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PREAMBLE
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
Where is the road that descends into the Kingdom of the Dead.
Where those who no longer have a body reside?
Does life in some form still exist in that land?
Do our hearts still have consciousness?
Three existential questions are posed by the Nahua philosopher in his song. Three places where one goes after death...three levels of the universeÉthis song expresses the anguish that has been present in men of all times. It has been said that man refuses to accept death and for that reason he creates places where one goes after death. For the Nahuas these were: The House of the Sun, exclusively for warriors killed in combat and for women who died in childbirth, since the process of giving birth was likened to warfare. The first group accompanied the sun from the time it appeared in the East until midday; the second group from midday until sunset. Tlalocan was the destination of those whose death was related to water: such as drowning, dropsy, or being struck by lightning. This was a place of constant summer. The third place was Mictlan, the underworld, which the friars of the 16th century confused with hell. It was there that those who died in any manner other than those previously mentioned went. It was the return to the maternal womb, the place of origin. There resided Mictlantecuhtli and Mictlanc’huatl, Lord and Lady of the world of the dead. All of those who died had to be first devoured by Tlatltecuhtli, the Lord of the Earth, in order to be able to continue their journey to the fate to which their manner of death had destined them. And at this point we can try to answer the questions posed by the Nahua singer...
Where is the road that descends into the Land of the Dead,where those who no longer have a body reside...?
Difficult question. On one hand we know that the northly direction of the universe was known as Mictlampa, "land of the dead". It was the direction of the cold and the dry; its color is yellow or black and its symbol is the sacrificial knife. On the other hand, we have the preception of the universe as vertical, made up of three levels: the earth, the place where man lives; the celestial level, composed of thirteen heavens (originally, it seems, there were nine) identified with observable phenomena, the place where the moon, the sun, the clouds, and the planet Venus move, the place where storms form, the place of comets, etc.; and the abode of the higher heavens corresponding to particular colors until arriving at the most sacred level where the duality, the Omeyocan, was located. And finally we have Mictlan, or the underworld, located below the earth and made up of nine levels of trials and dangers that one had to pass through in order to arrive there. There were found the lords of the world of the dead. It was to these depths that Quetzalcoatl had to descend in order to look for the bones with which he created man. And it is to these depths we must enter in order to be in the presence of Mictlantecuhtli...
Does life in some form still exist there...?
No. This is the region of death. Nevertheless, we should not forget that we are in a world of dualities and that one cannot conceive of one thing without its counterpart. Therefore, Mictlan, the place of death, is also the womb of the universe that guards the bones of dead individuals, and the couple that resides there has duality in the celestial level, presided over by Ometecuhtli and Omec’huatl, lords of the duality and givers of life.
But let us see how Mictlantecuhtli was represented (Figura A)Here we see him in one of his most shocking manifestations. Dressed only in a m‡xtlatl or breechcloth, the first thing we observe is that he is fleshless. Several colors, such as yellow and blue, representing the decay of the body are found. The raised arms ending in enormous claws demonstrate the menacing posture so characteristic of the gods of death. The large head with holes for hanging natural hair make the figure more frightening. By careful observation the ancient peoples had come to realize that hair, like fingernails, continued to grow after death...
To give an exact answer to the question, we will add that -- as the myth tells us -- Quetzalc—atl created the human race using the bones that he retrieved from Mictlan together with his own blood that he let from his penis. Thus, both that which is dead and that which is living were necessary to give life. If the poet asks, anguished, if there is hope that an individual has life after death, the answer is negative and that answer is expressed by the same poet in the continuation of his song:...Will I see them there?
Will I be able to rest my eyes on the face
of my mother and my father?
Will they still come to give me their song and their words?
I look for them: nobody is there:
they left us orphans on the earth!Do our hearts still have consciouness...?
The doubt posed is related to the previous answer. No. Everything ends in the Land of Mystery. This has lead more than one scholar to think that perhaps the Nahuas had a materialistic worldview. Only warriors killed in combat or sacrifice were guaranteed their place in the afterlife; after four years they were transformed into birds with beautiful plumage or into butterflies that sucked the nectar of the flowers. Nothing is said about the other forms of death. Therefore: Do our hearts have consciousness? Once again, the answer is given by the old singers:
May your heart open like the flowers;
May your heart raise its life towards the heavens...
I abhor you, you prepare my death...
Now I am going to his house,
You are fading away...
Perhaps you will cry for me,
Perhaps you will be sad for me,
oh friend of mine...
But...I go, I go to his house.
My heart no longer says:
Now I will never come again,
Now I will never walk on the earth again...
Now I go, now I go to his house...
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Last Modified: November 30, 2000
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