Quetzalcoat - The Man

Eva Gaspar
2/10/12

In 900 A.D. a Toltec by the name of Mixcoatl (also known as Cloud Serpent) led his people to the Valley of Mexico.
 They settled in a place known as Colhuacan where Mixcoatl’s son, Ce Acatl Topiltzin, was born.
There is some debate as to what year Topiltzin was born. Some say he was born in 935 A.D. while others argue it was 947 A.D. Personally, I believe the later date applies for three reasons. The name Ce Acatl Topiltzin translates to Our Lord, One Reed, and it has been shown throughout Topiltzin’s life a high significance in the Toltec year, One Reed. Which also leads me to the second reason I believe Topiltzin was born in 947 A.D. for that was a One Reed year on the Toltec calendar. My third reason I’ll explain below.

It wasn’t until after the fair-faced and bearded Topiltzin avenged his father’s murder that he became a high priest of the god, Quetzalcoatl, and claimed the feathered serpent’s name to become known as Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl. Leading his people in the ways of Quetzalcoatl, Topiltzin founded the Toltec capital of Tollan, today known as Tula (Place of Reeds).

Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was overthrown from Tula at the age of 40, and his fate has become the material of legends. Perhaps the most popular legend tells of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl being taken to the coast of Veracruz where he was cast away on a raft of snakes. As the current carried him out to sea he vowed to some day return from the east in a One Reed year. This leads me to my third argument for the 947 A.D. birth date.
It takes fifty-two years for the Toltec calendar to complete a full cycle. In other words, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl either expected to return to Tula in twelve years at the age of fifty-two, or he may have prophesied his return some time in the distant future when he may have expected a re-birth of his influence upon the Toltecs.

Whatever his intentions, by the year 1519 A.D., he still had not returned. However, the fair-faced, bearded Hernan Cortez did arrive on the coast that year, and 1519 was a One Reed year. By then, The Aztecs now controlled central Mexico. With claims of being descended from the wise and scholarly Toltecs, the Aztecs carried on the religion of Quetzalcoatl, and they were still awaiting Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl’s return. Is there any wonder the Aztec leader, Moctezuma III, believed their legendary hero had finally returned? Tragically, as history will show, Moctezuma’s error ultimately proved fatal as the Mesamerican world later fell under the might of the invading Europeans.

Was the conquest Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl’s revenge on the world that had rejected him? That’s an interesting question to consider, a question that can easily fall into the tangled web of legends circulating around Quetzalcoatl. Often it is difficult to determine where the man separates from the deity. For example, did One Reed become significant to the man because of its importance to the deity, or did the deity become related to One Reed because of the man – or were the two independent of each other, drawn together because of the importance of a single year. However the similarities came about, there is no doubt the man will forever be entangled with his god.