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Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca.
The north sector of the universe was identified with Mictlan, the region
of fleshless skeletal beings also called Mictlampa, place of the dead.
Presided over by the black Tezcatlipoca, it is associated with the color
black and the glyph tecpatl or flint knife. The north is an arid region
where cold winds blow. Tezcatlipoca is the patron god of warriors and princes;
god of the cold represented by the nocturnal sky. He is a providential
god who has the gift of ubiquity. His main attribute is a smoking mirror;
his costume is a tiger skin and his emblem the obsidian blade, which represents
the cold, black, biting winds of the north. Tezcatlipoca, together with
Quetzalcoatl, are the creators of the world. This
image comes from the Codex Borgia.
Last Modified: January 14, 1998.
Museo del Templo Mayor, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e História,
México.
Seminario #8, Centro Histórico. Cuauhtémoc,
México, D.F. 06060
©Copyright
1997
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