This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the
rapperRapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment...
called Mictlan see
DoomtreeDoomtree is a hip hop collective based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Members of Doomtree bring various bases of knowledge and musical backgrounds together to create alternative-influenced rap and hip hop music. Nearly as prominent as the influence of hip-hop in their music is that of punk and their...
, for wrestler Mictlan see
Mictlán (wrestler)Jonathan de Jesus Navarro Jímenez is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler, currently working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre using the ring name Mictlán. Mictlán was originally an enmascarado, or masked wrestler but lost his mask to Dragón Rojo, Jr., on August 8, 2008...
.
In
Aztec mythologyThe Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities Lords or Gods and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.- History :...
,
Mictlan was the lowest (ninth) level of the
underworldIn the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly dead souls go. In most cultures the term refers to a neutral or dystopic realm of the afterlife, instead of a heavenly or paradisiac one...
, located far to the
northNorth is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:* North is used to define all other directions....
. Except for warriors who died in battle, people who died when hit by
lightningLightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
and women who died in
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
, people went to Mictlan after
deathDeath is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...
. The journey was difficult and took four years, but the dead were aided by the
psychopompPsychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...
,
XolotlIn Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense. Xolotl did, however, aid the dead on their journey to Mictlan, the afterlife in some myths.Xolotl was also...
.
The
kingA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
of Mictlan was
MictlantecuhtliMictlantecuhtli , in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan , the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld...
.
This page is about the Aztec underworld, for the
rapperRapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment...
called Mictlan see
DoomtreeDoomtree is a hip hop collective based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Members of Doomtree bring various bases of knowledge and musical backgrounds together to create alternative-influenced rap and hip hop music. Nearly as prominent as the influence of hip-hop in their music is that of punk and their...
, for wrestler Mictlan see
Mictlán (wrestler)Jonathan de Jesus Navarro Jímenez is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler, currently working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre using the ring name Mictlán. Mictlán was originally an enmascarado, or masked wrestler but lost his mask to Dragón Rojo, Jr., on August 8, 2008...
.
In
Aztec mythologyThe Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many deities Lords or Gods and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs.- History :...
,
Mictlan was the lowest (ninth) level of the
underworldIn the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly dead souls go. In most cultures the term refers to a neutral or dystopic realm of the afterlife, instead of a heavenly or paradisiac one...
, located far to the
northNorth is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:* North is used to define all other directions....
. Except for warriors who died in battle, people who died when hit by
lightningLightning is an atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
and women who died in
childbirthChildbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
, people went to Mictlan after
deathDeath is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...
. The journey was difficult and took four years, but the dead were aided by the
psychopompPsychopomps are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage...
,
XolotlIn Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense. Xolotl did, however, aid the dead on their journey to Mictlan, the afterlife in some myths.Xolotl was also...
.
The
kingA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
of Mictlan was
MictlantecuhtliMictlantecuhtli , in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan , the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld...
. The queen was
MictecacihuatlIn Aztec mythology, Mictecacihuatl is Queen of Mictlan, the underworld, ruling over the afterlife with Mictlantecuhtli, another deity who is designated as her husband.Her role is to keep watch over the bones of the dead...
. Other deities in Mictlan included Cihuacoatl (who commanded Mictlan spirits called
CihuateteoIn Aztec mythology, the Cihuateteo were the spirits of human women who died in childbirth . Childbirth was considered a form of battle, and its victims were honored as fallen warriors...
), Acolmiztli, Chalmecacihuilt,
ChalmecatlChalmecatl is one of the lords of the Aztec realm of the dead, Mictlan....
and
AcolnahuacatlIn Aztec mythology, Acolnahuacatl was a god of Mictlan, the Underworld. Acolmiztli, which means "strong feline" or "Arm of Puma" in Nahuatl, was represented as a black-colored puma, with a supernatural roar, who kept the living from passing into the kingdom of the dead.The poet-king of Texcoco,...
.