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Description

A rather un-majestic start to a majestic story... Presenting my first digital painting, created as an entry for the “Gods ‘n’ Goddesses 2014” contest at the group . Go and visit their gallery – there are some beautiful entries amongst a collection of wonderful anthropology art; a truly inspiring group. Good luck to all those who have entered! <3

Legend of the 5th Sun

The gods gathered with a serious disposition in a certain sort of darkness that infected the world like a rancid corpse. That life could come from such a thing was but the way of the universe, for when one age dies, likewise, another will swiftly begin. Echoes of their previous demise clotted the air around them... none wished to make such a costly mistake again; the Lord of the 5th sun would offer his flesh, but the question that consumed their every fibre remained; which one of them would the 5th sun be?

For the ancient Mexica (better known as the Aztecs), Tonatiuh was the literal incarnation of the sun; a warrior like deity, who each night battled the forces of darkness within the putrid depths of the Aztec underworld, to rise triumphant each morning to illuminate, warm and fertilize the Earth in a daily passage across the sky. His nourishment however, would come at the cost of a grave, worldly debt.

Nanahuatzin had no desire to rise to such a considerable pinnacle. That the gods had even considered him was an undeserving honour that he could not simply understand. He was a lowly, worthless god who had no real purpose, only to exist in a sickly, mangy state which granted him little liberties from the sufferings of a crippled, small stature and skin that was infested with painful sores. There were many other deities who wholeheartedly were far greater and prominent than he could ever be; Nanahuatzin was humble and could be spared, but his class left him with a demanding sense that his body was unfitting. The rich and proud Tecciztecatl, insistent on taking up the honour of accepting this great sacrifice, hesitated in fear of the leaping flames that lapped with eagerness to consume his flesh, and thus the turn had fallen with reluctance to the smallest and lowest form of the gods. Nanahuatzin however, was brave and infused with a natural strength to do unto his duty, and in turn and with great admiration, the crippled god parted agonizingly with his life to shine forevermore as Lord over the 5th sun; the Mexica’s sun, and the sun that we still see shining today.

But the existence of the sun was not quite so simple. The sun was thirsty; a source that constantly consumed and whose energy required bountiful replenishment in order to muster the strength needed to continue the cycle of the rising and setting sun; to delay the inevitable destruction of the 5th age... a doomed apocalypse for humanity and creation for which there would be nothing else to follow. So that the sun could move, the gods themselves sacrificed their lives one by one, to feed with fresh blood, the beautiful reincarnation of Nanahuatzin. But Tonatiuh required more... humanity would be inclined to feed him beating, fresh hearts; the life substance and energy of the gods; the most honourable, precious gift that a human could return to the universe... their own life.

Description

A rather un-majestic start to a majestic story... Presenting my first digital painting, created as an entry for the “Gods ‘n’ Goddesses 2014” contest at the group . Go and visit their gallery – there are some beautiful entries amongst a collection of wonderful anthropology art; a truly inspiring group. Good luck to all those who have entered! <3

Legend of the 5th Sun

The gods gathered with a serious disposition in a certain sort of darkness that infected the world like a rancid corpse. That life could come from such a thing was but the way of the universe, for when one age dies, likewise, another will swiftly begin. Echoes of their previous demise clotted the air around them... none wished to make such a costly mistake again; the Lord of the 5th sun would offer his flesh, but the question that consumed their every fibre remained; which one of them would the 5th sun be?

For the ancient Mexica (better known as the Aztecs), Tonatiuh was the literal incarnation of the sun; a warrior like deity, who each night battled the forces of darkness within the putrid depths of the Aztec underworld, to rise triumphant each morning to illuminate, warm and fertilize the Earth in a daily passage across the sky. His nourishment however, would come at the cost of a grave, worldly debt.

Nanahuatzin had no desire to rise to such a considerable pinnacle. That the gods had even considered him was an undeserving honour that he could not simply understand. He was a lowly, worthless god who had no real purpose, only to exist in a sickly, mangy state which granted him little liberties from the sufferings of a crippled, small stature and skin that was infested with painful sores. There were many other deities who wholeheartedly were far greater and prominent than he could ever be; Nanahuatzin was humble and could be spared, but his class left him with a demanding sense that his body was unfitting. The rich and proud Tecciztecatl, insistent on taking up the honour of accepting this great sacrifice, hesitated in fear of the leaping flames that lapped with eagerness to consume his flesh, and thus the turn had fallen with reluctance to the smallest and lowest form of the gods. Nanahuatzin however, was brave and infused with a natural strength to do unto his duty, and in turn and with great admiration, the crippled god parted agonizingly with his life to shine forevermore as Lord over the 5th sun; the Mexica’s sun, and the sun that we still see shining today.

But the existence of the sun was not quite so simple. The sun was thirsty; a source that constantly consumed and whose energy required bountiful replenishment in order to muster the strength needed to continue the cycle of the rising and setting sun; to delay the inevitable destruction of the 5th age... a doomed apocalypse for humanity and creation for which there would be nothing else to follow. So that the sun could move, the gods themselves sacrificed their lives one by one, to feed with fresh blood, the beautiful reincarnation of Nanahuatzin. But Tonatiuh required more... humanity would be inclined to feed him beating, fresh hearts; the life substance and energy of the gods; the most honourable, precious gift that a human could return to the universe... their own life.