Five Suns

The term Five Suns in the context of creation myths, describes the doctrine of the Aztec and other Nahua
peoples in which the present world was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction. It is
primarily derived from the mythological, cosmological and eschatological beliefs and traditions of earlier
cultures from central Mexico and the Mesoamerican region in general. The Late Postclassic Aztec society
inherited many traditions concerning Mesoamerican creation accounts, while however modifying some
aspects and supplying novel interpretations of their own.

In the creation myths which were known to the Aztec and other Nahua peoples of the Late Postclassic era,
the central tenet was that there had been four worlds, or "Suns", before the present universe. These earlier
worlds and their inhabitants had been created, then destroyed by the catastrophic action of leading deity
figures. The present world is the fifth sun, and the Aztec saw themselves as "the People of the Sun," whose
divine duty was to wage cosmic war in order to provide the sun with his tlaxcaltiliztli ("nourishment").
Without it, the sun would disappear from the heavens. Thus the welfare and the very survival of the universe
depended upon the offerings of blood and hearts to the sun.

Contents
Legend
First sun
Second sun
Third sun
Fourth sun
Fifth sun
Variations and alternative myths
Brief summation
In popular culture
See also
References
Further reading

Legend
From the void that was the rest of the universe, the first god, Ometeotl, created itself. Ometeotl was both
male and female, good and evil, light and darkness, fire and water, judgment and forgiveness, the god of
duality. Ometeotl gave birth to four children, the four Tezcatlipocas, who each preside over one of the four
cardinal directions. Over the East presides the White Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, the god of light, mercy and
wind. Over the South presides the Blue Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. Over the West presides
the Red Tezcatlipoca, Xipe Totec, the god of gold, farming and Spring time. And over the North presides the
Black Tezcatlipoca, also called simply Tezcatlipoca, the god of judgment, night, deceit, sorcery and the
Earth.[1]
First sun

It was these four gods who eventually created all the other gods and the world we know today, but before
they could create they had to destroy, for every time they attempted to create something, it would fall into
the water beneath them and be eaten by Cipactli, the giant earth crocodile, who swam through the water with
mouths at every one of her joints. The four Tezcatlipocas descended the first people who were giants. They
created the other gods, the most important of whom were the water gods: Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility
and Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of lakes, rivers and oceans, also the goddess of beauty. To give light, they
needed a god to become the sun and the Black Tezcatlipoca was chosen, but either because he had lost a leg
or because he was god of the night, he only managed to become half a sun. The world continued on in this
way for some time, but a sibling rivalry grew between Quetzalcoatl and his brother the mighty sun, who
Quetzalcoatl knocked from the sky with a stone club. With no sun, the world was totally black and in his
anger, Tezcatlipoca commanded his jaguars to eat all the people.[2]

Second sun

The gods created a new group of people to inhabit the Earth, this time they were of normal size.
Quetzalcoatl became the new sun and as the years passed, the people of the Earth grew less and less
civilized and stopped showing proper honor to the gods. As a result, Tezcatlipoca demonstrated his power
and authority as god of sorcery and judgment by turning the animalistic people into monkeys. Quetzalcoatl,
who had loved the flawed people as they were, became upset and blew all of the monkeys from the face of
the Earth with a mighty hurricane. He then stepped down as the sun to create a new people.

Third sun

Tlaloc became the next sun, but Tezcatlipoca seduced and stole his wife Xochiquetzal, the goddess of sex,
flowers and corn. Tlaloc then refused to do anything other than wallow in his own grief, so a great drought
swept the world. The people's prayers for rain annoyed the grieving sun and he refused to allow it to rain,
but the people continued to beg him. Then, in a fit of rage he answered their prayers with a great downpour
of fire. It continued to rain fire until the entire Earth had burned away. The gods then had to construct a
whole new Earth from the ashes.

Fourth sun

The next sun and also Tlaloc's new wife, was Chalchiuhtlicue. She was very loving towards the people, but
Tezcatlipoca was not. Both the people and Chalchiuhtlicue felt his judgment when he told the water goddess
that she was not truly loving and only faked kindness out of selfishness to gain the people's praise.
Chalchiuhtlicue was so crushed by these words that she cried blood for the next fifty-two years, causing a
horrific flood that drowned everyone on Earth. Humans became fish in order to survive.

Fifth sun

Quetzalcoatl would not accept the destruction of his people and went to the underworld where he stole their
bones from the god Mictlantecuhtli. He dipped these bones in his own blood to resurrect his people, who
reopened their eyes to a sky illuminated by the current sun, Huitzilopochtli.[1]

The Tzitzimimeh, or stars, became jealous of their brighter, more important brother Huitzilopochtli. Their
leader, Coyolxauhqui, goddess of the moon, lead them in an assault on the sun and every night they come
close to victory when they shine throughout the sky, but are beaten back by the mighty Huitzilopochtli who
rules the daytime sky. To aid this all-important god in his continuing war, the Aztecs offer him the
nourishment of human sacrifices. They also offer human sacrifices to Tezcatlipoca in fear of his judgment,
offer their own blood to Quetzalcoatl, who opposes fatal sacrifices, in thanks of his blood sacrifice for them
and give offerings to many other gods for many purposes. Should these sacrifices cease, or should mankind
fail to please the gods for any other reason, this fifth sun will go black, the world will be shattered by a
catastrophic earthquake, and the Tzitzimitl will slay Huitzilopochtli and all of humanity.

Variations and alternative myths

Most of what is known about the ancient Aztecs comes from the few codices to survive the Spanish
conquest. Their myths can be confusing not only because of the lack of documentation, but also because
there are many popular myths that seem to contradict one another due the fact that they were originally
passed down by word of mouth and because the Aztecs adopted many of their gods from other tribes, both
assigning their own new aspects to these gods and endowing them with aspects of similar gods from various
other cultures. Older myths can be very similar to newer myths while contradicting one another by claiming
that a different god performed the same action, probably because myths changed in correlation to the
popularity of each of the gods at a given time.

Other variations on this myth state that Coatlicue, the earth goddess, was the mother of the four
Tezcatlipocas and the Tzitzimitl. Some versions say that Quetzalcoatl was born to her first, while she was
still a virgin, often mentioning his twin brother Xolotl, the guide of the dead and god of fire. Tezcatlipoca
was then born to her by an obsidian knife, followed by the Tzitzimitl and then Huitzilopochtli. The most
popular variation including Coatlicue depicts her giving birth first to the Tzitzimitl. Much later she gave
birth to Huitzilopochtli when a mysterious ball of feathers appeared to her. The Tzitzimitl then decapitated
the pregnant Coatlicue, believing it to be insulting that she had given birth to another child. Huitzilopochtli
then sprang forth from her womb wielding a serpent of fire and began his epic war with the Tzitzimitl, who
were also referred to as the Centzon Huitznahuas. Sometimes he is said to have decapitated Coyolxauhqui
and either used her head to make the moon or thrown it into a canyon. Further variations depict the ball of
feathers as being the father of Huitzilopochtli or the father of Quetzalcoatl and sometimes Xolotl.

Other variations of this myth claim that only Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca were born to Ometeotl, who was
replaced by Coatlicue in this myth probably because it had absolutely no worshipers or temples by the time
the Spanish arrived. It is sometimes said that the male characteristic of Ometeotl is named Ometecuhtli and
that the female characteristic is named Omecihualt. Further variations on this myth state that it was only
Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca who pulled apart Cipactli, also known as Tlaltecuhtli, and that Xipe Totec and
Huitzilopochtli then constructed the world from her body. Some versions claim that Tezcatlipoca actually
used his leg as bait for Cipactli, before dismembering her.

The order of the first four suns varies as well, though the above version is the most common. Each world's
end correlates consistently to the god that was the sun at the time throughout all variations of the myth,
though the loss of Xochiquetzal is not always identified as Tlaloc's reason for the rain of fire, which is not
otherwise given and it is sometimes said that Chalchiuhtlicue flooded the world on purpose, without the
involvement of Tezcatlipoca. It is also said that Tezcatlipoca created half a sun, which his jaguars then ate
before eating the giants.

The fifth sun however is sometimes said to be a god named Nanauatzin. In this version of the myth, the gods
convened in darkness to choose a new sun, who was to sacrifice himself by jumping into a gigantic bonfire.
The two volunteers were the young son of Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue, Tecuciztecatl, and the old
Nanauatzin. It was believed that Nanauatzin was too old to make a good sun, but both were given the
opportunity to jump into the bonfire. Tecuciztecatl tried first but was not brave enough to walk through the
heat near the flames and turned around. Nanauatzin then walked slowly towards and then into the flames
and was consumed. Tecuciztecatl then followed. The braver Nanauatzin became what is now the sun and
Tecuciztecatl became the much less spectacular moon. A god that bridges the gap between Nanauatzin and
Huitzilopochtli is Tonatiuh, who was sick, but rejuvenated himself by burning himself alive and then
became the warrior sun and wandered through the heavens with the souls of those who died in battle,
refusing to move if not offered enough sacrifices.

Brief summation
Nahui-Ocelotl (Jaguar Sun) - Inhabitants were giants who were devoured by jaguars. The
world was destroyed.
Nahui-Ehécatl (Wind Sun) - Inhabitants were transformed into monkeys. This world was
destroyed by hurricanes.
Nahui-Quiahuitl (Rain Sun) - Inhabitants were destroyed by rain of fire. Only birds survived (or
inhabitants survived by becoming birds).
Nahui-Atl (Water Sun) - This world was flooded turning the inhabitants into fish. A couple
escaped but were transformed into dogs.
Nahui-Ollin (Earthquake Sun) - We are the inhabitants of this world. This world will be
destroyed by earthquakes (or one large earthquake).

In popular culture
The version of the myth with Nanahuatzin serves as a framing device for the 1991 Mexican
film, In Necuepaliztli in Aztlan (Retorno a Aztlán), by Juan Mora Catlett.
The version of the myth with Nanahuatzin is in the 1996 film, The Five Suns: A Sacred History
of Mexico, by Patricia Amlin.
Rage Against the Machine refers to intercultural violence as "the fifth sunset" in their song
People of the Sun, on the album Evil Empire.
Thomas Harlan's science fiction series "In the Time of the Sixth Sun" uses this myth as a
central plot point, where an ancient star-faring civilization ("people of the First Sun") had
disappeared and left the galaxy with many dangerous artifacts.

See also
Aztec mythology
Aztec religion
Aztec philosophy
Mesoamerican creation accounts
Thirteen Heavens

References
1. Smith, Michael E. The Aztecs 2nd Ed. Blackwell Publishing, 2005
2. Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. The Aztec World. California State University, Los Angeles, 2006

Further reading
Aguilar- Moreno, Manuel (2006). Handbook to life in the Aztec World. Los Angeles: California
State University.
Smith, Michael E. (2003). The Aztecs 2nd Ed. UK: Blackwell Publishing.
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