Aztec Creation Legends

   The myths of the Aztecs as to the Creation tell that the ‘first earth’ with its inhabitants was destroyed by a great flood caused by Atonatiuh, the water sun, who was subsequently equated with Tlaloc. The human beings who survived this catastrophe were then exposed to a series of earthquakes caused by the wind sun, and it was the survivors of this latter diaster who were the ancestors of the Mexicans. These stories are a mixture of the disaster legends of two races, possibly the Toltecs and the pre-Toltec aborigines. There is a mother goddess Tlazolteotl who is described as ‘The Woman who sinned before the Deluge’, and Nata and Nena were one of the human pairs who survived the inundation by building themselves a ship.

   In the same manner Xelhua, the giant, survived by climbing to a mountain top. Those who escaped the Deluge and/or the wind storms by taking refuge in caverns handed down the story of Chicomoztoc.

   The Cavern of the Seven Chambers is similar to the Tulan-Zuiva of the Quiches and may have been the origin of Mictlan, the Aztec Hades. By the time the Spaniards arrived in Mexico these legends were so ancient as to have been partially forgotten, and the stories of the Deluge seemed to centre mainly around Tlaloc, the rain god, to whom large quantities of children were sacrificed annually in the hope of obviating further diasters of this nature. Other details may be seen under the various Aztec gods and beings, a list of which is given under Aztec Religion.