Quetzalcoatl (central Mexican cognate) · feathered serpent god
400 CE1600 CE
The Maya feathered serpent god of Chichen Itza, cognate with Quetzalcoatl, who slithers down his pyramid El Castillo in light each equinox while its 365 steps still count the solar year.
Born
400 CE
Died
1600 CE
Lived
1,200 years
Dead for
426 yrs
Cause of death
Conquest · Forgotten
Replaced by
Catholicism
The Obituary
Kukulkan was the Maya feathered serpent god of wind, rain, and learning, cognate with the central Mexican Quetzalcoatl, his cult centered at Chichen Itza. His great pyramid, El Castillo, was built so that at the spring and autumn equinoxes the descending sunlight forms a serpent of light gliding down its northern stairway. Worshipped across the Yucatan, his cult was suppressed during the protracted Spanish conquest of the peninsula in the 16th and 17th centuries, replaced by Catholicism.
Worth remembering
At each equinox the afternoon sun casts a serpent of light and shadow descending the steps of El Castillo at Chichen Itza.
He was a god of wind, rain, and learning, his cult spread by the Itza and Toltec influence in the Yucatan.
His pyramid El Castillo carries 91 steps on each of four sides plus the top platform, totaling 365 to match the solar year.
Gallery
El Castillo, the pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen ItzaPublic domainCarved feathered-serpent balustrade at the foot of El Castillo, Chichen ItzaDennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0
Sources
Kukulkan was the Maya feathered serpent deity, cognate with Quetzalcoatl Wikipedia
At the equinoxes, light and shadow form a serpent on El Castillo at Chichen Itza World History Encyclopedia
The pyramid El Castillo at Chichen Itza was built as a monument to Kukulkan; its 91 steps on each of four sides plus the top platform total 365, matching the solar year. World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
