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Snakes in Worship—Past and PresentAwake!—2010 | March
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Worship of snake-gods also engrossed peoples of ancient Mexico. The supreme deity of the Maya—Itzamná—was at times represented by a serpent. Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent,” was the Toltec god of learning, culture, and philosophy. The Aztecs also viewed it as the god of learning and even revered it as the creator of humans. Regarding that god’s many roles and talents, the magazine Arqueología Mexicana (Mexican Archaeology) states: “The feathered serpent accumulated multiple meanings, more perhaps than any other deity.”
For many centuries the inhabitants of Mesoamerica worshipped the feathered serpent. Today, belief in that god survives among the Cora and Huichol people of Mexico. On certain fiesta days, dances are performed in which the participants adorn themselves with feathers and simulate the movements of a snake. The Quiche perform a fertility rite in which they dance using live snakes. The Chorti, a Maya group in Guatemala, venerate a feathered serpent that they associate with certain Catholic saints.
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Snakes in Worship—Past and PresentAwake!—2010 | March
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[Picture on page 22]
A feathered-serpent head on an Aztec temple wall
[Picture on page 22]
Bas-relief of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered-serpent god of the Toltec
[Picture Credit Lines on page 22]
Top: REUTERS/Tami Chappell; bottom: © Leonardo Díaz Romero/age fotostock
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