The four functions of myth in Aztec culture

¶ … War and at Worship with the Sun -- The Four Functions of Myth in Aztec Culture great deal of the ancient, sophisticated, and yet (to modern eyes) barbaric culture of the central American people known as the Aztecs, has been lost to the modern corpus of knowledge. The conquering Spanish invaders that eventually took over entire the Aztec civilization also destroyed many of the Aztec's sacred, ancient texts, such as their "magic books" printed on animal skins and tree bark with bright pigments. "A bare handful of pre-Columbian codices survived, the most significant of which produced by Mixtec artists in the Valley of Oaxaca, the valley given to Hernan Cortes as a consolation prize." (James 2006) The Spanish burned the Aztec books, they later wrote, in a spirit of Christian missionary activity and disgust with such Aztec religious institutions and rituals as human sacrifice. But by analyzing surviving Aztec creation myths about the generation of the sun, the institution of human sacrifice becomes more comprehensible, if not excusable.

From what has been passed down from generation to generation regarding Aztec culture, mythology, religious iconography, and architecture, the Aztec's based their societal system of beliefs around the sun and the four seasons of the agricultural year. In mythology, like the nature of this warlike yet agriculturally dependent society, the creation of the sun and its generation of food and human life was part of a universal cycle continual warfare and rebirth. Hence, the need to pay homage and respect to the sun through the priestly functions that enabled the Aztecs to win during war and the sun to generate crops for good.

Aztec creation myth about the birth of the world, which is analogous to the birth of the sun, thus reflect the four functions of mythology, as described by the historian of mythology, Joseph Campbell.

According to Campbell, there are four basic functions of mythology, or collective storytelling within every culture, not simply the Aztec culture. The first function is fulfilled by myths' ability of myths to invest human life with metaphysical or mystical importance. In other words, the ability of the soil to generate corn for food is not the result of chance, but due to the fact that human beings have pleased or displeased the gods who control the weather. Myths thus enable human beings to better accept the burdens of being human by giving persons a sense of control over their lives through rituals -- from enacting a sacrifice in emulation of the wars of the ancient gods to the later, Christian mythical reenactments of the Last Supper through communion. ("The Four Functions of Mythology," 2006)

The second, or cosmological function of myth is descriptive, and is intended to describe the culture's perceived shape of the cosmos, the universe, or the world. The world is infused with meaning and significance, so that, for instance, the geographical location of a temple is not arbitrary, but marks the place where the world began, thus infusing the location with meaning and significance within the culture's cosmological scheme. A myth's third, sociological function conveys the culture's sense of moral norms or codes that the people of that culture believe are necessary to follow so that society can retain its prevailing social structure. When is it moral or immoral to kill, for example -- what will bring down the wrath of the gods? Finally, myth has a pedagogical or teaching function for the individual within society. The stories of myths can help lead persons through personal life stages. (Tartar, 2004) By making the passage of human life seem significant in the same way that sacred actions, spaces, or rules are sacred, the individual gains a sense of personal empowerment.

In Aztec creation mythology story of the spirits Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca and their successive generation of five suns, finally cumulating in the creation of the Aztec people and their 'true' sun illustrates all of these principles. By infusing the weather with divine significance, the ability of the sun to generate crops is given a mystical, rather than a mundane or arbitrary significance and makes it easier for persons to accept their temporary difficulty in finding food (they have displeased the gods) and affirms their ultimate ability to control the weather through reenacting rituals and pleasing the gods. The story also reflects the cosmological element of myth. The sun is given special significance, as it was perceived through the Aztec worldview. "The notion that the sun might not rise if the proper prayers, sacrifices and rituals were neglected preoccupied the minds of these people." (Pacheco, 1999) The fact that it was necessary to obey these rituals also affected the sociological life of the tribe, as it justified the way the Aztec priests and warriors behaved, to please the gods and to reenact the violent actions of the gods. And finally, the Aztec interpretation of creation affected their sense of the person's personal role in the cosmos, fulfilling the pedagogical function of myths. The Aztecs "observed, for reasons of the harvest two solstices and the two equinoxes which could be thought of as the four 'directional pillars' that support the year. These four times of the year were, and still are, considered important as they indicate seasonal changes which obviously had a direct impact on the lives of an agricultural society," and controlled the lives of the persons in obedience to those equinoxes in terms of when and how they tended their crops and how they appeased the gods through the institutions of religion. (Pacheco, 1999)

According to the Aztec's creation myth, the sun, the source of all human life and food, came into being through a war between two spirits who personified the sun. The first sun, known as the Jaguar Sun of Tezcatlipoca, was too small and not bright enough to light the world for the dwellers of the earth. The spirit Quetzalcoatl knocked the Jaguar Sun of the sky. Quetzalcoatl made himself into a second sun, known as the Wind Sun. However, the Wind Sun only generated pine nuts for food when it warmed the earth. Tezcatlipoca, as a Jaguar, blew the Wind Sun away, and much of humanity along with it. Those persons remaining from this gust of Tezcatlipoca turned into monkeys. The next sun was created by Rain God Tlaloc and fed the people only river corn. Quetzalcoatl destroyed this sun, leaving the few persons who escaped the spirit's wrath to be changed into turkeys. The fourth sun formed from the rain spirit's wife Chalchiuhtlicue, and this Water Sun fed the people with nothing but grass corn. Eventually, the Water Sun was so wet it flooded the earth. The subsequent flood was so great the only living beings left were fish. Finally, in a spirit of cooperation, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca brought the earth back into a state of balance between water, wind, and soil. They created new peoples from the bones of the Land of the Dead, left over from the earlier efforts. They created a new, fifth sun, the sun that stands today and generates real corn. But even the creation of the fifth sun, known as the Earthquake Sun, required that the fragile humans continually appease the warring spirits with sacrifice so that it would continue to generate crops, and thus gave the Aztec harvest a mystical function. Human beings were required to obey sociologically generated ritual laws about religion and agriculture, and to regulate their lives according to these rules, to ensure that there was always a source of good. The creation myth also gave the Aztecs a sense of cosmological significance of space, as the Aztecs believed the birth of the final occurred at the ancient city of Teotihuacan, "the place where time began." (Taube 41, cited by Doyle, 1994)

Thus, the creation myth functions as an explanation of the origins of the cosmos, and explains why persons eat the way they do, and why persons die -- because they were made from bones of the Land of the Dead. It also explains the existence of various land and sea animals and the capricious nature of the sun and the harvest. This myth's mystical function thus is joined to its specific cosmological function, to explain the beginning of time in the ancient holy city of the Aztecs. The myth's pedagogical and sociological functions, justifying the Aztec's warlike nature and fragile generation of food and the seasons, are also an important part of the tale. This myth fulfills one of the primary purposes of myth, to relate the individual to his or her own nature and to the natural world and reflect the individual's partnership in the natural world through social institutions and rules. (Campbell p. 22, cited by Pacheco, 1999)