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Cipactli ( nci, Cipactli "crocodile" or "caiman") was the first day of the Aztec divinatory count of 13 X 20 days (the '' tonalpohualli'') and ''Cipactonal'' "Sign of Cipactli" was considered to have been the first diviner. In Aztec cosmology, the crocodile symbolized the earth floating in the primeval waters. According to one Aztec tradition, ''Teocipactli'' "Divine Crocodile" was the name of a survivor of the flood who rescued himself in a canoe and again repopulated the earth. In the Mixtec Vienna Codex (
In other versions, Cipactli is called
Cipactli ( nci, Cipactli "crocodile" or "caiman") was the first day of the Aztec divinatory count of 13 X 20 days (the '' tonalpohualli'') and ''Cipactonal'' "Sign of Cipactli" was considered to have been the first diviner. In Aztec cosmology, the crocodile symbolized the earth floating in the primeval waters. According to one Aztec tradition, ''Teocipactli'' "Divine Crocodile" was the name of a survivor of the flood who rescued himself in a canoe and again repopulated the earth. In the Mixtec Vienna Codex (Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I, also known as ''Codex Vindobonensis C'', or ''Codex Mexicanus I'' is an accordion-folded pre-Columbian piece of Mixtec writing. It is a ritual-calendrical and genealogical document dated to the 14th century.
Cont ...
), Crocodile is a day associated with dynastic beginnings.
In Aztec mythology
Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. Accordi ...
, Cipactli was a primeval sea monster
Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...
, part crocodilian
Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...
, part fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
, and part toad or frog, with indefinite gender. Always hungry, every joint on its body was adorned with an extra mouth. The deity Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ōmeteōtl, Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providenc ...
sacrificed a foot when he used it as bait to draw the monster nearer. He and Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
created the earth from its body.
Karl A. Taube has noted that among the Formative-period Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...
and the pre-Hispanic Maya peoples, crocodilians were identified with rain-bringing wind, probably because of the widespread belief that wind and rain clouds are “breathed” out of cave openings in the earth. A series of Olmec-style basreliefs from Chalcatzingo
Chalcatzingo is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Morelos (municipality of Jantetelco) dating from the Formative Period of Mesoamerican chronology. The site is well known for its extensive array of Olmec-style monumental art and ...
in the state of Morelos
Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...
portrays crocodilians breathing rain clouds from their upturned mouths. Portable green stone Olmec sculptures depict crocodilians in similar positions, indicating that they are probably also breathing.
In the Maya tzolk'in, the day Cipactli corresponds to Imix. In the Mayan Popol Vuh
''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Q ...
, the name of the earthquake demon, Sipakna, apparently derives from Cipactli.Christenson Sipakna is the demon Sipak of 20th century Highland Maya oral tradition. In Migian, Cipactli is Quanai.
In other versions, Cipactli is called Tlaltecuhtli
Tlaltecuhtli (Classical Nahuatl ''Tlāltēuctli'', ) is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican deity worshipped primarily by the Mexica (Aztec) people. Sometimes referred to as the "earth monster," Tlaltecuhtli's dismembered body was the basis for the worl ...
, a deity referred to as the "earth monster".
See also
* Aztec calendar *Five suns
In the context of creation myths, the term Five Suns describes the doctrine of the Aztec and other Nahua peoples in which the present world was preceded by four other cycles of creation and destruction. It is primarily derived from the mythologi ...
*Leviathan
Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
*Makara
''Makara'' ( sa, मकर, translit=Makara) is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn.
Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, a ...
*Tiamat
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creati ...
in Mesopotamian mythology
*Zipacna
In Maya mythology, Zipacna was a son of Vucub Caquix (Seven Macaw) and Chimalmat. He and his brother, Cabrakan (Earthquake), were often considered demons. Zipacna, like his relatives, was said to be very arrogant and violent. Zipacna was charact ...
*Ymir
In Norse mythology, Ymir (, ), also called Aurgelmir, Brimir, or Bláinn, is the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional material, in the ''Prose Edda'', writ ...
References
*Brundage, Burr Cartwright, ''The Fifth Sun. Aztec Gods, Aztec World''. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1979. *Christenson, ''Popol Vuh''. *Furst, Jill L., ''Codex Vindobonensis''. *Taube, Karl A. "Cipactli." In Davíd Carrasco (ed). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''. : Oxford University Press, 2001. Aztec calendars Aztec legendary creatures Chaos gods Legendary reptiles Sea monsters Mythological hybrids Fictional crocodilians Legendary fish Fictional frogs {{Mesoamerica-myth-stub