A-T-L='Water, High Water').

At length the earth emerged from the flood, and once more a new race spread over it, this time for a space of 4,010 years, until on the day Ce Itzcuintli there came a great wind from the heaven which destroyed men and trees. The men were changed into monkeys. Jaguars from the darkened sky ate them up, but two people escaped this destruction hiding in a stone. Once again humanity was put on

Trial; the descendants of the stone men did quite well and lasted 4,801 years, and then again destruction came, this time by fire, and once more two people escaped by boat on the waters. For the forth time the human race spread around, this time they were people like ourselves and earth was filled with joy and beauty and pleasure. Zochiquetzal, Lady precious Flower, the goddess of sensual pleasures was the reigning influence in this happy time. But the story goes that the god Quetzalcoatl was born towards its end from a virgin who swept the temples (in the picture she is shown as a cruel stone knife). (Webmaster mentions it is a 'Tches' or 'Flint Knife' in Egyptian connected with Uatches=Isis dated July 7th 2001 as first discovered by Dean Clarke sole finder of this information added).

The rest of the story goes on (as if Quetzal was fighting with an Egyptian Set, or Seth for his kingdom

And was set up by the demon Tezcatlipoca to be intoxicated with a drink and go to bed with a prostitute named Xochiquetzal and forced Quetzal to leave his country and the Priests of Cholula who received as a gift two of Quetzal's jewelry and insignia). He sailed on a raft of serpent skins and said that he would one day return in the year Ome Acatl to displace demon Tezcatlipoca and bring back happiness. As his raft burnt up approaching the sun his heart flew and went to heaven to become a mornign star. That is how evil entered into the world. At last it will come a day named Naui Ollin

When the earth will destroy the world for a fourth time, nor is it known if it will be given a fifth chance?

Outside of Codexs they were validated when restoring a ancient city Chichen Itza by the Mexican Government and the Carnegie Inst. Of Washington, a building known as the 'Temple of Walls' had representations of the destruction of the world by wind, devouring monkey men by jaguars, carved in a way very close to the picture codex of Rios. The Toltec Temple was 500 years before the codex was painted. This shows a good example of the literary and monument connections still somewhat preserved between the two that the Spanish did partly chronicle.

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