Beyond Mictlan: The otherworlds of the pre-contact Nahua

The Nahua people of central Mexico divided their supernatural dimension into two parts, classified by the numbers eight and nine. Eight described a realm of communication with the gods, while nine described a realm of destruction and subsequent transformation into new life. Concepts such as Mictlan, Tlalocan, or Tonatiuh Ichan, traditionally understood as supernatural regions, were actually conceptual domains, each related to a particular space, time, gods, attributes, and potential actions. Analysis of four domains related to the metamorphoses of the god Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl—Tlillan Tlapallan, Tlahuizcalli, Itzmictlan, and Chiucnauhnepaniuhcan—reveals a new understanding of the Nahua otherworlds and sheds light on the life cycle of this key god and his mysterious destination, Tlillan Tlapallan.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract This article attempts to clarify the nature and structure of the Nahua otherworlds. It follows in the footsteps of scholars who have demonstrated the inaccuracy of the Sahaguntine view of the Nahua destinations of the dead. The article begins by analyzing multiple Mesoamerican alphabetic and graphic accounts of journeys to the world beyond, and concludes that the Nahua divided their supernatural dimension into two parts, classified by the numbers eight and nine. “Eight” described a realm of communication with the gods, while “nine”—a realm of destruction and subsequent transformation into new life. Next, the article proposes that concepts such as Mictlan, Tlalocan, or Tonatiuh Ichan, traditionally understood as supernatural “regions,” were conceptual domains, each related to a particular space, time, gods, attributes, and potential actions. The article analyzes four of such domains, all related to the metamorphoses of Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl: Tlillan Tlapallan, Tlahuizcalli, Itzmictlan, and Chiucnauhnepaniuhcan. This analysis not only leads to a new way of understanding the Nahua otherworlds as a whole. It also sheds light on the life cycle of the key Nahua god and his mysterious “destination,” Tlillan Tlapallan.