THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR BELIEFS, DOCTRINES AND RELIGIONS
1. WORLDVIEW OF PRE-HISPANIC PEOPLES
The worldview of the ancient pre-Hispanic peoples consists of the idea that the peoples have about the place they occupy in the universe, both themselves, the gods and men, the stars and the Earth, and the way in which they relate to each other. Yes. In the case of Mesoamerica, the pre-Hispanic peoples described a series of myths that explain their worldview about the origin of man and the universe. "The Fifth Sun" of the Mexica civilization, is a Mesoamerican myth that explains the creation of the world, the universe and humanity.
MYTH OF THE FIFTH SUN
According to this myth, the Earth has gone through five different stages since its creation, each ruled by a different sun.
The center of the Stone of the Sun represents the Five Suns. Each corresponds to a period in which a divinity reigned, ended with a catastrophe that destroyed humanity and then men ruled by another god were reborn. According to the myth, we now pass the Fifth Sun that will collapse due to earthquakes and tsunamis.
In the center appears the face of Tonatiuh , which symbolizes the Fifth Sun. His two claws take hearts to fixate on the universe. His tongue symbolized by an obsidian knife that represents the sacrifice of himself, source of vitality and creation of the fifth era.
The four glyphs that surround it represent the previous times linked to the four elements and where the dates corresponding to the end of the Mexican cosmogonic eras appear. They are read from left to right, following the apparent movement of the stars:
The First Sun was called Nahui-Ocelótl (Four-Ocelot or Jaguar), because the world was inhabited by giants, it had been destroyed, after three times fifty-two years, by jaguars, which the Mexica considered nahualli or zoomorphic mask of the god Tezcatlipoca.
The Second Sun is called Nahui-Ehécatl (Four-Wind), ruled by Quetzalcóatl, it disappeared after seven times fifty-two years when a great hurricane unleashed, which transformed the survivors into monkeys.
The Third Sun Nahui-Quiahuitl (Four-Rain), disappeared after six times fifty-two years, when a rain of fire fell, a manifestation of Tlaloc, god of rain, with long teeth and enormous eyes. The inhabitants of the land were mostly immoral and wicked, and the survivors were transformed into birds and turkeys.
The Fourth Sun In this sun, Chalchiutlicue ended with a terrible deluge, after three times fifty-two years, which only survived a man and a woman, who took refuge under a huge cypress (in reality, ahuehuete). Each of these suns corresponds to a cardinal point: North, West, South and East, respectively. In it it happened that everything was washed away and people turned into fish.
The Fifth Sun This sun is destined to disappear by the force of a movement or earthquake, at which time the monsters of the West, tzitzimime, with the appearance of skeletons, will appear and kill all the people. Quetzalcóatl, together with Xólotl, created the present humanity, giving life to the bones of the old dead with his own blood. The present Sun is located in the center, the fifth cardinal point, and is attributed to Huehuetéotl, the ancient god of fire, because the fire of the hearth is in the center of the house. For the Mexica and the Mayans, the Fifth Sun was created in the ancient city of Teotihuacán.
MESOAMERICAN RELIGIONS.
They are a series of civilizations, this represents just a brief generalization:
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Olmec
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Maya
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Teotihuacana
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Zapotec
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Mixteca
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Toltec
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Totonaca
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Mexica
Remarkable common characteristics, which concern the way of life (dependence on corn) and ideology (for example, the use of double calendars, 365 and 260 days).
Much of the customs, habits, arts and culture in general of Mesoamerican religions is unknown, due to the little interest of the conquerors in preserving them, the few written sources that exist and the overwhelming desire of the Christian Church to destroy them during the 1500s. and 1600 AD
These religions are characterized by being polytheistic and animistic; various gods represent the forces of nature and in it were the spirits of the ancestors. They believed in life after death, shamanism was present and its similarities with other doctrines and religions of the world is manifested in various ways.
